USA > Virginia > City of Fredericksburg > City of Fredericksburg > The history of the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia > Part 23
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While the resolution did not authorize it, it was understood that the Mayor would attend the reunion in September of that year, either in person or by a representative, and urge the society to accept the invitation of the city authorities. Mayor Rowe, being unable to attend the meeting of the body, requested Judge James B. Sener to represent him, which he did, and presented the resolution of the Council in an eloquent and patriotic address, which was well received by the society. The result was Judge Sener was elected an honorary member of the society and the invitation was unanimously accepted.
Upon the information that its invitation had been accepted, and that May 25th and 26th, 1900, were the days fixed for holding the reunion, the Council appointed a reception committee of fifteen
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-five of its own body and ten from the citizens, which was increased by the committee itself to twenty-to make all the necessary ar- rangements and see that the members of the society, and the visi- tors on that occasion, were properly received and entertained. Those appointed of the Council were Col. E. D. Cole, John T. Knight, Wm. E. Bradley, H. B. Lane, George W. Wroten. Those from the citizens were Capt. S. J. Quinn, Major T. E. Morris, St. Geo. R. Fitzhugh, H. F. Crismond, John M. Griffin, Isaac Hirsh, James A. Turner, H. H. Wallace, Thos. N. Brent and James P. Corbin.
The committee met and organized, with Col. E. D. Cole, chair- man, and Capt. S. J. Quinn, secretary, and the following gentle- men were associated with the committee: Capt. M. B. Rowe, A. T. Embrey, Judge John T. Goolrick, Capt. T. McCracken and George W. Shepherd. The committee was then divided up into sub-committees and assigned to necessary and appropriate duties, which were well and faithfully discharged.
To assist at the banquet and lunch on the occasion, the committee requested the services of the following ladies, who responded cheer- fully and did so nobly the parts assigned them that they merited, and received, the hearty thanks of the committee and visitors : Mrs. James P. Corbin, Miss Mary Harrison Fitzhugh, Mrs. Wm. L. Brannan, Miss Mary Shepherd, Mrs. Vivian M. Fleming, Mrs. H. Hoomes Johnston, Miss Lula Braxton, Mrs. L. L. Coghill, Mrs. E. Dorsey Cole, Miss Corson, Mrs. H. F. Crismond, Miss E. May Dickinson, Mrs. Wm. F. Ficklen, Miss Goodwin, Mrs. John T. Goolrick, Miss Alice Gordon, Miss Sallie Gravatt, Mrs. John M. Griffin, Miss Louise Hamilton, Miss Roberta Hart, Mrs. David Hirsh, Mrs. Henry Kaufman, Mrs. Harry B. Lane, Mrs. H. McD. Martin, Miss Annie Myer, Miss Eleanor McCracken, Miss Carrie Belle Quinn, Mrs. Wm. H. Richards, Miss Lena Rowe, Mrs. Edward J. Smith, Mrs. R. Lee Stoffregen, Miss Bertha Strasburger, Miss Sallie Lyle Tapscott, Mrs. W. Seymour White, Miss Nannie Gordon Willis and Mrs. Mary Quinn Hicks.
The presidential party was met at Quantico by a sub-committee consisting of Hon. H. F. Crismond, Hon. A. T. Embrey, Postmaster
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John M. Griffin, Major T. E. Morris, James A. Turner and S. I. Baggett, Jr., and escorted to Fredericksburg.
At half past ten o'clock on the morning of the 25th of May, most of the members of the Society of the Army of the Potomac having arrived, the procession was formed at the courthouse, the society, under command of Gen. Horatio C. King, secretary, with the re- ception committee, Confederate veterans and citizens generally, headed by Bowering's band, proceeded to the depot to meet the presidential train. Col. E. D. Cole, chief marshal, with his aides, Capt. Dan. M. Lee, John T. Leavell, A. P. Rowe, Jr., and W. J. Jacobs, with a cordon of mounted police, had charge of the line.
At the depot an immense crowd of people had collected, and when the train arrived there was a vociferous greeting to the Presi- dent and cabinet and Fighting (General) Joe Wheeler. The
presidential party consisted of President Mckinley, his private secretary, Cortelyou, Secretary Hay, Secretary Root, Attorney- General Griggs, Postmaster-General Smith, Secretary Long, Secre- tary Hitchcock-every member of the cabinet except Secretary Wilson-Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, his aide, Col. Michler, Lieut. Robert S. Griffin, secretary to Secre- tary Long, Gen. Henry E. Tremain, Gen. W. J. Sewell, Gen. J. W. Hawley and Gen. Joseph Wheeler.
