Milford chronicle., 1924-05-30
Popular Poem Is
to Blue and Gray
New York Attorney Gained
Fame by Tender Tribute
to Fallen Heroes.

nOETS In many lands have reaped
public as well as literary hOnors,
but New York state furnishes the
isolated instances Of a poem which
not only made an upstate lawyer IA
nous, but was the direct means Of
elevating him to a seat on the bench
Of the highest tribunal in the state.
The lawyer was Francis NJ. Finch.
The poem was "The Blue and the
Gray" The place attained by the au-
thor was judge Of the Court Of
Appeals.
With the recurrence Of Decoration
Day there is a revival Of popular
interest in the poem which may be
said to have fOreshadOwed it, begin
ming:
BY the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fled;
When the blades of grave grass CULVER,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead.
Two years before Decoration day
became a holiday, the poem which in
spired it, 1.-THE Blue and the Gray"
was written by Mr.. Finch, then forty
years old, and living in Ithaca, on the
shores of Lake Cayuga. That was in
1867, two years after the close of the
Civil war. The author had been inter-
national revenue collector, but firing
Of official life, he became interested in
Cornell university.
The close of the Civil war found
both sections of the United States
eager and craving for peace. In many
pulpits the favorite text was the
words from Micah: "They shall beat
their swords into plowshares and
their Spears into pruning hooks; ma
tion shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war
any more"
But there were many empty chairs
at family firesides, many missing
faces at the family board, and widows
and orphans everywhere told the story
Of four years of strife, the bitter |
recOllections of which could not |
be appeased by pleasant words or
speeches counseling moderation and |
forgiveness.
Mr.. Finch (uncOnSciously, he after
ward said) struck the popular chord |
and keynote Of reconciliation by ap-
peal to the memory of the dead in
"The Blue and the Gray" published
in the Atlantic Monthly. A national
convention had been held in Philadel-
phia to promote the appeasement of
the two sections, and northern and
southern men (SOuth Carolina and
Massachusetts delegates), walking
arm in arm, had typifed, or attempted
to typify, the general spirit of re-
newed patriotic cOmradeship,
Memorial Day, dedicated to for
getfulness of the wounds of war and
to redecOrating the graves of the fallen
with flowers, at first was observed in
the various states at different times,
but usage soon settled upon May 80,
which has been made a legal holiday !
in most Of the states. This day was
chosen because 1t was the date Of the l
discharge Of the last soldier in the
Union army in the Civil war, which I
ended officially not with the cessation ]
of hostilities, but with the mastering !
out Of the last volunteer soldier on
May 80, 1865. {
The concluding words of "The Blue l
and the Gray" are, perhaps, the ones
best remembered:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day; f
Love and tears for the Blue, #
Tears and love for the Gray. y
Although Mr.. Finch became a pro-
lessor at Cornell after having been a b
awyer Of some note and an office L
holder in the federal services, to the Il Il
public, he was known almost solely y y.
IS the author Of 1.-THE Blue and the -
aray." When, some years later, there 9,
vas vacancy on the Court of Appeals 7,
ench he was nominated for 1t and
lected. His term expired in 1895. He hi
lied in Ithaca in 19O7.-New York in
lines. vi