Book '^y ^/^o:3 ■ WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE NEW YORK MONUMENTS COMMISSION FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION NEW YORK VETERANS GETTYSBURG 1913 D. of D. OC .'. 1916 NEW YORK STATE MONUMENT IN THE NATIONAL CEMETERY STATE OF NEW YORK FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 1913 REPORT OF THE NEW YORK STATE COMMISSION IL'>?^^' ALBANY J. B. LYON COMPANY. PRINTERS 19 16 New York Monuments Commission FOR THE BATTLEFIELDS OF GETTYSBURG, CHATTANOOGA AND ANTIETAM Nem^ York, March 26, 1914 To the Legislature: I have the honor to transmit herewith report of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg by Civil War veterans of the State of l^ew York, July, 1913, under the auspices of this Commission. Respectfully yours, LEWIS R. STEGMAN, Chairman. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction --------...-7 Report of New York Monuments Commission - - - - - 13 Programme of " New York Day ---------27 Introductory Remarks by Col. Lewis R. Stegman ----- 29 Prayer — Rev. W. S. Hubbell, D. D. - - 20 Introductory Remarks by Gen. Horatio C. King ----- 30 Address — Governor William Sulzer, of New York - - - - - 33 Oration — Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis, D. D. 35 Address — Major John H. Leathers ---.... 49 Address — Col. Andrew Cowan -------- 52 Poem — Col. Edmund Berkeley -------- 0(5 Address — Captain Albert M. Mills - G8 Poem — Gen. Horatio C. King -----...74 The Battle of Gettysburg — Horatio C. King, LL. D. - - - - 78 Circulars Issued in Preparation for the Celebration - - - - - 00 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE New York State Monument Frontispiece Bronze Tablets on New York State Monument - - . Facing 7 Bronz Tablets on New York State Monument - - - . •■ ]] New New York Monuments Commission - - - . " j,. New York Monuments Commission Camp - - . . . " o] Official Group at Camp .....,_ " o,. Speakers at the Big Tent " New York Day " - - - . "30 Big Tent on Field "35 New York Section in Reunion Camp ---... "40 Veterans Waiting for Quarters ---... "45 Line up for Grub ------... "50 Dinner in the Camp -----... " »g Lutheran Seminary, 18ii3 ------.. "57 General Wadsworth Monument, Seminary Ridge - - . " ,;o Little Round Top, 18t;3 ------.. "as The Devil's Den, 18C3 ----... . " (;8 Gulp's Hill, 1803 - --...,.... ^ J General Slocum Monument, Culp's Hill - - - - . "74 General Greene Monument, Culp's Hill - - - . . "78 The Angle — Pickett's Charge ...... "82 General Webb Monument, The Angle ----.. "87 GENERAL SLOCUM AND THE COMMANDING OFFICERS OF THE RIGHT WING (Medallion on New York Monument) DEATH OF GENERAL REYNOLDS ON SEMINARY RIDGE (Medallion on New York Monument) THE GREAT CELEBRATION THE report of the part taken by the State of New York in the unparalleled celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg would be incomplete without some prefatory introduction of Pennsylvania's generosity. Its inception is due to General H. S. Huidekoper, who was followed by Col. John P. Nicholson, Chairman of the Gettysburg National Park Commission. In his message in January, 1909, the Governor, Edwin S. Stewart, commended to the Legislature the recognition of this semi-centennial by appointment of a Commission with the authority to invite the co-operation of other States. A Commission was selected and in response to its appeal a representative was accredited to the Com- mission from every State and Territory, the District of Columbia, Porto Rico and Hawaii. Governor Hughes, of New York, appointed General Daniel E. Sickles, General Horatio C. King and General George S. Nichols, Commissioners from this State. The latter did not serve, but the others attended the meetings whenever called and participated in its discussions. In September, 1910, a large meeting of representatives, including members of a special committee from Congress, met at Gettysburg and agreed practically upon the plan of the celebration. It con- templated the seemingly extraordinary position of extending a general and hearty invitation to all ex-Confederate soldiers to unite in this wide reunion and the final wiping out of all sectional feeling engendered by the Civil War. Some doubt was expressed that the South would participate, but the warmth of feeling mani- fested by the Northern representatives that the result would be satisfactory and beneficial prevailed. [7] 8 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY The Northern States responded to the appeals for appropriations and some of the Southern States made provision for the transporta- tion of their veterans. The Federal Government voted a liberal appropriation and assigned its army officers vmder charge of Major James E. Normoyle, as chief, and Major W. R. Grove, his assistant, with Capt. H. F. Dalton and others, to erect the required encampments and aid in providing for the food and medical care, if necessary. The high-walled conical tents furnished cots for twelve, but few, if any, were fully filled, though it was stated that the vast camp received nearly sixty thousand. The anxiety that many old soldiers would be killed by the heat and exposure was dispelled when at the close of the gathering, the number of dead was just nine, and these principally from organic diseases. It is not necessary to enumerate the innumerable details which led up to the opening of the Reunion. The final Pennsylvania Com- mission comprised: Col. J. M. Schoormiaker, President, Lt. Col. liCwis E. Beitler, Secretary, Samuel C. Todd, Treasurer, and Com- missioners Brevet Brigadier-General Wm. D. Dixon, Brevet Colonel R. Bruce Ricketts, Corporal Irvin K. Campbell, Captain William J. Patterson, Captain William E. Miller, Captain George F. Baer and Captain John P. Green. Hon. John K. Tener was the Gov- ernor of the State at this date. The New York Legislature conferred upon the New York Monu- ments Commission the arduous duty of taking its part in the Reunion. Its labors are more particularly set forth hereafter. In all its work and observations it had occasion to see and admire the wonderful activity of Col. Beitler, whose efforts covered every featui'e of the Reunion. Gettysburg College, which was leased by the State for Head- quarters, was the general rendezvous of the large number of guests. New York headquarters had its excellent and well conducted camp just to the rear of the College. The Lutheran Seminary, whose still existent cupola was the observation point of Generals Reynolds and Buford on the first day's fight and of General Lee, thereafter. BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 9 was occupied by the female relatives of several of the Northern and Southern officers who were in the battle. The State constab- ulary maintained complete order in and out of camp. A large force of U. S. infantry, cavalry and artillery added to the picturesqueness of the scene. The Red Cross, the Safety Stations, the medical attendants and nearly four hundred boy scouts were omnipresent. But the greatest sight of all was the magnificent fraternity of the " boys in blue and the boys in gray " as they sauntered over the field which they had once contested so bravely and bitterly, all retelling the story of fifty years ago and rejoicing in a restored Union. PUBLIC EXERCISES In the enormous tent, with its thirteen thousand chairs, many reunions and all the public exercises were held. At two o'clock on Tuesday, July 1st, an immense concourse gathered. Colonel Schoonmaker presided and the program included: Prayer, by Rev. Dr. George B. Lovejoy, Chaplain-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic; Address of welcome by Hon. Lindley M. Garrison, Secretary of War ; Address of welcome by Governor John K. Tener ; Address by Alfred B. Beers, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, and Address by Bennett H. Young, Com- mander-in-Chief of the United Confederate Veterans. The final prayer was assigned to Rev. Dr. H. M. Harrill, Chaplain-in- Chief, United Confederate Veterans, who, for some reason, was not present. The meeting closed by the band playing " America." On the second day Col. Andrew Cowan, President of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, presided with the following exercises: Prayer, by Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis, D. D., Pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn; Addresses, by Maj .-General John R. Brooke, U. S. A., and Sergeant John C. Scarborough, of North Carolina; reading of Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg Cemetery by Wm. Barry Bulkley, of Washington; Oration by Hon, Roswell B. Burchard, Lt.-Governor of Rhode Island, and Benediction by Rev. Dr. J. Richards Boyle, Chaplain of the Military Order of the Loj-al Legion. The President also presented these members of the family 10 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY of General Meade: Miss Henrietta Meade, daughter, Mrs. George G. Meade, daughter-in-law, George G. Meade, grandson, George Gordon Meade Large, IVIr. and Mrs. John R. Large, Robert H. Large, S. Sargeant Large, Saunders L. Meade, Mrs. Charles P. Fox, Mr. and Mrs. George J. Cooke, Miss Salvadora INIeade and Miss Henrietta Meade Large. The sons and grandsons of General Longstreet and General Pickett were on the platform, but left just before this unexpected introduction. On Thursday, July 3, after a great many regimental reunions, the great tent was again prepared for the ceremonies of Governors' Day. At two o'clock Governor Tener, pi-esiding, took charge. Of the large number named on the program to speak, the following took part: Rev. Henry M. Conden, Chaplain of the House of Repre- sentatives, prayed; and addresses were made by Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall, Speaker of the House, Champ Clark, James B. McCreary, Governor of Kentucky, William Sulzer, Governor of New York, William Hodges IVIann, Governor of Virginia, James S. Cox, Governor of Ohio, Simeon E. Baldwin, Governor of Con- necticut, Adolph E. Eberhardt, Governor of Minnesota, Louis B. Hanna, Governor of North Dakota, Charles R. Miller, Governor of Delaware, William T. Haines, Governor of Maine, and Samuel M. Ralston, Governor of Indiana. These exercises concluded. New York took charge of the tent and until 6 p. m. conducted its proceedings, which are given fully in another part of this report. The plan of the Reunion included the laying of the cornerstone of a Peace Monument on July 4th, with the President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as guests of honor. The project of the Monument was not acted upon by Congress and the invitations were declined. On June 28th, the President notified the President of the Commission of his intention to be present on the 4th. He was met and escorted to the tent, made a brief speech and was returned to the train within an hour. The disappointment was very GENERAL SICKLES (WOUNDEDi AND HIS GENERALS (Medallion on New York Monument! GENERAL HANCOCK (WOUNDED* AND HIS GENERALS (Medallion on New York Monument) BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 11 great that the Head of the Nation was not present during the whole week. OTHER INCIDENTS Other incidents of special interest are worthy to be mentioned here. The first was the unveiling of the Statue of Brevet Major- General William Wells, of Vermont, by the Veterans and Citi- zens of the Green Mountain State. Addresses were made by Col. Myron M. Parker, Governor Allen M. Fletcher, Gen. Theodore S. Peck, Hon. Wm. P. Dillingham, General E. M. Law, C. S. A., General Felix H. Robertson, C. S. A., Col. John McElroy, Col. Heman W. Allen, Col. Henry O. Clark, General L. A. Grant, ex-Governor V. A. Woodbury, Gen. E. F. Dinmiick, Col. W. D. Mann, Capt. George Hillyer, C. S. A., Col. John W. Bennett, Mr. W. B. Van Cummings, and Col. Gilbert D. Bouckman. The second were