USA > New York > History of the Ninth Regiment N.Y.S.M. -- N.G.S.N.Y. (Eighty-third N. Y. Volunteers.) 1845-1888 > Part 62
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There is, however, one suggestion which dominates my thought at this hour, to present which I ask brief indulgence. Of all the martial virtues, the one which is per- haps more characteristic of the truly brave is the virtue of magnanimity. "My fair- est earldom would I give to bid Chan Alpine's chieftain live," was the noble senti- ment attributed to Scotland's magnanimous monarch, as he stood gazing into the face of his slain antagonist. That sentiment, immortalized by Scott in his musical and martial verse, will associate for all time the name of Scotland's king with those of the great spirits of the past. How grand the exhibitions of the same generous impulses that characterize the victors upon this memorable field !
My fellow-countrymen of the North, if I may be permitted to speak for those whom I represent, let me assure you that in the profoundest depths of their nature they reciprocate that generosity with all the manliness and sincerity of which brave men are capable. In token of that sincerity, they join in consecrating for annual patriotic pilgrimage these historic heights, which drank such copious draughts of American blood, poured so freely in discharge of duty, as each conceived it, a Mecca for the North which so grandly defended it, a Mecca for the South which so bravely and persistently stormed it. We join you in setting apart this land as an enduring `monument of peace, brotherhood, and perpetual union. I repeat the thought with additional emphasis, with singleness of heart and of purpose, in the name of a com- mon country and of universal human liberty, and by the blood of our fallen brothers, we unite in the solemn consecration of these battle-hallowed hills as a holy, eternal pledge of fidelity to the life, freedom and unity of this cherished republic.
I am honored to-night in being selected to introduce one of the distinguished representatives of that spirit of magnanimity of which I have spoken. I present to you a soldier without fear, reproach or malice ; a soldier whose blood was spilled, and whose body was mained, though then but a boy, while he bravely and gladly obeyed his country's commands. I introduce to you a statesman whose services are distin- guished, and whose record is stainless. I introduce to you a patriot whose extended hand and generous heart are ever open to all his countrymen. Soldier, statesman, patriot, I present them all in the person of General-Governor James A. Beaver, of Pennsylvania.
The introduction of Gov. Beaver and the glowing tribute that was paid him as soldier, statesman, and patriot was the signal for another outburst of applause and three hearty cheers. The Governor stood resting on his crutches just behind a scroll bearing the immortal words of Lincoln's Gettysburg speech, and the national monu- ment itself, at whose dedication those words were uttered, looked down upon the gathering from a little distance. In his address of welcome, Governor Beaver said
Men who wore the Gray : I have been commissioned by my comrades of the Society of the Army of the Potomac-men who wore the blue-to address you in their behalf a few words of simple and sincere welcome. I might content myself with expressing the cordial feeling which prompted the invitation in obedience to which you are here as our guests to-day. Those who commissioned me to speak for them, as well as you, will, however, expect something more. It is perhaps due to them, to you, and to the country at large, which views with interest the unique spectacle which we present, that something more should be said in order that it may be seen and understood of all men that we can talk frankly and fully of what has passed, while we enjoy the present and resolutely and unitedly face the future. A gener-
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ation ago we lived together as citizens of one country, subject to the provisions of a compact which had been made three-quarters of a century before by our fore- fathers. In accordance with what you considered its fair and just interpretation, and the agreement being itself, as you supposed, inadequate to protect you in certain rights of property, you determined to annul it so far as you were concerned ; to with- draw yourselves from the binding force of its provisions, and to erect a separate and independent government, based for the most part upon the same principles, but pro- viding for the rights of property and your views of interpretation. There was more or less of intense feeling involved ; and yet I think I speak the words of truth and soberness when I say that so far as we were concerned there was nothing of personal animosity or bitterness or hate involved in the contest.
