Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-08-31

are incased in glass and given a place
in the new capitol.
From time to time the adjutant gen
eral referred to the deposit with him
at the arsenal of the flags of other
regiments from year to year In 1890
Adjutant General Alexander again re-
verified to the subject of removal of the
flags to the state house. He said in
his report to Governor Larrabee:
The old battle flags should be taken
to the capitol and Theoretically sealed
in glass cases. None of them should
ever again be permitted to be taken
from the place selected to keep them.
Several of the old regiments that have
had their flags at their reunions have
seen the necessity of taking better
care of these precious treasures, and
are willing to forego the pleasure of
annually gathering under their folds,
to the end that measures may be TAX.
en- to make their preservation more
certain.
II the war records and the office
having charge of them are to be ex-
Guided from the new capitol at least
last legislature made small appropri-
alton to repair the arsenal and make
the grounds more presentahle, but so
strong Is tbs sentiment among the vet
Grams of the state for removal to the
new building that no attempt has been
made toward it's expenditure.
Authorized Removal of Flags.
The twenty-third general assembly
Is said to have unanimously passed a
resolution authorizing the removal Of
the flags to the capitol. But the rec
ord of the action disappeared some
way or other and in the year following
1891, Adjutant General George
! Greene reporting to Governor Boies,
begs to renew most earnestly and en-
phatically the recommendation of his
predecessor that the old battlefags
| should be taken to the capitol build
| ing. He uses the Identical language of
General Alexander in supportinf this
proposition.
General Greene in his report of 1898
had the pleasure of announcing the
passage of the law authorizing the
housing Of the flags at the new capI-
tol.
Impressive Ceremony.
And so, on August 10, 1894, amid a
great concourse of people, among
whom 10000 old soldiers were con
sIicuous the battle flags were tender
ly borne from the arsenal to the state
house and there deposited in the cases
In which they have rested during the
eleven years succeeding The cere-
mony never will be forgotten by those
interested In it. The soldiers monu-
ment was then in course of compile
ton and the legislature had at last ar
ranged to call into the state house the
adjutant generals department with it's
wealth of records of the veterans of
the war. For thirty years the flags
had been hidden in the old arsenal a
few had been in private museums and
some were treasured as gold in the
homes Of veterans. Now all the flags
borne by Iowa soldiers during the war
except those which had been left in
the south, had been brought together
and with appropriate ceremonial were
deposited in the capitol, there to re-
main for the observation of genera
tons to come.
The men who carried the flags in
battle carried them from the arsenal
to the state house; think of their emo
tons as they again grasped tie stand
ards and felt the thrill Of the living
flag as the breeze filled its folds
above. Fathers were there whose sons
had died holding aloft these colors:
the crowds parted that they might
touch the sacred flags. In the hearts
of mothers was again pictured the
scene of carnage when their sons fell,
WI
blinded by their sorrow Men and
women turned to face the past that
day; and there were no cheers. From
Fifth street to the capitol and in the
corridors of the splendid public TEN.
pie there was silence only broken by
the cadence of the drums-the same
drums, the same fifers, that thirty
years before had set the blood surg
ing through the veins of the musket
men. Hon Charles Aldrich, who has
written the brief history of Flag day
for the state publication, has referred
to the minor chord which touched ev-
cry heart on that occasion.
Harper to Preside.
The ceremony of Wednesday morn
ing will be as impressive The Ma
tional Guard soldiers will be formed
on either side of the main stairway at
the capitol and down to and around
the rotunda Of the main floor The
details from the regiments will march
down between these lines with the
colors and form about the platform in
the center of the rotunda Immediately
beneath the dome. The government
Indian band will play slow march
during the descent of the color bear.
ers with the flags. The colors will be
retained by the bearers during the
short ceremony at the rotunda.
Commander S. H. Harper of the de-
partment of Iowa G. A. R., will be the
presiding officer. Rev A. L. Frisbie
will pronounce the invocation. Gen.