the exeixises by the Sixth Corps at the Eques- trian Statue of General John Sedgwick, recently erected by the State of Connecticut. Col. Andrew Cowan presided, and addresses were made by Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, Prof, John C. Himes, Gen. Elisha H. Rhodes, General Horatio C. King, Captain John H. Leathers, and H. K. Bush-Brown, the sculptor. Rev. AV. S. Hubbell pronounced the prayer and benediction. On July 2nd, Indiana held a prominent Reunion in the large tent. Two excellent addresses were made, by Nathaniel D. Cox, Chair- man of the Indiana Commission and Hon. Samuel M. Ralston, Governor of that State. The ceremonies of the hand shake over the wall at the Angle, on the afternoon of July 3, were of intense interest, despite the great heat. The " Philadelphia Brigade " Association (Webb's Brigade), Comrade Thomas Thompson commanding, and John W. Frazier, adjutant, and one hundred and eighty men, and Pickett's Divi- sion Association, Major W. W. Bentley commanding, with Charles J. Loerb, secretary, and one hundred and twenty men, took part in it. They formed in two opposing lines, a hundred feet apart, as they did fifty years before. The Union flag and the " Stars and Bars " confronted each other. Standing on 12 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY the wall the Hon. J. Hampton Moore, jNI. C, from Philadelphia, presented to Pickett's Division a beautiful silk United States flag in an eloquent address. During the speech the two standard bearers advanced and crossed the two flags. At its con- clusion, the new flag was held above both the others, while Major Bentley, with patriotic eloquence, accepted the flag on behalf of the Association. The two lines then advanced to the stone wall and meeting buried their faces on each others shoulders while the thousands of interested spectators raised a shout of praise and grateful appreciation. On the same evening there was a magnificent display of fire works on Little Round Top, comprising about everything in pyrotechnics, with a great salvo of dynamite guns and belching mortars. Soon after the departure of President Wilson, the closing cere- monies began. At the sound of the mid-day ringing of the church bells in Gettysburg, all officers, men and guests stood at "Attention " on the College Campus, and at the several camps, veteran and military, while the main colors were slowly lowered. A Battery fired the national salute. As the echoes died away, the bugle rang out and the Flag of our perpetual Union was again raised, the band played the " Star-Spangled Banner," and The Great Reunion, the greatest of its kind the world ever saw or ever will see, was ended. Pennsylvania earned the thanks of the nation for its unparalleled generosity, carried out with marvelous tact and precision. The splendid official report, prepared by Colonel Beitler, with its wealth of pictures, will perpetuate its memory long after the days when the last man of the Blue and the Gray shall have " crossed over the river to rest in the shadow of the trees." To those who were fortu- nate enough to be at the Reunion, there will remain always a deep and lasting impression of the affectionate relations between the Northern and Southern veterans as they walked in close embrace and renewed their vows to honor and protect the preserved and united country: one flag, one home, one destiny. NEW YORK MONUMENTS COMMISSION FOR THE BATTLEFIELDS OF GETTYSBURG, CHATTANOOGA AND ANTIETAM 116 Nassau Street, New Yoi-k. March 24, 1914. To the Legislature: An Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, approved IMaj^ 13, 1909, created a Commission, known as the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg Commission, whose duty it was to consider and arrange for a proper and fitting observance at Gettysburg, of the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, with authority to invite the co-operation of the Congress of the United States and of the other States and Commonwealths; and by an Act approved June 14, 1911, to enable the Commission to further carry out these provisions in accordance with its report, recommendations and plans, the sum of $50,000 was appropriated, provided that the total amount to be expended by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in connection with this celebration should not exceed $250,000. Governor Hughes of New York appointed Major-General Sickles, General Nichols and General Horatio C. King commis- sioners from the State of New York, as associates from this State, to co-operate with the Pennsylvania Commission. As far as can be ascertained, however, that Commission took no practical official action in connection with the work of the Pennsylvania Commission. The Congress of the United States entered heartily into the plan suggested by the State of Pennsylvania for conducting the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, and appropriated the simi of $150,000 in furtherance of the object in view. The State of Pennsylvania then appropriated the sum of $150,000 for the pm'poses of a large military camp to be located [13] 14 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY on the battlefield. The Congressional and State appropriations combined amounted to $300,000. Thereupon, U. S. A. engineers and quartermasters were detailed to perform the practical work necessary to establish a camp on the battlefield of Gettysburg pre- pared to accommodate 40,000 Civil War veterans — Union and Confederate. The Pennsylvania State Commission assumed the labor of apportioning the nmnber of A'eterans to which each sovereign State would be entitled. New York State, under this apijortion- ment, was granted space in the general camp for 10,000 veterans. Later on, this aj^portionment was reduced to 8,000. Upon these fixed figures, the New York Commission based its action for the larger part of the time preceding the opening of the encampment. A short time before the encampment was formalh' opened, the State of Pennsylvania made a more extended allowance of tents for the accommodation of New York veterans, but too late to be of service to this State. It is very doubtful, though, whether any more New York veterans would have availed themselves of any extension of numbers than those who made application and actually participated in the encampment. In every relationship of business connected with the camp, the officers of the Pennsylvania Commission — Colonel James M. Schoonmaker, chairman, and Colonel Lewis E. Beitler, secretary — extended ever}' possible courtesy to the New York Commission. Great thanks are due as well to the members of the Gettysburg National Park Conmiission — Colonel John P. Nicholson (chair- man), Major Charles A. Richardson and Colonel E. B. Cope (engineer) — whose efforts and the splendid arrangements made by them for the celebration contributed largely to its success. The tentage and subsistence furnished in the camp to the vet- erans were excellent, and have been extolled from one end of the country to the other. By section 1, chapter 227, of the Laws of 1912, which became a law April 9, 1912, with the approval of the Governor, the New York Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 1.5 and Chattanooga was appointed a Commission to plan and conduct a public celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Gettys- burg. This Commission was given power to enter into negotiations and co-operate with the State of Pennsylvania in relation to such a celebration. This Act contemplated a movement of 25,000 veterans and an expenditure of $265,000; and it was apparent at the outset to those entrusted with this enormous task that the responsibility thereby placed on them vastly exceeded that of any similar project hitherto undertaken by the Commission. The Commission, therefore, felt that the duty confided to it by the Legislature in this assignment was worthy of its best efforts, calling for thorough organization and proper circmnspection throughout. The nearest approach to a celebration of this magnitude, con- ducted under the direction of the New York Monuments Commis- sion, was the dedication, in 1893, of the New York State monument at Gettysburg. On April 24, 1912, the New York Monuments Commission held a special meeting for the purpose of considering in every detail the provisions of chapter 227, Laws of 1912. General McCook, Colonel Stegman and General King were appointed an executive committee. Quarters were secured for the Commission on the second floor of No. 1 East Ninth Street, and on May 1, 1912, they installed their office there. The chairman and the secretary were authorized to communicate with the State Superintendent of Prisons, with a view of securing from him the office furniture needed by the Conmiission. It was decided at this meeting that there should be two units of organization — Grand Army of the Republic Posts, and the " unattached " (those veteran soldiers who did not belong to that organization). The question as to the particular meaning that should be given to the words " resident " and " citizen ", for the purpose of the 16 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY Commission, was also taken into consideration, and it was deter- mined, that for an applicant to be eligible he must be an honorably discharged soldier, sailor or marine, from the army, navy or marine corps of the United States, or an honorably discharged soldier of the armies of the Southern Confederacy, in the war of the Rebellion, and now a resident of the State of New York. For application form and form for identification of applicants, it was decided to adopt those which appear on the printed blanks comprised in this report. On the sheet containing these forms an announcement was made that no application would be received by the Commission after May 1, 1913. The issuance of Circular No. 1, included herein, also resulted from deliberations occupying the Commission at the meeting held April 24, 1912. The first instalment of 5,000 copies of this circular, dated June 12, 1912, was distributed among various Grand Army Posts, newspapers and veterans throughout the State. Subse- quently, a second edition of 6,000 copies was procured and distrib- uted. Following the distribution of Circular No. 1, the work of distrib- uting the application blanks, referred to in paragraph 4 of Cir- cular No. 1, was taken up. In all, 25,000 application blanks were printed. Inquiry was made in advance of the G. A. R. Posts respecting the number of application blanks desired by them for the use of their members. These blanks when sent out were accompanied by a circular letter of instruction, pointing out, among other things, the importance of selecting a conveniently central point in the county, or, if preferred, two or three points, where a large number of veterans might be expected to meet when starting for Gettys- burg. Also, in the case of blanks intended for veterans who were not members of G. A. R. Posts it was requested that these veterans be instructed to communicate with this Commission direct. Applications for transportation came in slowly during the year 1912. At the opening of 1913, however, they began to increase in NEW YORK MONUMENTS COMMISSION, 1913 BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 17 volume. The clerks employed were kept busy, many corrections having to be made in the applications, bj' reason of errors committed by the applicants, requiring the re-mailing of docmiients and letters of information. In December, 1912, a meeting for the election of officers of the Xew York IMonmnents Commission, and the Gettysburg Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration Commission, was held at No. 23 Fifth Avenue, Borough of jNIanhattan. General Horatio C. King was elected Chairman of the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration Com- mission