Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1913-07-15
Echoes From Gettysburg.

4
morning of July T. was wig wagaed acros
the battle field to the Confederate batter
les on Seminary Ridge Peace on enth
good will to men,
From station on Seminary Ridge, a
the head of the Virginia camp. was wig
wagged the reply, GLORY to God in til,
highest y
Then from Little Round Top cam,
back Let US have peaIe-Grant.
The response from Seminary Ride
was Duty, the subimest word ia ths
English language Lee"
Il was an interesting exercise by mem
bers of the United States Veteran Signal
Corps Association, which had It's annual
meeting and reunion on the field.
| Gen. Daniel E. Sickles paid visit to
the Southern camp aud met many men
who were in the army opposing him at
Gettysburg so years ago.
| July 3 a remnant of Pickett's men
marched over the ground where they
| charged fifty years ago to Bloody
Angie Ahead of them marched band
and well down the column was a faded
Confederate flag, its red field pierced
with many holes. It's cross-bars dim and
its shaft celored with the sweat of many
a man who had died that it might fiy
high IN thatlast desperate effort to pierce
the Union lines.
Up to the very edge OF the stone wall,
covered now with tangled vines, shaded
by trees and peaceful as a summer lane,
they marched in the hot sun while the
band played Dixie
The blue line formed behind the wall
Over their heads loated faded stand
ard OF the Second Army corps. Behind
them were the statues of the Phiiadel-
phia brigade and the Fourth United
States Artillery Battery, where General
Armlstead is said to have died in the
midst of the guns. killed, the histories
say. by shot fred by its dying COM
| mander. Lieutenant Cushing.
AS the men in gray formed in long
line facing the wall the Stars aud Bars
and the flag of the Second Corps were
| crossed in amity; the Stars and Stripes
was uufuried and the crowd that came to
watch burst into cheer. Representa-
tive ]. Hampton Moore, of Pennsylvania,
made long speech and MAJOR Bentley
answered him on behalf OF the South.
The veterans in gray were given a
medal provided by John Wanamaker.
| They crowded over the stone WALL shook
hands AID the charge was over.
Speaker Clark commended the senti.
ment of Vlce-President Marshall that
only in America could there be witnessed
the scene of once bitter foes clasping
hands in brotherly love fifty years after
they had fought each other, and he re-
called that IT took England $50 years to
get around to the point of erecting a sta
tue to its greatprnce. Oliver Cromwell. :"
President Wilson entered the big tent
between two veterans-one Union and
one Confederate. 1t was symbolic of the
great peace gathering, and as the Presi-
dent and the two aged veterans walked
across the platform to the speakers table
a round of cheers broke loose. The vet
| Grams escorted him to his chair and then
4 \ l..
Col. Andrew Cowau, of Louisville,
KY, Grand Commander of the G. A. r.,
who was captain of the Ist New York
Battery in the battle of Gettysburg. in
addressing the gathering said; 1T is
hard to control my emotions when | re-
call this battlefield fifty years ago.
"Pickett's brave men were IN full re-
treat and we were holding the ground in
the angle. Beyond the Emmittsburg
road was thickly strewn with their dead
and wounded and cur own.
Over there on Cemetery Ridge stands
today an equestrian statute of Gen. George
G. Meade, the great commander OF the
Army of the Potomac, facing Seminary
Ridge. Does he look for Hills 10000
brave men and Plckett's 5000 gallant
Virginians to return, or does he look for
the peerless leader of the southern army2
Gen. Robert E. Lees life-like statute
mounted on his famous war horse
"TraveleI" will soon be placed on she
pedestal already reared by V.rginians on
Seminary Ridge to receive 1t. The
forms OF the two great commanders on
the battlefield of Gettysbury will then
stand tccing each other while time en-.
dures.
"B=hind Us a little way in the clump
of trees is monument which marks the
high tide of this bottte6eid. THIS grand
celebration of the fiftieth anniversary OF
the batt'e of Gettysburg marks a high
tide of peace between the north and the
south, which shall never recede while
Americans love liberty and the Union.
The corner stone o. monument will be
laid on Put-in-B Bay Island in commemo
ration of the centennial of Perry's vic
tory over the British fleet on Lake Erie
such monuments possess an indlvid
ual value which cannot be measured b,
what they cost. Teach the young Amer
!. icans to believe that and we can have q.
fears for the future of our country.
''ohonld not peace monument b
raised on this battlefield of GETTYSBURG
. q monument ID commemoration of thi
union between the soldiers who Tough
! for different principles and fought brave
ly from 1861 to 1865, by aud throug
I which has been forever established tina
this nation under God shall not perish.
III ssUa ch0sttd htor1,fxz H.