My own case is that which will, doubtless, illustrate many, many similar ones. My mother lived in Pennsylvania. She had three boys who wore the blue. Her only sister, and the only other child of her father, lived in Virginia. Her three boys wore the gray. They served in the army of Northern Virginia ; we served for the most part in the Army of the Potomac. Our deadly shots were aimed at each other in many battles of the War in which these two armies confronted each other. Did that fact, think you, obliterate the love which those sisters hore to each other, or that which animated their sons? Nay, verily. On our side the war was one of principles, of abstract ideas largely. On your side we admit, with your views of what was to be expected in the future, your property rights and private interests were directly involved ; and hence the more intense feeling and ardor which you displayed. It is sufficient for our present purpose that the sword, to whose dread arbitrament you had submitted, decided against you, and that your representative and ours so agreed at Appomattox. The questions involved are now no longer at issue; that issue was settled and settled forever. The judgment of the court of last resort was pronounced. Your representative-honorable man that he was-accepted it for you. You as honor- able men have stood by and are bound to stand by the decision. We as honorable men are bound to see to it that that decision is respected, and that you shall not be called upon to admit more or to promise more than is involved in the decision.
Upon this platform we meet here to-day. Upon this platform we stand as citizens of a common country. In standing upon it we claim no superiority over you : you achinit no inferiority to us. If such a feeling struggled for a place in our hearts, the issues of this field should determine that question. You are our equals in courage, our equals in perseverance, our equals in intelligence, our equals in all that constitutes and dignifies and adorns the American character. You are Americans, and so are we. The men and the women who remained in the rear, who took no immediate and active part in the contest on your side and on ours, have more to say about the decision and what is involved in the decision, and are more determined and outspoken in their demands, than are we. They are doubtless trembling lest something should be said or done here to-day which may unsettle the decision of the sword and annul its stern decrees.
But, my countrymen, our care need not be as to the past. Its record is made up, its decrees are recorded, its judgment is final. You and I have something to do with the future. Our faces are to be resolutely turned to the front. I see a grand future for my country. Do I say my country ? Your country, our country, North and South. Oh, my countrymen of the gray and of the blue, and you, young men, who wore neither gray nor blue, these are the questions about which we should be concerned ;
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and because the consideration of these questions is pressing and imminent, we who wore the blue have invited you men who wore the gray to join us here on this historic field. We welcome you because we need you. We welcome you because you need us. We welcome you because we together must enter in and possess this future and transmit this heritage to the on-coming generations. Are we ready ? Are you ready ? If so, let the dead past bury its dead.
[A repetition of mingled cheers and yells followed this masterly address. After reading a telegram from Mrs. Geo. E. Pickett, regretting her inability to be present, and in which she echoed the sentiments of loyalty uttered by the speakers, General Sickles introduced General Charles E. Hooker, of Mississippi, who was selected to respond to Governor Beaver's address, in place of Chaplain McCabe, of Richmond, Va. General Hooker said :]
Mr. President : Since I came upon the stand you have invited me to fill the place of the gentleman to whom was assigned the pleasant duty of responding to the eloquent address of welcome just pronounced by Governor Beaver, of Pennsylvania, to the guests you have invited to be present at this reunion of the Army of the Potomac.
The broad and catholic spirit of the resolutions introduced by the honored presi- dent of this meeting, General Sickles, to the men of the Confederate army to meet you on this hard-fought battle-field of the war between the States, has prompted my pres- ence here, and brought many of the veterans on either side together in amicable re- union.
Had it been left to the brave officers and men engaged in the war, peace and quiet, reunion, and cordial fraternization would long since have been established.
No saying is nearer the truth than that of General Scott at the beginning of the war, that " it would take an army to restrain the non-combatants after the war was over."
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Mr. President, it is not the first time in the history of the English-speaking people that Anglo-Saxon blood has been shed by Anglo-Saxon hands. The love of liberty, >devotion to home rule, and community independence has ever been the ruling trait in the Anglo-Saxon race, It displayed itself when the barons assembled on the banks of Runnymede and extorted from King John the Magna Charta of freedom. It again came to the front when our ancestors made " The Declaration of Rights," and again when they passed " The Bill of Rights," and again when our revolutionary sires met at old Independence Hall in the city of Philadelphia and made that solemn declara- tion :
" That these colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States."
This declaration thundered o'er the continent, and our fathers endured the hard- ships and trials and bloodshed of the seven years' war of the revolution to make good this declaration. It was devotion to these underlying principles of home rule and community independence that in a large degree led to the war between the States.