and Colonel Lewis R. Stegman Chairman of the Xew York ^Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and Chattanooga. A. J. Zabriskie was appointed engineer and secretary of both Commissions by action of the respective Commissions. Extra recompense was promised to the engineer and secretary for the additional arduous labor which it was felt would be entailed on that officer in connection with the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of the Battle of Gettysburg. Chairman King at once issued circulars of advice as to the methods of filing applications and rules applicable thereto. Copies of the circulars are hereto annexed. These circulars were sent to G. A. R. Posts and to every individual soldier who had wi-itten for infor- mation. Newspapers throughout the State noted the important points of information for the benefit of their readers and the veterans of the various localities. In April, 1913, the office of the Commission of the " Fiftieth Anni- versary Celebration" was removed to 116 Nassau Street, Borough of ]Manliattan, offering as it did more convenience for the transaction of business, and at a cheaper rental. During the session of the Legislature of 1913 a new Battlefields Commission was instituted, the old or former Commission being abolished. This Act of the Legislature became chapter 550, Laws of 1913. Under this law the Governor appointed three Civil War veterans, nanielv Colonel Clinton Beckwith, Colonel Lewis R. Stegman and 18 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY General George B. Loud, and the Adjutant General, Henry D. Hamilton to act as commissioners. General Loud declining the appointment, General Horatio C. King was appointed in his place. The new Commission organized at the State Arsenal, Thirty- fifth Street and Seventh Avenue, Borough of Manhattan, on May 22, 1913. Colonel Lewis R. Stegman was elected chairman and A. J. Zabriskie was appointed engineer and secretary. The new Commission immediately superseded the old Commission, taking charge of the entire business in hand. Colonel Beckwith at once applied himself to the examination of all applications of veterans for transportation and so continued until the final completion of that work. The work of the new Commission was conducted upon the same lines of procedure as those of the preceding Commission as to rules and applications. From the knowledge acquired in the reception of applications, it had been learned that not as many veteran soldiers of New York State would take advantage of the celebration as had been anticipated, under Chapter 227, Laws of 1912; and at the suggestion of the members of the new Commission Chapter 725, Laws of 1913, was passed. This Act appropriated $150,000 for the transportation of veterans to the field of Gettysbm-g, and return, in addition to the $15,000 theretofore appropriated for office hire and all the incidentals required for so large an enterprise — making $165,000 in all, or lowering the estimate of 1912 by $100,000. In the latter part of the month of May, 1913, Colonel Beckwith and Chairman Stegman visited Harrisburg, Pa., and conferred with the Pennsylvania Commission, with headquarters there, in regard to many details of business; and from thence proceeded to the Gettysburg battlefield to survey the proposed government camp, then in process of erection. They also visited Littletown and Han- over, distant from Gettysburg twelve and fourteen miles, repec- tively, for the purpose of finding a location for the proposed special BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 19 train of the New York Monuments Commission and its guests during the celebration. This was an essential necessitj', as no railroad trains were to be permitted to remain on the tracks at Gettysburg longer than was necessary to detrain soldiers from the arriving trains. Hanover was selected as the site of the proposed New York Com- mission train, and arrangements were entered into to provide suffi- cient automobiles to transport all guests from the train to Gettys- burg, and return, over fair roads, and within an hour's ride either way. At a meeting of the Commission held in the early part of June, a report on the above conditions was submitted for its consideration. The possible excessive heat of the weather in July at Gettysburg was discussed, and at the suggestion of Adjutant General Hamilton, who kindly offered to lend tents for the occasion, it was determined that instead of remaining in a special train at Hanover, if the ground could be acquired at Gettysburg, the Conmiission and its guests would go into a regular tent camp, furnishing its own subsistence and material. This suggestion was adopted. Thereupon, Captain Charles E. Fiske, of the Adjutant-General's staff, and Chairman Stegman visited the office of the Pennsylvania Commission, at Harrisburg, and through the kindness and courtesy of Colonel Beitler, secretary of that Commission, possible locations for a New York Conmiission camp at Gettysburg were described. The plot of ground just north of Pennsylvania College, and containing Steven's Hall — a part of the College — seemed to offer the best facilities for such a camp as was contemplated. Captain Fiske and the chairman immediately jjroceeded to Gettysburg, and after care- fully surveying several situations as possibly eligible finally deter- mined upon the Stevens Hall site as the most convenient place. This site is located on a square bounded by Carlisle and Washington Streets and Lincoln Avenue and Stevens Street. Captain Fiske at once devoted himself to the formation of the camp. This camp was 20 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY established to accommodate seventy people, with dining tent, kitchen, storehouses and special shower bath tent. Tents were pro- vided for the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Comptroller, for use Avhile visiting camp or for the reception of visitors. Through the courtesy of the Pennsylvania Commission, special, rooms for the accommodation of the Governor and IMrs. Sulzer, the Lieutenant-Governor and Mrs. Glj'nn, and the Comptroller had been assigned at the Pennsylvania College, near the New York Com- mission camp. These State officers were to be guests of the Pennsyl- vania Commission, by special invitation. The camp of the New York Commission, as formed and laid out, was to accommodate the Adjutant- General and his staff, the guests of the Commission, State Senators, Assemblymen, the orators invited for the occasion, newsjiaper correspondents, clerks, stenog- raphers, military orderlies and the help required in the subsistence deijartment. In the meantime, in the New York office the necessities of quick and expeditious work required for the transmission of the trans- portation certificates, identification cards and New York State com- memoration badges of bronze, authorized by the Commission, for each of the veterans entitled to the same, compelled the Commission to hire many additional clerks. By reason of this action, the Com- mission was enabled to mail all the requisite documents to each individual veteran (at his jjost office address) in amj^le time for use in the trip to Gettysburg, and return. It is believed that no veteran in this State who made proper application for transportation was disappointed in this matter. That manj' failed to go was due to personal inclination after the receipt of the transjjortation certifi- cates, disabilities, business, and in some cases death. Although the limit of time for the reception of applications had been set and advertised for IMay 31, 1913, the Commission extended the time to June, and practically issued ti-ansportation certificates to June 2.5th. Every legitimate jDersonal call at the office of the Commission was accommodated, and all letters promptly answered. I- z BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 21 Pursuant to chapter 227, Laws of 1912, the Governor, Lieutenant- Governor and Comptroller, the Governor's staff, ten Senators and fifteen Assemblymen, and the Xew York Monmnents Commission, were designated to proceed to Gettysburg to participate in the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, covering from July 1 to July 5, 1913. In addition, the Secretary of State, the Attorney-General, the State Treasurer and State Engineer were invited to accompany the New York delegation. President pro tern. Wagner, of the Senate, furnished the fol- lowing list of Senators to be guests of the Commission on the occasion: Wagner (President pro tem.), Herrick, Carswell, Palmer, Murtaugh, Cullen, Brown, Frawley, Fitzgerald and Ramsperger. Speaker Smith, of the Assembly, furnished the following list of Assemblymen: Smith (Speaker), Sweet, Tallett, Small, Kiernan, Birnkrant, Fitzgerald, Fallon, Heyman, John J. Kelly, Hinman, Garvey, Joseph D. Kelly, Kornobis and Levy. The Governor's staff consisted of the following officers: The Adjutant-General, Brig-Gen. H. D. Hamilton, Major Foster, Captains Fiske, Harris, Collins, Costigan, Finke, Teets, Walsh, Berry, Redington, and Lieutenants Niver, Malone and AValton, of the New York Naval Reserve Commander Josephson, four orderlies, and Mr. Robinson, stenographer to the Adjutant-General, The newspaper correspondents who accompanied the party were: Mr. Merriwether, of the New York World, IVIr. Sherwood, of the New York Tribune, and Mr. Jones, of the New York Globe. Lieutenant-Governor Glynn and Assemblyman Hinman sent letters of regret. With the New York Commissioners, Colonel Beckwith, General King, Colonel Stegman and the Adjutant-General (noted as with his Staff) were: A. J. Zabriskie, engineer and secretary of the New York Monuments Commission, Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis, D. D., orator of " New York Day ", Captain Albert M. Mills, orator " New York Day ", and Chas. F. Tinkham, stenographer. 22 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY All the official party to accompany the special train were duly notified to be present at the State Arsenal, corner Thirty-fifth Street and Seventh Avenue, Borough of Manhattan, at 8:30 a. m., Mon- day, June 30th. The train accommodation was furnished by the Pennsylvania Railroad and consisted of several Pullman cars and a diner. The train left New York for Gettj'sburg at 10 a. m. Breakfast was served on the departure of the train. Lunch followed en route. The route followed was by Philadelphia, Lancaster, York and Hanover into Gettysburg, where the party arrived about 5:30 p. m. At the depot, at Gettysburg, the official party was met by Captain Fiske, of the Adjutant-General's staff, and were seated at once in automobiles for conveyance to the Commission's camp. The camp was soon reached and the official party duly installed in the tents allotted to them. Soon thereafter dinner was served. Many of the guests then visited the town. Twelve automobiles having been contracted for the use of the guests of the Commission, they were duly ajiportioned, and the guests, thereafter, had the free use of the automobiles to which they were assigned. On Tuesday, July 1, the official party left camp for an inspection of the battlefield. Several salient points were selected for observa- tion, and from these positions of advantage the chairman of the commission explained to the party the several movements of the Union and Confederate armies, with such incidents of interest as occurred upon that particular portion of the field. Among these stoppages were included the line of Buford's Cavalry, and the infantry lines of the First Corps of the Union Army; thence they went to the Eleventh Corps lines, in the first day's fight; thence to Culp's Hill and the Twelfth Corps line, with part of the Sixth Corps in support on the second and third day's battle; thence to Cemetery Hill, part of the second day's fight; thence to the Angle, the location