Headed by the celebrated Marine band, of Washington, sixty strong, the line of march from the depot was up Main street, to George, thence to Princess Ann and thence to the courthouse. All along the march the streets were thronged with citizens and visitors, and the waving of handkerchiefs and cheering kept the President constantly bowing to the right and left.
When the courthouse was reached the presidential party filed in, followed by the Society of the Army of the Potomac, visitors and citizens. The courthouse was densely packed and hundreds were turned away, being unable to get even standing room.
CHAPTER XVIII
Society of the Army of the Potomac Enters Town, continued.
When this great crowd entered the courthouse, after making such a long march in hot weather, most of them were willing to rest awhile before the exercises commenced. Yet Gen. King is not one to rest long when business had to be attended to, so he called the large assembly to order, and announced that illness had prevented the attendance of Gen. D. McM. Gregg, president of the society, and in his absence Gen. Martin T. McMahon would preside in his stead. Dr. J. S. Dill, pastor of the Baptist church, was presented and offered a most earnest prayer. Mr. St. Geo. R. Fitzhugh, who had been selected by the committee of entertainment to extend the welcome, was then introduced and made the following address :
MR. FITZHUGH'S ADDRESS.
MR. CHAIRMAN : It is with feelings of profound pride and un- feigned pleasure that our entire community extends a cordial and hearty welcome to the illustrious Chief Magistrate of our country, who honors us with his presence to-day. We recognize in our President the pure patriot and the stainless statesman, whose wise and courageous administration, in both war and peace, has endeared him to the hearts of his countrymen and has shed new lustre upon the exalted office which he fills.
Our people also welcome with much pride and warmth his emi- nent official family, and the brilliant commander of our invincible army, and all these distinguished men before me, who are guests of the Society of the Army of the Potomac and of our city.
And now, our friends of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, I find it difficult to command adequate words with which to express to you the supreme gratification and enthusiasm of our people at your prompt acceptance of their invitation to hold your annual reunion in this old town and at your presence here to-day in such numbers.
We not only welcome you with open arms and glowing hearts,
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but we feel that this action on your part rises to the dignity of an impressive epoch in our national life; and we are not surprised that our illustrious President, and all these distinguished men, should desire to grace this inspiring occasion with their presence.
It is the first time that your society has held one of its annual reunions on southern soil, and, in making this new departure, it was preeminently fit that you should honor Fredericksburg with your choice.
A French philosopher has written, "Happy the people whose annals are tiresome," but the far nobler and more inspiring thought of the Anglo-Saxon race is that "character constitutes the true strength of nations and historic glory their best inheritance."
As American citizens you are proud of the grand traditions and heroic memories that crowd your country's history; and no- where else on this continent could your feet tread on ground more hallowed by historic memories than here.
I think before you leave us you will acknowledge that if the immortal names and deeds that this locality suggests should be stricken from the annals of time, most of the present school books of our country would be valueless and our national history itself would be as the play of Hamlet, with Hamlet left out.
The school boys and girls of our whole country are familiar with the story of Capt. John Smith and Pocahontas, and history records that right here Captain John Smith battled with and repulsed the Indians. So we may fairly claim, without the exercise of poetic license, that the struggle of the Anglo-Saxon race, to establish its civilization and supremacy on this continent, commenced on this spot in 1608, just one year after Jamestown was settled.
If we should draw a circle around this ancient city, with a radius of less than fifty miles, we should find within that narrow compass the birthplace of George Washington, of Thomas Jefferson, of James Madison, of James Monroe, of Zachary Taylor, of Chief- Justice John Marshall, of the Lees of the Revolution, of Patrick Henry, of Henry Clay, of Matthew Maury and of Robert E. Lee. If we should extend the circle but a very, very little, it would also embrace the birthplace of William Henry Harrison, of John Tyler,
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A Tombstone in St. George's Churchyard, remarkable for its date. (See page '246)
Confederate Monument in Confederate Cemetery. (See page 189)
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of Winfield Scott, and likewise the birthplace of this Republic at Yorktown.
Is there any other similar segment of space on the habitable globe so resplendent with stars of the first magnitude !
Seven Presidents of the United States and three of the greatest military leaders of modern times were born within two hours' ride of this city, estimated according to the most improved modern methods of travel !
