Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1903-09-17
PRESIDENT
AT ANTIETAM
Delivered the Principal Address
at Dedication Of Soldiers
Monument on Battlefield.
ACCORDED AN OVATION
Afternoon Was Spent In Inspecting
Points of Historic Interest in the
Immediate Vicinity.

Sharpsburg, N. j., Sept 17-Undel
lowering clouds, the magnificent monu
ment erected on the historic battlefield
OF Antietam, by the state of New Jer
sey, to it's men who fell in that great
engagement was dedicated today. The
occasion was rendered more notable
by the presence of the President of the
United States, and of Governor Muir
ply, of New Jersey. A special bear.
ing the President, Governor and party
arrived at 9:10 o'clock. President
Roosevelt was accorded an ovation as
he rose to speak. He spoke as fol
lows:
Governor Murphy; and you, Veterans
of New Jersey; and you, men of the
Grand Army, and all others here,
greet you:
Il thank you Of New Jersey for the
monument to the troops of New Jer-
sey who fought at Antietam, and on
behalf of the nation | accept the gift.
We meet today upon one of the great
battlefields of the civil war No other
battle of the civil war lasting but one
day shows as great percentage of loss
as that which occurred here upon the
day on which Antietam was fought.
Moreover, in it's ultimate effects this
battle was of momentous and even de-
cisive Importance, for when it had end
ed and Lee had retreated south of the
Potomac, Lincoln forthwith published
1,of to1 hn inc r
declaration of emancipation the pa
per which decided that the civil war,
besides being a war for the preserva-
tion Of the union, should be war for
ghe emancipation of the slave, so that
from that time onward the causes of
nnion and of freedom, of national
greatness and individual liberty, were
pne and the same.
Men of New Jersey, congratulate
your state because she has the right
TO claim her. full share in the honor
and glory of that memorable day; and
I congratulate you, Governor Murphy,
because on that day you had the high
good fortune to serve as lad with,
credit and honor in one of the five
regiments which your state sent to the
battle. Four of those regiments, by
the way, served in the division COM
manded by that gallant soldier, Henry
W. Siocum, whom we of New York can
claim as our own. The other regiment
that in which Governor Murphy serv-
ed. although practically an entirely
new regiment, did work as good as
that of any veteran organization upon
the field, and suffered proportional
loss. This regiment was at one Tine
ordered to the support of division
commanded by another New York SOL
dier, the gallant General Greene,
whose son himself served as major
general in the war with Spain, and
who is now, as police commissioner
of New York, rendering as signal SER
vice in civil life as he had already rem
dered in military life.
eff the issue of Antietam had been
other than it was, 1t is probable that
at least two great European powers |
would have recognized the independ- |
ence Of the Confederacy; SO that you
who fought here forty-one years ago
have the profound satisfaction of |
feeling that you played well your part |
In one of those crises,b big with the fate
of all mankind. You men of the Grand |
Army by your victory not only rem
dered all Americans your debtors for
ayermore, but you rendered all hui
manity your debtors. If the union had |
been dissolved, if the great edifice
built with blood and sweat and tears,
by mighty Washington and his COM
peers had gone down in wreck and
ruin, the result would have been an
incalculable calamity, not only for our
most of all for those who,
in such event would have seemingly
for all mankind The
great American republic would have
become a memory of derision; and the
failure of the experiment of self-gov-
ernment by a great people on a great
scale would have delighted the heart
of every foe of Republican institu-
lions. Our country, now SO great
and so wonderful, would nave been
split into little jangling rival nation
alifies, each with history both bloody
and contemplate, 1t was because
you, the men who wear the button of
The Grand Army, triumphed in those
dark years that every American now
holds his head high, proud in the
that he belongs to nation
whose glorious past and great present
will be succeeded by an even mightier
future; whereas had you failed we
would all of us, North and South,
East and West, be now treated by 9th
er nations at the best with contemptu-
BUS tolerance; at the worst with over
bearing insolence.
Continued on Page S.