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 GENERAL HcCIELL 
 
 LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE, 
 
 III i: wnil ms 
 
 WEST-POINT OKATIuX. 
 
 GENERAL McCLELLAN'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 Oi;\- 
 
 Gentlemen : I have the honor to acknow- 
 ledge the receipt of your letter infonrrmg me 
 of my nomination by the Democratic National 
 Convention, recently assembled at Chi< 
 
 uindidafe at the next election for Presi- 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 It is unnecessary for me to say to you that 
 this nomination comes to me unsought. 
 
 I am happy to know that when the nomina- 
 nation was made, the record of my public life 
 ept in view. 
 
 The effect of long and varied service in the 
 army during war and peace has been to strength- 
 en and make indelible in my mind and heart 
 
 . • and reverence for the Dnion, I 
 tutfon, laws, and flag of our country, im] 
 upon me in early youth. 
 
 These feelings have thus far guided the 
 course of my life, and must continue to do 80 
 to its end. 
 
 The existence of more than one government 
 over the region which once owned our flag is 
 incompatible with the peace, the power, and 
 the happiness of the 
 
 The preservation of our Union was the sole 
 avowed object for which the war was com- 
 i menced. If, should have been conducted for 
 that object only, and i those 
 
 principles which I took occasion to declare 
 when in active service. 
 
 Thus conducted, the work of reconciliation 
 would have been easy, and we might, have 
 reaped the benefits of our many victories on 
 land and sea. 
 
 The Union was originally formed by the ex- 
 ercise of a spirit of conciliation and compro- 
 mise. To restore and preserve it, the same 
 spirit must prevail En our councils, and in the 
 Of the people. 
 
 The reestablishment of the Union in all its 
 integrity is, and must continue to be, the indis- 
 pensable condition in any settlement. So soon 
 as it is clear, or even probable, that our pres- 
 ent a Iversaries are ready for peace, U] 
 
 the Union, we should exhaust all the 
 resources of statesmanship practised by civil- 
 ized nation-, and taught by the trad 1 .:. 
 the American | . , nt with the honor 
 
 and interests of the country, to secure such 
 
 Published by E. P. PATTEN, 35 Park Row, New-York City. 
 
reestablish the Union, and guarantee 
 i'<.r the future the coufclitutionhl rig 
 
 The. Union is the one condition of 
 peace — we ask no Autre. 
 
 ie add what \ doubt not was, al 
 unexpressed, the sentinrent of the Convention, 
 ■is it is o at, that when 
 
 ! rpion, 
 it should be received :it onie, with it full guar- 
 antee of all its constitutional rights. 
 
 ]f a frank, carni stent effort to 
 
 obtain those objects shoula fail, the responsi- 
 bility for ulterior coi will fall upon 
 those M'ho remain in arms against the : 
 But the Union must be preserved at all haz- 
 ards. 
 
 I could not look in the lace my gallant com- 
 rades of the army and navy, who have Minived 
 mj many bloody battles, and tell them that their 
 lab irs and the sacrifice of BO many of our slain 
 and wounded brethren had been in vain ; that 
 we had abandoned that Union for which we 
 i often perilled our lives. 
 A vast majority of our people, whether in 
 i v and navy or at home, would, as 1 
 . hail with unbounded joy the perma- 
 nent restorati m of peace, on the basis of the 
 Union under the Constitution, without the ef- 
 fusion of another drop of blood. But :. 
 can be permanent without Union. 
 
 i the other subjects presented in the 
 resolutions of the Convention, I need only say 
 thai 1 should seek, in the Constitution of the 
 
 United State.- and the laws Framed in accord- 
 
 rewith. the rule of my duly and the 
 limitations of executive power; endeavor to 
 restore economy in public expenditure, re- 
 
 tablish the supremacy of law, and. by the 
 operation of a more vigorous nationality, re- 
 sume our commanding position among the na- ( 
 tions of the earth. 
 
 Tic condition of our finances, the depreci- 
 ation of our paper money, and the burdens 
 thereby imposed on labor and capital, show 
 the necessity of a return to a sound financial 
 system; while the rights of citizens and the 
 rights of States, and the binding authority of 
 law over President, army, and people, an 
 jects of not less vital importance in war than 
 in peace. 
 
 Believing that the views here expressed arc 
 Chose of tin- Convention and the people you 
 '. I accept the nomination. 
 