of the Second Corps and the celebrated Pickett's charge 1 BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 23 of Confederates on the third day; thence to the Round Tops, where a full view was had of the positions of the Third Corps, Fifth and Sixth Corps in the second day's fight. The party then proceeded along Confederate Avenue, covering the positions occupied by the Confederate Army during the second and third day's battles, and thence to the Commission camp for lunch. The afternoon was devoted to an examination of the large main camp, particularly the New York State allotment. The veterans from this State expressed great admiration for the excellent manner in which thej^ were being treated, both in tentage and subsistence. Every sanitary precaution for health known to camp life had been adopted by the United States authorities. Good roads traversed every portion of the camp. Hydrants, with ice attachments, abounded, affording plenty of cold water for the benefit of the veterans. It may be well to note here that the United States government authorities and the Pennsylvania Commission had provided complete hospital accommodations in Gettysburg, while hospital tents were erected on every road and byway, in charge of Red Cross nurses, and communicating with each other and the main hospital by tele- phone and telegraph. Ambulances traversed every road, ready to pick up and relieve any disabled veteran. To this magnificent service is due the small number of casualties which occurred during the encampment. It is estimated that 70,000 Union and Confederate veterans attended the celebration, about .55,000 of whom were in the large camp. According to the official report of casualties, only nine veterans died during the encampment — an extraordinary low percentage for the large numbers who attended, and considering the excessive heat which prevailed. Two of the death casualties were New York veterans — John H. Reynolds, of Port Chester, N. Y., and Otto L. Starn, of Almond, N. Y. Both these veterans died of organic diseases. The sunstrokes were not many and there were no deaths from that cause. The roads and streets were patrolled 24 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY by U. S. Cavalry, and the State Constabulary of Pennsylvania, with police powers, and the utmost order prevailed. On Wednesday, July 2nd, the New York official party divided up into sections, many again visiting portions of the field, while others visited adjacent towns of historic interest in connection with the field. Adjutant- General Hamilton and staff paid official visits to the United States Army officers and to other State military men on the ground. Governor Sulzer and Mrs. Sulzer arrived at Gettys- burg and were assigned quarters at the Pennsylvania College. The Chairman of the Commission called upon the Governor and extended a welcome to the Commission camp. The Governor and Mrs. Sulzer participated in the Commission dinner at the camp. On Thursdaj', July 3rd, many visitors called at the camp and were pleasantly entertained. In the morning Governor Sulzer and Mrs. Sulzer, accompanied by the chairman and Mrs. Stegman, Colonel Beckwith, Captain Mills and Captain Redington, in auto- mobiles, visited the whole field, returning in time for lunch at camp. The guests of the Commission joui'neyed to many different places. In the afternoon, at what was distinguished as the " Big Tent," in the main camp ground, " New York Day " was celebrated. More than five thousand veteran soldiers participated in the exercises. It was an occasion that thrilled the hearts of all New Yorkers present and made them feel very jjroud of their State. In the evening there was a grand display of fireworks on Little Round Top, which was viewed by the guests from advantageous points. The proceedings of this great meeting are embodied in full in succeeding pages, under the title of " New York Day at Gettys- burg." Friday, July 4th, was devoted by the guests of the Commission to visits to the veterans' camp and expeditions to outlying towns. In the morning, President Wilson delivered an oration to the veterans in the big tent. Large numbers of the veteran soldiers commenced starting for home. BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 25 On Saturday, July jth, the New York Commission delegation broke camp at Gettysburg. The automobiles being readj', a start was made for Antietam battlefield, in Maryland, at 7 a. m. Pro- ceeding by the Chambersburg Road, the party reached Chambers- burg, Pa., about 9 a. m. After a short stop in this town, the journey was resmned, via Greencastle, Pa., to Hagerstown, IMd., where another short stop was made to bring the automobiles together. From Hagerstown the party proceeded to the Antietam field, halting at the famous and historic Dunker Church. At this point the chair- man of the Commission described the battle of September 17, 1862, of the right and center wings of the Union Army. The party then rode over to the scene of the operations of the left wing of the Union Army, where a halt was made at the " Burnside Bridge," also famous and historic, and where a short address was made by the chairman, descriptive of the events on that part of the field. The return trip to Hagerstown was made in a very short time; and the special official train was found ready at that point to convey the party to Xew York. The party was soon entrained and found a most relish- able luncheon prepared for them which was heartily enjoyed, after an automobile ride of fully eighty miles. The train started from Hagerstown at 3 p. m. and proceeded by the way of Harrisburg, Lancaster and Philadelphia, reaching New York at 10 p. m., where all the party was safelj' detrained. En route dinner had been served. During the week spent in attending the celebration not an accident occurred to any of the official party. The itinerary of the Com- mission was well carried out, and, as far as could be learned, every guest of the Commission was highly delighted and gratified with the trip. Great credit is due to Engineer and Secretarj' A. J. Zabriskie for the perfect railroad arrangements, and to Captain Charles E. Fiske, of the Adjutant-General's staff, for the splendid success of the Commission camp. 26 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY Many of the posts of the G. A. R. of the State passed resolutions commending the Commission for the care and consideration shown the veterans in every detail that would enhance their comfort and happiness during the celebration. New York State has every reason to feel proud of its splendid representation at this great celebration. Its veterans conducted themselves in every possible respect in a wa}' to reflect honor upon their Commonwealth. Respectfully submitted, in behalf of the New York Monuments Commission, LEWIS R. STEGMAN, Chainnan. NEW YORK DAY AT GETTYSBURG. NEW YORK VETERANS SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRA- TION OF THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, UNDER THE DIKECTION OF THE NEW YORK MONUMENTS COMMISSION IN THE LARGE TENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD, At 4:30 P. M., Thursday, July 3, 1915. A Cordial Invitation Was Extended to All Union and Confederate Veterans and to the General Public. NEW YORK VETERANS CELEBRATION GETTYSBURG JULY 3, 1913. PROGRAM. Music — Citizens Band. 1. Remarks by Colonel Lewis R. Stegman, U. S. V., Chairman of the New York Monuments Commission, introducing General Horatio C. King, LT. S. V., the Presiding Officer. 2. Invocation — Rev. W. S. Hubbell, D. D. 3. Introductory Remarks by Chairman King. 4. Address — His Excellency, Hon. William Sulzer, Governor of New York. Music — Citizens Band. .5. Oration — Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis, D. D., Pastor of Ply- mouth Church, Brooklyn. 6. Hymn — " My Country, 'Tis of Thee ", Smith. The audience will join in the singing. My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where our fathers died. Land of the Pilgrims' pride. From every mountain side Let freedom ring. [27] 28 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY Our fathers' God to Thee, Author of libertj', To Thee we sing, Long may our land be bright, With freedom's hol_v light. Protect us by Thy might, Great God our King. 7. Remarks — John H. Leathers, C. S. A., Sergeant-Ma j or, Second Virginia Infantry, Stonewall Brigade. 8. Address — Colonel Andrew Cowan, U. S. V., President of the Society of the Army of the Potomac. Music — " Dixie." 9. PoEJi — Colonel Edmund Berkeley, Eighth Virginia Regiment, C. S. A. Music — Citizens Band. 10. Address — Captain Albert M. Mills, U. S. V., Eighth New York Cavalry, Gamble's Brigade, Buford's Cavalry. 11. Poem — " Gettysbm-g " (by request), General Horatio C. King, U. S. V. 12. Benediction — Rev, W. S. Hubbell, D. D. 13. Music — " Star Spangled Banner ", Key. REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS The special meeting of the New York veterans and invited guests under the auspices of the New York Monuments Commission was held in the great tent July 3rd, at 4 :30 P. M. More than five thou- sand veterans gathered at the exercises and manifested by their enthusiastic applause the rare literary treat afforded them. After music bj' the Citizens Band, Colonel Lewis R. Stegman, Chairman of the New York Monuments Commission, called the meeting to order, and said: Comrades of the State of New York, Comrades both Union and Confederate from all tlie States, who may be present, we bid you a very hearty welcome to our New York Day Celebration. I do not propose to make any lengthy remarks. Fifty years ago, upon this BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 29 field, I made remarks that are indelibly impressed upon my memory and do not need to be repeated here. In the world's history there is no record of such fraternal greeting and brotherhood between old-time foes as is being exhibited on this great battle ground. It will never be repeated again. It could not be except between Americans, the most gallant and dauntless soldiers of the world. On this field was displayed a valor never surpassed in military annals. The men who fought here did not realize the tremendous consequences of the battle. It was the pivotal point of the war. It decided that we should have but one Govermnent, one Flag and one Destiny for the whole American people. And I am glad to saj'^, fifty years afterwards, that New York Boj's, Commanders and Men, plaj-ed an important part in the terrific engagement which decided this destiny. I now take great jjleasure in introducing to j-ou the presiding officer of this occasion. General Horatio C. King, of the State of New York. General King then asked the Rev. Dr. Hubbell, D. D., Chaplain of the Militarj^ Order of the IMedal of Honor to pronounce the Invocation. Prayer by the Rev. W. S. Hubbell, D. D. Almighty God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who hast given us liberty beneath this flag, in righteousness by the will of the people. Grant, we pray Thee, to the multitudes whom Thou hast ordained in power the spirit of wisdom and equitj', that our Nation may be established in peace, unity, honor and strength. Bless with Thy protecting care, Thy servants, the President of the LTnited States, the officers and men of the Army and Navy, our Governors, Law-makers, Magistrates, Counsellors and all others en- trusted with authority, so preserving them from evil and enriching them with good that our people may prosper in freedom and may glorify Thy name in all the earth. We ask it for the sake of the Prince of Peace. Amen! 30 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY General Horatio C King: I feel it both a great honor and a great privilege to preside on an occasion of this character, one that has never been paralleled in all times, and probably never will