Men differed as to the construction of the Constitution. The war of words culmin-
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GENERAL CHARLES E. HOOKER.
695
ated in wager of battle, and nowhere was the valor of the contending armies more conspicuously displayed than on the battle-field on which we stand to-day-a reunited people.
It must not be forgotten, Mr. President, that it was the valor of the private soldier that forged the epaulets that marked the rank of the men who led them in battle.
Shall we of the Confederacy, who delight to recall the brilliant and dashing charge of Pickett, the less admire the stubborn and successful resistence of the "Iron Bri- gade "? They were all Americans, and the American heart is large enough, and American history true enough, to record the valor of all, and claim it as a common heritage.
The war settled the question of the right of States to secede, but when a recon- struction was to be had, arms could not accomplish it, force could not do it, and the principle of home rule and community independence again appeared in that memora- ble decision of the Supreme Court of the United States when that august tribunal declared :
" That this was an indissoluble Union of indestructible States."
The men who wore the blue and the men who wore the gray stand here to-day citizens of a common country, represented by a common flag.
"Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front," and the white-winged mes- engers of peace have touched the bosom of our common mother-the earth, and all nature smiles in this early July day with the bounteous gifts of God to man.
Why should we not meet here in amity and concord to-day to mark the places where our heroes sleep, where brave men met brave men, and place monuments to their memory? The ploughshare of peace has effaced the terrible lines of battle. But on neither side can we forget the valor of the men who died for what they thought was right.
We should be something more or less than men and women could we forget the perils encountered, the hardships endured, and the blood shed for us by the boys who wore the blue and the boys who wore the gray. Their last syllabled utterances as they fell on this and many another distant battle-field as their pale lips froze in death perchance murmured our names. No ! their memories must be ever cherished, not in hate, but in love; and as we go from this field let us feel nerved anew for the struggle of life and the development of qur glorious country.
The speaker was a most impassioned orator and made some telling points in his speech. He dwelt, perhaps, a little too long upon a discussion of State Rights, but his remarks were will received, and when he said that while in congress, with ex- Governor Curtin, he was one of the first to vote for pensions to Union veterans, the old war governor nodded a hearty assent. When General Hooker sat down the audience called loudly and long for Curtin ! Curtin ! Finally the old governer faced the sea of upturned faces, and for half an hour kept his hearers in excellent humor by his reminiscences of a quarter of a century ago.
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General Slocum was introduced after repeated calls from many of his old soldiers. His remarks were brief, but were listened to with eagerness and frequently interrupted by applause.
General Longstreet was then presented. Among other things he said that he faced the Boys in Blue here with far less trepidation than he did twenty-five years ago ; he, however, had donned the " Blue " many years ago, and had felt quite at home in it for a long time.
General N. Martin Curtis, was introduced by General Sickles as the " Hero of Fort Fisher," and was received with a burst of generous applause. General Curtis spoke for about ten minutes, paying a soldier's tribute to the valor of the men who had made this field the turning point of the war, eulogiz- ing the heroism of the men who wore the Gray, as well as those who wore the Blue, and expressing his heartfelt thanks to Providence that now the antagonists could meet upon the same ground in a friendly embrace as fellow-citizens of one common and free Republic. His remarks were listened to with great attention and were loudly cheered when he sat down.
When General Curtis concluded his remarks one of the veterans in the audience was heard to remark to the lady who . accompanied him : " Well, I guess they have shot off all their big guns, let us go," and that seemed to be the feeling of a great many, for nearly all had stood on their feet during the speaking.
The exercises had been interspersed with several selections of music by Conterno's band, and just as the sun was sinking behind the South Mountain range the benediction was pro- nounced by the Rev. Dr. McKnight, president of the Lutheran Seminary, and the large audience quietly dispersed.
At the cemetery gate the NINTH, with the other military bodies, re-formed and escorted the dignitaries back to the Springs Hotel.
In the evening a reception was held at the Hotel, and was attended by several hundred persons, among whom were most of the prominent visitors present. Dancing wound up the
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SECOND SESSION. 697
festivities, which were continued until an early hour the follow- ing morning.
