PRESENTATION OF FLAG STAFF.. TO Columbia University, BY Lafayette Post No. 140, G. A. R., DEPARTMENT OF N. Y. MAY SEVENTH, . . . 1898 . . . DEDICATION CEREMONIES WITH THE ADDRESS OF Majoe-Gen'l DAN'L BUTTERFIELD Commander of Lafayette Post, AND THE ADDRESS OF President SETH LOW, Of Columbia University. AT THE PRESENTATION OF FLAG STAFF WITH PEDESTAL OF MARBLE AND BRONZE, IN FRONT OF THE LIBRARY OF THE INSTITUTION, MAY 7th, 1898, BY Lafayette Post to Columbia University IX \^i NEW YORK PUBL. LIBR. IN EXCHANQE. i,,. l<-,^ ^^HE procession of Officers and Trustees of Columbia |A> moved from tlie Library, Lafayette Post, with music and colors moved from Scliermerliorn Hall at 3.30, and formed at the flag staff. Geneeal Buttermeld, Post Commander, and Peesident Low leading, followed by Trustees and Faculty of Columbia College. Students, moving from University Hall, being formed on the left. Song — " America." The Commander, Geneeal Butterfield, orders : " Adjutant. You will detail a guard of Honor." (Adjutant selects and calls his guard.) (Adjutant.) " Commander, the guard is present." (Commander.) " Officer of the day, you will direct the officer of the guard to station this detail." (Commander.) Holy Scripture saith: "The Lord gave the word ; great was the army of those that published it." Psl. xviii, ii. " Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard." Jer. 1, 2. "In the name of our God we will set up our banners. Officer of the day, you will order the Guard of Honor to raise the flag." Ps. xx, 5. (Officer of the Day.) " Officer of the Guard, let the flag be raised." (Flag is Raised.) (Music.) " The Star Spangled Banner." Sung by Post and Students. (Commander.) The Chaplain will now offer the prayer of dedication. (Parade Rest!) (Chaplain.) We pray Thee to make our memories steadfast, that we may never forget the generous sacrifices made for our Country. May the graves of our heroes be the altars of our grateful and reverential patriotism. And now, O God, bless thou this memorial. Bless it O God, in honor of mothers who bade their sons do brave deeds. In honor of wives who wept for husbands who would never come back again. In honor of children whose heritage is their fallen fathers' heroic name. In honor of men and women who ministered to the hurt and dying. But chiefly, O God, in honor of men who counted not their lives dear when their country needed them ; of those alike who sleep beside the dust of their kindred, or under the salt sea, or in nameless graves, where only thine angels stand sentinels till the reveille of the resurrection morning. Protect it, and let it endure, and unto the last gener- ation may its influence be for the education of the citizen, for the honor of civil life, for the advancement of the nation, for the blessedness of humanity, and for the furtherance of Thy holy kingdom. Hear us, O God. We ask it in the name of him who made proof of the dignity and who consecrated the power of sacrifices in His blessed life and death, even in the name of Jesus Christ, the Great Captain of our salvation. Amen! (Comrades.) Amen! (Commander Butterfield). Attention ! In behalf of Lafayette Post, Department of New York, Grand Army of the Republic, I now dedicate this standard and pedestal, knowing it will keep bright, memories of those who in the navy guarded our inland seas and ocean 4 coasts, and fell in defence of the flag. I dedicate it know- ing it will recall memories of those who in the army fought for our hillsides and valleys and plains, and fell in defence of the flag. I dedicate it assured that it will bring heart- felt gratitude to those who on land and on sea fought for the Union, and fell in defence of the flag ; who on land and on sea flghting for their country, and for the Law and the Constitution, fell in defence of the flag ; also, gratitude to those who are now in arms at their Country's call, and who stand ready with their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to do their duty. (Commander.) ' ' Post Attention !" Address of Presentation by Geneeal. Butteefield. Me. Peesident Low : — Our services of dedication are ended. Holding in my hand a list of the Gallant Sons of Columbia who in years past, from its foundation in 1754 down to the commencement of the existing war in April, 1898, beginning with Thomas Marston a graduate of 1758, your 1st Class, who was a member of the Revolutionary Com- mittee of 1776, and including such distinguished alumni of Columbia as John Parke Custis, Harman Rutgers of the Continental Army, killed in the battle of Long Island 1776, Major General Alexander' Hamilton of the United States Army who was upon the staff of General Washington ; Jacob Morris of 1775 an Aide-de-Camp to General Greene ; Ogden Hoffman of 1812 Midshipman in the United States Navy ; a De Peyster, Captain of the United States Army ; a Kearney, Colonel of Dragoons and Brigadier General in the Army, and Governor