here- after. When I look over this sea of aged men, I can hardly realize the lapse of time — fifty years — when you and I, my comrades, mere stripling boj^s, stood shoulder to shoulder and elbow to elbow in the greatest contest for the grandest purpose ever known in all the world. Surel}% the time has passed so rapidly that it seems but yesterday when we were engaged in that awful struggle. Time flies with all of us, and yet I feel, and you must feel with me, that in tramping over this field time is obliterated and we are boys once more. I am reminded of a pert little darkey in a Sunday school in Wash- ington, in her white dress with red furbelows, leaning back in her chair and fanning herself with a turkey feather fan, while the teacher was telling the class of things which occurred in Palestine a long time ago. " Yes, my dear children, the Saviour came into the world to save sinners, to save you and to save me — nineteen hundred years ago." The little darkey threw herself back and exclaimed, " My! my! how de time do fly." I am also reminded of another story; about a Dutchman who, having obtained a goodly share of this world's goods, went to an artist to have his father's picture painted. The artist said, " send him up here." The Dutchman replied, " Mein fader is dead." The artist asked, " Haven't you a photograph of him? " " Nein! nein! we have no picture of him whatever." But the Dutchman gave the artist the best description he could of the deceased parent and the accom- modating painter painted him from the figments of his imagination. When completed the family were invited to the studio, where they sat for some time in rapt admiration. Finally, Katrina broke the silence, and raising her hands heavenward exclaimed, " Ya! ya! Zat is mein fader, but mein Gott how he has changed ! " Well, we are somewhat older, boys, and we have changed some- what, but our hearts are as young as ever. I realize the fact that I SPEAKERS AT THE BIG TENT ON "NEW YORK DAY," JULY 3, 1913 BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 31 a presiding officer's duty is to preside. I am going to be brief in my remarks. About this hour, half a century ago, the last despairing effort was made to carry Cemetery Ridge. No more splendid valor was shown on any battlefield than that which determined the fate of the Confederacy, and covered both armies with imperishable renown. Looking forward fifty years seems an interminable vista. Looking backward the incidents are as fresh as if they had occurred yesterday. I have embodied this in a brief poem that I have called " A Retro- spect ", and I will read it to you. A RETROSPECT By General Horatio C. King The fleeting years, full fifty now, Are numbered with the past. And memory with all its joys And griefs come trooping fast. But first and foremost of them all. Stand forth in bold relief The days when you and I went forth To battle — these are chief. We hear the rattle of the drum. The bugles lively play. The tiresome march, the dusty roads, The halt at close of day; The gleaming camp fires' ruddy glow. The story, jest and song, And then the hours of blessed sleep That made the heart grow strong. The reveille at break of day. The hurrying to and fro. The long roll with its grewsome call As facing death we go Into the storm of leaden hail, Of screeching shot and shell, To realize what Sherman said That war — " Why war is hell ! " 32 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY The hopes and fears that filled our hearts As wavering lines were broke, And straining eyes peered eagerly To pierce the veil of smoke That hid perchance the advancing line, The reinforcements true. That drove the exultant foemen back Gave victory to the blue. And then, alas ! the morning roll Along the shortened line — The voices now that answer not Until a power divine Shall rouse them from their shallow trench To hear the approving Lord, " These for their God and Country died ! And great is their reward." All quiet along the Potomac now, The mud-stained tents are down. The fires are out, the drums are dumb — Of war there is no sound: But o'er the land that we preserved Our flag still flies unfurled. The benison of future years. The glory of the world. General Horatio C. King: The comparatively young gentleman who sits upon the stage behind me had the misfortune to be born too late to enter into the great struggle celebrated here to-day, but I am sure that the fighting qualities he has manifested since he became Governor vi'ould have put him in the fore front of the battle. He is the honored Governor of the Empire State, and men of different political faith are lending him their loyal assistance in the splendid work he is doing of " making good ! " It is with great pleasure I now present Governor William Sulzer. ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR SULZER My Friends: WE meet on the far-famed field of Gettj'sburg, dedicated to the freedom of man, consecrated to the perpetuity of a reunited country; and memorable forever in the illustrious pages of our glorious liistory. No pen, no tongue, no brush, can ever picture or describe the scene enacted on this field. Gettysburg is fame's eternal camping ground — an inspiration and a shrine — the epic poem of the Union sacred to the heroic men living and dead, whose struggle here made Gettysburg immortal, and hallowed this gi-ound for all the centuries yet to come. All honor and all glory to the men, from upland and from lowland, that met here to do or die for Country. Their fame is secure. Their memory will endure. Their deeds shall never be forgotten. Fifty years ago, great captains, with their men in blue and gray — the bravest of the brave, from North and South, that ever faced a foe — struggled here and there across this plain, amid the roar of cannon, for three long weary days, in the mightiest contest that ever shook our land; and in that clash of steel, and by the trial of battle, it was decided then and there, that all men must be free, and that the Republic of the Fathers shall not perish from the earth. Half a century has come and gone since that terrible conflict, but the intervening years have only added greater splendor to the sacrifice sublime, and a grander glory to the victory triumphant. History tells us truly that on this field was fought the decisive battle of the war between the States; that it was here the flood tide of the fate of the Union — of all that we are, and all that we hope to be — turned toward Old Glory ; that it was here the triumph of the Stars and Stripes over the Stars and Bars saved from dissolution the greatest Republic the sun of noon has ever seen; and that the valor, 34 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY and the heroism, and the devotion and the chivah-y here displayed, by the men of Lee and the men of Meade, will live throughout the years of time — the heritage of all — in the song and story of America. General Horatio C. King: There is scarcely anyone in this audience who has not heard of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn and of its marvelous master mind, the late Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, who passed over to the great majority twenty-six years ago. The service rendered bj^ that Church and by that Clergyman, during the four years of the war, were most important. Particularly so were the services of Mr. Beecher in that herculean effort which prevented the recognition by Great Britain and France of the Southern Con- federacy. Recognition would have greatly prolonged the war and might have compassed our defeat. Mr. Beecher was rewarded by President Lincoln, who designated him to speak at the flag raising on Fort Sumter at the close of the war. We have a noble Church and a very devoted people. Perhaps I can describe their devotion no better than by citing a single instance of an elderl}' ladj' who was very exact in respect to all the church services. She and her daughter kept a little home together. One evening after the dinner dishes were cleared away, the lady put on her things to go to Church. The daughter, knowing her mother's methodical waj's, exclaimed, " Mother! mother! aren't you going to wash the dishes? " " No, no," she replied, " to with the dishes, I'm going to prayer meeting." This devotion is universal with us still. I now take the greatest pleasure in presenting to j^ou a most worthy successor of Mr. Beecher, the Reverend Newell Dwight Hillis, D. D., Pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. ADDRESS OF REV. NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS, D. D., Pastor, Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. GREAT battles, like great mountains, demand distance and perspective. Travelers never understand the Alps until they look back from Italy. Now that fifty years have passed since the battle of Gettysburg, the veterans of the Army of the Potomac have traveled far enough away to understand the place of their battle in the history of liberty. Time has cleared the sun^ot-efeuds. Students have had leisure to compare the Civil War^wi^other great conflicts, and Gettysburg with other decisive battles. Foreigners being the judges, Gettysburg marks the turning point in history. The historian Mommsen was not an American, but a German, and Monmisen thinks the Civil War was the greatest conflict in the annals of time. Green was not an American, but an Englishman, and John Richard Green thinks Gettysburg the most momentous battle in history. The dimensions of the war stir a note of wonder. The battlefield was a thousand miles in length; there were 2,000,000 men in arms. More than 2,200 battles were fought; every hillside of the South was billowy with the country's dead; an army of crippled heroes came home; another army of widows and orphans went comfortless through the land. In retrospect we see that the era of the Civil AVar was the heroic era in our country. It was an era of intellectual giants and moral heroes. It was the era of our greatest statesmen — Webster and Calhoun; it was the era of our greatest soldiers — Grant and Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas and Meade; Lee and " Stone- wall " Jackson. It was the era of our greatest orators — Wendell Phillips and Henry Ward Beecher ; of our greatest authors — Emer- son and Whittier, Longfellow and Lowell ; of our greatest editors — Raymond and Greeley. It was the era of our greatest agitators — Garrison and Love joy, and of our greatest President — the martyred Lincoln. The spectacle [35] 36 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY is so wonderful that the historian must make room for an Infinite God to enter the earthly scene. The history of wars and battles is of two kinds — narrative history and philosophic history. The time for the narrative historian has passed by, and the time for the philosophic historian has fully come. Thoughtful men distinguish between the occasion of war and the cause of the conflict. The occasion of an explosion is a spark, but the cause is in the powder and the air. The occasion of the Revolution was a ship laden with tea, sailing into Boston Harbor; the cause was the determination of the Colonists to achieve self- government. The occasion of the Rebellion was slavery, but the cause of the war was the attempt to overthrow a government con- ceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are free and equal. Striking, indeed, was the influence of slavery upon the life and thought of the great South. By a singular coincidence, the year 1620 brought the Mayflower and the spirit of liberty to Plymouth Rock, and the same month brought the slaveship to James- town, Va. It was as if the morning star of hope appeared in the sky at the self-same time that the orb of night, of blackness and death stood on the horizon. From the beginning the institutions and the climate of the North