p 
 
 OMPLIMFNTS OF 
 
 p R . P- yY P OBERTSON, 
 
 184 jS TATE pTREET, 
 
 
 
 
 O R AT ION 
 
 Charles A. Robertson, M. D. 
 
 SURGEON OF POST 5, G, A, R. 
 
 Delivered in Albany, May 81st, 1875, 
 
 AT THE PUBLIC OBSERVANCE OF 
 
 MEMORIAL DAY 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 
 
 GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
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 APP^NY: 
 
 THE ARGUS COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
 
 1875. 
 
 
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 Charles A. Robertson, M. D. 
 
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 SURGEON OP POST 5, G, A, R, 
 
 Delivered in Albany, May 31st, 1875, 
 
 AT TUB PUBLIC OBSEKVANOE OP 
 
 MEMORIAL DAY 
 
 UNDEB TIIE AUSPICES OF THE 
 
 GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 
 
 AJ-WT: 
 
 THE ARGUS COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
 
 1875. 
 
O R ATION. 
 
 
 
 
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 Comrades of the Grand Army, — 
 
 As our representatives to-day have done in 
 person, so let us, in mind, * go forth to “God’s 
 acres” of green, 
 
 “ Where heaves ‘the turf, in many a mouldering heap,” 
 
 above the nar^nv beds of our sleeping brave. 
 
 In those sondes, where every fresh tenant but 
 makes the loneliness more lonely, unsatisfactory 
 speculations about the dread certainties and uncer- 
 tainties of the grave will invade reflective minds, and 
 various emotions will stir the sensibilities of the 
 living ; but the dead who lie there manifest no con- 
 cern for anything — they are neither glad nor sorry 
 that the returning spring has again clothed the sod 
 above them with a brighter hue, and. no token of 
 recognition comes from them to tell that their solitude 
 is cheered by loving friends, who this day visit their 
 silent abodes. 
 
 “ They sleep their last sleep, they have fought their last battle, 
 
 No sound shall awake them to glory again.” 
 
 Lovingly and tenderly, the trees droop their graceful 
 branches over them, the wind makes sad music among 
 
 * Details were sent to the cemeteries by the G. A. It. in the morning to 
 decorate the soldiers’ graves, and the literary exercises were held in the 
 Albany Academy Park in the afternoon. 
 
 157988 
 
• . • • 
 
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 • ••• *„• . » 
 
 ••••••• • 
 
 •*••• • •• , 
 
 . 4 : 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 :4he/f(^Vea: -Jice chirp of the squirrel and the notes of 
 
 • • » . » . • *1 , • • • • 
 
 little birds break, at intervals, the deep stillness of 
 the place, and the great sun pours over all his warm 
 and generous light, yet they slumber on, and seem as 
 heedless at this bright and tranquil season as they are 
 indifferent when the gale howls through the leafless 
 branches, and the storm-swept heavens hide the sun, 
 and the little birds have tied to warmer climes, away 
 from the frosts and fury of winter. Still, we would 
 fondly imagine that, although the bodies of our 
 dead comrades are mouldering in their graves, their 
 undaunted souls are somehow about us and with us 
 to-day. We would fain believe that their pure spirits 
 have come back for awhile to earth from the celestial 
 presence of the All-Father, and are glad as they 
 watch us, when with loving hands we strew the 
 beautiful flowers on the lowly mounds, beneath which 
 the kindred dust of their bodies is returning to 
 mother-earth again. We would fain believe them 
 more happy as they witness how we will not willingly 
 let their memory die, and as they soar back to the 
 divine Presence, that they will bear with them sweet 
 recollections of this hour. It may be such imaginings 
 are vain, and it may be they are not — yet it is good 
 now to indulge them, and to feel that — 
 
 “It is not all of life to live, or all of death to die.” 
 
 And why are those graves more to us than other 
 graves ? Why do we go out, year after year, and 
 deck them with flowers? Our homes are bright and 
 cheerful, and our hearts are gladdened there by the 
 reciprocal love of kindred and friends — why do we 
 
ORATION. 
 
 leave them to visit the sad retreats, where we meet 
 with no word of greeting or smile of welcome — 
 where the very air seems laden with the sobs and 
 farewells of stricken mourners, who have moved 
 slowly along the narrow paths, taken one final look 
 on the closed coffin-lid, and then, in agony of grief, 
 torn themselves forever away from the dear bodies of 
 their loved and lost ? Oh, no ; those are not joyous 
 places, where the gay may throng to laugh, and the 
 frivolous pursue their pleasure, for our understandings 
 hear the fearful though silent utterances of the dead, 
 calling “to corruption, tfrou art my father; to the 
 worm, thou art my mother and my sister.” 
 
 Still, forbidding as these considerations seem, there 
 are strong and good reasons for repairing thither, 
 for — 
 
 “That’s hallowed ground, where mourned and missed, 
 
 The lips repose our love has kissed;” 
 
 and parent and child, lover and spouse, who visit 
 there, feel not only fresh exaltation of the kindliest 
 sentiments of their nature, while they commune with 
 the influences that dwell there, but a tender and 
 generous sympathy commingles with their meditations, 
 when they behold the numerous monuments around, 
 that testify the bereavement and sorrow of other 
 human hearts, and an irresistible conviction, that no 
 scepticism can withstand, comes over the intelligent 
 mind that all this affection is not objectless, cannot be 
 wasted; that somewhere and somehow in the infinite 
 hereafter it must have its attainment and satisfaction, 
 since all God’s argosies, wherever launched, whatever 
 
6 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 expanse of ocean they sail upon, must reach their 
 shore at last. 
 
 But, comrades, we do not visit there merely to 
 mourn for kindred and friends. We do not go simply 
 to join in the private griefs of torn and bleeding 
 hearts. We gather as children of our great country 
 to manifest how we love and honor, and cherish 
 the memory of the valiant dead, whose lives were 
 sacrificed in her service. It is natural and right for 
 men to protect and cherish their own families, but it 
 is grand and heroic in men to rise to higher and 
 broader planes of action, to recognize what is for the 
 common good of their fellow-men, and to devote their 
 energies and their lives to the great cause of country 
 and humanity. 
 
 In those narrow graves, which we this day decorate, 
 patriot soldiers are lying, and we stand here to glorify 
 them. In no grander cause could they have fallen 
 than that which emblazons their memory. Higher 
 was that cause than that of country even — for it was 
 the cause of humanity, of the world. They fell in 
 the great issue between freedom and despotism, fought 
 out in the tremendous conflict between the North and 
 the South. 
 
 The magnitude and importance of the contest 
 imparted glory, in proportion, on the heroes, whose 
 lives were given for the salvation of the Union and 
 the maintenance of freedom ; and this day is properly 
 set apart and consecrated, to make us freshly remem- 
 ber the fearful ordeal, through which our country has 
 passed, to keep forever green in our grateful hearts 
 
ORATION. 
 
