The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-06-04


its opposite on the day following, while
the many varying fronts and positions
taken by the different commands are
confusing in the extreme.
Last, and best of all, Gettysburg is
worth while to the visitor who cares
to know more of battles than how they
ended-to whom talk of corps and guns
and frontal attacks means headache.
1t is a beautiful place, this great ma
tional park, with its splendid, stately
monuments that stand for patriotism
and the willing sacrifice Of lives-for
that altruism that is love of country.
The record is that but one citizen of
Gettysburg, John Burns, Of those who
We're not in the army before the battle
was fought, took part in it, But the
guides will introduce you to as many
gray-haired men as have leisure in the
town, and every one of them will tell
you how he took his shotgun on that
first July morning and sailed forth
or maybe it was his squirrel rifle. The
squirrel rifle seems to possess an end
less fascination for the fabricator of
war anecdote.
1t is true that the gray-haired old
lady who owned the home which Gen.
Lee made his headquarters refused to
cook meal for him. NO, guess l
didn't cook for any rebel" she indig-
nantly told the reporters who sought
her out the day the cemetery was dedi-
Gated. "They had to do their own
cooking" And Mrs. Tate, wife Of the
proprietor of the Eagle hotel, to which
hosiery Gen. Lee sent an aide-de-camp
to make arrangements for meals for
himself and staff, sent back as spirited
reply. One can imagine the whim-
steal smile on the face of that knightly.
cultured southern gntleman at this eX-
hibition of Il bellcose spirit. 1t was
applaudcu in the North at the time,
and the reporters who covered the dedi-
cation exercises spoke With satisfac
tion at the failure of This rebel high
ness to get what he wanted to eat.
Gettysburg can claim Il place in ev-
cry Memorial Day observation. for it
witnessed the first of them the very
fall of the year in which the battle took
place David Wills of Gettysburg
originated the idea of the first battle
neld national cemetery, out of which
has grown the movement that pre-
serves Antetam, Chickamauga and
Missionary Ridge and that will end in
the parking of the Bull Run battlefield.
Governor Curtin. soon after the fight
ing at Gettysburg, visited the field to
make arrangements for the suitable
burial Of Pennsylvania dead. He left
the matter, when he left. in the hands
of Wills. The latter soon suggested
the purchase of ground adjoining Get
tysburg cemetery and the admission
to this field of the dead buried all over
what is now the battlefield park. He
explained that the soldiers who fell
had been buried in what was arabic
farm land, and which would soon be
made use of again for tillage. He
pointed out, too. that the method Of
burial in many cases had been hasty
and inefficient.
Pennsylvania therefore purchased II
acres of ground and set it aside for the
burial of the Union dead. Other states
whose soldiers had fought at Gettys-
1,11pr To nf
They responded cordially, and also con-
tributed toward the expense of pre-
pairing the cemetery. Then a program
was arranged for its dedication.
Edward Everett, selected as the ora
tor of the day. fixed the date of his con-
venience as November 10. At that time
the bodies of Ills Union soldiers had
been placed in the new cemetery. The
work of transfer was rapidly going for
ward. Those who attended the dedi-
cation exercises and who walked about
the field describe it as strewn with i'm
fmpedimenta Of an army; uniform
clothing hats, caps. belts bayonets,
broken wagons, ragged remains Of
tents, while in the town was big col
lection Of shells and mimic balls. There
were few shells still scattered about
here and there that had not been COL
lected Some Of them had not burst,
and the visitors gave them wide
berth.
The news dispatches of the day tell
Of $4,000 people coming to Gettysburg
for this occasion. President Lincoln,
members of his cabinet and the COVER
nors of several states arrived the night
before, and Secretary Seward made a
speech that evening, on being serenad-
ed. November IS Gen. Couch held a
review of the 1000 soldiers who had
been detailed to attend.
On the platform with Lincoln, on
the day Of dedication, were the fol.
lowing war governors: Curtin, Penn
sylvania; Seymour, New York; Brough
Ohio; Morton, Indiana; Coburn, Maine
Parker, New Jersey; Bradford, Mary
land, and eX-Governors Tod and Den
nison of Ohio. There was William San
ders Of Washington, landscape gar
dener, racterized by one reporter as
"a rural architect" who planned tho