The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1903-09-24
PRESIDENT SPEAKS.
lis Speech Delivered During a Heavy
Downpour of Rain.
ANTEITAM MONUMENT UNVEILED.
Iov. Tlurphy Accepts the Honument
for the State and the President
Accepts 1t on Behalf of the Federal
Government.

Sharpsbu-g, Md, Special.-Under
lowering skies, the magnificent monu-
ment erected on the historic battle
field Of Antietam by the grateful State
Of New Jersey to it's men who fell in
the great engagement, was dedicated
Thursday. The occasion was rem
dered particularly notable by the pars
ticipation in the ceremonies of the
President of the United States and of
Governor Murphy, the Chief Execu-
tive Of the State which was honoring
it's heroes
The monument is in the form of an
ornate Corinthian column Of granite,
40 feet high, SUI mounted by a heroic
lgure in bronze of an officer with up
raised sword leading his men in a
charge. Governor Murphy, of New
Jersey, accepted the monument in an
address.
President Roosevelt, as he arose to
accept the monument on behalf Of the
Federal government, was accorded an
ovation. He spoke in part as follows:
Governor Murphy; and you. Veterans
or New Jersey; and you, men of the
Grand Army, and all others here. |
greet you:
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 l accept the gift.
We meet upon one of the great battle
fields of the civil war No other bat
tie of the civil war lasting but one
day shows as great a percentage Of
loss as that which occurred here upon
the day on which Antietam was
fought. Moreover, in it's ultimate eff
fects this battle was of momentous
and even decisive importance, for
when it had ended and Lee had
| retreated south of the Potomac, Lin
| coin forthwith published that immor-
| tai paper, the preliminary declara
tion of emancipation; the paper
| which decided that the civil war, be-
| sides being war for the preserva-
| tion of the Union, should be a war
for the emancipation of the slave, so
that from that time onward the cause
of Union and of freedom, of national
greatness and individual liberty, were
| one and the same.
Men of New Jersey, l congratulate
your State because she has the right
| to claim her full share in the honor
|
| | congratulate you, Governor Muir
ply, because on that day you had the
high good fortune to serve as a lad
with credit and honor in one of the
five regiments which your State sent
to the battle. Four of those regi-
ments, by the way, served in the di-
vision commanded by that gallant SOL
dier, Henry w. Slocum, whom we of
| New York can claim as our own. The
other regiment, that in which Cover
nor Murphy served, although practi-
cally an entirely new regiment, did
work as good as that of any veteran
organization upon the field, and suf-
| fered a proportionate loss. This regi-
ment was at one time ordered to the
support of a division commanded by
another New York soldier, the gallant
| General Greene, whose son himself
served as a major-general in the war
with Spain and who is now as police
commissioner Of New York, rendering
as signal service in civil life as he
had already rendered in military life
If the issue of Antietam had been
other than it was, it is probable that
at least two great European powers
would have recognized the indepen.
dence Of the Confederacy; so that you
who fought here forty-one years ago
have the profound satisfaction of feel
ing that you played we'll your part in
one Of those crises 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.
evermore, 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
people-and most of all for those
who, in such event would have seem
ingly triumphed-but for all mankind
The great American republic would
have become a memory of derision
and the failure of the experiment OF
government by great people on
great scale would have delighted
the heart of every foe of republican
institutions Our country, now sc
great and so wonderful, would have
been split into little jangling riva
| nationalities. each with q history bOtE
bloody and contemplate 1t was be
cause you, the men who wear the but
ton of the Grand Army, triumphed il
those dark years that every American
now holds his head high, proud in the
i knowledge that he belongs to ma
tion whose glorious past and grea
present will be succeeded by an ever
mightier future; whereas had yol
failed we would all of US. North ant
South. East and West, be now treated
by other nations at the best with con
temptuous tolerance; at the wors
with overbearing insolence.
The president then argued that tn
need of the worlds liberty and pro
gress demanded that the fedora
| armies should win the fight. He spok
of the great gailantry of both armies
! His audience listened with good at
tention although drenching rain wa
falling.
Washouts and Wrecks.
, ST. Paul, Mimi, Special.-With losse