 7 
 
 the memory of the devoted patriots, who died for her, 
 and to furnish appropriate occasion for decorating 
 their last resting-places with the most beautiful tokens 
 of regard. 
 
 To-day, I seem to see the great tender spirit of 
 humanity regarding sadly the wide arena of strife, 
 where two mighty forces urged their gigantic struggle, 
 and the lives of men were thrown off into eternity by 
 the tremendous enginery of war, countlessly as the 
 drops of spray flung from the revolving wheels of vast 
 machinery. She now bends in sorrow over the mounds, 
 where heaps of slain, friend and foe “in one red 
 burial blent,” were multitudinously inearthed, or casts 
 her eyes contemplatively upon the innumerable graves, 
 thickly strewn all over the expanse, and her sympa- 
 thies go forth in deep commiseration for the bleeding 
 hearts of the living, torn by the violence that snatched 
 away their unreturning brave, and for desolate house- 
 holds, grieving for the encoffined ones, who only came 
 home to die. 
 
 But, anon, other emotions awaken, as she peers 
 deeper into the secrets of the dead, and gazes through 
 the portals of the grave into that mysterious realm 
 beyond, into which our hidden comrades have passed. 
 Through an atmosphere filled with tears of bereave- 
 ment, falling from myriads of weeping eyes that flow 
 with grief for the lost millions of the war — filled with 
 tears, but lighted up by the glowing rays of loving- 
 affection, that shine through the falling drops, she 
 discerns the memories of the numerous dead, projected 
 as rainbow forms into a beautiful spectral world. 
 
8 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 G-lorious they seem, in the association with their 
 noble deeds in life, and the radiance of their transfigured 
 appearances illuminates the paths of duty for them 
 they left behind. She recognizes that the brave and 
 good never die, that their virtue forever manifests 
 itself in the mystic inspiration of elevated sentiments 
 and grand ideas that make the world better for their 
 having lived in it, that embolden truth, encourage 
 faith in man, and strengthen love and devotion to 
 country. She knows and rejoices that their lives, 
 given for country and for liberty, are not wasted, are 
 not lost, like those of Persian and Turkish hordes 
 spent on Greece, of Goths and Vandals on Rome, or 
 of the French and Spaniards on modern Italy, only 
 to enable despots, wading ruthlessly through blood 
 and plunder, to gloat in wicked triumphs secured by 
 the prowess of injustice, but shall continue on through 
 the advancing centuries, prompting and encouraging 
 men, like the voice of God, to break through all 
 tyrannical and superstitious errors, and away from all 
 misconduct, and liberate the world from, the prisons 
 of ignorance and the thrall dom of craft. 
 
 Already the years are multiplying since the war was 
 inaugurated ; and boys and girls of that day are now 
 become men and women, and some who were not then 
 born are boys and girls mingling in my audience 
 to-day. 
 
 Let us, then, in mind, for a while, roll back the 
 wheels of time and cast aside the involving shadows 
 that obscure the Past, and contemplate the stirring 
 scenes in the appalling tragedy of the “Great 
 Rebellion.” 
 
ORATION. 
 
 9 
 
 Hark! Listen to that sound! “ Fort Sumter is 
 fired on /” The words go from mouth to month! 
 The lightning leaps along ten thousand wires, and 
 every telegraph clicks the portentous sentence ! Men 
 gather at the street corners to discuss the ominous 
 tidings ! Travelers, tradesmen, farmers, artisans and 
 professional men are seized with, dismay and indigna- 
 tion ! The tidings did not seem to be in words, but 
 the very booming of the gun, rending their ears, and 
 thundering its terrible import into their hearts ! 
 
 It seemed as if the report of that fratricidal cannon 
 would never die. As it sped on, it grew louder and 
 louder and louder ! Its peal passed northward up 
 through the Keystone State, the Empire State, the Old 
 Bay State, echoing among the granite hills of New 
 Hampshire, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and the 
 forests of Maine — westward, over the Alleghanies and 
 across the prairies, away beyond the Rocky Mountains, 
 that awful note went on. All the South heard it, and 
 her wisest citizens shuddered, as though it were the 
 trump of doom, announcing that she, who was then 
 fair and hopeful as a bride, must soon welter in blood 
 and writhe in flame, and then sink forlorn and 
 remorseful into poverty and desolation. 
 
 Even the ocean did not stay that sound of prophetic 
 woe ! Beneath and over the waters, it passed on, and 
 its dread resonance was heard in all the kingdoms of 
 the Old World: “ Fort Sumter has been fired on! — 
 the Union is dissolved, and republicanism is a failure!” 
 Then the dynasties of Europe wagged their heads and 
 were glad, while the friends of human rights and 
 
10 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 of liberty were sad and anxious. Potentates, that 
 impiously asserted royalty by the grace of God, and 
 haughty nobilities, claiming lordship and privilege as 
 their heritage, experienced renewed vigor, and made 
 ready to draw the chains of despotism more tightly 
 about the fettered liberties of the people. Even the 
 uncrowned emperor of the French, crimsoned and 
 hateful with murder, soon seized a fancied opportunity 
 to foist a foreign sovereign on the neighboring republic 
 of Mexico, in contempt of the traditions and power of 
 the United States, whose dissolution, as the usurper 
 hoped and believed, would make it impossible to 
 resent his menace and his insolence. 
 
 ‘ 4 N othing can be more interesting to an observing 
 and reflective mind, than to study the causes which 
 lead to a great civil war, to examine with care what 
 is the essentia] trouble, to watch with painful interest 
 and apprehension, the steps of contending parties, and, 
 in the silence of the heart, to bless all who have 
 breathed, however vainly, words of forbearance and 
 kindness, who, have expostulated, explained, con- 
 ciliated, and labored to procure a pause, before the 
 sword is drawn, the musketry is cracking and booming 
 of cannon send peals afar to tell that the bloody work 
 of war, with its sickening horrors and atrocious 
 crimes, is begun.” But I may not now bring before 
 you the review of all the excitements and disturbances / 
 prior to that great shock of sound, by which the 
 Union seemed to be riven from East to West — or 
 recall the explanations, extenuations, compromises, j 
 and offers of further compromise, the efforts of cool, j 
 
ORATION. 
 
 11 
 
 dispassionate and pacific statesmen endeavoring to 
 exlianst the resources of peace, and postpone, if not 
 prevent, the dread arbitrament of war. Sufficient is it 
 to say that all was in vain. 
 
 Tift day and the hour for the irrepressible conflict 
 to be fought out had come. A new party with new 
 men now appears on the political stage. 
 
 The weak, undecided and purposeless occupant of 
 the presidential chair had vanished. During the wan- 
 ing days of his administration, the unchecked miscre- 
 ants of his cabinet had treacherously and cunningly 
 disposed the sword and purse of the nation in such 
 manner, as to be the least effectual in hindering the 
 machinations of secession. 
 