 I realize the weight of the responsibility 
 to be borne should the people ratify your 
 choice. 
 
 Conscious of my own weakness, 1 can only 
 seek fervently the guidance of the Rule* of the 
 universe, and, relying on His all-powerful aid, 
 do ray best to restore Union and peace to a 
 suffering people, and to establish and - 
 their liberties and rights. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, 
 Your/>bcdient servant, 
 
 < rEOKGE 1>. McClJSLLAN. 
 
 lion. Horatio Seymour, aitd others, Committee. 
 
GENERAL McCI.KI.LAVS 
 
 OR A T QON AT W I«:ST- 1 >< ) I NT, 
 
 June 15th, 1864. 
 
 Ai.i. nations have days sacred to tl o remem* and foreign foe —in early youth and 
 
 brance of joy and of grief They have thanks- mature manhood moved by all 1 1 » ■ • 1" 
 
 pjivings for success ; fasting and prayers in the David felt when lie poured forth his lai 
 
 hour of humiliation and defeat; triumphs ai father and son who fell on 
 
 peans to greet the living and laurel crowned God know-; that David 
 
 tor. They have obsequies and the for Jonathan was no more deep than mi 
 
 warrior slain on the field of battle. Snoh is the the tried friends of many long and eventful 
 
 duty we are to perform to-day. The poetry; years, \\ are to be recorded up 
 
 istories, the orations of antiquity, all re- structure that is to rise upon this Bpot Would 
 
 I with the clang of arms; they awcll that his more than mortal eloquence could 
 
 rather u; on rough deeds of war than the gentle grace my lips and do justice to tl, 
 
 arts of peace. They h.v. I to us the SVe haw met to-day, my comrades, to >lo 
 
 names ol heroes, and the memory of their deeds honor to our own dead— brothers unite I 
 
 even to this distant day. Our own Old Testa- by the closest ano\dearest ties— who have freely 
 
 teems with the narrations of the brave given their lives for .their country in this war — 
 
 actions an 1 heroic deaths of Jewish patriots; so just and righteous, - it- purpose* 
 
 the New Testament of on,- meek and is to erusb rebellion ami to save our nation 
 
 suffering Sai idier and from the infinite evils of dismemberment Such 
 
 his weapons t i typify and illustrate religious an occasion as this shoul t call forth tfa 
 
 - o ai d duty. These stories of the actions est and nobles! emotions of our nature — | 
 
 of the dead have frequently survived, in the sorrow, and prayer. Pride, that our country 
 
 of those whose fall was has possessed such sons; .-'now, that - 
 
 turies ago. But, al- lost them; prayer, I 
 
 'h we know not now the names of all tin- like them; that we and our 8ucc saors may 
 
 brave men who fought and fell upon the plain adorn her annals as they b and that 
 
 of Marathon, in the pass of Thermopylae, and when our parting h/mr arrives, whene 1 
 
 on the hills of Palestine, we h r it may he, our s. uls may he prepared 
 
 memory of their examples. A- long as the for tie.' great change, 
 warm blood courses in the veins of ma; . 
 
 longafl the human heart beats high an i quick Tl " : V0Lm 
 
 at the recital of-bri icri- We have assem'" a ceno- 
 
 ftces, so lo ig will • boph which shall remind our children's child- 
 
 ous men to emulate the heroism of the pas.t ren in the distant future of their I 
 
 Amon- the ( rreeks it wa • the custom 
 
 fAthers of the most valiant of th • Blain should 
 
 pronounce the eulogies of the dea 1. Sometimes 
 
 struggles in the days of the great rebellion. 
 
 u'iin nt i- io perpetuate the memory of 
 a portion only, of these who have fallen for the 
 
 1 upon their ad nation in this unhappy war ; it is dedicated to 
 
 orati rs to perform this mournful duty. Would 
 that a new Demosthenes, or a second Pericles 
 could arise and take my place to-day, for ho 
 would find a theme worthy of his mos t brilliant 
 powers, of his most t luching eloquence. 
 
 f stand h re now, nol as an orator, hut as 
 a whilom commander, and in th 
 fathers of the most ralrant lead; as tl 
 rado, too, on many a hard- fought tie.. 
 
 the officers and soldiers of tii ■ - 
 
 is di ne in i. 
 and in t. with revet* 
 
 love our coml I ■ • : have 
 
 will, no doubt, commemorate in 
 
 1 she 1 
 their Mood in the ranks of thu volunteers, llo\v 
 
richly they have earned a nation's lore, a nation's 
 gratitude. With what heroism they have con- 
 fronted death, have wrested victory from a stub- 
 born foe, and have illustrated defeat, it well be- 
 comes me to say, for it has been my lot to 
 command them on many a sanguinary field. 1 
 know that I but echo the feeling of the regulars 
 when I award the high credit they deserve to 
 their brave brethren of the volunteers. 
 
