Year: 1877




1t is, according to our Christian faith,
that there will come resurrection time to
alAthese sleepers. So mote it bel But may
we not hope that to our nation the resur-
rection time has come. Out of these
graves should come the inspiration to
new national life The new age of the
republic should be better than the old
age, good as that may, have have been.
We have started on q new century in our
nations life, with the gates of Janus
closed. May they never more open to the,
chariot wheel of war; Let education be-
come universal among all classes. Let
pure religion bind our hearts about the
altars of our God. Let the motto ever be,
1.-The Union it,. must and shall be pFeserv-
ed" But let US have a. Union worth pre-
serving. Do you ask, whyP answer be-
cause it makes Of us nation on whose
glory stands our self-respect. The great
sections have no natural divisions.
The East needs the West, the West
the East the North needs the South
and the South the North. For hundred
years the Union has weathered the
storm. In war and peace she has gone
forward, and that completed cycle is pro-
| phetic of a hundred cycles more. If as
people we are true to humanity and true
to Gods great laws, the Union of States,
the Union of compacted and cenented
people may stand for ages to come. We
can not afford to dash this hope of the
world to the ground and then turn and
weep over the ruins of an empire we
might have saved. We have one of the
Oldest of governments. France, Germa-
ny and Italy have made recent changes,
and in their present form are younger than
we. With us iti no longer an experiment.
We know that a republic can endure.
| While the Mississippi pours its waters to
the Gulf, the South and the North have a
bond in common. You may throw across
that mighty stream barriers of iron and
granite and dam up the waters, but their
power would accumulate and burst the
barriers away sooner or later. Symbol,
Dye proud waters of mighty stream,
our nations power, as like a belt of
steel thou bindest fast the two great Sec
tions of North and South into one peace
ful and loving motherhood!


The united nation means prosperity
development of mine and forest and field.
II means culture, wealth and religion; it
means all that makes us great as people.


For this cause these men gave up life,
home and all. And we are bound in new
bonds about their dust to preserve the
union of States forever. We come to ex-
press our gratitude and to offer the tribute
of our hearts. We come in the name Of
the mother to lay the wreath of flowers on
the grave of a son; we come in fond sis.
ter's name to decorate the grave of deal
brother; we come in the name of the wife
and the maiden to place our floral offer.
ipgs over the loved and the lost.


"They sleep their last sleep,


They have fought their last battle,


No sound can awake them to glory again"


Every soldier who gave his life in thu


war for the Union has q monument in
deed, and o, what monument! Tha
monument is our country and its institu
tions. The land we call our own is wha
, It is to-day because men died to save
from the hands of the spoiler.


Sleep on, then, ye brave men! Th
} evergreen wreath symbols your immortal
ity; the bnght flowers speak our love; tn
, solemn strains of the band and the bea
, of the mufaed drum declare our sorrowfu


reverence. We inseribe anew your name
} on the scroll of fame, and seek to impres
( upon the hearts of the young thoughts G
? your valorous deeds.


) Standing by our dead to-day, let u
/ VOW to be tIuer to all the virtues tina
l make nation great. Let US bow to tn
t behests of Providence, have sympathy an
, respect for each other as people, and Il
s Us build better temple to liberty an
Q guard it with dearer love. Then
! Cover them over, the brave and the true
Cover them over, the boys of the bluel
/ | Husband and brother, father and lover,


| Cover them over cover them over
Cover them over, the brave and the true
: Cover them over, our boys OF the blue!
i Cover them over with sorrow and weeping,


Cover the dust that lies here in our keeping,
t Cover the youthful, and cover the old;


Cover with flowers of crimson and gold.


Cover them over, the brave and the true!
Cover them over our men of the blue!


Cover them over with fragrance and beauty,


Cover the hnshed hearts that shrank not fro


duty,


o Men of the battle field CHASTITY and CORY,
g Cover them over these men in their glory


Cover them over, the brave and the true,
: Cover them over, our army of blue!
: o. men of nation in darkness and danger,
= Sick, bleeding and dying in land of the strange
Our fond hearts shall cherish love that is trl
4 blue.


\ And long as that banner shall symbol our pride
u Wen garland the graves OF our heroes that die
i o, men of the nation o, men of the blue!
L Gut from the heart comes requiem for you
|
The shout of the millions; One nation are wei
; No more may wars reveille open the day.
: But peace weave the chaplet forever and aye.


Peace, peace to your ashes o men of the blu
Over each mound falls our love like the dew.
3 Round you we gather this day in our pride
= With honor to all who for country have died
Z Sleep, sleep till the waking time calls to arise
: And join with our army OF, blue in the skies.
, Other exercises followed, and it W
: well into the night before all the visito
b had returned to the city.


The presence of detachments of Il
= Third, Thirteenth and Sixteenth Reg
< ments of United States Infantry was CO
b spicuous on the occasion, and to Il
commanding officers the Grand Army a
. indebted for many courtesies and atte
Q tions that aided to pass the day appr
o priately and aRreeably.