were unfriendly to slavery. The Puritans be- lieved that the rewards of free labor were vastly in excess of the profits derived from slave labor. In some of the Northern colonies slavery died a natural death from inanition; in others, laws were passed freeing all slaves at the end of ten years. But on account of the excessive heat of the South, white men were not equal to pro- tracted labor under the August sun. The crops of the South were cotton, tobacco and indigo, and white men were not suited to their cultivation. Meanwhile, because of her wars, England needed all her own men at home, and in vain the Southern colonies advertized in London for English labor. Then it was that slave ships were fitted out, and black men were brought from Africa to supply the Southern need. At first the profits were small, but it was soon discovered that the kidnapping and selling of slaves was a most lucrative business. BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 37 Just as the gold mines of California and Australia became the basis of name and fortune to certain English families, so the slave trade furnished the wealth of estates and titles in the seventeenth centiu-j'. In 1713, Queen Anne entered into a treaty with Portugal and Spain for a monopoly of the slave traffic. This treaty provided that Portugal should have exclusive right of assembling the slave gangs in the interior; that Spain should have the wholesaler's right of pur- chasing at the sea coast, while English ships were to have the sole right of carrying the slaves to the colonies. Between the year 1620 and 1820, it is believed that two million slaves were transported from Africa to the Southern seaports, of whom two hundred and fifty thousand died upon the voyage. The time came when the South revolted from the traffic. Virginia passed a law fixing a time when no slave ships would be allowed to land. But the jDrofits of the Crown were so large as to appeal to the avarice and cupidity of King George. The English King sent a warship to the mouth of the James and threatened Virginia with bombardment if the law was not rescinded. But despite the rewards of slavery, the anti-slavery sentiments steadily grew stronger all over the South. When the first abolition meeting was held in Baltimore, in 1832, eighty- five Southern abolition societies sent delegates. It was a Southerner, also, Thomas Jefferson, who made the strongest protest against slavery at the time of the Declaration of Independence. " ^Vhen I remember the justice of God, I tremble for my country when I think of slavery," said the great Virginian. In the conflict the anti-slavery men were outvoted, and the provision excluding slavery from the country was lost in 1789 by a single vote. But from the very beginning liberty and slavery were two opposing spirits. They fought in their infancy, quarreled in their youth, and in their manhood, in 1861, entered upon a death grapple. From the beginning it was certain that the house divided against itself could not stand. That either liberty would drive slavery into the Gulf and drown it, or slavery would drive liberty into the Great Lakes and drown freedom. The country had to be all one thing, or all the other. 38 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY For two hundred and ten years liberty and slavery dwelt together in the national house, but little by little the South came to believe that slave labor was peculiarly fitted to their intense heat of the summer and to the cotton and tobacco which thej' cultivated. Slowly, also, the Northern merchants and manufacturers came to believe that the slave labor starved manufacturing, because the slave was a poor ])uyer while the free laborer, winning a high wage through his intel- ligence, was a good buyer of tools, books, arts, comforts, conveniences. The South produced raw cotton, and sold that cotton in England, and received in return manufactured goods, and the South, therefore, inclined, toward free trade. The North held that wealth was not in raw material, but in the amount of intelligence put into cotton, wool, brass and steel, and, therefore, the North was increasingly interested in manufacturing and in the development of intelligent working men. From the beginning, therefore, it was inevitable that the two theories should come into collision. The men who set the battle in array were Webster and Calhoun. Webster said, " The Union is one and inseparable, and each State subordinate." Calhoun answered, " The State is sovereign and supreme, and the National Government secondary." Webster be- lieved that the Union was like the sun in the sky, and each State was a planet, revolving around the central orb. Calhoun held that each State was a planet, revolving in any orbit that suited it, and always free to break away from the other planets. Webster's favorite illus- tration was that of the human body. The whole body is supreme, and the hand and foot are subordinate members. Calhoun answered that if South Carolina was the hand or the foot, it had the right to cut itself away and leave the body to go its own way. For thirty years the discussion raged in Congress between Webster and Calhoun and Hayne. Little by little the discussion was transferred from the Senate Chamber tc the lecture platform and the pulpit. Finally slavery became the subject of universal discussion at the fireside, in the school- room and on the street car and in the daily press. Agitators went BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 39 up and down the land inspiring in the people the love of liberty; editors began to sow the land with the good seed of freedom and love of the Union. The North was turned into one vast debating society. At length the voices became loud and angrj'. Growing more bitter, the slavery men murdered Lovejoj' in Alton, 111. Wendell Phillips became a voice for liberty in Faneuil Hall; Beecher sold the slave girl from Plymouth pulpit. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her " Uncle Tom's Cabin." Charles Smnner answered the murderous attack of Brooks with the argument that liberty was universal and slavery sectional. John Brown dropped a spark in the powder maga- zine at Harper's Ferrj\ Then Beauregard fired on the flag at Fort Sumter. In a moment the whole Xorth was aflame, and the move- ment for the Union and Liberty swept like a prairie fire across the North. In that hour the discussion between Webster and Calhoun was submitted to the arbitrament of war. At Bull Run Calhoun's argument was in the ascendancy. At Gettysburg Webster's plea that the Union was one and inseparable seemed the stronger. At Ap- pomattox the discussion was concluded. Then Grant and Lee, representing the North and the South, wrote with a sword dipped in blood their approval of Webster's argument that the Union was one and inseparable, and that " a government conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men were free and equal, shall never perish from the earth." In retrospect, therefore, we see that the occasion of the war was slavery, but the cause of the war was the love of the Union. Slavery was a cancer that had fixed itself upon the vitals of the South, and God anointed the soldier to be the surgeon to cut away the deadly disease, that liberty might recover her youth and beauty. There are certain critical moments in history that are big with destiny. Perilous hours come to the individual, the citj^ and nation, when everything hangs upon a single thread. That was a critical moment for Athens when her sons met the Persians at jNIarathon. That was a critical moment for civilization when Charles Martel met 40 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY the Saracen with his polygamy and brute force. That was a critical moment for democracy when Wellington met the imperialism of Napoleon at Waterloo. That was a critical moment for the colonies when Washington set forth from Valley Forge. Big with destiny also was that hour when Lee set the battle in array at Gettysburg. For two years the South had been uniformly victorious. The Army of Virginia had won a series of brilliant victories. The South had come to feel that Lee was invincible — the man of destiny — whose star could not be eclipsed. The news that Lee had invaded Pennsylvania sent a thrill of terror across the land. On Sunday, the citizens of Carlisle and Har^ risburg left the churches to go forth and throw up breastworks; Philadelphia and New York were overtaken by panic. And then it was that JNIeade went up against Lee and his victorious host. It was an hour of destiny. Abraham Lincoln, rising from his knees in Wash- ington, saw an Invisible Figm-e enter his battle scene and take charge of the hosts. It was as if the Infinite God had said to the invading wave, fretted with fire as it rolled North: " Here stay thy proud waves; thus far and no further!" From that moment the cause of secession ebbed away like a receding tide. Gettysburg broke the spell of Lee over the army of the South. Southern people began to lose faith in their cause. Contrariwise, Gettysburg put new strength into the Northern soldier's arm, encouraged the banker to take the war bonds and fired the hearts of the farmers and the women and the workingmen, keep- ing the stuff at home that they might support the Soldier boy at the front. And it is not too much to say that it was Gettysburg that enabled the North to win the victory at Appomattox. But more striking still the influence of Gettysburg upon the attitude of England toward the North. From the very beginning of the war, the mother land was on the side of the South and slavery. The leaders of Parliament, like Gladstone and Salisbury, had invested in Southern bonds. Both wanted the South to succeed, that they might obtain their interest and conserve the capital. The English BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 41 patrician who believed in aristocratic government did not want the Republic and democratic institutions to succeed. Lord Macaulay had prophesied the speedy smashup of the Republic. Carlyle scoffed at us, saying that our declaration of independence made the vote of Judas equal to the vote of Jesus. It seems strange that Carlyle could have said that the Civil War was simply the burning out of a dirty chimney ! But if the believers in monarchy wanted the Union to go to pieces, through the success of the South, the poor people of England wished the South to succeed for very different reasons. Several millions of people in England live on the cotton industry. Great cities like Manchester bought their raw cotton in the South, manufactm-ed it at home, and sold the cloth in Asia. The English spinners had reached the point of starvation — their bread, crusts; their raiment, rags; their days, want, and their nights, tears. Naturally these working people were on the side of liberty, but starvation fronted them, and the only hope of obtaining cotton and work was in the victory of the South. '\Mien, therefore, the news of Gettysburg reached England, Henry Ward Beecher, traveling abroad in search of health, saw that the psj'chological moment had come. Taking advantage of Gettys- burg, he began a nine days' oration, with its introduction at Man- chester, its first argument at Glasgow, its second in Edinburgh, its third in Liverpool and its peroration in London. Statesmen and scholars who were judges of oratory tell us that the world has heard no such eloquence since the day when young Demosthenes pleaded the cause of the Republic against Philip of Macedon. The London Times reported his opening speech in full, but published an editorial full of bitterness against the North, full of sympathy for slavery and secession and the South. Such was the excitement of the English people that the London Times found it necessary to publish in full Beecher's remaining speeches. When nine days had passed, the English nation experienced a revulsion of sentiment. Queen Victoria sent for her Prime Minister. 