 But we of the regular army have no States to 
 look to for the honor due our dead. We be- 
 long to the whole country, and can neither 
 expect nor desire the general government to 
 make a perhaps invidious distinction in our 
 favor. We are few in number, a small band 
 of comrades, united by peculiar and very bind- 
 ing ties. For, with many of us, our friendships 
 were commenced in boyhood, when we rested 
 here in the shadow of the granite hills which 
 look clown upon us where we stand ; with 
 others the ties of brotherhood wcro formed in 
 more mature years — while fighting among the 
 rugged mountains and the fertile valleys of .Mex- 
 ico — within hearing of the eternal waves of the 
 Piicific — or in the lonely grandeur of the great 
 plains of the far West. With all, our love and 
 confidence have been cemented by common dan- 
 ger; and sufferings — on the toilsome march, in 
 the dreary bivouac, and amid the clash of arms 
 and in the presence of death on scores of bat- 
 tle-field-:. West-Point, with her large heart, 
 adopts us all — graduates, and those appointed 
 from civil life — officers and privates. In her 
 eyes we arc all her children, jealous of her 
 fame and eager to sustain he* world-wide reputa- 
 tion. Generals and private soldiers, men who 
 have cheerfully offered our all for our Sear 
 country, we stand here before this shrine, ever 
 hereafter sacred to our dead, equals and 
 brothers in the presence of the common death 
 which awaits us all — perhaps on the B 
 and at the same hour. Such are the ties which 
 unite us — the most endearing which exist among 
 men; such the relations which bind us together 
 — the closest of the sacred brotherhood of arms. 
 It lias therefore seemed, and it is fitting, that 
 we should erect upon this spot, so sacred to us 
 all, an enduring monument to our dear brothers 
 who have preceded us on the path of peril and 
 of honor which it is the destiny of many of us 
 to tread. 
 
 What is this regular army to which we he- 
 long? 
 
 Who were the men whose death meril 
 honors from the living? 
 
 What is the cause for which they 1 
 down their In 
 
 Our regular or permanent army is the nucleus 
 which in time of peace preserves the military 
 traditions of the, nation, as well as the brganiza- 
 . and instruction indispens ible I i 
 ari ties. It may be regarded 
 With the nation. It derives its origin from the 
 old continental ami State lines , t the Rev«lu 
 don, whence, with some interruptions an l many 
 changes, it has attained its present condition. 
 
 In fact, we may with propriety go even beyond 
 the Revolution to seek the roots of our genea- 
 logical tree in the old French wars; for the cis- 
 atlantic campaigns of the seven years' war were 
 n-it confined to the " red men scalping each 
 
 'other by the great lakes of* North-America;'' 
 and it was in them that our ancestors first par- 
 ticipated as Americans in the large operations 
 of civilized armies. American regiments then 
 fought on the banks of the St. Lawrence and 
 the Ohio, on the shores of Ontario and Lake 
 
 [ George, on the islands of (he Caribbean, and in 
 South-America. Louisburg; Quebec, Duquesne, 
 the Mbro, and Porto Bello a' test the value of the 
 provincial troops, and in that school were edu- 
 
 j cated such soldiers as Washington, Putnam, 
 Lee, Montgomery, and < rates. These, and men 
 
 j like Greene, Knox, Wayne, and Steuben, were 
 the fathers of our permanent army, and under 
 
 | them our troops acquired that discipline and 
 steadiness which enabled them to meet upon 
 equal terms and often to defeat the tried veterans 
 of England. The study of the history of the 
 Revolution and a perusal of the dispatches of 
 Washington, will convince the most skeptical 
 of the value of the permanent army in achieving 
 our independence, and establishing the civil edi- 
 fice which we are now fighting to preserve. 
 The war of 1812 found the army on a footing 
 far from adequate to the emergency, but it was 
 rapidly increased, and of the new generation 
 
 I of soldiers, many proved equal to the require- 
 ments of the occasion. Lundy's Lane, Chippe- 
 wa, Queenstown, Plattsburgh, New-Orleans-, all 
 
 i bear witness to the gallantry of the regulars. 
 Then came an interval of more than thirty 
 years of external peace, marked by many 
 
 J "changes in the organization and strength of the 
 reguwT army, and broken at times by tedious 
 and bloody" Indian wars. Of these the most 
 remarkable were the Black Hawk war, in which 
 
 1 our troops met unflinchingly a foe as relentless 
 
 | and far more destructive than the Indians — that. 
 