of Vera Cruz, and of the City of Mexico during the war of 1848; another Kearney, the famous brave and gallant "Phil" Kearney, a Major General killed at Chantilly at the age of 47 in 1862 ; the brave General Ellis killed at Gettysburg, and the noble Richard Tilden Auchmuty breveted for gallantry at Gettys- burg ; F. Augustus Schermerhorn breveted for gallantry at Five Forks, who gave his splendid yacht to the Government a few days since ; General Stewart L. Woodford now on his 6 way to us from Spain ; General Henry E. Davies of the class of '57, who won his stars as a Major General at the point of his sword in the war for the union ; Henry Ketteltas of the same class breveted for gallantry at Shiloh, Chick- maugua, and Mission Ridge ; Alfred T. Mahan who went from here to graduate at the Naval Academy in '69, and so through the long list in the staff and other departments. Time does not j)ermit to name them all, although included with the list are members of our Post, and the names of such distinguished families as the Jay's, the Morris's the King's, and members of your faculty now with you, the Surgeon General of the Army and others. These names are reminders that it needs not this flag, it needs not elo- quence nor words of patriotism for the purpose of incul- cating in the Sons of Columbia a spirit of devotion to flag and country. That seed has been well planted here, and will continue in the future as in the past to bring forth its fruits. I recall with pleasure and pride your own eloquent words upon the historic field of Gettysburg, and your glorious tribute to the gallant 14th Regiment of Brooklyn, to-day again in the field at its country's call. I fully realize what efffe(;t the words and example of your administration of Columbia will be ; it suffices to give you for Columbia this tribute from our Post of Veterans, may it perform the double duty of saying to you, to the young men assembled here, and to those who will come in the future, that our veterans, and the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic appreciate the service of Columbia's Sons for that flag, and have full confidence, that their glorious service in the past will always be repeated in the future. In the name of my comrades of Lafayette Post No. 140, Department of New York, Grand Army of the Republic, representing soldiers and sailors who defended the integ- rity and authority of the nation in the past. In the names of my comrades who in the present are again showing their loyalty and devotion to the flag and country, I present to you this pedestal and staff dedicated to the purposes set forth in the address of our late commander and comrade Admiral Meade, when, the flag, glorious emblem of our nationality, was presented two years since. With those ceremonies we may now recall the words and promise of our then commander, the gallant and lamented Meade. You will find in imperishable bronze the words so im- pressively spoken on these grounds to you by Admiral Meade. ' ' Love, Cheeish and Defend It.' ' You will also find the emblem of our order whose history (yet unwritten) I trust some day may be, replete as it is with the grandest spirit and example of Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty of a noble character, in the service and the money it has given from the generosity of our comrades to comrades and their families in distress. Accept it sir, with our trust that the Historic loyalty and devotion of Columbia to our country and flag, its prompt response to every call and requirement therefor, will continue to add to the rolls of honor to be emblazoned upon the walls of your splendid and historical institution of learning. It is yours, the gift of our comrades to Columbia. Accept it sir,' and may blessings and prosperity ever rest upon you and upon Columbia in future as in the past while you adhere always to the principles and spirit it illustrates and call forth — AND MAY GOD BLESS COLUMBIA. Song — " Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue.' Reception and acceptance of Pedestal and Staff by President Low. Gen, Butteeeield, Commander, and Comrades of Lafayette Post : When Lafayette Post, only two years ago, at the dedication of this Site, gave to this University the National Colors, and made the promise, so generously fulfilled to- day, of this lofty and noble staff from which our country's 7 flag now proudly flies, it did not seem likely that within so short a time the United States would be at war. The flag that we then received at your hands was the more precious to us, nevertheless, because, in your presence, we could not forget that our flag is what it is by reason of the self-sacrifices that have been freely made for its sake ; and because we rejoice to receive the flag from men who had themselves fought for what it stands for, under its inspir- ing folds. It was not, therefore, in careless mood, but most reverently and