The Washington times., 1904-05-30
ADDRESS
AT GETTYSBURG FIELD

leSsly of and on before the hostile fof4s :
generals and admirals emerged into the
light, each to face his crowded hour OF
success or failure; the men in front
fought; the men behind supplied and
pushed forward those in front; and the
final victory was due TO the deeds Of all
who played their parts well and manful-
~, in the scores of battles, in the count
less skirmishes, in march, in camp
or in reserve. as commissioned officers,
or IN the ranks-wherever and when
ever duty called them.
Just so it must De for US in civil life.
We can makR and keep this country
worthy of thdsne who gave their lives
TO save il, only on condition that the
average man among US on the whole
does his duty bravely. Loyalty. and with
common sense, in whatever position life
ailots 10 him National greatness is
of slow growth. 1t can not be forced
and yet be stable and enduring; for IL
IS based fundamentally upon national
character. and national character is
stamped deep in a people by the lives Of
many generations.
The men who went into the army had
to submit to discipline. had to submit 10
restraint through the government Of the
leaders they had chosen, as the price Of
winning. So we, the people, can pre-
serve our liberty and our greatness in
time of peace only by ourselves eXer-
cising the virtues of honesty, Of self-re-
straint, and Of fair dealing between man
and man. In all the ages Of the past
men have seen countries lose their NIB
erty, because their people could not re-
strain and order themselves. and there
fore forfeited the right to what they
were unable TO use with wisdom.
Glory Enough for All.
1t was because you men of the civil
war both knew how 10 use liberty tenn
perately and how TO defend 1t at need
that we and our children and our chill
drens children shall hold you in honor
forever. Here. on Memorial Day, on
this great battlefield. we commemorate
not only the chiefs who actually won
this battle; not only Meade and his lieu
tenants, Hancock and Reynolds and
Sicklcs, and the many others whose
names flame in our annals; but also the
chiefs who had made the Army OF the
Potomac what II was, and those who
were crowned at AppomattoN; and fur
thermOre those who made and used its
sister armies: Mcclellan, with his eX-
traOrdinary genius for Orga MIA ton /;
ing, the steadfast; and that great trio,
Sherman, Sheridan. and last and great
est of all, Grant himself. the silent SOL
der whose hammer-like blows finally
beat down even the prOwess Of the men
who fought against him.
Above all we meet here 10 pay homage
TO the officers and enlisted men who
served and fought and died, without
having, as their chiefs had, the chance
10 write their names on the tablets of
fame: TO the men who marched and
fought in the ranks, who were buried in
long trenches on the field Of battle, who
died in cots marked only by numbers in
the hospitals; who, II they lived, when
the war was over, went back each &c
his task on the farm or in the town, 70
in war: to take up the threads of his
working life where he had dropped them
when the trumpets Of the nation pealed
TO arms. Today all over this land, our
people meet 10 pay reverent homage "a
the dead who died that the nation might
live; and we pay homage also TO their
comrades who are still with us.
All are at one now, the sons Of those
who wore the blue and the sons OF those
who wore the gray. and all can unite In
paying respect 70 the memory Of those
who fell each OF them giving his life
for his duty as he saw Il; and all should
| be at one in learning from the deaths
of these men how to live usefully while
the times call for the performance OF
| the countless necessary duties Of every
ready TO die nobly should the nation
ever again demand OF her sons the ulti-
mate proof of loyalty.