 ' terrible scourge, the cholera — and the tedious 
 Florida war. where, for so many years, the Sem- 
 inolcs eluded in the pestilential swamps our 
 utmost efforts, and in which were displayed 
 such trails of heroism as that commemorated by 
 yonder monument to Dade and his c ;nir. ami, 
 When "all fell save two, without an attempt to 
 At last came the Mexican war to re- 
 place Indian combats and 'lie monotony of the 
 r service, and for the first time in many 
 ilar.'irmy was concert- 
 trated, and took the principal part in tl 
 ties of ' rkable and romantic war. 
 
 d Fort Brown were the 
 . and as 
 to the battles of Monterey, BuenaVis 
 Cruz, Oerro Gordo, and the final triu 
 the valley, none can truly say that th 
 have been won without th When 
 
 rowned our victories 
 Montezumas, the army was at once dispersed 
 over the long frontier, and engaged in hai 
 and dangerous wars with the Indians of the 
 
plains. Thus thirteen long years wore spent. ' num.' will ever ; mr proudesl I 
 
 until the present war broke out, and the mass and most moving 
 
 of the army was drawn in to be employed In Ion- distant ages, : vh n this incipienl 
 
 against a domestic fi monument has b( ■ 
 
 °I cannot proceed to the events of the recent and perhaps ruinous ; when the names inscrib- 
 
 past and the present without adverting to the ed upon it -hall seem ; j 
 
 gallant men who were bo long ofoui n id them indistinct m 
 
 but who have now gone to their last home; for mythical pa t, the nam.' of VVinth Id 3 »t1 will 
 
 no small portion of the" glory of which we bqast still becli " :i11 - 
 
 was rejected from such mfen as Taylor, VTi rth 
 Brady, Brooks, Toil n, and Duncan. Phai 
 
 There is :> sad story of Venetian history that 
 has moved many a heart and often employed 
 the poet's pen ami painter's pencil. It is of an 
 old man whose Ion ; life v. pent in 
 
 the sei ■ 'ale as a warrior and a 
 
 mi, and who, when his hair was white 
 and his feeble limbs could Bcarce carry bis bent 
 form toward the -rave, attained the highest 
 
 honors that a Venetian citizen eonld reach. 
 
 lie was Doge of Venice. I 'onvicte i of trea- 
 son againsl the state^ he not only lost his life 
 bui suffered besides a penalty which will en- 
 dure as long as the name of Venice is remem- 
 bered. The -pot. where- his portrait should 
 have hung in the great hall of the Doge's pai- 
 I witii black, and there still re- 
 mains the frame with its black mas- of-canvas; 
 and this vacant frame is the mosl conspicuous 
 in the long line of effigies of illustrious I 
 Oh ! that such a pall as that which rep) i 
 portrait of Marino Faliero could conceal from 
 history the names of those, once our c 
 who are now in arms againsi the flag under 
 which we fought side by side in years none by. 
 But to vail can cover the anguish that tills our 
 hearts when we look hack upon the sad mem- 
 ory of the past, and recall the affection and 
 I we entertained toward men against 
 Whom it is our duty to act in mortal c 
 Would thai the courage, ability, and steadfast- 
 ness they display had hen employed in the 
 defence of the "Stars and Stripes ag 
 foreign foe, rather than in this gratuito 
 unjustifiable rebellion, which could not be - > 
 long maintained but for the skill and energy 
 of these our former comrades, 
 
 GENT.RAI. SCOTT. 
 