That meteoric Mars of naval warfare, John Paul Jones, lived and kept store in this town, and went from here to take command of a ship of our colonial navy. He was the first man who ever raised our flag upon a national ship, and he struck terror to the heart of the British navy by his marvellous naval exploits during the Revolution.
It was right here that Washington's boyhood and youth were spent, and that he was trained and disciplined for his transcendent career, and it was to the unpretending home of his mother, still standing here-which you will visit-that Washington and La- fayette came when the war closed, to lay their laurels at her feet; and her ashes repose here, under a beautiful monument, erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
But there are other memories of heroic type, suggested by this locality, which come nearer home to our hearts, whose mournful splendor time cannot pale !
Here, and within fifteen miles of this city, in Spotsylvania county, more great armies manœuvred, more great battles were fought, more men were engaged in mortal combat and more officers and privates were killed and wounded than in any similar territory in . the world. More men fell in the battles of this one small county during the Civil war than Great Britain has lost in all her wars of a century ; and more men were killed and wounded in four hours at the battle of Fredericksburg than Great Britain had lost in killed, wounded and prisoners in her eight months' war in South Africa.
When the fog lifted its curtain from the bleak plains about Fredericksburg on the morning of December 13, 1862, the sun flashed down on a spectacle of terrible moral sublimity !
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One hundred thousand Union veterans, with two hundred and twenty cannon, were in "battle's magnificently stern array," and in motion, with nothing to obscure their serried ranks from the view of their expectant adversaries, safely entrenched on the sloping hills adjacent. The different sub-divisions of this great army were commanded that day by consummate masters of the art of war, whose names and brilliant exploits now illumine the pages of our national history, but its commander-in-chief was deficient in both strategic and tactical ability, and his most conspicuous merit seemed to be his perfect faith in the courage and invincibility of his army.
General Burnside did not overrate the magnificent courage and sublime self-sacrifice of his army, whose contempt of death that day on the open plains about Fredericksburg seemed to strike the elec- tric chain wherewith we all are bound, and a thrill of admiration swept down the line of Lee's army for four miles whilst yet the battle raged; but General Burnside did underrate the strength of the positions which, without inspection or information, he rashly assailed, and he did underrate the valor of the men who held those positions. The appalling magnitude of his mistake was soon ap- parent, alike to his officers and his men, and yet column after column of that devoted army advanced, without a halting step, to the carnival of death, over a plain swept by the ceaseless and terri- ble fire of protected infantry and artillery-a plain of which General E. P. Alexander, in command of the Confederate artillery, posted on the heights, remarked the evening before, that "not a chicken could live there when his guns were opened."
No honors awaited the daring of these heroes that day; no despatch could give their names to the plaudits of their admiring countrymen, their advance was uncheered by the hope of emolument or fame; their death would be unnoticed, and yet they marched to their doom with unblanched cheeks and unfaltering tread.
Pause a moment and picture those serried ranks as they marched undismayed with grim precision and intrepid step to certain death, and, very many, to unknown graves, and tell me whether heroism did not have its holocaust, and patriotism and courage their grand coronation on these plains about Fredericksburg; and tell me
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whether a nation's gratitude and meed of honor to these unknelled, uncoffined and unknown heroes, who thus gave up their lives for their country, in obedience to orders, should be measured by the accident of victory or defeat, or by the unclouded grandeur of the sacrifice they cheerfully made. Tell me whether the majestic memorial, which that splendid old veteran, General Butterfield, proposes to erect on the plains of Fredericksburg, to perpetuate the fame of the Fifth corps, will not commemorate a higher type of heroism than any similar memorial to that corps on the heights about Gettysburg! Tell me whether there was not more courage and more manhood required to assail Marye's Heights than to hold Cemetery Hill !
The charge of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg was far grander, even with its dreadful recoil, than was the defence of the stone wall at Fredericksburg; and the heroes of the former deserve more of their country than do the latter.
Napoleon, after the battle of Austerlitz, addressing his army, said : "Soldiers, it will be enough for one of you to say, 'I was at the battle of Austerlitz,' for your countrymen to say, 'There is a brave man.' "
Impartial history will record that the Union soldiers who fought at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness and at Spotsyl- vania Courthouse were not only brave men, but that their valor on those immortal fields decorated the Stars and Stripes with imperishable glory. And no American army of the future, com- posed of those who wore the blue and the gray, or their descendants, will ever permit that glory to be tarnished !