 That was a time when the situation of the country 
 seemed desperate indeed. When the statesman could 
 spurn the Constitution and sneer at the Union ; when 
 the soldier, trained at his country’s expense, was 
 ready to fling away his epaulets and draw a traitor’s 
 sword ; when the once loyal fighter on the seas, who 
 had early learned to magnify tlie glory won from the 
 proud “ Mistress of the Waves ” by the navy of 
 America, could covet the pirate flag of a mutineer in 
 order to plunder and destroy the very commerce he 
 was sworn to protect ; when trusted members of the 
 President’s cabinet betrayed their trusts, and perfidi- 
 ously used their high positions to cripple the nation 
 by weakening its armaments and diverting its resources 
 in favor of conspirators, it surely was, for all who 
 loved their country and its free institutions, who were 
 proud of its brilliant history, who rejoiced in its gran- 
 
12 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 denr and power in the Present, and who contemplated 
 with exultation the magnificent heritage, which the 
 Future seemed to promise, a time to regard with 
 anxiety and distress. 
 
 The great Ship of State had been sailing on to a 
 magnificent destiny, until the years had well nigh 
 grown to a century. So propitious had been the 
 breezes, so almost unbroken had been the waters, it 
 seemed as if her sails were swelled by the unveering 
 trade-winds of prosperity, until the force of this ad- 
 verse gale came storming against her. What wonder, 
 then, when it was found there was mutiny on board, 
 and it was not known who was faithful and who was 
 false, when the troublous times heaved in raging and 
 threatening billows, and the head winds drove furi- 
 ously from the region of disunion, what wonder, I say, 
 was it, that the noble craft so struck aback seemed 
 stunned for a moment, and to stand staggered amid 
 the tempestuous elements, with her sails shivering, un- 
 certain whether she would be driven back to the shores 
 of despotism, steered by mutinous hands, or could 
 beat her way against the opposing forces ? But, thank 
 Glod ! the situation was recognized. Quickly the clear- 
 sighted mariners saw that she must shift the tack on 
 which she was sailing, and over the storm a trumpet- 
 voice was heard to ring out the command — “ready, 
 about!” Faithful men sprang to their posts, and 
 when the order came to put the helm “ hard,- a -lee,” 
 their promptness and efficient seamanship were mani- 
 fested by the fluttering canvas, and the rattling cord- 1 
 age, and the altered course with which she stretched 
 
 ( 
 
ORATION. 
 
 13 
 
 away again with .filling sails toward Freedom and 
 Success. 
 
 But, leaving our metaphor, we now see sitting in 
 the great chair of State that plain, uncouth man, who 
 had been called by the people’s vote to be the 
 nation’ s head, but compelled to steal in disguise 
 through Pennsylvania to the Capital of the country, 
 to avoid the devices of lurking conspirators, and 
 escape the fell purpose of secret assassins. From his 
 large humane heart, wells forth kindness for all, 
 hatred for none. Every conclusion formed in his clear 
 mind was a crystal of logic. In his understanding, 
 daily grew the appreciation of the vastness of the 
 problem that he must solve, and of the great respon- 
 sibility that rested on him. Immovable and unalter- 
 able was the determination of his will — the Union 
 must and shall be preserved. 
 
 Imagine the thoughts and feelings of Abraham Lin- 
 coln as he sat in that chair and pondered over the 
 appalling situation of the country, of which he was 
 chief magistrate ! He had occupied it but little more 
 than a month, when the roar of Beauregard’s cannon- 
 ade at Charleston announced in thunderous accents 
 that the management of a revolution was devolved on 
 him. He felt conscious of a statesman’s intelligence 
 for preserving civil order, but he questioned how lur 
 he could command the enterprise of a hero to sup- 
 press a mighty insurrection. 
 
 He took a far-reaching survey over the land — he 
 saw a “country vast in extent, with, natural advan- 
 tages unexampled, with immense lakes in which almost 
 
 ,) 
 
14 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 any of the kingdoms of Europe might be sunk, rivers 
 that seemed like descending seas — a country tit to 
 teem with life and glow with the arts of peace — the 
 New World, where it should seem the labors and gran- 
 deur and happiness of mankind might give the final 
 consummation of the planet itself” — he cast a retro- 
 spective glance on its proud history — recalled when 
 with only three millions of people, it spurned the 
 yoke of England, and defied her power to impose it- 
 in his ears rang anew the brave eloquence of Patrick 
 Henry, of Robert and William Livingston, of John 
 and Samuel Adams, of Christopher Gadsden, and of 
 John Rutledge, that seemed, in the words of James 
 Otis, like “the prophetic song of the Sibyl chanting 
 the spring-time of a new empire.” He saw, rising 
 above the mists of tyranny, the day-star of the Amer- 
 ican Union. He heard the trumpet peal of Massachu- 
 setts — God bless her ! — calling on the colonies for an 
 American congress ; and, when all others hesitated, 
 and the great creative measure was in extreme peril, 
 and American resistance to British tyranny seemed 
 about to become a mockery, he caught the response 
 of South Carolina — Grod help her! — as she pronounced 
 for the congress and founded the Union, through the 
 achievement of the unbending will and impetuous 
 integrity of her great statesman, the magnanimous, 
 unwavering, fearless patriot, Christopher Gadsden. His 
 mind dwelt long on that first congress, held in New 
 York city, where on natural justice, as an everlasting 
 foundation, was laid the frame-work of American liber- 
 ties. His heart throbbed afresh, as he listened to the! 
 
ORATION. 
 
 15 
 
 immortal words, uttered there by the great South 
 Carolinian — “ There ought to be no New England 
 man, no New Yorker, known on the continent, but 
 all of us Americans” — and the deep Amen moved all 
 his soul. 
 
 Then his thoughts rapidly ran over the events of 
 the Revolutionary War, those terrible days that tried 
 the souls of our Fathers. The battles of Lexington 
 and Concord and Bunker Hill, of Bennington and 
 Stillwater and Saratoga, of Trenton and Princeton and 
 Monmouth — the dreadful sufferings of the winter 
 encampment at Yalley Forge, the destitution of the 
 soldiers, the impoverishment of the treasury, and the 
 unexampled heroism, patience and patriotic persistence 
 of the illustrious Washington — all crowded on his 
 imagination, until finally he saw the black clouds of 
 war roll away, and a youthful nation arise, triumphant 
 from the struggle for the liberty of the broad land, 
 which it had wrested from a powerful sovereign, and, 
 from the pinnacle of the most heroic and exalted 
 achievement the world ever witnessed, wave the flag 
 of victory, and send forth the glad greeting of 
 popular freedom and virtue in the New World to all 
 tiie tyranny-cursed and hope-deferred peoples of the 
 Old. He beheld the destinies of this youthful nation 
 intrusted to the exalted Patriot, who in war had been 
 the brave and cautious soldier, and in peace the 
 sagacious and prudent counsellor — then he turned 
 from considering the Past to regard again the Present, 
 and a determination possessed him, as if from inspira- 
 tion, to preserve faithfully, at whatever cost, the 
 
16 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 sacred trust that had come down to him, lineally, 
 from the pure Patriot, who was “first in war, first in 
 peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” 
 
 Before his inauguration as President of the United 
 States, Lincoln had witnessed the formalities of seces- 
 sion carried out, by the Southern States following the 
 bad leadership of South Carolina, that, in December, 
 1860 , declared herself out of the Union and “a free 
 and independent State.” 
 