42 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY A messenger was sent to Paris. George W. Smalley, the repre- sentative of the London Times, is responsible for the statement that England and France had entered into a secret compact to recognize the South the following January, and that now the decision was reversed. From that hour the North had no occasion to criticise the attitude of England. Abraham Lincoln asked Henry Ward Beecher to lift the flag at Fort Sumter, saying that but for Beecher's speeches in England there might have been no flag to raise. Let us be just. One consideration remains to be stated. We must remember that but for Gettysburg there would have been no speeches by Beecher in England. It was the Army of the Potomac that spoke through Beecher's voice, and it was the thunder of victory after Pickett's charge that compelled England and France to stop, and retrace their steps. For in the hour of struggle and of victory, at high-water mark, it was decreed that France and England would never recognize the South, but would line themselves up v/ith liberty and the Union. Wonderful as was the influence of Gettysburg upon the cause of liberty and the Union, its influence upon eloquence and literature has not been less striking. It is a singular fact that the world's examples of supreme eloquence are all related to battles. Our country holds only four examples of supreme eloquence — Patrick Henry at Williamsburg, Wendell Phillips at Faneuil Hall, Henry Ward Beecher in England, and Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. Marathon gave us Pericles' oration, the sedition of Catiline gave us the oration of Cicero, the struggle in India gave us Burke's indictment of Warren Hastings, and the collision between Union and Secession gave us Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. In rank- ing the great men of history, Bismarck once said there are five supreme statesmen in all times. Strangely enough, it took all the other nations of the world 5,000 years to produce three of these leaders, while the young Republic, in 100 years, produced the other two — Washington and Lincoln. Great as has been the influence BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 43 of the battle of Gettysburg it may be doubted whether in the long run the influence of Abraham Lincoln's speech will not prove an equally effective force upon democracy and liberty, and the destiny of the human race. The libraries hold no story so sublime and pathetic as the story of Lincoln. Be the reasons what they may, when the Ruler of Nations wishes to secm-e a forward movement of society, he has passed by the King's palace in favor of the poor man's house. When God wished a father for the bondsman. He went to the log cabin in Kentucky. Calling to his side heaven's favorite angel — the angel of suffering — He laid the poor man's child in the arms of the angel — and whispering " Oh, sorrow, thou best loved child of heaven and earth, take thou this child and rear him for me, and make him great. Plant his path thick with thorns, cut his little feet with sharp rocks, load his young back with heavy burdens, pull out of his arms everything that he loves, break the heart a thousand times, like a box of alabaster ointment, and when he is strong by burden-bearing, sj^mpathetic through suffering to the sigh of any black child — when every footprint up the Hills of Difficulty has been made crimson with his blood, bring him back to the throne, and with him shall be emancipated 3,000,000 slaves ! " That is how God made Abraham Lincoln to be the gi'eatest man in the history of the Republic. Our students to-day, in American Colleges, translate the orations of Demosthenes against King Philip and of Cicero against Catiline. Five thousand years from now, in Chinese universities, these students of the future may translate some oration out of English literature, but the oration will not be by Burke or Fox — by Gladstone or John Bright. That which the Chinese student will translate into his mother tongue will be the oration of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. Wonderful in its simplicity, purity and sunniness of style, it is wonderful also because of the number of mother ideas of liberty that it contains. Edward Everett's oration, three hom's long, was a bushel of diamonds carefully polished. 44 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY Abraham Lincoln's ten-minute speech was a handful of seed corn that has sown the world with the harvest of liberty. Gettysburg, therefore, broke the power of Secession, and freed the slaves on the one hand. But the greatest thing about the battle of Gettj's- burg is the fact that it made possible the speech of Abraham Lincoln, that has changed the history of libertj' for all time to come. Let us now make a large place for the indirect influence of Gettysburg upon the free institutions of other lands. Certainly the time has come when all the nations of the world are going to school to the j'oung republic. One hundred years ago, Sydney Smith scoffed at us, asking derisively, " Who reads an American book?" Now has come a time when England has a commission of educators studying our free high school system. Think of John Milton's country going to school in educational democracy to this young republic! Rome is 2,500 years old, but the Eternal City has sent its commission to study the liberty of this new land. Now you have Rome — Eternal Rome — sitting at the feet of the republic to learn. But yesterday ours was the only republic, arising like a new star upon the western horizon. Then France turned her gaze toward the new planet, and became herself a democracy. Now Switzerland is a republic. Then Portugal threw off her swaddling clothes, and came out of the tomb. To all intents and purposes Holland and Demnark are self-governing. Looking toward the Southern Cross, lo — all the governments of South America are republics. And last February, postponing their action until the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, four hundred millions of people in China cabled the capitals of civilized nations, saying that one-fourth of the hmnan race had given up autocracy, and gone over to self-government, under the influence of the republic. The great watchwords for which Abraham Lincoln stood are Liberty, Equality, Opportunity, Intelligence, and Integrity. Liberty — that means political democracy, and every youth a patriot toward his country. Equality — that means no special privileges to elect persons or I BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG io classes, but to every youth the right to chnib as high as his industry and abiUty will permit. Opportunity — all the barriers in the high- ways that lead to the schoolhouse, to land, office and honor must be opened to the washerwoman's child not less than to the banker's son. Integrity — our institutions are founded upon them, obedience to law and the path of law is the path to liberty. Be the reasons what they may, there is that in the industrial, intellectual and political progress and good fortune of our people that has captured the imagination of foreign lands. Your foreign despatches assert that the Emperor William of Germany, in his address made but j'esterday to his people, affirmed his belief that within three generations everj' country in Europe would have given up autocracy, government by one; autocracy, the government by the few; to go over to democracy, the government by the many; and to elect their own rulers and presidents under the influence of this republic. But the success of this republic and the Union was assured at Gett5'sburg. The defeat of the Union at high-water mark would have been the greatest disaster that ever overtook the children of men, and the victory at Gettysburg, safeguarding the Union, made America the educator of all foreign lands, by making it certain that a government conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created free and equal, can permanently endure. Comrades and veterans of the Army of Virginia and the Arm}' of the Potomac: For all thoughtful men the great days in the history of our country are that first Independence Day, when the bell rang in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and that other July day, fifty j'ears ago, when the Infinite God entered the earthly scene and chose both for the North and for the South, and commanded the waves of invasion to stay at high-water mark. But scarcely less signifi- cant this day and this hour! For it is to the minute just fifty years ago by the stroke of the clock since Pickett's charge came to an end. 46 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY Out of sixteen thousand men, three hundred leaped over the stone wall and fell upon the bayonets and the pistols of the Union soldiers, waiting to welcome them to their graves. Busied with many things, unfortunatelj% the ninety-five millions of our people do not to-day understand the full significance of this Reunion. Never before in the world's history have two armies that stood over against each other like two castles with cannon shotted to the muzzles, met in friendship, good will, and with a common enthusiasm for the same flag — when only fifty summers and winters have intervened. Now has come a time when we are not two sections, but one nation. Should Northern soldiers die in this hour, until there was not one man left who struggled here, you Union men could close your eyes in happiness and peace, knowing for a certainty that every interest dear to this country and our flag is safe in the hands of the Army of Virginia, and the sons and the daughters of the Old Confederate soldiers. They, too, hate slavery with a bitter hatred. They, too, love the Union and the flag with an immeasur- able love. If everj' Northern boy plaj's false in generations to come. Southern boys will stand true, for they have found out how slavery devastates and saps the industrial life of a people, and how liberty and union feed the vital forces of manhood. Gone, all the barriers that once separated! The last fire of hatred has died out into cold ashes. Blood has been red again, going to the roots that feed the blossoms of the tree of liberty. Now the whole nation is proud — proud of the men in gray and the men of blue alike! Though you old veterans live a thousand years, you shall never witness another day like this, nor another scene so significant and so glorious. To-day the whole nation is turned into a vast whispering gallery, and there is but one voice that speaks — the voice of liberty. Ninety-five millions of folk are we, but the nation has but one heart — and that heart is very proud. This pilgrim host is vast and immeasurable, but it has only one thought — that the land is one, and that the flag waves at the head of the Southern and of the BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 47 Northern columns alike. It was said of that old hero, that going down into the river of death, he came up on the other side, and that all the hosts came out with trumpets and banners to meet him and not until you, scarred veterans, receive your final welcome and make your great entrance into the City Beautiful, will you know a day like this. In this hour, the pathos of your years is upon the land. Gone, yom* youth and your beauty! After four years in the army, multitudes of 3'ou came forth, shot through and tlirough, invalided, broken forever. And for fifty years your life has been one long Gethsemane, one black Via Dolorosa, when every day the Angel of Success offered a cup overflowing with bitterness. Now your long martyrdom is nearly over. Some of you say that you are old and broken. How can a soldier be old who has brought liberty — eternally