Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1906-07-13
SOLDIERS STORIES.
ENTERTAINING "REMINISCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account of Stirring Scenes
Witnessed on the Battlefield and in
Camp-Veterans of the Rebellion Re-
cite Experiences Of Thrilling Nature.

Camp-Neterans of the Rebellion Re-
cite Eek periencss of Thrilling Nature.
Forty years" said the Captain,
"have brought about great changes in
the observance of Decoration or Me
mortal day. | can remember the first
decoration of the graves of Union sol
diers in our old home n~eighbOrhood in
1866. This was purely a local affair.
1t was suggested by no II in authori-
ty, and there were no rules laid down
for the ceremonies. The men and
women of the township met with baS-
kets of flowers and they covered the
graves Of Union soldiers with blossoms
from the woods and from the home
gardens.
THE celebration was not what the
originators supposed it would be. The
scenes in the little cemeteries or about
the Isolated graves were he~nrt-rendinG.
There was the bitterest of grieving.
There We're unexpected meetings of
mothers who had lost sons at Amber
sonville; meetings Of women who had
worn black for five years for o kill
ed at Bull Run with women who had
worn black only since the last year of
the war, and there was SO much eX-
element, people became so wrought up,
that the committee in charge seriously
considered the prCpriety of not having
another Decoration Day.
But when the Grand Army took up
the matter in 1868, when the day be-
came n~ationaliZed, as it were, and
there were memorial o~bservances
| throughout all the Northern States,
the spirit of the movement changed
somewhat. The old soldiers came to
the front as organizers and directors,
and there was more dignity, less griev-
ing, and less bitterness, but ven Oh
Decoration Day, 1868, l can remember
well there We're scores Of scenes that
gave the cemetery at Columbus, Ohio,
the aspect of Il general funeral. There
was then no clarifying Of the living
| soldiers, but grieving, honest, bitter
grleving, for those who had lost their
lives in the service. The change from
this idea of Memorial Day came slow.
! ~, and it was not entirely displaced in
Chicago until after 1874.
THE change came, however, and we
gravitated year by year toward the
broader significance. The little girls
! and the young women who scattered
the flowers came gradually, On theii
W instinct, to take a ~reverential atti
tude toward the living soldiers. So II
came about that the memorial exer
cises took tone from the presence OF
men who had been in battle honorine
the men who had fallen in battle
Pride succeeded bitterness, and charity
took the place Of hatred. After ali
however, the approachment IF Union
fists and C~onfederates could not b.
forced. W..
"Men on both sides were sensitive
and regarded any coming toward then
of their old enemies with suspicion.
remember one case in particular in til
early sos. The ex-Confederates o
Chicago had decided that year to dec
crate the graves of their comrades a
Oakwoods. They went there, a small
band, a score or more, as against til
thousands of men in blue honoring tn
men who wore the blue. Among ther
was James B. Cable, who had serve
with his brother, George w. Gable, in
Confederate cavalry regiment. He dc
scribed to me afterward the LONELINESS
Of that little band of devoted Confed
crate soldiers standing alone in wha
was to them a strangers land, inyitin
no Syrprafhy- o1,f,al oOait,cf n nv iI,tr1I
sion, determined to do their own honor
ing of their dead in their own way.
"After the ex-Confederates had sal
their last word and had sung their las
song and stood uncovered with bowe
heads, waiting for some one to dismis
them, they heard the steady, regula
step of trained soldiers coming towar,
them. They heard the mufiied tap of
drum. Raising their heads, they look
ed with indignant eyes at a movin;
column of veterans in blue coming to
ward them, flags flying, band ready Il
play. At that moment it seemed t
them unwarranted intrusion upol
what to them was holy ground, bu
they waited.
1.-The soldiers of the Grand Arm,
came forward, marching in column o
fours, as they had marched III war
moving steadily toward the little grou]
of C~onfederates in civilian dress. Hat
they said II word they would hav,
broken the spell, but, seeming to real
lie how the ex-CSafederates felt, the,
halted one moment, saluted, and on,
man, stepping forward. dropped a eros
of flowers on a Confederate grave
Then, without II word spoken, with
out tender of sympathy. the column
moved N.
"Mr. Cable and others said that wa
the most touching manifestation Of sol
dierly appreciation and respect tina
they had ever seen. 1t touched then
deeply. Three of them told the stor,
to me with tears in their eyes. I'he In
cident made a common ground 70
meeting. After that the men VIII
wore the blue and the men who wor
the gray came together. making no eS
plantations, asking no favors, but eS
pressing a soldiers respect for sol
diers. That was the beginning. an,
out of it came other o~bservances whic
made it possible for Unionist and Cor
federate TO meet in the same cemeter
and pay honor TO the same dead.
' 49,. 49,