Year: 1877




near Nashville, May


80, 1877.


Mr.. PRESIDENT, FEILoW-sOLDIERs
AND FELLOw-ClTIZENS-I should not
have ventured 10 come here to-day
should nottrust myself to speak in this
presence, il / were conscious of any
sectional or patisan feeling that may
not do honor to a citizen of the Unit
ed States. 1t would be an affectation
in me il should ignore the exception
al circumstance of my coming or fail
10 be guided in the discharge of the
duty you have assigned me by a
recognition of that circumstance.
Herein, it has seemed to me, lies all
that is good or fit in the occasion
which brings US together. "On the
library wall OF one Of the most fam
Gus writers of Americau-I use the
words of one of our most famous
writer's of England-'there hsngs
two crossed swords which his rela-
tives wore in the great War of Inde-
pendence T; the one sword was gallant
Iy drawn in the service of the King,
the other was the weapon of q brave
and hOnOred republican soldier"
The noble service has been given US
to cross in the everlasting peace Of
/ death swords that were crossed In the
death struggle, proud OF the undOnbt-
| ing spirit which carried them in life
proud of the fortitude and courage
which sustained them to the end /;
proud still, though sOrrowful, OF the
tragedy which made them flash the
| proves of our era, our country and
our race throughout the world. The
day will come when the picture OF the
soldier who wore the gray will hang
side by side with that of the soldier
who wore the blue, and be pointed
to with a glow of honest love and
| pride by a common progeny. The
day has already come when the ami
mOsities of war, growing less and less
distinct as the years have passed,
should disappear altogether from the
! hearts of brave men and good wO-
men. / can truly say that each SOL
dier who laid down his life for his
opinions was my cOmra0e, no matter
where he fought.


We are assembled, my country
men, to commemorate the patriotism
and valor of the brave men who died
to save the Union. We stand upon
consecrated ground. In the deep Sc
clusion of this hsllowed spot there is
nothing to disturb the mind or in
flame the heart. The season brings
It's tribute to the scene pays It's
homage to the dead inspires the liv-
ing. There are images Of tranquil
ity all about US in the calm sunshine
upon the ridges ; in the tender shsd-
oWs that creep along the streams in
the waving grass and grain that mark
Gods love and bounty; in the flow
ers that bloom over the many, Tnany
graves. There is peace everywhere
in this land to-day.


peace in the quiet dales,


Made rankly fertile by the blood of men
Peace in the woodland and the lonely glen,


Peace in the peopled wales,


Peace on the open seas,


In all our sheltered bays and ample
Peace wheTe'eT our starry banner CLEANS,


And peace in every breeze


The war is over. 1t is for us to
bury its passions with its dead to
bury them beneath q monument
raised by the American people to
American manhood aud the Ameri-
can system, i'll order that "the Ma
ton shall, under God, have = new
birth of freedom, and that the gov
ernment Of the people, by the people,
shall not perish from the earth"


There IL no one of Us, wore he the
one cloth or the other, come he from
the granite hills of New England or
tue orange groves of the Mississippi
valley, who has not an Interest fer
himself and for his children in the
preservation and perpetuatiOn Of our
republican system. It is reciprocal
as well as a Joint interest and, relat-
ing to the greatest OF human affairs,
il ought to be 8 sacred interest. The
most obstinate Of partisans, the most
untrameied of prOvincials, .cRnuOt ei-
face, still less dispute, the story OF
herOism in war, OF moderation in
peace, which, written i'm letters Of
] living light, will blaze forever upon
our national tablets. The occasion
that brings US here mas this signif-
canoe il il illustrative it tells Us
that we have come to understand
that there could be no lasting peace,
nor real Repubiicanism, whilst any
fraeman's right was abridged, OF sny
patriots grave unhOuOred. Tie free
dom OF each and every State, of each
and every citizen, is at length assured
and there remains nc longer go much
as pretext why the glory OF the past
marked by the graves Of all who fell
| in the battle, should not be the COM
mon property Of the whole people.
/ The old ieuGsl ideas of treason do not
| belong TO the institutions OF our
| epoch. Their intiueuce in public az
| fairs has been hostile TO our national
unity and peace. Our future Is &c be
secured by generous CONCESSIONS for
ours was q war Of mistakes, no OF dis
graces.


| There was an organic question left
/ fatally open by the authors Of our
| Constitution. There was property
interest madly entangled with the
moral nature of the time. There was
no tribunal having power to deter
mine the issue. 1t Is perhaps little to
say that had the people fOreseen all
the consequences they would not
have resOrted to arms but recent ex-
| perienre shows US that they would
I hade made supreme sacrifices for the
sake OF peace. History teaches Us
/ that wars are more or less the subject
| of miseOneeptiOn and ni5chsnce. Il
/ is rare indeed, IL ever, when 81 the
right is on one side and Ril the wrong
on the other. In our case, and take
leave 10 speak for both sides, We have
much TO deplore, nothing 10 make Us
ashsmed Assuredly, the world has
| never seen terms so liberal extended
I to soldiers bsaten In civil broH or
| known such abstinence from san
culinary revenges during the progress
/ OF strife. 1t is necessary TO remind
fno one of the conduct Of Grant and