At ten o'clock on the morning of the 3d, Colonel Seward tendered a review to General Robinson. The regiment appeared at its best and the old Division Commander seemed well pleased with the honors conferred upon him.
At two o'clock in the afternoon the regiment again escorted the Army of the Potomac Society to the cemetery, where the final ceremonies of the reunion were to be held. The Tribune of the next day said :
The reunion of Union and Confederate veterans came practically to an end to-day with the formal exercises on the cemetery rostrum. George William Curtis was the orator, and his speech scarcely fell short of the reputation he won, long ago, as a mas- ter of polished, graceful eloquence. George Parsons Lathrop sent a battle poem, full of stirring verses and finely turned periods. It was the rough-and-tumble, impromptu oratory of the last three days melted and refined; the finest metal run into pure literary and artistic mould. Both speech and poem, one might perhaps say, were worthy of the day and place, the anniversary of the decisive victory for the preservation of the Union and the plot of ground immortalized by Lincoln's words. The exercises were held in the middle of the afternoon, and the hot sun beamed as fiercely as it did on the final battle-day in 1863. The members of the Society of the Army of the Potomac paraded through the streets again, through dust two inches deep, but the enthusiasm which had flared up to a fever heat on Tuesday was still unabated, and the veterans tramped through it all without a murmur. The regular troops, infantry, cavalry and artillery, about 400 strong, were at the head of the line; next to them came the NINTH New York, Colonel Seward commanding, with Conterno's full band.
The carriages for the guests were not so numerous, and some of those who figured prominently on the platform yesterday were missing. Governor Gordon and Governor Beaver had gone home. So had many of the New Yorkers who came on for the dedi- cation of their monuments. Generals George H. Sharpe and Horatio C. King, of New York, had charge of the arrangements at the rostrum. General John C. Robinson presided, and in the chairs were General Longstreet : Generals Sickles, F. C. Bar- low, Carr, Slocum, Richardson, Graham, Burke and Nugent of New York; General Fairchild, of Wisconsin; Major Rea, Commander-in-Chief, and General N. Martin Curtis, commander of the Dept. of N. Y. Grand Army of the Republic : ex-Senator Warner Miller, ex-Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania ; General Berdan, the Rev. Mr. Twichell, of Hartford ; General S. Wylie Crawford, U. S. A., the Rev. Theodore C. Williams, of New York; General Greene and ex-Governor Holbrook, of Vermont. General Robinson called the assembly to order after a crowd had massed itself on the green lawn stretching from the rostrum far down the cemetery. There was applause for the one-legged veteran, who spoke briefly and then called on Mr. Twichell to offer prayer. After the prayer, General Robinson announced that Mr. Lathrop could not come to the field in person, but had sent on the poem, extracts from which would be read by General King.
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The following are extracts from the poem :
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Hail, victors, living, with laureled brow, And you that sleep beneath the sward ! Your song was poured from cannon throats : It rang in deep-tongued bugle-notes : Your triumph came ; you won your crown, The grandeur of a world's renown. But, in our later lays, Full freighted with your praise,
Fair memory harbors those whose lives, laid down In gallant faith and generous heat, Gained only sharp defeat. All are at peace, who once so fiercely warred : Brother and brother, now, we chant a common chord. * * *
*
Lucid, pure, and calm and blameless Dawned on Gettysburg the day That should make the spot, once fameless, Known 10 nations far away. Birds were caroling, and farmers Gladdened o'er their garnered hay, When the clank of gathering armies Broke the morning's peaceful sway ; And the living lines of foemen Drawn o'er pasture, brook and hill,
Formed in figures weird of onien That should work with mystic will Measures of a direful magic ---
Shattering, maiming-and should fill Glades and gorges with a tragic Madness of desire to kill. Skirmishers flung lightly forward Moved like scythemen skilled to sweep
Westward o'er the field and nor'ward, Death's first harvest there to reap. You would say the soft, white smoke puffs Were but languid clouds asleep, Here on meadows, there on oak bluffs, Fallen foam of Heaven's blue deep. Yet that blossom-white, outbreaking Smoke wove many a martyr's shroud. Reynolds fell, with soul unquaking, Ardent-eyed and open browed. Noble men in humbler raiment Fell where shot their graves had ploughed, Dying not for paltry payment, But for home, for honor proud.