It was the brilliant prowess of the Confederate army on the bat- tlefields of Spotsylvania that shed such dazzling lustre on the Union arms at Gettysburg. If we should blot out the battlefields of Spotsylvania, we should rob Gettysburg of all its glory; we should filch from General Grant half his fame as a great com- mander, and should obscure to the future student of the art of war Grant's invincible pertinacity and his sagacious and successful policy of concentration and attrition, which alone explains and vindicates his famous march of eighty miles from Culpeper Court-
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house to Petersburg, with a loss of tens of thousands of his brave troops, when he might have transferred his army by transports to the shadow of the Confederate capital without the loss of a man.
Grant knew that the destruction of Lee's army, and not the cap- ture of Richmond, was the profoundest strategy. The Army of the Potomac, under the consummate leadership of General Grant, won infinitely more prestige at Appomattox, where eight thousand worn- out Confederates laid down their arms, than the German army, under its great field-marshal, Von Moltke, won at Sedan, where the French Emperor, Louis Napoleon, and 86,000 French soldiers, neither footsore nor hungry, surrendered, and for the plain reason that no such conflicts as those in Spotsylvania lay across the march of Von Moltke to Sedan. The march to Appomattox was over the battlefields of Spotsylvania, and Appomattox was only the culmi- nation of the courage and carnage of those fields. .
It was the conspicuous characteristic of both the Union and Confederate armies that their courage was alike invincible; defeat could not quench it; it shone with additional splendor amid the gloom of disaster, and no soldier on either side need blush to have borne a part in any one of the great battles of the Civil war, whatever fortune may have decreed as to its temporary result.
It is noteworthy, above almost any other events of history, that the two most memorable and momentous struggles in which the Anglo-Saxon race has embarked, both closed on the soil of Virginia, 'a century apart, by the surrender of one Anglo-Saxon army to an army of the same race, and without the loss of prestige on either side.
For our great race, when vanquished by itself, proudly rears its crest unconquered and sublime !
One of those memorable struggles closed at Yorktown, where colonial dependence perished, national independence was secured and our great republic born. The other closed at Appomattox, where the doctrine of secession and the institution of slavery per- ished and a more perfect union than our fathers made was estab- lished.
Secession and slavery perished on Virginia soil, and her people.
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though impoverished by the loss of the latter, have shed no tears over the grave of these dead issues; but they love and cherish the memory of the Southern heroes whose sacred ashes repose in her bosom, and they proudly spurn any suggestion that such moral heroism and sublime self-sacrifice as they exhibited could be born of other than conscientious conviction !
If the South was, by a wise providence, denied in that grand strug- gle the honor of final triumph, her people to-day share equally with the victors of that day the glorious fruits of their victory in a more perfect and indissoluble union of indestructible States, under that superlative symbol of a world-power-the glorious Stars and Stripes.
All through this splendid address Mr. Fitzhugh was vociferously applauded, the President and his cabinet heartily and enthusias- tically joining in the applause, and when he closed the demon- stration was kept up for several minutes.
Gov. Tyler was then introduced and welcomed the veterans to Virginia, and assured them that when their visit to Fredericksburg was ended, Richmond, the Capital of the Confederacy, awaited them with extended hands and outstretched arms. Gen. McMahon re- sponded in a short address, full of harmony and good feeling, and introduced Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, the orator of the occasion.
At the conclusion of the able and patriotic address of Gen. Sickles, the presidential party and Gen. Sickles, lunched at Mr. Fitzhugh's and the society and visitors were provided for at the Opera House. After lunch the visitors and citizens marched to Mr. Fitzhugh's residence, where the President held a reception and where several thousand people greeted and shook him by the hand.
The procession then formed and marched to the National ceme- tery, to witness the laying of the corner-stone of the monument to be erected by Gen. Daniel Butterfield to the memory of the men of the Fifth Army Corps, who fell in the several battles in Fredericks- burg and vicinity.
The Masonic ceremonies were in charge of Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M. In accepting the invitation to preside on the interesting occasion, Gen. Horatio C. King said :
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I deeply appreciate the honor of being asked to preside on this most interesting occasion, and in presence of the honored Chief Magistrate and the members of his official family. I recall with pride the fact that I first saw the light of Masonry in the Blue Lodge at Winchester, in this magnificent State, in 1864, when I was a soldier in the great war, and that from that day to this I have continued in good standing in our noble order. It may not be amiss for me to add that he who honors and graces this occasion to-day by his presence, our President, was also initiated at or about the same time in the same lodge, and that he has also held fast to the tenets of the organization through his lodge at his home in Ohio.