 But wc have reason to rejoice that upon this 
 day, so sacred and so eventful for 
 old mortal monumenl of the disl si 1 lift. 
 high his head amongst us and grace 
 presence the consecration of this tomb of his 
 children. We may \vll lee proud tint we hive 
 
 nmanded by the hero who purchased vic- 
 tory with his blood near the -'eat waters of Nia- 
 gara; who rep a ed and eclipsed the achieve- 
 
 meats of Cort< hough a consummate 
 
 and con! inun nder, ever preferred, when 
 
 duty and lienor would permit, th ! oln 
 of peace to the bio a ire!- of war; 
 
 and who stand- at the close of a long, a 
 and eventful life, a living colq 
 
 : which bave 1 vain alike the 
 
 blandishments and storms of treason. Bis 
 
 TI1K i: ' *"■ 
 
 But it is time to approach the pn 
 war which now shake- the laud toils found item 
 
 liar army ha- borne a ;. ■' honorable 
 
 1 o i i'w in pmmbi rs t.. a.- bj th m 
 regular •■■ '•<■ participated in 
 
 greal battle in tl 
 
 west of th ■-. Their terrible : 
 
 and diminished numbers prove that 1 
 been in hi - 
 
 mony of their c rade* and commanders 
 
 with what undaunted heroi upheld 
 
 cient renown, 'fie 
 . 
 owe than once save 1 the army from destrue- 
 terrible losses by tin- obstinacy with 
 which they resisted overpowering nui 
 
 in refer with pride to the part they 
 playi 1 upon the glorious ' 
 exult a' the recollection of what they did at 
 
 IS, Gaines's Mid, Malvern, Autictam, 
 Shiloh, Stone I. . G tfjsburgh, and the 
 ■:;, at battles just I iught from I 
 to the Chickahominy. Tl 
 
 Beers who bave risen among t' ; . 
 achieved greal deeds for their country in this 
 war, to tin' living warriors whose names- are 
 
 on th" nation's tongue an I heai 
 
 on- to be repeated here. y< whom I 
 
 could willingly omit. Bui ; 
 , -t episode in the history of the regular army is 
 ■ ■ of fidelity on the part of 
 the n m co ites, who, 
 
 ously undo prisoners in 1 
 
 ■ \ to violate their oath 
 Bert the 
 service, money and land i; thorn. 
 
 they all Bcorned the inducements hel 1 out to 
 them, submitted to every hardship, and, when 
 at Last exchang on the 
 
 battle for the unavailing insul 
 their integrity. Biatory affords do ; 
 example of honor than thai of these brave 
 
 men. tempt'"!, a- 1 Mush to Bay they •' 
 
 their former offlc srs, wh », ha ing them- 
 selves proved false t > their flag, 
 
 Seduce the men who had often followed then in 
 combat, and who had naturally regtrded them 
 iod love. 
 
 is the regular army; such its history 
 an 1 onl i men. 
 
 oo herald ;■■ trumpel forth it- praises. 
 
 ft CS i | ll U) the QUI 
 
 from the tropics to the froaeri bai 
 

 
 Lawrence; from the At'antic to the Pacific, fer- 
 tilized by the Wood, and whitened by the bones, 
 of its member?. But I will not pause to eulo- 
 gize it ; let its deeds speak for it ; they are more 
 eloquent than tongue of mine. 
 
 THE DEAD OP THE REGULAR ABUT. 
 Why are we here to-day f This is not the 
 funeral of one brave warrior, nor even of tin- 
 harvest of death on a single battle-field; but 
 these are the " : of the b si ami bravest 
 
 of the children of the land, who have fallen 
 
 ns almost numberlege, many of them 
 among the most sanguinary and de-perate of 
 which history bears record. The men whose 
 
 md deeds we now seek to perpi 
 rend ring them the highest honor in our power, 
 Jlen wherever armed rebellion showed 
 its front, in far-distanl New^Masico, in the 
 broad valley of the Mississippi, on the bloody j 
 hunting-grounds of Kentucky, in the mountains 
 of Tennessee, amid the swamps of Carolina, on 
 the fertile fields of Maryland, and in fee 
 stained thickets of Virginia. They were of all 
 grades, from the general officer to the private; 
 of all ages, iVo!:i the gray-haired veteran of fifty 
 service to the beardless youth; of nil 
 
 of cultivation, from the man of science 
 to the uneducated hoy. It is not necessary, 
 nor is it possible, to repeat the mournful yet 
 illustrious roll of dead heroes whom we have ' 
 met to honor, nor shall I attempt to name all 
 of those who most merit praise; simply a few 
 who will exemplify the classes to which they 
 
 ; g the last slain, but among the first in 
 honor and reputation, was that hero of twenty 
 b John S' Igw ick. Gent Le and kind as a 
 