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POEM BY GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP. 699
What of Barlow and of Gordon Locked in fierce and deadly clench ? Buford, with his troopers-warden Of the key-who will not blench ? Fairchild's firm Wisconsin marchers, Meredith's Iron Brigade, who quench Davis' hell-fire wild and Archer's? The First Corps fought the field, and filled the trench !
Mute Seminary there, Filled once with resonant hymn and prayer, How your meek walls and windows shuddered then ! Though Doubleday stemmed the flood, McPherson's Wood and Willoughby's Run Saw ere the set of sun The light of the gospel of blood.
And, on the morrow again,
Loud the unholy psalm of battle Burst from the tortured Devil's Den,
In cries of men and musketry rattle
Mixed with the helpless bellow of cattle Torn by artillery, down in the glen ; While, hurtling through the branches Of the orchard by the road, Where Sickles and Birney were walled with steel, Shot fiery avalanches
That shivered hope and made the sturdiest reel. Yet peach-bloom bright as April saw Blushed there anew, in blood that flowed O'er faces white with death-dealt awe ; And ruddy flowers of warfare grew Where withering winds as of the desert blew, Far at the right, &Then Ewell and Early, Plunging at Wadsworth and Slocum and Greene, Thundered in onslaught consummate and surly, Till trembling nightfall crept between And whispered of rest from the heat of the whelming strife. But unto those forsaken of life What has the night to say? Crushed in a costly dew they lie, Silent beneath the moony sky, Freed from earth's dull tyranny.
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Once more the sun deploys his rays : Third in the trilogy of battle day's The awful Friday comes;
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1888
THE NINTH NEW YORK.
All is quiet till one o'clock ; Then the hundred and fifty guns, Metal loaded with metal in tons, Massed by Lee, send out their shock. And with a movement magnificent, Pickett, the golden haired leader, Thousands and thousands flings onward, as if he sent Merely a meek interceder. Steadily sure his division advances, Gay as the light on its weapons that dances, Agonized screams of the shell The doom that it carries foretell : Rifle balls whistle, like sea birds singing ;
Limbs are severed, and souls set winging ; Yet Pickett's warriors never waver.
Show me in all the world anything braver Than the bold sweep of his fearless battalions, Three half-miles over ground unsheltered Up to the cannon, where regiments weltered Prone in the batteries blast that raked Swaths of men, and flame-tongued drank Their blood with eager thirst unslaked. Armistead, Kemper and Pettigrew Rush on the Union men, rank against rank,
Planting their battle-flags high on the crest. Pause not the soldiers, nor dream they of rest, Till they fall with their enemy's guns at the breast And the shriek in their ears of the wounded artillery stallions. So Pickett charged, a man indued
With knightly power to lead a multitude
And bring to fame the scarred surviving few.
In vain the mighty endeavor ; In vain the immortal valor ; In vain the insurgent life outpoured ! Down went that line, 'neath fire and sword, Its bright hope blanched with sudden pallor. But Meade stood firm ; and volley on volley roared " Triumphant Union soon to be restored. Strong to defy all foes and fears forever !"
The Ridge was wreathed with angry fire As flames rise round a martyr's stake ; Heroes were offered on that pyre, Who perished for our dear land's sake. Far up in heaven the gray clouds flew And mingled with the deathless blue ; While here, below, the blue and gray Melted mingling away, Mirroring heaven to make another day.
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EXTRACTS FROM POEM.
And we, who are Americans, we pray The splendor of strength that Gettysburg knew May light the long generations with glorious ray, And keep us undyingly true ! * * *
Dear are the dead we weep for ; Dear are the strong hearts broken ! Proudly their memory we keep for Our help and hope; a token Of sacred thought too deep for Words that leave it unspoken. All that we know of fairest, All that we have of meetest, Here we lay down for the rarest Doers whose souls rose fleetest And in homes of air rest, Ranked with the truest and sweetest.
Days, with fiery-hearted, bold advances ; Nights in dim and shadowy, swift retreat ;
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