 Alas, degenerate sons of Gadsden and Rutledge and 
 Lynch ! that it should have been reserved for you to 
 forget the renown of South Carolina, and profane her 
 glory as the founder of the American Union ! Alas, 
 headstrong and infatuate State, why did not you, 
 and the followers of your audacious example, pause 
 in your madness before smiting the palladium of 
 liberty, and, on the brink of secession, heed the 
 warning utterance of your great patriot, Gadsden, 
 that should forever ring down the ages? — “The 
 province that endeavors to act separately must fall 
 with the rest, and be branded besides with everlasting- 
 infamy.” 
 
 The President elect had seen the Southern Con- 
 federacy organized, and its provisional government 
 established in Alabama. He was aware that troops 
 were drilling in the various southern States, and that 
 State troops had seized national forts, navy-yards, 
 arsenals and treasures of the mint, but hoped against 
 hope that all would prove to be but the effect of 
 “artificial excitement,” and that law and order would 
 speedily prevail. His inaugural message proved how 
 
ORATION. 
 
 17 
 
 loth he was to submit the nation’s cause to the fearful 
 adjudication of the sword. “ We are not enemies, 
 but friends,” lie said. “ We must not be enemies. 
 Though passion may have strained, it must not break 
 our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, 
 stretching from every battle-field and patriot’s grave 
 to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this 
 broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, 
 when again touched, as surely they will be, by the 
 better angels of our nature.” He could not compre- 
 hend all his great task at once, but he developed 
 grandly with the exigencies of the time. 
 
 “ He wrought in sad sincerity, 
 
 Himself from God he could not free, 
 
 He builded better than he knew.” 
 
 Now the cannonade of Sumter was ended ! the lurid 
 fires had gone out, and the smoke of battle had 
 cleared ! Par away on the ocean had died the 
 reverberating echoes of the thunderous explosions of 
 artillery, that for thirty-four hours had filled the air 
 with plunging shot and bursting shells. With one 
 hundred guns the brave Anderson had saluted, and 
 then lowered his glorious flag. With the strains of 
 “Yankee Doodle” and “Hail to the Chief,” from his 
 martial bands, his heroic garrison had marched out of 
 the shattered fort, and steamed their way on. the 
 “Baltic” to New York. The frantic citizens of 
 Charleston had reveled in wild exultations of triumph. 
 The huzzas had ceased, the pealing bells were silent, 
 and the grand chant of the Te Deum had died away. 
 Port Sumter was captured, South Carolina was vic- 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 torious, and all was repose ! 0, terrible mistake ! O, 
 delusive hush ! Woe unto thee, doomed Charleston! 
 Shrieks of agony shall issue from the throats that 
 uttered hurrahs, thy silent bells shall anon fill the 
 frighted air with alarms, and thy Te Deum shall be 
 revived by offended heaven to wail like a Miserere! 
 Thy pride shall kiss the dust, for the despised slave 
 shall become thy rude master, and desolate misery 
 shall dwell among thy ruins ! — Thus closed one act 
 in this great world-tragedy. 
 
 The arrogant South had bent too far the springs of 
 northern endurance, and now the mighty reaction 
 began. The day after the ensign of our national glory 
 was hauled down, at the dictation of traitor-hearted 
 insurgents, went forth the President’s call to arms , 
 and his requisition for seventy-live thousand volunteers 
 to defend the Capital, and secure the property of the 
 government. 
 
 Comrades, — you well remember with what alacrity 
 that call was obeyed! You bear in mind the indigna- 
 tion that awoke in every patriot heart, stung with 
 insult to the nation’s flag. You know how the former 
 mild regard for the old flag at once intensified into 
 glowing affection — how you wore it, in miniature, as a 
 badge of royalty — how it was Hung admiringly to the 
 breezes from public buildings and private dwellings 
 and shops — how it was lifted to the heavens, and 
 fixed on the church spires, to receive every day the 
 first salutations of the morning, and to commune with 
 the stars through all the sad night! You remember 
 the enthusiastic meetings of the citizens, and how the 
 
ORATION. 
 
 19 
 
 intelligence and energy of the people were manifested 
 by their quick perception of the real issue, and the 
 promptness of their action. You remember the mar- 
 challing in of arms — how from the workshop and the 
 held, from the trader’s mart and from seminary and 
 college poured forth, multitudinously, the aroused and 
 devoted manhood of the North, eager to constitute 
 itself a bulwark against the raging waters of rebellion, 
 and stay the dangerous surgings against the national 
 Capital — and eager, too, to vindicate northern courage, 
 and teach the world, as well as domestic foes, that 
 the spirit of ’76 was still alive. 
 
 The sounds of the gathering hosts were heard all 
 through the Free States, and four days after the 
 President’s call, the Massachusetts Sixth, on the 19th 
 of April, entered Baltimore, followed shortly after by 
 the Pennsylvania volunteers, en route for Washington. 
 You remember how the infuriated mob of eight thou- 
 sand rebel sympathizers assailed this noble regiment 
 with clubs and missiles and firearms, and how two of 
 the early dead of the war, whom we mourn to-day, 
 commemorated by the sacrifice of their lives the 
 anniversary of the historic battle of Lexington. 
 
 “ Once again, (our dear old Massachusetts ) ! 
 
 Once again the drops, that made their way 
 lied, ah, not in vain ! on that old greensward — 
 
 ’Twas six and eighty years this very day. 
 
 “ Once more, dear brother State ! thy pure, brave blood baptizes 
 Our last and noblest struggle for freedom and for right — 
 
 It fell on the cruel stones ! but an awful nation rises, 
 
 In the glory of its conscience and the splendor of its might.” 
 
20 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 The mob took possession of the city, and the Mayor 
 of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland notified the 
 President that no more troops should pass. Then it 
 was that the superb Seventh regiment of the Ifew 
 York State Guard started for the Capital, prepared to 
 cut its way with fire and sword through all opposi- 
 tion. Fortunately, the necessity for bloodshed was 
 avoided by making a detour with transports by way 
 of Annapolis. Tired and worn, the gallant regiment at 
 length reached Washington, and proudly marched up 
 Pennsylvania Avenue amidst welcome shouts and 
 salutations. 
 
