Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-30
At HARMONY CEMETERY
CoLoRED MEMBERS OF GRAND
ARMY HOLD EXERCISES.
Address by Emmanuel M. Hewlett
Participation of Chorus of
Public School Children.

The members of Charles Sumner Post.
No. 0. q. \. r.. with r. D. Goodman in
command assembled at 1ith street and
PENNSYLVANIA avenue at 9:S0 o'clock this
morning. and shortly thereafter a number
of the members accompanied Frederick
Douglass Post, No q. under Commander j.
n Mayne to Arlington. Sumner Post vet
Grams then boarded cars and proceeded TO
Harmony cemetery. Thomas j. Stuart WAS
the adjutant, assisting Commander Good
man. Rear Admiral Charles NJ. Thomas
Camp, L. S. w. v, also went to the ceme-
terry. The graves Of the veterans were
strewn with flowers and decorated with
flags. The national coors were then salutcd
by members of Post and the LIST Separate
Battalion of the National Guard, under
command of Maj. Brooks
The Star Spangled Banner" was sung
by chorus OF school children under tho
direction of Emma Patterson, the audience
joining in the chorus. ASSEMBLY was
sounded by bugler at l1:3O o'clock. after
which the salute to the dead was fired by
a squad from the LIST Separate Battalion.
Chairman Goodman then called the meet
ing to order, and Rev. Albert c. Washing
ton, post chaplain delivered the invocation.
Prof. J. T. Layton led the choir in a mus
ical selection. after which Adjutant Stuart
read Lincoln's Gettysburg address.
Address by E. M. Hewlett.
Commander Goodman read an original
poem, and at the close introduced former
Justice Of the Peace Emmanuel NJ. Hew-
lett, the orator of the day.
Another year has passed, and we are
again assembled to pay homage TO the sa-
cred dead who fought in defense of our
country" the speaker said. And we are
here to express our gratitude to those brave
veterans who are still with us. Many who
were with a year ago have answered the
last roll call and joined the innumerable
throng in the world beyond. Decoration
day, which was once observed by single
organization, is now set apart as ma
tional holiday, and Is observed by Ameri-
cans in all parts of the world where they
reside. In our public institutions of learn
ing only those books are used that give lit
tie or no account of the heroic deeds of the
negro in the different wars in which our
country has been engaged, and ii is on oc-
casions like this that should instruct our
people concerning the negro as a citizen
al the time of the ratification of the articles
OF confederation. before the adoption of our
Constitution, and also Of his patriotism
and bravery, not only in the war of the
rebellion, but also in every war in which
our country has been engaged"
The speaker paid tribute to the mothers,
wives and sisters who willingly gave up
sons husbands and brothers that this might
remain a united country.
Many of the colored veterans. he said.
never knew a mothers love, never had a
fathers care never felt the caress of a
dear sister, never enjoyed the companion
ship of a brother. Cruel slavery had rob
bed them of all of the pleasures of the
family and the home. They remembered
the cruelties of slavery. they remembered
those they had left in bondage, and de-
termned to strike blow that would for
all time seal the fate of slavery He paid a
glowing tribute to the bravery of the col
ored soldiers at Wagner. Port Hudson.
Helena. Mobile, Fort Fisher. Ouluste and
Fort Pillow He spoke of the manhood Of
the colored soldiers in refusing to receive
any pay from the government for over
year, until they were paid the same pay as
white soldiers. thereby establishing their
right to be regarded not expressly as col
ored soldiers. but men. After calling at
tention to the fact that the first blood shed
in defense of this country was that OF
Chrspus Attacks a negro and a runaway
slave. he spoke of many instances in which
the negro had distinguished himself In the
revolutionary war, war of 1872 and the
Spanish American war. The speaker
added
I'm spite of our record as soldiers and
sailors the door of hope at West Point and
Annapolis has been shut in our faces. The
sons of those who fought to destroy the
Union are welcomed where the sons Of
those without whom our cause would have
been lost are not only not welcomed, but
are not allowed. Batte-scarred veterans
are driven from the army in disgrace, when
it is plain to every r-thnking man that
scheme to haraSs the negro and Insist that
he as a soldier shall not be quartered in
some sections of our country. He contend
ed that all the negro had accomplished
citizen was made possible by the herosm
of the negro soldier.
The choir. under Prof Layton. sang an
other selection, and at the close the bugler
sounded taps" The services ended with
benediction, pronounced by Chaplain v ash
ington.