Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-13
OH|O'S GALLANT SONS
Memorials to Men Who Fell
at Antietam.
SPEECH BY GOV. NASH
BE RECALLS LINCoLN's PRoPH-
ECY OF PEACE.
PAYS High Tribute to Late President
Mckinley, Who Has Separate
Monument.
SPEECH BY GOV. NASH
Special Dispatch to The Evening Star.

historic Antietam battlefield today the len
handsome monuments erected by the state
of Ohio were dedicated with impressive
ceremony. The exercises were held on she
open plat in the shadow of the old Dunkard
Church and near where stands the mohu-
ment erected to the 9Th, It'll and Goth Ohio
Regiments Maj. David Cunningham, pres
ident of the commission having charge OF
the erection of the monuments, presided at
the exercises, which opened with prayer by
Rev. Dr. o. S. Kriebel of Pennsburg, Pa
Mai. Cunningham made a short address.
at the conclusion of which he turned the
monuments over to the state of Ohio.
They were received by Gov. Geo. X. Nash,
who responded with a touching address.
Nash in turn presented the monuments to
the War Department. the latter being rep
resented by Assistant Secretary or war
Robert Oliver Shaw.
Grafton by Gen. Kennedy.
The Grafton of the day was delivered by
Gen. Robert P. Kennedy. former congress-
man from Ohio and the youngest command
er in the Army of the Potomac at the battle
of Antietam. Others making addresses
were Capt. Thomas Burns of Versailles
Ohio. Mr.. John Finn of Washington ana
other Ohio veterans.
Cen Fair Hamilton. uuartermaster gen.
eral of the British army. at present guest
of the War Department. was present anu
made a few remarks expressing the pleas
ure it afforded him.
The party from Washington included Gen.
Robert Shaw Gen. Hamilton. Cen Nlchol-
son of the Gettysburg national park com
mission Gen. Geo B. Davis. Judge adVocate
of the United States army: Col. James 5.
Pellet United States army; Gen. John a.
Johnston and Gen. E A. Carmen. 10Y.
Nash in presenting the memorials 10 tlle
government said:
Gov. Nash's Speech.
Major Cunningham and members of the
Ohio Antietam battlefield commission: You
are soldiers who took part in the great pat
tie of the civil war fought upon this field
on the nth of September, 1862 am sure
that it was a work of love upon your part
to erect for Ohio the ten monuments IN
memory of the heroism here displayed py
yOur comrades. | congratulate you thdt
this work has been completed. and that /.
Is of such a character as to be credit not
only to you, but also to your state
1t is now more than forty years since the
men whose deeds of valor we thus honor
contended on this field. The monuments of
bronze and granite which you have erected
cannot make their fame more enduring, LOT
their achievements are inscribed In history
imperishable pages. NO WORDS OF ours can
add 10 the luster of their patriotism, OF
purest ray as 1t Is already deeply en-
shrined in the hearts of their countrymen
No Spirit of Boosting.
Neither are we here to boast over those
who were then our foes Ours is loftier,
more noble and patriotic purpose ,Ihey
are no longer our enemies. They are our
friends. We are all Americans. We love
one country We owe allegiance to one gov
ernment We live under one flag, which
each of us, l am sure, is every ready TO de-
fend now and evermore If, When we
leave this scene and the lessons here IN
culcated our love of country is not more
sincere, our allegiance TO our government
is not more firmly cemented and our love
for the flag is not more intense, our coming
together will have been for little purpose
When the great conflict began and all
seemed lost the President of the United
States was of sufficient strength and no
bility of purpose to look beyond the storm
and utter this message of hope: Ihough
passion may strain. 1t must not break our
bonds of affection. The mystic chords or
memory, stretching from every battleheld
and patriot grave to every loving heart ana
hearthstone. all over this broad land, VIII
vet swell the chorus of the Union, when
again touched, they surely will be by the
better angels of our nature The better
angels now hold sway. The prophecy or
Lincoln has become history.
Tribute to William Mckinley.
There was in this battle a young soldier
from Ohio, by name William Mckinley. He
was the commissary sergeant of the 23d
Regiment O. V. l. On the afternoon of the
close of the battle, with much personal risk
to himself, he supplied his hungry COM
rades with cooked rations upon that part of
the field where they had valiantly contend
ed for hours with their intrepid foe. For
this act the state of Ohio has erected upon
the ground where this service was per
formed beautiful monument and dedi-
Gated il to his memory. This soldier was
afterward President of the United States
and became martyr for his country as did
Lincoln. Like Lincoln, he prayed that the
passions of the civil war might pass away,
and that affection for the Union might be
restored to all the people of this country.
For this reason Ohio has taken all the more
pleasure in erecting this monument. For
tunately he lived to see the evidences of
the cordial feeling, to which he contributed
so much, between the north and the south
which existed during the Spanish American
war This led him to eXclaim: What an
army of silent sentinelS we have, and with
what loving care their graves are kept
Every soldiers grave made during our un-
fortunate civil war is a tribute to American
valor. And while when those graves were
made we differed widely about the future of
this government, those differences were
long ago settled by the arbitrament of
arms, and the time has come in the evolu-
ton of sentiment and feeling under the
providence of God when in the spirit of
friendship We should share with you in the
care of the graves of confederate soldiers ,"
Purpose of the Memorial
AS the years go by it is our hope that
whoever wanders over these fields and looks
upon the monument lovingly erected by his
state to the memory of Mckinley will learn
to love and reverence the flag as he loved
and reverenced 1t.
Those who recall the incidents of the
Spanish-American war in 1898 will not for
get the affair of the torpedo boat Winslow
In the harbor of Cardenas, the coast of
Cuba. While calamity defending his little
boat Ensign Worth Bagley of North Caro-
lima was killed by an enemy's shell. By his
side fatally wounded by a fragment of the
same shell, fell brave young seaman,
George Meek of Ohio. Thus a son of the
south and q son of the north gave up their
lives in support of a common cause and
the one flag which floats over our reunited
country today.
Surely the prophecy of the great and pa
triotic Lincoln has been realized, and our
country has been reunited II the harmoni-
Gus bonds of love and peace, more glorious
than ever before. One duty rests upon us
all. These fields. once red with the precious
blood of our beloved brothers, should In
delibly impress its Importance and sacred
ness upon US. Henceforth and forevermore