 Now, regiment after regiment from different States 
 poured in, until Washington was crammed with 
 soldiers, and all dangers that menaced the Capital 
 being dispelled, loyal hearts breathed freely again. 
 
 Self protection was so far the object of all action, 
 but now the formidable necessity of quelling the 
 rebellion was to be met. The frenzied South had 
 mustered her legions, and it was clear that her seeming 
 madness was not caused by “artificial excitement,” 
 but was the logical, result of her bad education and 
 her “peculiar institution.” Her citizens were largely 
 subject to the controlling influence of a governing 
 class, that regarded its own interests as paramount to 
 all other considerations. The increasing numbers, 
 wealth and power of the intelligent North, with her 
 free institutions, kept that ruling class apprehensive 
 of the Future. They might affect to despise the 
 northern mechanic and laborer, but they saw clearly 
 the incompatibility of liberty and servitude, and that 
 
ORA TION. 
 
 21 
 
 in the Union one of them must inevitably predominate 
 and become national. The threat of the Georgia 
 Senator to yet call the roll of his slaves on Bunker 
 Hill, was early felt to be idle, but still, it did not 
 seem altogether vain, to expect to establish an inde- 
 pendent confederacy, and so secure the perpetuity of 
 the ‘‘peculiar institution;” and it was hoped that 
 precipitate action and only a demonstration of force 
 would suffice. For this end, they had long sought to 
 prepare the public mind of the South, by instilling 
 prejudice against the North, and. by inculcating the 
 right of secession. But the people of the North — and 
 largely of the South, too — recognized that the safety 
 and welfare of this free land depended on the indisso- 
 luble unity and integrity of the Republic, and no 
 mere display of force for compelling dissolution could 
 awe the North into tame acquiescence in the mis- 
 chievous doctrine of secession, and it remained to test 
 that force. 
 
 Accordingly, the great preparations for the mighty 
 struggle between liberty and authority were made. 
 
 Soldiers of the Grand Army, — You see again these 
 great preparations. You hear the repeated calls for 
 men, and more men. You remember how the free 
 North rose in her might and poured forth her ceaseless 
 armies. Again you hear the pulpits eloquent with the 
 voice of religion, concerting with the voice of 
 patriotism, and emphasizing the summons of your 
 country. You recall your consciousness of duty, 
 your sense of manliness, the esteem and affection of 
 them you loved, and who loved you and were proud 
 
ORATION. 
 
 of yon, all urging yon to quit the safe and quiet 
 pursuits of peace for the dangers and darings of war. 
 You recall the undrilled regiments hurrying through 
 the streets, with the fresh blue uniforms as yet 
 unstained with blood, you are thrilled again with the 
 cheering hurrahs resounding from sidewalk and houses, 
 and you see the fluttering handkerchiefs, waived by 
 the trembling hands of tearful wives, mothers, sweet- 
 hearts and sisters. In your ears once more sound the 
 shrill fifes and the rattling drums, as in imagination 
 you keep step to the music of the Union, and tramp, 
 tramp, tramp to your white-tented camps and places 
 of rendezvous, with the folds of the starry flag- 
 floating above you. 
 
 Time would fail me, were I to attempt to detail the 
 striking events, or to note the many splendid actors, 
 or the important interests of the great strife between 
 that hour, when, in April, 1861, Robert E. Lee, related 
 by blood to the illustrious Washington, sat as Colonel 
 in the United States army, and gazed tearfully on the 
 Capital of his country from his piazza at Arlington 
 House, while he painfully revolved in mind the ques- 
 tion, where he should fix his allegiance, and the hour, 
 when, in April, 1865, Robert E. Lee, now related 
 through blood, in a lost cause, with Jeff. Davis, the 
 inglorious adventurer } and ridiculous fugitive, surren- 
 dered, as General-in-chief in the Confederate States’ 
 army, a rebel sword at Appomattox Court-House, to 
 Ulysses S. Grant. 
 
 These actors, events, and interests crowd, tumultu- 
 ously, on my mind ; months, years, localities and 
 
ORATION. 
 
 23 
 
 distances become contused, and, me thinks, I see all 
 the mighty contest, as one grand panorama, in which 
 dates and places are incidents. I see the embattled 
 hosts, 
 
 “ By thousands and by millions ranged for fight.” 
 
 I behold the sacred Cause personified, as the soul- 
 inspiring leader of the northern legions, and 1 
 recognize, 
 
 “ Oh Freedom ! thou art not, as poets dream, 
 
 A fair young girl, with light and delicate limbs, 
 
 And wavy tresses gushing from the cap 
 
 With which the Roman master crowned his slave 
 
 When he took olf the gyves. A bearded man, 
 
 Armed to the teeth, art thou ; one mailed hand 
 Grasps thy broad shield, and one the sword ; thy brow, 
 Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred 
 With tokens of old wars; thy massive limbs 
 Are strong with struggling.” 
 
 I see the proud and confident hosts of the Adver- 
 sary, the banded powers of slavery, that hasted on to 
 the fray with furious expedition, full of instilled 
 malice and contempt for northern courage. 
 
 I behold the beginning of strife! the “sacred soil of 
 Virginia” is trampled on by the invading feet of the 
 North, and the flaunting flag of secession cut down in 
 Alexandria. Now tragically falls the first martyr on 
 southern soil, the gallant Ellsworth, and from his 
 slaughter leaps the prime electric flash to awaken 
 reverberating years of thunder — and his dripping gore 
 affords the first drops of the crimson deluge which 
 
 ensanguined all the South. 
 
 Then come the rushing sounds of the terrible onset ! 
 
24 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 The armies of the North and the South are locked in 
 the fearful embrace of war ! The struggle, and rage 
 and din of the horrible tumult seem like the comming- 
 ling of mighty floods and maddened flames, contend- 
 ing in fierce elemental war. 
 
 Here, behold the infuriated attacks and counter 
 attacks of pitched battles, where living masses heave 
 and surge, and now here, and now there, one or the 
 other dashes on its foe, with wild clamor, and yells, 
 and oaths, and the individual brave drop incessantly, 
 like insects falling in flame ; but no heed is paid to 
 their loss in the mad excitement, while infuriated 
 men — with strained eyes and panting breath, and con- 
 vulsed with, slaughterous rage for blood — strive fiercely 
 for victory, and care nothing for their lives, amid the 
 rattling volleys of musketry, the clashing of arms, the 
 roaring of cannon, the bursting of shells, the horrible 
 crash, following the explosion of concealed mines, the 
 shrieks of the wounded, and the groans of the dying, 
 if only they may make the vanquished yield. 
 