It is most fitting that this dedication should be made by this time-honored Fredericksburg Lodge, whose history antedates the Revolution and in whose precincts the Father of his Country was enrolled.
The occasion is one to inspire every patriot, and the generosity of Gen. Butterfield, in raising this memorial to the fallen com- rades whom he so gallantly commanded, will shine through ages to come on the pages of American history.
MASONIC CEREMONIES.
The ceremonies were then conducted by the Masonic Lodge, the following officers, members and visitors being present and taking part :
Alvin T. Embrey, senior warden, acting worshipful master; Right Worshipful James P. Corbin, senior warden pro tem; Wm. H. Hurkamp, junior warden; Edgar M. Young, Jr., treasurer; Right Worshipful Silvanus J. Quinn, secretary ; Maurice Hirsh, senior deacon; Allan Randolph Howard, junior deacon; Rev. James Polk Stump, chaplain, and John S. Taliaferro, tiler ; Wor- shipful Brothers Albert B. Botts, James T. Lowery, Thomas N. Brent, Isaac Hirsh.
Members: Joe M. Goldsmith, John Scott Berry, John R. Ber- nard, John C. Melville, Robert A. Johnson, O. L. Harris, James Roach, George A. Walker, A. Mason Garner, Wm. T. Dix, Wm.
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Bernard, H. Hoomes Johnston, Charles L. Kalmbach, Edgar Mersereau, Adolph Loewenson, George W. Wroten, Joseph H. Davis, J. Shirver Woods, Edwin. J. Cartright and Maurice B. Rowe.
Visiting Masons : Most Worshipful J. Howard Wayt, P. G. M, Staunton, Va .; Wm. D. Carter, 102, Va .; W. J. Ford, 163, Ky .; W. C. Stump, 5, D. C .; B. P. Owens, 14, Va., and Dr. J. W. Bovee, of B. B. French, D. C.
The handsome silver trowel used in laying the corner-stone, was made by order of Gen. Butterfield for that occasion and then to be presented to the Masonic Lodge performing the service. After the service of laying the corner-stone, Gen. Edward Hill, who spoke for Gen. Butterfield, in an able address, presented the monument to the Secretary of War to be kept, cared for and preserved by him and his successors in office, to which Secretary Root responded in a brief and appropriate speech, accepting the monument and promising to preserve it as requested.
CAMP FIRE AT OPERA HOUSE.
At 8 o'clock in the evening a "camp fire" was held at the Opera House, which was crowded to its utmost capacity. Short addresses were made by Gen. McMahon, Gen. Hawley, Gen. Miles, Gen. Sewell, Gen. Tremain, Gen. Geo. D. Ruggles, Capt. Patrick, Gen. Sickles, and a letter was read from Gen. Shaw, all of whom were on the Union side. The Confederate veterans were represented by Gen. Joseph Wheeler and Private John T. Goolrick.
When Gen. Wheeler was introduced, Gen. Hawley, who had already spoken, interrupted with "Just a moment. Something occurs to me. Among the extraordinary things that are happening in the world, this is especially interesting to me. I find, on look- ing over the records, that Moses Wheeler, more than 250 years ago, married the sister of Joseph Hawley in Connecticut. Now, General, go on."
This produced great laughter, in which Gen. Hawley joined with much zest.
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JUDGE GOOLRICK'S ADDRESS.
Judge Goolrick, who was introduced as the representative of the Confederate veterans, and especially the private soldier, of whom there are so few at this time, spoke as follows:
COMRADES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-With sincere sentiments of good will, commingled with a sense of gratitude, I welcome you within the gates of our city, and no man has a better right to bid you come than myself-for, just after the surrender at Appomattox, I was sitting on the roadside, weary and worn, foot-sore and hun- gry, with an intense solicitude for a change of my bill of fare from parched corn, upon which I had luxuriated for about three days, when a kind-hearted private soldier of the Army of the Potomac, seeing my dejected and depressed appearance, came to me with words of cheer, comfort and kindness, and, putting his hand down into his not overstocked haversack, gave me all his rations of hard- tack and bacon, and immediately the gloom of defeat ceased to be so oppressive, and the intense hunger, under which I had labored, also ceased. This act of good fellowship, under the conditions which confronted me, at once inspired a fraternal feeling for my enemy. So you see, Mr. Chairman, I have a real right to be glad to see here to-day the representatives of that army of which my benefactor was a member, and bid you be of good cheer while you pitch your tents once again on the old camp ground.
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