 Woman ; brave as a brave man can he ; honest, 
 
 sincere, and able; he was a model that all may 
 Strive to imitate, hut whom \V\v can equal. In 
 
 the terrible battles which just preceded his 
 death he had Occasion to display the highest 
 qualities of a commander and a soldier. Yet 
 after escaping the stroke of death when men 
 fell around him by thousands, he at last met 
 hi- file at a moment of comparative quiet by 
 the hall of a Single rifleman. He died as a. sol- 
 dier WOullj choose to die, with truth in his 
 
 :, tranquil smile upon his 
 face. M - ' our - real nation posses 
 such sons like tin.' John Sedgwick. 
 
 Like him fell, too, at the very head of their 
 corps, the white-haired Mansfield, after a long 
 career of usef iln is . illustrati d by his skill and 
 cool Courage at Fori Brown, Monterey, and 
 j John !•'. It yield- and Reno, both 
 in the foil vigor of manhood and inteUi 
 who '• .. 1 chivalry in 
 
 many a field ' L in this civil war. gal- 
 
 n,ofwhomth 
 to hope, ad it pi iased < lb 1 to spare tied:- lives. 
 Lyon ; me of life, leading hi- littl ■ 
 
 a; my .'. id- brief career 
 
 affording a brilliant example of patriotism and 
 ability. Toe impetuous Kearn 
 
 brave generals as Richardson. Williams, Terrill, 
 SUveiw, Weed. Saunders, and Hayes, lost their 
 lives while in the midst of a career of useful- 
 ness Young Bayard, so like the most ivnown- 
 ed of his name, that "knight above fear and 
 cut off too early for his 
 country. No regiments can spare such gallant, 
 I 'ie commanders as Rossell, Davis, 
 Gove, Simmons, Bailey, Putnam, and ! 
 bury — all of whom fell in the thickest of the 
 combat, some of tlani veterans and others young 
 in the service -all good men and well-b 
 Our batteries haw partially paid their terrible 
 debt to i < Buch commarii 
 
 Greble, (the first to fall in this war.) Benson, 
 Hazzard, Smead, De Hart, Hazlett, and those 
 gallant hoys, Kiihy, Woodruff, Dimmick, and 
 Cushing; while the engineers lament the pro- 
 id gallant Wagner and Cross. Beneath 
 Lelds rest the corse; of the heroic 
 McRae, Reed; Base 'in, Stone, Sweet, and many. 
 .'tier company officers, Besides thes< 
 
 » 'ants, corporals, and pri- 
 vates who had fought under Scott in Mexico, 
 or contended in many combats with the 
 savages of the far West and Florida ; and 
 mingled with them young soldiers who, cour- 
 ageous, steady, and true, met death unflinch- 
 ingly without the hope of personal glory. 
 These men, in their more humble spheres, 
 served their country with as much faith and 
 honor as the most illustrious generals, and all 
 of them with perfect singleness of heart. Al- 
 though their names may not live in history, 
 their actions, loyalty, ami courage will live. 
 Their memories will long he preserved in 
 their regiments, for there were many of them 
 who merited as proud a distinction as that ac- i 
 corded to "the first grenadier of France," ox to 
 that other Russian soldi) r who gave his 
 his comrades. But there is another q 
 men who have gone from us since this war 
 commenced, whose fete it wis not to die in 
 battle, but who are none th - less entitled to be 
 mentioned here. There was Sumner, a 
 honest, chivalrous veteran, of more than half a 
 century's service, who had confronted d ath 
 unflinchingly on -cores of battle-fields, had 
 shown his gray head, serene and cheerful, 
 where death most revelled, who more the 
 told me thai lie believed and hoped that his 
 long career would end amid the din of battle. 
 • at home from the effects of the hard- 
 ships of his campaigns. That most excellent 
 soldier, the elegant (.'. F. Smith, whom many ot 
 
 us remember i" have seen bo often on this 
 plain, with his superb hearing, escaped the 
 
 . . fall a victim to the disea>e which 
 has deprived the army of SO many of 
 soldiers. John Buford, coo! and intrepid; 
 
 Mitchel, eminent in Rcience, Plummer, . 
 
 and many other officers and men. lost their 
 lives by siokm ted on the field. But 
 
 1 cannot close this 1 in ious in u'yrs 
 
 without paying ■ sacred debt of official duty 
 
 ship. 1 here 
 
dier p ho possess d peculiar claims upon m. 
 love a id gratitude; he n as an ardent 
 a i una slush man, a true soldier, the bo 
 
 be was my aide-de-camp, 
 
 ! ( !olburn. There is a 1< i ion to be draw n 
 
 from the death and services of these glorious 
 
 men, which we should read for the present and 
 
 future benefit of the nation. 
 