 Or yonder is another terrible scene, where a storming 
 cloud of war drives furiously against strong battle- 
 ments. Wildly that mass rushes on, screaming and 
 shouting, into the very cylinders of the murderous 
 guns, whose booming cannonade shall soon arise in the 
 awful diapason of death, when suddenly the skies are 
 shaken by a blast of sound, and the charging mass 
 recoils from out the sheeted flames and sulphurous 
 smoke, driven back by the leaden rain and iron ava- 
 lanches that thickly strew the mangled dead and dying 
 all over the ghastly ground — or, with better fortune, 
 
ORATION. 
 
 25 
 
 the ramparts are carried, and out of the bloody tracks 
 of the assault, the victors rush to plant their triumph- 
 ant flags on the citadels of the conquered. 
 
 And so, for four years, with varying fortunes, the 
 tremendous contest went on. The exhaustless North 
 continued to hurl her incessant armies on the conscript 
 and emptied South, where the war-fiend held his horrid 
 saturnalia, until all her fair land was manured with 
 dead men, and her great rivers ran red with blood. 
 
 In vain the struggling South tries with spasmodic 
 desperation, to shift some of the horrors of war to the 
 soil of her relentless opponent. The tracks of her 
 bold cavalry raiders disappear, like lines drawn on the 
 ocean’s sandy beach, and her great invasion of Mary- 
 land resulted only in McClellan’s sending Lee across 
 the Potomac with his discomfited army shattered at 
 Antietam, and when, the following year, Pennsylvania 
 was attempted, Lee was terribly punished by Meade in 
 
 the two days’ contest and slaughter of Gettysburg — 
 
 * 
 
 the critical battle for the Confederacy — and was fortu- 
 nate to get back to Virginia, leaving behind a third of 
 his grand army. The cordon of liberty was stretched 
 across the country from East to West, and slavery 
 could win no permanent triumphs beyond it. 
 
 At length, victory on victory has converted the great 
 Mississippi into a highway of Freedom, and no rebel 
 gunboat floats on its majestic current from its conflu- 
 ence with the Missouri down to where Farragut was 
 crowned with chaplets of immortality, amid the thun- 
 ders of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, away below 
 unhappy New Orleans, that too early sang the stir- 
 
 ( 
 
26 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 ring “ Marsellaise” to greet South Carolina’s revolt — 
 and the broad waters of the free river divide the Con- 
 federacy, and forbid the transit of supplies from the 
 West. And now, like a scourge of God, Sherman has 
 cut his red swath of slaughter from Chattanooga to 
 Atlanta, and flanked it with charred tracts of con- 
 flagration through the very paradise of Rebeldom, 
 then striking northward through the Carolinas, has 
 established his communications with Grant, who has 
 waded through the deep blood of the battles of the 
 Wilderness, fought the terrific but unavailing assaults 
 on Petersburg, and now, with immense reinforcements, 
 was preparing to deal a blow that should let slip all 
 the thunderbolts of war, and strike final doom on the 
 Confederacy. 
 
 That blow was dealt! — and down tumbled the fabric 
 of conspirators ! Richmond, the rebel capital, and 
 Petersburg, its “ cockade city,” were evacuated! The 
 whole grand scheme of Grant was consummated ! The 
 rebel general-in-chief saw that no resistance could 
 avail him further. He accepted the generous terms of 
 the victor, signed his capitulation, and yielded his 
 sword. The fall of Johnston’s great army into the 
 1 lands of Sherman shortly after was a matter of course. 
 
 Charleston was already a heap of smouldering ruins, 
 deserted by its citizens, and its desolate streets trod- 
 den by the soldiers of a colored regiment, bearing 
 triumphantly aloft the Stars and Stripes — at once, 
 the emblem of their race’s freedom and the ensign of 
 the nation’ s glory ! 
 
 Columbia, the State capital of South Carolina, where 
 
ORATION. 
 
 27 
 
 the first order of secession was passed, was also a 
 heap of rubbish ! 
 
 Again, the star-spangled banner, with every insult 
 wiped away, floated proudly in triumph over Fort 
 Sumter. 
 
 The rebel capital was occupied by federal soldiers ! 
 The rebel president was a pitiful fugitive, skulking in 
 abject fear for his wretched life ! The might of the 
 despotic power was spent — the collapsed Confederacy 
 had vanished — the Union was safe ! 
 
 From the Slave the shackles had fallen at the wave 
 of Lincoln’ s mighty Pen ! In the extended area of 
 Freedom stood upright, as citizens of the Republic, a 
 long oppressed race, that, under God’s guidance, had 
 walked out of bondage into liberty, by a safe path 
 through the fire and smoke of contending armies! 
 
 Now was Columbia, not in song alone, but in deed, 
 
 “ The land of the free and the home of the brave ! ” 
 
 Now might the great Independence bell ring out the 
 truth, and “Proclaim liberty throughout the land, and 
 to all the inhabitants thereof!” Now was our grand 
 country freed from a deadly blight, and its citizens 
 made one homogeneous people, with common rights 
 and common duties and a common destiny. Now was 
 the terrible struggle between Liberty and Slavery 
 fought out and finished in a manner that astounded 
 the world by its greatness and its completeness, and 
 
 “ Humanity with all her tears, 
 
 With all her hopes of future years,” 
 
 applauded Freedom’s glorious victory, and the joyful 
 
28 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 exultation of the people transcended all human bounds, 
 and expressed itself in glad songs of praise and trium- 
 phant hosannas to Almighty God for His goodness. 
 
 But amidst all these grand considerations, and the 
 far-reaching and joyous satisfactions, suddenly came 
 from the war-swept skies a startling report, that 
 threw a dark pall over the nation’s joy, and drew a 
 wail of grief from the whole land. Like a thunder- 
 clap, broke on every ear the shocking intelligence — 
 Abraham Lincoln is dead! Mlled by the hand of an 
 assassin ! 
 
 The baleful spirit of secession was not disposed to 
 accept honestly the issue of the wicked contest she 
 had provoked. Besides inciting war, she had plied 
 tier meretricious arts and blandishments to tempt the 
 recognition and favor of royal potentates — she had 
 reveled, as a fell fury, in wanton cruelty at Fort 
 Pillow and Lawrence, and, with foul hate, desecrated 
 the bones of the fallen at Manassas — like a horrid 
 ogress, she had feaste'd on the thin blood of her 
 starving victims within the cruel “dead line” of 
 Andersonville, and the prison enclosures of Belle Isle 
 and Libby and Castle Thunder — but all. her arts and 
 attempts were unavailing, and in mad despair, the 
 discomfited spirit saw the bright rajs of peace and 
 reunion beaming through the broken, flying clouds of 
 war, saw herself fading away into the mists of the 
 unreturning Past, and, in spiteful vengeance, with last, 
 expiring effort, flung her muttering imp at the life of 
 the great Liberator ! But her effort was too late to 
 serve her purpose, for his divine mission was finished, 
 
ORATION. 
 
