The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-06-14
WAR STORIES.
Striking Works Of Art on our Historic Bat.
tle.EieldS.

WitNn the last half dozen wears
isre&t sums of money have been ex
pended By many States Of the Union
IN the erection of memorial monu,
meats TO their soldier dead on various
historic battleficlds. The work is
still going on, and the Government is
doing much to help, SOL 300 being
S5tven by Congress, recently in one
dump to pay for suitable cenotaphs in
fhoner oE regular army organizations
which fought at Gettysburg. Mean
while the great fighting ground at
'Chickamauga, now q national park, is
i.5etting to be thickly sprinkled with
works Of art in imperishable granite
;xud bronze, which record the deeds Of
Gloth Y MON and Confederate troops,
;acd the same sort of patriotic enter
r7rise IS being manifested at Antie-
tax, at Yicksburg, and at the fields of
sShiloA
The frest monuments on any of
spur battleGelds are now being put up
;Et Nicksburg. One of them, erected
fay the State of IlliLo ois, at cost Of
1900 GOO, is of granite and bronze.
It has the form of temple, nearly
r:irc ular, 4S feet in diameter at the
feaee and So feet high, with sort of
Eaorch upheld by columns. Another,
tay iowa, is equally beautiful in its
way, consisting of half circle Of COL
1umns, with elaborate decorations, in
aoluding tablets. The fighting ground
."t Hicksburg is on bluff, $50 feet
:akove the river, and it's most striking
Feature geographically is ridge on
>which the Confederate works and bat
Geries were situated.
At Antietam, (Sharpsburg,) which
sssw the hardest days fighting of the
sciVil war, 10000 men being killed on
Doth sides, all Of the Northern States
sthst were represented by troops are
erecting monuments. Not long ago
eOhio dedicated ten such memorials 70
her regiments. in one bunch on that
@eld. Perhaps the most interesting
of them was huge granite block with
% bronze tablet which represented, in
quasi pictorial fashion, boy making
coffee at camp fire. The boy was
William Mckinley, at that time II
syears old, who, finding nothing else SO
Euseful for him to do, spent his time
during the battle in preparing great
quantity of the hot and stimulating
beverage, go tha! !. nigh. Be ready
Gor the worn out soldiers after the
esght was over. It was typical of his
athoughtfulness for others-a trait
dominant in his character through
laife.
The States have spent over 81, ,0OO,-
COCO for regimental monuments at Get
asysburg, where the work has been
agoing on for twenty-five years. In
Fzaest instances where suoh memo.
SSial was to be put up the State has
contributed certain amount Of money
uand the survivors Of. the regiment
. eaaye furnished the balance. Origi.
snaly the battlefield park at Gettys.
ssSrg was controlled by private indi-
sviduals, who bought pieces Of land
sand erected shafts or other commemo-
srative structures upon them; but all
*Df this property has now passed into
FEhe hands of the Government The
ssaoney. recently appropriated by Con-
agrees vii; go much further than an
J, ;sequsl amount expended by organiza-
I Gions, because monuments, like any
sahing else, are cheaper by the guam
! Gity. Furthermore, the Government
Saemorials are likely to be better artis-
'ticsily and more tasteful, "A special
saommission will choose the designs,
| .ans the Secretary Of War. will give
.Eaai decision upon them.
uhaae hundred and sixty Union
j segimehssasad batteries were engaged
an the fight dt Gettysburg, and to-day
sAey are represented by $50 monu-
saents costing from 5000 up to s4O,-
500. One Of the most. costly Of the
ssenotaphs vas erected by New York.
Ehe speotacle presented by the his
saeric ,6eid is extraordinary, and for
.aigner- overlooking ita sprinklipg Of
granite eshdfes might mistake it for q
Dssammedan cemetery, sofrsquently,
docs the crescent appear 40 . design
carved ia stone. The crescent was
fths emblem Of Gen. Howard . 11th
4 .eorpH. I'm 70 the nraaant time sha