The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-31
TRIBUTE PAID
TO FEDERAL DEAD
BY GRAND ARMY VETERANS.
FLAGS PLACED ON GRAVES OF
UNION SOLDIERS.


AZ Soldiers - BOnaventure and
Cathedral Cemeteries Visited in
MOrning-LaureI Grove Graves
Decorated ut Sunset - Winfield
scott Hancock Post, G. A. r., Is
Practically Dissolved - Veterans
May Unite With Atlanta.
Quietly and unostentatiously Federal
Memorial Day was observed in Savan-
nah yesterday. Save the Union vet
Grams themselves. no one visited the
cemeteries Nearly all of the govern
nent offices closed for the day.
There was absolutely nothing to in
dicate that it was a special holiday set
apart by the government for honoring
the dead wearers of the blue. Early in
the morning two or three veterans Wis
tied the cemeteries lying at distance
from the city. Toward sunset Laurel
Grove was visited.
There was no parade, no music, no
assembly of veterans, not even a.
prayer over the graves of the dead
The only military feature of the day
was at Fort Screven, where at.
guns was fired. The soldiers. with the
exception of those on police and guard
duty, were given the day to them
selves, a number of them spending it
in Savannah
The members of the Grand Army of
the Republic held no services here.
The old post, Winfield Scott Hancock
Post, through constant loss of mem
bers by death and removal to other
states, is practically dead. The char
ter is still held, there is still a COM
mandant and an adjutant, but no meet
ings are held. 1t has been three years
since the post assembled in regular
meeting.
Decorating the Graves.
AS Grand Army men. not as mem
bers of the post, the mere handful of
federal veterans decorated the graves
of their dead comrades and paid their
tribute of respect to the fallen. Five
veterans decorated the graves of for
ty-two soldiers. These figures alone
show the ravages that time has made
on the local Grand Army Of the Re-
public post.
Early in the morning Comrade T. F.
Gleason, past commander of the post
and Comrade William Gray, the pres
ent commander, visited BOnaventure
and Cathedral cemeteries. Flowers.
most of them IF the simpler kinds, had
been furnished by the wives and daugh-
tiers of the veterans. Eacn of the vet
Grams carried several small flags and
these were tenderly placed at the heads
o. the graves os the men who had fol-
lowed it through the war.
The following graves were decorated
in the morning At BonavenLure, Com
rades Arthur T. Smith, Charles 5. Park
.Iohn Riley. DR.. George H. Stone.
Christian Berdon and William H. Dyer.
At the Cathedral Cemetery the graves
of Comrades Patrick Davis. Joseph
Daley, Patrick Houlihan, Cornelius
Mahoney and John Clancy.
At Laurel Grove Cemetery.
The graves in Laurel Grove Gene
terry, thirty in number, were dec
Grated in the evening. At g O'Clock
Mr.. S. F. B. Gillespie, attired in the
uniform of his old Lafayette Post, G.
A. R., repaired to the cemetery. He
was accompanied by Comrades Joseph
F. Emory and William Pease. Flags
and flowers were placed on the graves
of the dead federal veterans buried
there. The following are the dead
Union soldiers in Laurel Grove:
Brig. Gen. J. NJ. Cuyler, Comrades
James w. Cuyler, William c. Cuyler,
Christian Fisher, John Davidson,
Julius Dieman, j. H. Hensel, Adam
Gunther, John Hoffman. c. c. Soran,
E. Wakefield, John B. Walsh, John H.
Martus, Fred Frank, David Porter,
Warren Snow, Comrade Pritchard,
Comrade Becker, George A. Hudson.
Frank Bergman. Comrade Pearson.
Crawford Wilson, ]. ]. Johnston,
David Hamilton, John P. Jones. Jacob
Lebwald, and William H. Devlin.
A number of states are represented
by the dead comrades as we'll as
many of the regular army at the time
Of the war. The states represented by
the volunteers, are Massachusetts,
Maryland, New York. Pennsylvania,
Missouri, Illinois, Florida, Michigan,
Maine, Connecticut, and New Jersey
The navy, infantry, cavalry, engineer
ing and surgery corps are represented
in the list.
May Unite with Atlanta.
In speaking of the falling away of
Winfield Scott Hancock Post, Mr.
Gillespie said: "I have been in favor
of uniting with the Atlanta post for a
number of years. 1t has been three
years since we. held a meeting here and
can see no reason why we should
not give up our charter. 1 believe that
it would be best for us all to unite with
Atlanta or to transfer our membership
to some post in the state from which
we, volunteered
Mr.. William Pease said: 1--WE no
longer have post here, though
we hold the charter, have a
commander, and an adjutant.
To-day we decorated the graves
of our dead as members of the Grand
Army of the Republic, not as members
of Winfield Scott Hancock Post.
The few surviving members of the
post no longer hold meetings. We al
ways stand ready to do what we can
for each other in every way, but the
post life is practically a thing of the
past"