Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-05-12

tA&o 6BOL I'LL DiCutlC lo athloPiiAtl0
is like a spiritual baptism. Most bless
ed of all, this field is now dedicated to
peace, and may We hope it will be a
peace world without end. This was
exemplified by the fraternal greetings
of the survivors of both armies who
gathered here fifty years after.
My visit to the battlefield of Ante
tam occurred two years later, in the
summer of 1915-a run from Wash
ington to Frederick, part of the way
Oyer the splendid Baltimore pike:
thence on to Boonsboro, where McClel-
Ian camped; thence over the toll road
through the mountains to Antietam
creek, and from there, through the very
heart of the battlefield, on into Sharps-
burg. On the way we passed through Il
village that looked as though taken
bodily out of the days of the Revolu-
ton or out of England. 1t was like q
glimpse of the eighteenth century.
That village cannot have changed since
Mcclellan marched through it on his
way to meet Lee.
Gettysburg and -Antietam mark the
two attempts of Lee to invade the
north, both of them ending disastrous
ly to himself and the Confederacy.
Here the two armies fired across the
brawling creek. All day the fight last
ed. Both were badly hurt, Lee so
much that he withdrew across the riv-
er, Mcclellan failing to follow. Here
are tablets and monuments also, al
though not SO plentiful as at Gettys-
burg. Here also is a national ceme-
terry, on the hill toward Sharpsburg.
BY the way, u southern friends call
this the battle of Sharpsburg, possibly
because their army lay on that side.
We crossed the bridge over which the
fight waged so liercely, or, rather, a
bridge standing in the same place. The
old one, as | remember, is gone. On
the hill is a shaft and beyond this a
road leading to the bloodiest part of
the field. After fifty-three years it is
hard to realize that among these peace
full hills and these old time villages
men of our own race and kindred gave
their lives that we might have peace.
This was the battle that furnished
Lincoln the occasion for issuing the
emancipation proclamation. Thus both
this field and hat at Gettysburg are
linked with the immortal lame of the
great war president.
Arlington | visit frequently, the last
time being two days before this is
written. 1t is a pleasant ride from
NQchin0tnn and ic nnn of fhn most
beautiful spots in America. In it are
buried both Union and Confederate
soldiers, also the bodies taken from
the battleship Maine and soldiers from
the Spanish-American war. Here the
president Of the United States is usual
ly the Memorial day orator.
At Arlington stands the old home of
Robert e. Lee, formerly the property
of George Washington Parke Gusts,
the adopted son Of George Washington.
1t looks directly across the river to
the new Lincoln memorial now being
erected IN the other shore of the Po-
tOmac. Between the two is to stretch
the Lincoln bridge, so Arlington is also
linked to that beloved name. Beyond
rises the tall white shaft of the Wash
ington monument and in the farther
distance the capitol. Arlington is al
most In direct line with the three.
When the lians of Washington are
completed. With great buildings along
the mall sire hing from the capitol to
the monument. the drive along this
mall. past tbn monument and the Lin
coin memorial and thence over the Lin
coin bridge t Arlington will be one of
the most beautiful on the planet. Even
now the view from Arlington looking
across the river to the white towering
shaft and the beautiful city is one OF
the most striking and majestic in the
world, and when all these improve
ments are finished it will be unSur
passed. The soldiers of the republic
could have no more fitting or charmin'
place of rest.
Near to Arlington are Fort Myer and
the immense steel towers. three III
number, of the great wireless station.
The cemetery is on a high hill directly
overlooking the river. On the top is a
wide plateau. Here is the famous
"feld of the dead" where the head
stones stretch away, more than 10000
In number, like a great, silent, white
army. In one grave lie 2,111 unknown
soldiers. The superintendent of the
cemetery, Captain Magoon, who, by
the way, is a brother of Charles e.
MagOon of Panama and Cuba fame,
tOld me an interesting story of the
gathering of these bodies. Rewards
were offered, and the remains were
exhumed from the vicinity of battle
fields and reinterred at Arlington.
From old ravines, where they had
crawled for water and were hence un-
discovered; from bitches, where they
had been hurriedly buried together;
from Bull Run and the route to the
Rappahannock, they came on their last