Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-07-03
THEY DIED NOT IN VAIN.

This is Gettysburg day. Fifty years
ago the invasion Of the north by the
confederate army under Lee failed al
the little eminence which has become
one of the markers of battlefieids de-
cisive of world changes. 1t was the
third day of Gettysburg. At the head
of triumphant army Lee had pierced
we'll toward the heart of northern
state and held a vision of a broken fed
eral army driven back upon Washing
ton and the ultimate fall of the CAPT.
tai of the union. At Gettysburg the
federais had turned desperately at bay
and for two days had held back the
full tide of the confederacy. Lee saw
his vision fading 1t was the high tide
Of invasion. Defeat meant retreat.
Like Napoleon at Waterloo he re-
solved 10 strike audaciously one mighty
and decisive blow. On the night OF the
I'd of July he selected the key position
Of the federal defense whereat to de-
liver Il. Like Napoleon he selected his
household troops to take the hill. the
-old guard" of Picketts virginians and
Tennesseans. men like those who
swarnled upon the British squares at
Waterloo who die but never sur
render
Ali day the battle had surged here
and there across the fields The day
was clear and the sun hot and high.
The dead of the previous two days
lay unburied on the Bloody ground and
in the wheat fields mangled men crep;
and struggled uncared for. AT l o'clock
the hills famed with a mighty can
nonade. An hour later Pickett gave
the order which sent his triple lorna
ton out TO the greatest infantry charge
! in the annals Of warfare. Nearly three
miles in length that magnificent for
! nation moved out as on parade. II
moves steadily into the zone Of fire
closing with precision the gaps cut b?
the terrible and accurately aimed fedora
artillery. With its fight OF skirmishers
flung in front and the massed bastai-
| ions behind them the grim march goes
on and on across an open plain. breaks
at last thru the line of the federals
fights hand TO hand where II crossed
the works and melts like a wave
which had reached its height. But tbs
remnant of the splendid formation tina
had swung out under Pickett pierced
the federal line and died grasping tn
federal cannon. And there died witt
them the hope of the Southern Con
federacv. It is an old story, told again
and again, but these are the storie
TOLD in the twilight that have bred tn
the willingness 20 face death for
great idea Out Of the struggle am
the agony of those three July day
something splendid lives and endures
And the grandeur of the men VIII
struggled and died at Gettysburg il
defense of one idea and III support 0
-
ance lives on in all their race.
There came another day at Gettys
burg A monument was to be dedi
? cate. 70 the memory of the men who's
bodies built an impossible dixie be
tween slavery and human freedom
And to its dedication came a man {
the people, plain, strong and gent
. who spoke a gospel Of peace and pre-
: gress and ultimate reunion above tn
: soil sriIl wet with the blood Of bro;hc:
Z in conflict. Let US resolve said h
' that they have not died in vain"
And now is the answer. Today tt
S green hillsides swarm with the me
: who marched with Pickett in the he
q of that attack and those who line
= the entertainments with Hancock ar
: Meade The sun is shining down as
e did fifty years ago. No dead lie stal
h ing unheedingly toward the sky, I
s trampled wheat. In splendid peace ar
= patriotism, kindly and even loving
It shoulder to shoulder. the veteran
e north and south salute the Great r
public. 1t is more than a reunion
it blue and gray. 1t is the seal and si
le nature of complete national unity.
/ is the answer to Lincoln's plea tn
IS they shall not have died in vain"
= Ave America, Hail democracYi