 29 
 
 and its intent to dishonor him was frustrate, for the 
 comprehending world noted the manner of his taking 
 off as a tribute paid to his greatness, and, with 
 universal consent, placed the name of Lincoln 
 immortally among the stars, as man’s benefactor and 
 Freedom’ s patriot-martyr. 
 
 Comrades and fellow-citizens, — I have already 
 wearied your patience, yet I have adverted to only a 
 few of the trials, the hardships and the sufferings of 
 the war, which established our government in the 
 world’s respect, and rescued the liberty of the country 
 from its most threatening peril. 
 
 Passing by the long and wearisome marches, foot- 
 sore and heavy-laden, through dust and mud and 
 snow, climbing mountains, wading rivers, struggling 
 through forests, the toilsome labors with the spade 
 and axe, the coarse and often scanty food, the life- 
 poisoning encampments in malarious swamps, the 
 sweltering heat and parching thirst of summer and 
 the benumbing cold of winter, I have only taken 
 occasion to intimate the terrible violence of battle on 
 land and water, by which the beautiful lives of many, 
 whom we remember and honor to-day, have been torn 
 from the lacerated affections of lover and friend that 
 you and I may live as freemen. 
 
 But, all whose graves we this day decorate with 
 flowers, did not suddenly yield their souls on fields of 
 conflict. Enter one of the many buildings over which 
 floats the yellow hospital-flag. Ah, this is another 
 scene, a different phase of “glorious war!” In the 
 hot fray of battle, where foe rushes madly on foe, 
 
80 
 
 ORA TION. 
 
 and the excited heart sends the frenzied blood 
 bounding at every beat, and the brain is frantic with 
 wild desire for victory, and the applauding world 
 seems looking on, men may die superbly and tragic- 
 ally, and shout heroic utterances as they expire, 
 which shall live in history, but it requires a grander 
 courage to meet death tranquilly on beds of languish- 
 ing sickness in military hospitals. 
 
 Here no exh derating spirit of soldierly daring quick- 
 ens man by man, sympathetically, through whole 
 battalions, and the uniform and sight of the flag 
 inspire all with enthusiasm for the most heroic efforts. 
 
 Here the din of war gives place to a stillness, that 
 weighs on the spirit almost like the silence of the 
 tomb, and broken only by the occasional moan of the 
 sick or mutilated soldier, or by the low tones of 
 nurses and attendants. The trappings and circum- 
 stance of war are laid aside for the undress of the 
 invalid. 
 
 Here among strangers, far away from the home of 
 his childhood, where he bade the dear mother a last 
 farewell, has the patriotic boy given his life, without a 
 murmur, for the welfare of his country. 
 
 Here has the once strong man, whose true heart 
 was a sanctuary of domestic affection, whose clear 
 head and vigorous arms ever cherished and protected 
 his loved family, laid him down to die, unblessed by 
 the tender care of his devoted wife, and the sweet 
 presence of his darling children, yet declaring that he 
 yielded his life willingly on the altar of his country, 
 and gloried in the satisfaction of having rounded the 
 
ORATION. 
 
 83 
 
 period of his existence by the faithful discharge of 
 his duty. 
 
 I cannot stand here, to-day, comrades and friends, 
 without feeling deeply sensible of the great concern 
 and interest, the emotions and sentiments, awakened 
 in you all by this hallowed occasion. I seem to 
 myself to stand between the living and the dead, to 
 bring before you, whose hearts are still grieving, fond 
 memories and grateful and eulogistic recognition of 
 your heroes, honorably discharged from duty here, 
 and recruited into that mystic army that is halting 
 awhile in “ camps of green,” “’till night and sleep 
 pass over ” — “ sleeping under the sunlight, sleeping 
 under the moonlight, content and silent there at last,” 
 where is “the mighty bivouac-field, and waiting-camp 
 of us and ours and all”— and I stand here to be the 
 mouth-piece of them whose patriotic valor served your 
 country in the hour of peril, but whose dumb mouths 
 are sealed forever, to repeat a few words of the story, 
 in which they were mighty actors, and declare, as best 
 I may, the admonitions that, in soundless sound, seem 
 to me to float eloquently forth from the grave of every 
 buried patriot in every cemetery and every field of 
 battle. 
 
 I hear them enjoin you to preserve inviolate the 
 great principles of the Fathers of the Republic, that 
 have been freshly consecrated with the blood of its 
 defenders, and the tears of widows and orphans. I 
 hear them charge you, as you value your freedom, to 
 secure and maintain National Concord, Popular Intel- 
 ligence and Public Integrity, and to hold all who 
 
32 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 designedly tend to subvert one of these as enemies of 
 liberty. 
 
 There is no hatred in the grave, — and they plead 
 with you, who deck their mounds with garlands and 
 scattered flowers, and memorialize their virtues and 
 noble deeds, not to forget, but to think of generously, 
 and, with elevated minds, forgive the valiant dead 
 reposing in other cemeteries, whom they and you met 
 in battle. Turn not from the memory of their heroic 
 deeds, for they were devoted men, who did their best 
 for what they believed to be right. Glorify the man- 
 liness of their endeavors, in the recollection that they 
 were Americans, and proudly rejoice that such as they 
 are again your fellow-citizens, and in future wars will 
 not be arrayed against you, — unless through deplor- 
 able wrong, — but, shoulder to shoulder, shall stand 
 with you, presenting an impregnable front to the 
 common foe. Place the fair garlands, and strew the 
 sweet flowers, alike, then, Oh Americans, on the 
 graves of them, who perished for a ‘dost cause,” and 
 of them, who gave their lives for the grander cause 
 which they saved. It was a dreadful mistake, for 
 which the Southern soldier died, and terrible has been 
 the consequence of his delusion ; but he died a 
 soldier’s death, and in the grave of his manliness, 
 bury all animosity, and prove yourselves victors, who 
 are not only able but generous soldiers. So from the 
 honored dust of Northern and Southern heroes shall 
 spring up the flower of national, safety, and airs divine 
 shall waft the aroma of peace and good-will over the 
 whole expanse of our grand and noble land. 
 
ORA TION. 
 
 33 
 
 I hear the voices of the graves imploring yon not 
 to forget the lesson which our Fathers taught, that 
 secular education is essential to the life of the Repub- 
 lic, and enjoining you to guard the impartial Free- 
 School System of America, — pure from all admixture 
 of leaven that may work changes incompatible with 
 its special purpose and well-tried fitness for qualifying 
 American youth to assume the duty and responsibility 
 of intelligent and unhampered citizens of the Republic. 
 They declare that the Free Schools are an integral 
 factor of the secular institutions of the land, and not 
 nurseries of speculative theology or religious faith, and 
 urge that pious training should seek its ample oppor- 
 tunities elsewhere, and avoid the misgiving of wisely 
 apprehensive citizens lest there be doubleness in its 
 ulterior purposes. They remind you, that representa- 
 tives of all nationalities and all creeds have found 
 a, cordial welcome here, who accept our secular insti- 
 tutions and become co-workers in maintaining the 
 Republic ; but they warn you to beware how you 
 allow the attempt of a rash hand to change the ancient 
 land-marks of our Fathers, or remove one block from 
 the Temple of Liberty. 
 