 War in these modern daya is :i science, and it 
 should n ow i' ■ clear to the most prejudiced that, 
 for the organization and comman I of armies, and 
 the high combinations of strate y, perfect famil- 
 iarity with the theoretical science of war is re- 
 quisite. To count upon su I te plane 
 or execution of campaigns are intrusts 1 to men 
 who have no knowledge of war, is as idle as t<> 
 expert the legal wisdom of a Story or a BLentfrom 
 a skilful physician. 
 
 THE CAUSE FOB WHICH WE FIGHT. 
 
 But what is the honorable and holy cause 
 
 for which these men laid down their lives, 
 
 and for which the nation still demands the sac- 
 rifice of the precious blood of so many of her 
 children ? 
 
 Soon alter the close "l" the Revolutionary 
 War, it was found that the confederacy which 
 
 ies an 1 
 calamities whicli led to its adoption. 
 
 nation was un rights 
 
 and libei at borne 
 
 and abn 
 
 and the wil i 
 and add I civilization and the 
 
 Union. The ind com- 
 
 merce 
 
 sea, and we I among th 
 
 nations of the earth. But under 
 surface of prosperity upon which we 
 swiftly, with all Balis >et before the summer 
 ■ ious reefs \\ ere hidden which 
 now and then caused ripples upon the - 
 and made anxious the m >re c tutiouf 
 Elated ' ic ship swept on — th 
 
 not heeding thftAtarnings th forget- 
 
 ful of the d iped in the beginning of 
 
 yagsj and Mind to the hideous maelstrom 
 whidi gappl to receive and d sstroy them. The 
 same element-; of discord and sectional preju- 
 *, and institutions which had ren- 
 i 'onstitution so diffi- 
 cult, threatened more than it roy it. 
 the nation was bo fortunate 
 had grown up during that memora ;eries of political leaders, ■ 
 
 last falling to pieces from its own weight The 
 central power was too weak, ft could onb 
 mend to the different State- such mea>mv> as 
 seemed best, and it possesse i no real power to 
 legislate, because it lacke 1 the <■■ 
 to compel obedience to its laws. The national 
 credit and self-respect had disappeared, and it 
 wits' feared by the friends of human liberty 
 throughout the world that ours was but an- 
 other added to the long list of fruitless at- 
 tempts at self-government The nation was 
 evidently upon the brink of ruin and dissolution, 
 when, some eighty years ago, many of the 
 and most patriotic of the land met to 
 seek a remedy for the great evils which threat- 
 ened to destroy the great work of the revolu- 
 tion. Their sessions wea d often 
 stormy ; for a time the most sanguine d 
 the possibility of a successful termination to 
 their labors. But from amidst the conflict of 
 sectional interests cf part} crsjudi ..an: ,; 
 personal selfishness, the spirit of wisdom and 
 conciliation at length evoked the Constitu- 
 tion under winch we have lived SO loi 
 was not formed in a day, but was the I 
 patient labor, of lofty wisdom, and of the 
 purest patriotism. It Was at last ad »p( 
 the people of all the States— although b 
 reluctantly — not as being exactly what all de- 
 sired, but as being : possible under the 
 circumst a 
 
 It was accepted as giving us a form 
 eminent under which the nation might live 
 happily and prosper, so long as ; te people 
 should continue to be influenced bj th 
 sentiments which a ■ who formed 
 
 it ; and which would not be liable to d 
 
 the highest abilities, united the same spirit of 
 conciliation which animated the founders of the 
 republic, and thus for many years the threat- 
 ened evih : ted. Time, and li 
 
 good fortune, obliterated the recollection 
 of the calamities and wretchedness of the years 
 preceding the adoption of the Constitution. 
 Men forgot that conciliatii n, common i 
 and mutual charity had been the foundation, 
 and must be the support of onr government, 
 as is indeed the case with all government I 
 
 all the relations of life. At length, men ap- 
 peared with whom sectional and personal preju- 
 dice, and interests outweighed all considera- 
 :■ the general remists of one 
 
 section furnished the occasion, i 
 as a pretext by equally extreme men in the 
 other, for abandoning the pacific remed 
 protection afforded by the Constitution, and 
 ! redress f"r p ■■ sible future evils in war 
 and the destruction ol the Union. 
 
