Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-10-01
A NATIONAL BLUE AND GRAY
REUNION.

IA 4NIAxON&1AA 114S ~ AAA>A~ S~s~A~
REUNION.
1t is certainly to be hoped that
some time before the last or the
gallant armies of blue and gray are
gathered to their fathers, there can
be such a national reunion of both
forces as is now proposed to be held
in Washington in 1911.
Such an event would be fitting
and beautiful thing to round out
the lives Of these. brave men who,
less than half century ago, were
pitted against each other in the
greatest and deadliest war that the
world has ever seen, says the Du-
luth Herald. They learned then to
respect each other, NO matter how
much they differed in belief. They
have learned since that both were
patriot armies, though. one was
wrong and the other was right. Yet
the right won, and it surely would
not be a part of those who stood
with the right to oppose the final
forgiveness and reconciliation, the
official recognition of the clasped
hands that stretched long ago across
the closed abyss Of civil war, that
would be involved in such a reunion
as that which is now proposed. -
II 1911 is too early; If the grizzled
veterans of the two armies do not
think. the time has yet come to
gather in peace and brotherhood as
they once gathered in strife and
hatred; then let the time be post
poned. But we Judge the great
hearts of these veterans more gener-
ously than we should If they are not
ready now, both sides, to participate
in a grand national reunion that
shall show to all the world the final
evidence that the scars OF civil war
are healed, and that this is one
6AOot AoI1OA WILL OAV AoS uANOA
which both Blue and Gray can march
with in unison and brotherly &C
cord.
''Forty-five years ago the Gray
marched and fought under the stars
and bars and the Blue marched I'M
der the spangled banner. Let it be
said that both marched and fought
inspired by patriotism, misguided
and mistaken though one Of these
Grand Armies was. Let it be said
that those that were mistaken were
as honest in their error as the others
were in the Judgment of the right.
Let it be said that these men who
in their youth sought each others
lives shall in their splendid age,
when passing years has toned down
the red fof passion and heightened
the clear white of charity and
brother1y love, seek only the frater-
nal handclasp which proelaims to the
world a united army, with its errors
forgotten and only its courage re-
membered. ~ .s~7eE ~
1t would be fine thing, indeed.
to see the grand armies OF Blue and
Gray mingling together in peace and
unity, fighting over the old battles
In the spirit Of kindly remembrance
aud with none of the spirit of en-
battled bitterness. Just once. before
the resistless hand Of time draws
down the lids upon the dull eyes OF
the serried remnants of these two
armies, let them come = together
again, this time not in the black rage
7 OF sectional warfare. but in the glory
Of united country, of q Union newly
cemented and made stronger than
before. IT, "A. IA ~, s y .s.$ ,'@
BY all means, let this reunion Of
the Blue and the Gray take place
Let the veterans OF the North and
the veterans Of the South pay their
last tribute to each Others undying
fame and to the courage that made
their struggle the fercest in all the
worlds history. Let the Blue and
the Gray bivouac one last time. not
BY the parallel campfires Of oppos-.
ing enemies, but by the glad banner
Of the free embIematic Of q nation
given new birth out Of the red FIRE