Year: 1870




glance even at the many points


which are historic. The very


names, familiar to US as house


hold words, are parts Of an inher-


itance from the dead. Enough,
that during all the long struggle,
they stood the sure defenders of
the city. They faithfully kept


watch and ward over the trust
committed to them. But the end
drew near-the city which they
had so long and so ably defended,
fell at last without u struggle


The war-drums throb5ed no longer,


And the battle flags were furled.


Exhaustion closed the contest.
The war was ovc'': and tender and
loving hands gathered the dead
and laid them to rest here, near
the spots made memorable by
their actions-where the shadow
Of their deeds recorded rest upon
their graves, and the grand ocean
ocean itself hymns their eternal
requiem.


We know them only by their
deeds; only as the soldiers who so
bravely stood between the foe and
our homes. Who can tell of the
homes, which, without them, are
forever desolate-of the hopes
which lie buried in these graves !;
Of the living, whose one life-lon 6
remem brance clings to this spot.
There are unseen thousands whom
you will never know united with
you in the Offices of to-day, whose
stricken hearts are filed with
gratitude for the tender care
which watches over the graves
of the loved and lost.


To the duty of this day We have
added the solemnity of laying the
first stone of a monument which
we trust will stand for all time,
the memorial Of our admiration Of
the deeds and our full sympathy
with the dead. It is not simply
the homage Of the living to the
dead, but the enduring record Of
the judgment Of the present, that
those who lie here died for q cause
in which was laid up the hearts
and hopes Of a whole people.


It is natural to invest with he
roic grandeur the events Of a for
mcr age. "Nothing is truth: no.
thing is sublime in human things,
so long as they are before our
eyes," and we stand too near to
the grand contest fully to realize
significance or appreciate its
events; and yet familiar as are to
US the scenes through which these
passed, we cannot even now recall
them without emotion. Who can
do justice to the spirit Of 81; to
the patriotism, which animating
all, was grandest in the most ten
der, as they hushcd the very
promptings of nature, and armed
for the fight those whom they
would have shielded from harm
with their lives? Who can do
justice to the noble men Of the land?
Not I-hotI. l dare not touch
the theme, I caa but fcebly tell
of the zeal with which the youth,
and hope, and strength Of the
ladd enlisted for its protection,
and of the fidelity with which
they served. How i'll clad, half
fed, i'll shod, day after day they
toi!ed and fought, until the long
years were weary Of the strife,
and the land was desolate with
the carnage Of the battle field
How undauntcd by defeat they
supplied diminished numbers with
increased zeal, resisting all the
temptations Of home, all the al
lurements Of plcasurc-making de-
votion to the cause, the polar star
of their lives, and finally gave live
itself. Recalling these things,
we'll may We stand astoundcd at
the moral grandeur Of the spccta-
Gle and bow in reverence over the
graves of those who realized in &C
tion the highest ideal of heroic
manhood. Theirs was an unselfsh
heroism-no alloy dcbased it's pu-
rity. Their triumphs and trials
were alike unsung. No bulletin |
Of victory preserved their names
for the admiration Of postcrity.-
They were sustained simply by |
the earnest conviction Of right
and let it never be forgotten that
they were the citizens, as we'll as
the soldiers Of the Confederacy. |
Their votes called into existence |
the Government which their arms |
sustained. They had but to will |
that the war should cease and it !
was at an end. But they endured |
faithfully unto the end, and left |
to the world the finest example Of
the sacrifice Of self to principle, |
which history records.


I would not pluck a leaf from
the laurels. so wortbily won and
worn by those whom we all hon
Or. [ would not dctract one title
from the admiration due to the
genius which conceives and the
will which nSecntns tho crnn,,G |