 Stripped of all sophistry and side-issue*, the 
 
 direct cause of the «;.;• as i; presented itself to 
 
 test and patriotic citizens of the North 
 
 was simply this: Certain States, or rather, a 
 
 portion of the inhabitants of certain States, 
 
 feared, or professe 1 to tear, that injury would 
 result to their rights and property from the 
 
 I of a particular partj 
 
 Although the Constitution ami the 
 
 I them 
 with a peaceable and Mire protection 
 the apprehended evil, they preferred to >i-ek 
 
 in the destruction of the govern- 
 ment which could protect them, and in the 
 i linst the national troop.- holding 
 a nati mal forti insult offered 
 
 tion from internal causes, so long as the people jour flag; to save ourselves from the fate of 
 
the divided republics of Italy and SouthrAmer- 
 ica ; to preserve our government from destruc- 
 tion ; to enforce it- '.I laws; to 
 •iv existence as a nation — these 
 were th apelled us to draw the 
 sword. Rebellion •■ . rernment like 
 ours, which ( ontains the means of self-adjust- 
 ment and a p ific remedy for evils, should 
 
 never be ! with a revolution against 
 
 i u rebellion cannot In- justified 
 upon ttl Is, and the only alternative 
 
 for our choice is its suppression or the de- 
 
 : of our nationality. 
 
 i oxi 1 1 son. 
 
 At s this, and in such a 
 
 gle, political partisanship should be merged in 
 a true and brave patriotism, which thinks only 
 of the good of the whole country. It was in 
 this cause, and with these motives, that so 
 
 _ivc tli'-ir In 
 to this we are all personally pledged in all 
 honor and fidelity. Shall such devotion 
 of our dead comrades be of no avail? 
 jes that we lacked the 
 vigor to complete the work thus begun ': That 
 noble lives freely given, we hesP 
 tated and.iaiied to keep straight on until our 
 land was saved? Forbid ii. Heaven, and give 
 ts than that ! 
 spirits of the valiant dead! souls of our 
 ->!ain heroes, lend us your own indomitable will, 
 audit it be permitted you to commune with 
 still chained by the trammels of mortal- 
 ity, hover around us in the midst of danger and 
 tribulation — cheer the firm, strengthen tin' 
 that none may doubt the salvation of 
 the Republic and the triumph of our grand old 
 Plae. 
 
 In the midst of the storms which toss our 
 ship of state, there is one great beacon light to 
 which we can ever turn with confidence and 
 hope. It cannot be that this meat nation has 
 played its part in history ; it cannot be that 
 . which arose with such bright prom- 
 ises for the future, has already set fir ever. It 
 must be the intention of the overruling Deity 
 that this land, so long the asylum of the op- 
 I, the refugeof civil and religions liberty, 
 shall again stand forth in bright i 
 purified, and chastened by our trials, as an ex- 
 ample and encouragement for those who desire 
 the progress of the human race. It is not 
 given to our weak intellects to understand the 
 
 of Providence as they occur; we 
 prehend them only as we look back upon them 
 in the far distant past ; so is it now. We can- 
 not unravel the .seemingly tangled skein of the 
 too high and 
 r limited minds. But all 
 history and his own revealed words teach us 
 that his ways, although inscrutable, arc ever 
 righteous. Let us, then, honestly and man- 
 fully play our parts, seek to understand and 
 perform our whole duty, and trust unwa\ 
 in the beneficence of God who led our a. 
 
 .lie sea, and sustained them afterward 
 
 more appalling even tha 
 ■red by his own chosen people in their 
 great c . 
 
 lie did not hving us here in vain, nor has he 
 supported us thus far fir naught, 
 
 If we do our duty" and trust in him, he will 
 it us in our need. Firm in our faith 
 that God will save our country, we now dedi- 
 cate this site to the memory of ; 
 loyalty, patriotism, and honor. (Loud ap- 
 plause, i 
 
 LIBRAE OF CONGRESS 
 
 virafe^ 
 
U 012 028 038 7 
 
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 peRmalife* 
 P H8J 
 
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