The Globe-republican., 1904-06-30

gested by the day crossed his lips.
Independence forever!" he said, and
never spoke again.
Exactly five years after the deaths
Of Adams and Jefferson, James Mon
roe died, the third president to die
upon independence Day. He was one
Of the most American Of American
presidents. His death, on July the
4th, emphasized anew the fatality
that has pursued so many Of our chief
magistrates upon this day.
In 1895 Washington selected a plot
Of ground within the city Of Washing
ton as a suitable spot whereupon to
erect a monument to the American
Revolution. This was never acted
upon, but thirty-four years after his
death, 1t was decided instead to erect
there a monument to Washington
himself. Slowly funds were collected,
and on July 4th, 1S4S, the cornerstone
was laid with imposing civic, military
and Masonic honors The monument
was built SO slowly, however, that not
until December, 1884, was the last
stone fitted into place, and the beau
tiful Washington obelisk, the tallest
structure In the New World, COM
pleted.
Two years after the cornerstone
was laid, the unfinished shaft had
reached the height Of more than l5O
feet. Zachary Taylor, the beloved
old Rough and Ready" of the Mexl-
can war, mad been president sixteen
months. On the national holiday,
July 4, 1850, he visited the uncomplet-
ed monument, in which he took great
interest. Orce on the GROUNDS, he laid
aside the dignity Of his high Office
and stretched himself under the
grateful shade OF the partly complet-
ed shaft. A peculiar lassitude SEEM
ed to come over him, and he lay thero
a long time. Suddenly paroxysms OF
internal pain came on, He had been
struck with death on independence
day. and that within the shadow OF
the first presidents monument Again
the old fatality to president upon
the Fourth Of July, He was carried
back to the White House, where he
fingered five days and died.
. The civil war that devastated our
land, 1865, had progressed none too
/. favorably for the Union cause up to
the middle of 1868. Grant was dog
godly besieging Vicksburg, which con-
t trolled all the lower Mississippi. Az
/. stubbornly the Confederates resisted.
:. Lee had determined to carry the war
4 into the North, and had invaded Penn
sylyania with n great army. The fate
d of the nation swung in the balance.
|. North and South, the people trem-
:. bltngly awaited the issues Of each
t. day. July 1st found Vicksburg still
/. holding out, after six weeks of ter
y rife cannonading. The same first
d day of the same month brought the
d clash between the invading army
!. of Lee, and the defending expulsive
d army of the Federals at Gettysburg,
e Pa. 1t was American against Ameri-
3 can and July LIST passed into July md,
d and that into the third Of July and
[, yet the dreadful battle ragged. Sixty
0. thousand men on those three days
n we're taken prisoners, wounded or
n killed, Lee was forced back. In the
# turning battle of the war fortune had
ID favored the Union forces.
t, The dawn of the Fourth found the
n. heart Of our people torn with contend
10 Ing emotions. The mother mourned
ID like Rachel over her son, stark upon
" the field of Gettysburg; tie father re-
,r ioiced over crucial battle won; the
st South sank, appalled, at the blow tc
;e her pride, her hope her ambition;
" the North was buoyant and elated
Then over the wires at night flashed
4 the news that Vicksburg had surren
w dered that day, and the Mississippi
n was omen to our gunboats. Great enc
ol wild, long and loud, was the rejoicing
,o of the one part of the nation Sorrow
a. a. full and filed with despair was tht
,d rest of the nation. God grant tina
NJ never again may Independence Day
70 find one portion Of our people reJoic
ro ing over the discontinue Of anothel
#. portion, "for we be brethren"
g. The "sad Fourth" was in July, 1881
M Two days before President Garfiel'
I'd had been shot by Guiteau, the assas
a, sin, and for the fifth time in our his
lv tory the shadow Of death hung owe
O. u an American President upon lndepen
A. dence Day. The country Fourth-of
ID July picnics were abandoned, the cele
90 brations in the great cities were sus
be pended. Here and there flag wave'
mournfully, as though anticipating 1t
~ early hanging at half-mast. 1t was
~ quiet Fourth, 6 sad Fourth, n har'
,ot Fourth. All hearts were touched
,is From that awful day, July 2, until tn
vi dread day in September, when the las
&C summons came to the poor, worn, sui
10 fering President, there was never
~, waking hour but that the thoughts
re our people were with their stricke
lis chief, fighting heroically for life
ar. The Spanish-American war was O.
a hand in 1898. On the third Of tha
Va. July the Spanish admiral Cerverf
made a desperate attempt to escap
IN from Santiago harbor. 1t quickly enc
n ed in a victory for the Americans, !