 I hear those buried patriots commanding you to 
 insist on Public Integrity as the corner-stone of the 
 Republic. They declare that the liberty of the people 
 to choose their rulers, which the founders of the 
 Republic instituted, and the defenders of the Union 
 conserved, is of little value, if the people lack the 
 virtue to choose honest and faithful ones. 
 
 They lament and abhor the deep and extended cor- 
 3 
 
34 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 ruption, which has polluted every department of public 
 trust, and which tends to go on increasing, so long as 
 false men of all parties find undisturbed impunity in 
 mutual fear, and fresh opportunity in mutual reticence, 
 and gives the judicious painful anxiety and small hope 
 for its cure, so long as rapacious schemers for places 
 to plunder, are able to prostitute all means of prefer- 
 ment, and drive honest men of laudable ambition to 
 private stations. .They mourn that the people will 
 carelessly permit the high offices in their gift to 
 become bad eminences, of which the attainment is 
 presumptive evidence of bribery or fraud. 
 
 They implore the public conscience to utter its 
 emphatic and stern condemnation of wrong done to 
 the people as vastly more heinous than any private 
 wrong. They invoke the pure spirit of justice, blind 
 to all distinctions of persons, to strip magnificent vil- 
 lainy of its stolen luxuries and imposing state, and 
 send it, degraded and infamous, into swift retribution. 
 
 If cunning and impenetrable concealments have 
 masked the corrupt practices of men in public stations, 
 so that legal conviction of malversation and dishonesty 
 cannot be secured, these voices rise from the graves of 
 all good men, in denunciation of the successful knaves, 
 whether they mouth the shibboleths of sanctimony or 
 prate their devotion to the welfare of the people, and 
 they demand sentence from the tribunal of Public 
 Opinion, that is hardly deceived by the cant and chat- 
 ter of pious seeming and sham patriotism, to consign 
 to social scorn and common infamy all who elaborate 
 public corruption, and fabricate a vast sliding plane, 
 
ORA TION. 
 
 35 
 
 down which all the virtue of the State must surely 
 slip into remediless ruin, unless the people awake to 
 the sense of their danger. 
 
 From these eloquent graves all over the land comes 
 the warning, like “the mould above the rose” — from 
 them comes the hope, like promised fruition from the 
 flowers. 
 
 It behooves you, soldiers, citizens, to heed the warn- 
 ing, to justify the hope. So doing, the lives we this 
 day commemorate will not have been wasted, and from 
 the blood of our heroes, shall spring fearless forgive- 
 ness of the Past, and earnest vigilance and saving 
 activity for the Future. 
 
 Let the whole nation heed these warnings, and the 
 land shall be distinguished for unity, wisdom and 
 probity — and, as the generations multiply with the 
 waning centuries, her strength shall be rejuvenated, 
 and prosperity, happiness and honor be ever replen- 
 ished by perennial outflows from the eternal fountains 
 of justice and order. So shall our country stand 
 pre-eminent among the nations — a Arm and towering 
 monument of peace and good-will to all, a glorious 
 exemplar of a free and enlightened people — at once, 
 a happy home for its citizens, and a glad refuge for 
 the oppressed of every land who long in vain for the 
 enjoyment of liberty and all the inalienable rights, 
 which the God of Nature gave to man. 
 
36 
 
 RE SUR GAM. 
 
 The following poem, by Comrade George Fletcher, of Post 121, 
 6r. A. Tl., 'was recited after the Oration: 
 
 RESURGAM. 
 
 Sleep on, beloved ones, and take your rest ! 
 
 Your watch is o’er; your glorious living crest 
 E’en now from cities of the dead proclaims 
 Life’s battle won, though red with bloody stains ; 
 
 No more to you dread war its pains may bring, 
 
 In patriot death you find there is no sting. 
 
 Asleep! O, friends, our Saviour bids them stay, 
 
 To wake with you, on grand, triumphant day ! 
 
 Sleep on, ye soldiers of this troubled sphere ; 
 
 No more shall reveille disturb your ear — 
 
 Your dress parade, your weary march is o’er, 
 
 The nightly taps of camp you heed no more: 
 
 Then sleep, brave boys, we would not wake you now ; 
 
 As kindred gathered here, we lowly bow 
 To Heaven’s stern decree — and weeping, bring, 
 
 In love that lingers yet, bright gifts of Spring. 
 
 Cold hills of earth our treasures safely keep, 
 
 For soon grim death shall claim no longer sleep ! 
 
 Then gently trim the mounds with loving hands, 
 
 The souls, now hid, may watch from other lands, 
 
 And shed the lustre of the hard-won crown 
 O’er those who lay the scented lilies down. 
 
 Then come all ye, who, filled with silent grief, 
 
 Again your off ’ring cast, and find relief; 
 
 From surcharged heart of woe, or bitter thought, 
 Refresh’d arise ! they are not here you sought ! 
 
RE SUR GAM. 
 
 37 
 
 Affection’s voice here cries aloud in vain — 
 
 But still it cries — to soothe the gushing pain, 
 
 Weep not the country’s bloody sacrifice, 
 
 Our loss to them is crowns in Paradise. 
 
 So bring the simple bud, and flower gay — 
 
 Yes, bring the rich and neatly trimm’d bouquet — 
 Now lay them lightly — strew them thick around, 
 For where you spread them, sure ’tis holy ground. 
 Affection, love, these tokens yield the braves — 
 
 A nation decorates their honored graves ! 
 
 Such loving acts will rise from earth to sky — 
 
 Will show the young how glorious thus to die — 
 What though the dead shall gain no magic charm ? 
 They touch the heart and nerve the patriot arm ! 
 
 For who can tell how soon a bitter wrong 
 May hither bring another martyred throng ? 
 
 O, G-od, forbid ! each trusting soldier prays : 
 
 O, guide us all in peace through wisdom’s ways ; 
 From deepest wrongs let good, transcendant rise; 
 Our grief arrest and change to glad surprise ; 
 
 Grant each a certain hope and peaceful rest, 
 
 To live with Thee, a happy, welcome guest ; 
 
 In joy to cry — O, Death, where is thy pain? — 
 
 Thy gates, O, Grave, mere paths to life again, 
 Though clad with thorns by Terror’s vig’rous youth, 
 Resurgam yields the soul its grandest truth ! 
 
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