Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-05-26
JOIN IN MEMORIAL
TO BLUE AND GRAY
SUCH is HOPE EXPRESSED BY
MAJOR ISAAC BRoWNWELL
CROWN AT PETERSBURG.
SCENES ENACTED THERE, INsPI
RATIoMs TO CONTRIBUTE TO
FERPETUITY OF REPUBLIC,

Petersburg, Va, May 20.-Upon the
occasion of the unwilling of the monu-
men, to the third division, of the
ninth army corps of the federal army
here yesterday, Major Isaac Brownell
Brown eutogized the men of both the
blue and the gray and expressed the
hope that the government of the
United Statess, and all the states of
the American union may, in a fra
ternal and loyal spirit, unite in the
building of joint monument to the
confederate and union soldiers (which
shall be commensurate with the great
sacrifices and the unsurpassed BRAY
cry which characterized the American
soldiers in the great siege of Peters
burg"
Here, near Petersburg" familiar
phrase of old war time days." said
Major Brown, upon the sacred soil of
old Virginia, made forever halloWed
in the unprecedented clash of arms
and the shedding of American blood,
do two great commonwealth extend
fraternal greetings. Looking back
ward; not in bitterness, not in re-
sentiment, but in pathos and venera-
tion-in tears for the sacrifices OF
their chivalric sons, and in veneration
and pride for their limitless valor
Yes, reverently do we obey the com.
man6 to look backward when it is
given in the name of American blood
and American bravery, but in all else
our thoughts are of the future; our
enterprises, our energies our ambi
promising future wherein we look fol
the advancement, the uplifting and
the greater instrumentality for good
OF this reunited American republic"
There was pathos, said Major
Brown, in the signing of the pines
grown to great dimensions on the
time-uorn Notifications, for elo
quently and sweetly do they sound q
requieum for those whose blood Grim
soned the soil on which they grew
The feathered tribes f1utter through
their branches, carol their songs
build their nests, and rear theil
young, as joyfuly as though peace ha6
here dwelt in these habitations, unmo
Tested, for a thousand years. Thus
does nature, sublimely and sweetly, in
her rhythm of music and in her pro
cesses, furnish an example of peace
on earth, good will towards men
worthy of our emulation, and in this
almost divine spirit are here not, in
their old age. these survivors of the
great confederate and union armies
and in this meeting bless our coun
try and our posterity in commemo
rating the valor of the American sol
der. Pen, he declared, never could
portray, songs Of poets or eloquence
of Sages describe, the campaigns be
tween the army of the Potomac an(
Lees army of Northern Virginia il
the struggle for supremacy around
the beleaguered city of Petersburg
1T was fierce, prolonged, unprece
dented siege, in which the valor o
men was put to its most crucial test
a struggle covering ten seemingl!
endless months-a death grapple-s
test for supremacy wherein human
lives seemed but atoms of dust anC
scarcely considered in the plans o
carnations
Into such a siege, in the fall O
1864, said Major Brown, appeared the
banners of six Pennsylvania regi
ments, whose survivors were nov
gathered around the monument
erected by their commonwealth. Be
coming the third division of the nintl
corps, Major Brown said those regi
merts were reserved and were sen
rapidly from place to place as neces
sity required and thus rendered serv
ice in nearly all the territory EN-
braced within the great siege. 81
pierced the darkness of Stedman'!
carnage to meet. to check and to re
spulse the last grand offensive move
ment of Lees army of northern Vir
ginia. Here it fought in the pres
ence of Abraham Lincoln. Here i
met the flower of the confederate
army as it came surging through the
broken embellishments of Fort Sted
man, and, like a resistless avalanche
passed on to sever the army of the
Potomac in twain. Here it won fame
and its conduct in the grand pictur
esque array in the final assault for the
recapture of Stedman, was mos
highly commended by the great liter
airy chieftaius.'
Major Brown congratulated the sol
tliers of the third division that the!
had lived to see the day and NEE
with each other again on such a sa
cred spot. How meaningless would
this obelisk be-" he said, "had thu
men who fought here not been anon:
the bravest of the brave?" No elias
sic. no anthem of praise. no encomiun
of glory. no Athenian panegyric 70
heroism on the fields of Marathon. h
declared. could too strongly accentu