earnestly, that, in receiving the flag at your hands, the men of Columbia University promised to "love, cherish, and defend it." More quickly, I dare- say, than any of us then thought probable, the time has come when you may judge in what spirit the Columbia of to-day is likely to redeem that pledge. As you have your- self pointed out, Sir, we would be false to all our traditions were we to be backward in responding to the call of the country at such a time as this. But there has been no hesitation. The University has already surrendered four of its oflicers to the public service, and has charged me to see that not one of them suffers by reason of his absence at his country's call. The Captain of the University Crew has handed in his resignation that he might go out with the naval militia, and the students have accepted, uncom- plainingly, this heavy blow to an interest that is very dear to their hearts. Scarcely a regiment or a naval battalion has volunteered from these parts that has not counted in its ranks one or more of our students ; and others stand ready to follow when the call comes. I do not know how many have gone in all ; but enough, certainly, to bring home to those who are left a realizing sense of the par- amount claims of the country, and to assure you that your trust in the men of Columbia has not been misplaced. I must be permitted, also, to refer with pride and gratifica- tion, as the President of the University, to the patriotic act of Mr. F. Augustus Schermerhorn, both an alumnus and a Trustee, who in the present emergency, has freely given his yacht to the government, as in the days of '61- 8 '65 he offered his life. He was breveted, as you have said, Sir, for gallant conduct at the Battle of Five Forks ; and he is breveted now again, by the public voice, as a citizen worthy of high honor because he has chosen to give this vessel to the Government at a time when he might have sold the yacht to it at a high price. These are the things that show Columbia's spirit ; and they show, I am glad to believe, the same lofty patriotism that has animated the men of Columbia from the beginning. But if this flag and staff make an especial appeal to our patriotism, that is only a part of the service they will do for us. They will inspire the scholar at his desk, and the graduate in his office, no less than the volunteer on land and sea. The country needs men willing to die for it ; but it also needs men willing to live for it. The country has need of sound learning, of fearless investigation, of patient study and reflection, no less than of the service that can be rendered in the day of battle. No hope can live in the atmosphere of this University, no ambition can be cherished here, that will not gather fresh inspiration from the sight of this staff and banner with their silent but eloquent summons to the constant service of country and of mankind. Was there ever a flag before in the world's long history that stood for so wide a sympathy with the downtrodden and the oppressed ? That meant so much of help and hope to the weak and the discouraged ? Nor can I doubt that, as we look upon our Country's flag, the feeling of gratitude will be deepened in us all for the blessings of civil liberty and for the opportunities for study and for usefulness that abound in the wide land over which float so caressingly the Stars and Stripes. I am confident, therefore, that all our life in the Univesity will be the deeper, the broader, and the richer because of this flag and the staff that you have given to us. If this be so, what more can you ask ? You have added to our life as a university some touch of the earnestness that strengthens purpose ; some breath of the sympathy that constrains to LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 029 929 212 5 an unselfisli life ; some sense of tli6 loyalty that elevates and ennobles all who submit themselves to its inlinence. For all this we thank you ; and again we pledge ourselves to you who have given to us this staff and this beautiful and precious flag, the flag of our beloved country, that in peace and in war, in war and in peace, we will "love? cherish, and defend it." Hymn.— " Praise God from whom all blessings flow." Benediction by Chaplain Wood of Lafayette Post. The following letter has been received from President Low. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. Peesident's Room, May Qth, 1898. My dear Gbnbeal Buttekfikld : I write just a line to tell you how much we all enjoyed the ceremony of Saturday afternoon. Everyone who took part in it thought it a most impressive occasion. I need not say to you that we are very proud of our staff and flag, and that the University feels very closely united in interest with Lafayette Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. Thanking you and the Post for all you have done for us, I am, Respectfully, SETH LOW, Presideni. Gen'l Daniel Butteefield. 10