young, eternally beautiful, into being? How can a veteran be poor who has achieved eternal riches of freedom for all the people of the earth? How can an old soldier be obscm-e when he is lifted up and made glorious in the presence of the assembled millions of his native land? Already, for a multitude, the signals are hanged out from the battlements of heaven. Here you shall " fold your tents and silently steal away." After all the thunder of Life's battle you shall encamp in the Promised Land, and hang out your signals of victory. But, going in, you shall not be unknown or unwaited for. Will not yom* companions in arms stand expectant? Will not the patriots, the heroes and the martyrs, who struggled at Marathon, who bled at Marston Moor, who fell at Valley Forge, or struggled unto death at Gettysburg, stand waiting to receive you? You have earned a right to come in, to be greeted by the great soldiers. Grant and Lee; by the orators who pleaded for liberty, by the statesmen who struggled for law ; by the heroes who died that the Union might live, and by the Great Emancipator, the Martyred President! And when the last roll call is heard, and the last page of this chapter of liberty is written, it shall be said, " I saw an old soldier come up out of the Valley and Shadow, and all the heroes came forth to 48 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY meet and greet him, and with trumpets and banners they brought him home! " This masterly address was frequently interrupted with en- thusiastic applause. At its close General King said that such a discourse called for something more than a mere perfunctory vote of thanks and suggested that its appreciation be manifested by a rising vote. The vast audience arose and made the great tent ring with their resounding cheers. All then joined in singing " My Country, 'tis of Thee." General King: The blending of the Blue and the Gray is the distinctive and most beautiful feature of this great occasion. Many years ago at a Reunion of the Society of the Army of the Potomac in Burlington, Vt., a distinguished orator, Luther B. Marsh, epitomized this conmiingling in an exquisite illustration which I quote : " From the Helvetian Alps there comes a stream, which, in its progress of a few hundred miles, leaps down four thousand feet — during its turbulent descent beating its waters into foam — ■ enters and maintains its current through the length of the Geneva Lake, and thence emerges a river of pure and heavenly blue. From an opposite direction, down through the valley of the Chamouni, come the gray waters of another stream. After overcoming many obstructions, through valley and wood, through rock and gorge, over cascade and cataract, to maintain an independent career, these rivers approach each other near the City of Geneva ; and, as thej' come in sight, lo ! the Rhone and the Arve — the Blue and the Gray — rush to each other's arms ; and ere they completely blend, you may notice now a tinge of gray and now a gleam of blue, yet soon their confluent floods, ' like kindred drops are mingled into one '; and thenceforth these mountain torrents, with united force, with single will, with undistinguishable characteristics, and a common destiny, pursue their harmoni- ous course, till they become one with the azure sea, while the everlasting dome gives back its corresponding blue." Here to-day is exemplified the perfection of that blending in the presence of our Southern Brethren, in Confederate gray, one of whom, my beloved friend of many years. Major John H. Leathers, of Louisville, Ky., former Sergeant-Major of the Second Virginia Infantry, " Stonewall " Brigade, and who was wounded in this battle of Gettysburg, will now address you. ADDRESS BY MAJOR JOHN H. LEATHERS, FORMER SERGEANT-MAJOR, SECOND VIRGINIA INFANTRY, "STONEWALL" BRIGADE, C. S. A. I FEEL greatly honored at being invited to take part in the exercises of this notable occasion and on this notable day in American history. Fifty years ago I was here as a mere boy, as you were who participated in this battle, trying to fill my little place in one of the bloodiest conflicts of modern times. I am spared, as you are, to be here again to-day after the lapse of fifty years. All of us now are nearing the end of Life's pilgrimage, with a heart full of gratitude to the Giver of all good for health and length of days and the manifold blessings that have crowned the lives of both the Blue and the Gray who have survived to this time and are here to-day, not as enemies as fifty years ago, but to clasp hands as comrades and friends. Orators and statesmen and historians have eloquently told to the world the glory and renown both armies achieved on the bloody field of Gettysburg, and I shall not attempt to add anything to what has been said and written. Someone has said that seventy years should be called the ideal age of man; that at that age he realizes that he has about accom- plished his life's work and the romance and the fallacies of youth have all vanished and he can review the past philosophically and await the future with confidence and composure. All the bitterness of the war has gone with the flight of years. We stand here to-day glorying in one common flag — the flag of a reunited country. We are, as a nation, to-day stronger and greater than ever before — stronger and greater because fifty years ago great issues were settled that had to be met. AVe can all of us now, with one heart and with one voice, appropriate to ourselves the immortal words uttered here on this spot fifty years ago, that [49] \ 50 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY " this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people," and that we, the survivors, both the Blue and the Gray, and our children and children's children will see to it that our country shall grow greater and stronger as time goes on. We cannot forget the memories of the past — nobody asks us to do that, or the cause for which we fought and bled and so many of our comrades died. These memories are part of our lives, but it does not take away from us the love of our common country or the glory and the valor of American manhood, no matter on which side it was displayed. We men of the South did the very best we knew how, and after the lapse of half a century we have no repinings or regrets at what the call of duty, as we believed it to be, bade us dare and do. Half a century changes the point of view. In 1861 we could not look forward, but in 1913 we can look backward. Nobody need now discuss the past. The men of the Confederacy have their faces turned toward the future. One man in every three who shouldered his gun and went forth to battle for the independence of the South died within four years. It was a dreadful tribute that was demanded from our people in the great war, and we paid it without a murmur, because we felt that we were battling for a great principle. We believed we were right. That was cause enough to call for the best that freemen could give. We gave all we had. There need be no uneasiness as to the future. The sons of the North and the sons of the South hereafter will stand together pro- tecting whenever and wherever necessary the flag of our country and our glorious institutions. General Horatio C. King: The next topic reminds me of a story of General George H. Sharpe when jjrovost marshal in the Army of the Potomac. It was in the spring of 186.5 when the two armies confronted each other across the Rapidan. As the campaign was near at hand, it was his duty to discover what reinforcements had reached Lee's army. So he selected a bright looking Rhode (1 1 1 BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 51 Island private and after coaching him sent him to the picket Hne. This was the coloquy which ensued: " Hello Johnnie, good morning; what regiment do you belong to?" " I belong to the 24th South Carolina; what regiment is yours? " " I belong to the 137th Rhode Island," was the Yank's reply. " You are a liar," yelled the Johnnie, " There aint a hundred and thirtj'-seven men in the State!" Many of our brilliant officers, at the close of the war, liked the South so well that they migrated South, among them the Captain of the First New York Independent Batter}^ which did such magnificent work at the Angle in repelling Pickett's immortal charge. No citizen of Kentucky is more respected, and he is beloved by every member of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, of which he is the honored President, Colonel Andrew Cowan, of Louisville. ADDRESS OF COLONEL ANDREW COWAN, FORMER CAPTAIN OF THE FIRST NEW YORK BATTERY AT GETTYSBURG, AND COMMANDER OF THE ARTILLERY BRIGADE OF THE SIXTH CORPS THE laying of a cornerstone of a peace monument bj' Presi- dent Wilson on July 4th had been a part of the plans of the Pennsylvania Commission for the celebration. The arrangements made for the final meeting on Julj' 4th were neces- sarily canceled, and none of the many speakers of the three big meetings had mentioned the proposed peace monument. Colonel Cowan, before beginning to make his address on the Army of the Potomac, spoke as follows: ABOUT THE PEACE MONUMENT. Comrades: It is hard to control my emotions when I recall the battlefield fifty years ago, almost at this moment. Pickett's brave men were in full retreat and we were holding the ground in the Angle and beyond to the Enmiitsburg road, thickly strewn with their dead and wounded and our own; we have listened to Major John H. Leathers, of the " Stonewall " Brigade (who fought and bled on this battlefield ) , while eloquently speaking to us of his proud memories of the war; his undying love for the Southern flag which led him in the battle; his warm expressions of love for our united country, and devoted loyalty to the Stars and Stripes. He has been my friend at our home city, Louisville, for many years. ^Vhat he said here endears him to us all and we proudly call him Comrade. Each daj', since I came here last week, my spirit has risen until I feel that should I remain here another week it might soar awaj' to the Eternal Camping Ground. Over there on the Cemetery Ridge an equestrian statue of General George G. Meade, the great conmiander of the Army of the Potomac, [52] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 53 stands facing Seminary Ridge. Does he look for Hill's 10,000 brave men and Pickett's 5,000 gallant Virginians to return? Or does he look for the peerless leader of the Southern Army, General Robert E. Lee? A splendid granite pedestal erected by Virginia is now ready for the bronze statue of Lee, mounted on his famous war horse, Traveler. Then the forms of the two great militarj' commanders will stand fronting each other, while time endures. Behind us, a little way, at tlie clump of trees, is a monument which marks the " high-tide " of war on this field. This grand celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the battle marks a high-tide of peace between the North and the Soutli, which shall never recede while Americans love liberty and the Union. The cornerstone of a monument to cost a million dollars will be laid to-morrow, July 4th, on Put-in-Bay, in commemoration of the centennial of Perry's victory over the British fleet on Lake Erie, September 10th, 1813. Such monuments possess an educa- tional value too great to be measured by their cost. Teach the youth of America to believe that patriotism is dearer than life, and there need be no fears for the future safety of our country. Comrades, should not a Peace Monument be erected on this battlefield of Gettysburg, in commemoration of this wonderful reunion of more than 50,000 soldiers in blue and gray who fought bravely and on so manj' other battlefields of the Civil War, for the principles in which both sincerely believed? The survivors of that terrible war, through which it was forever established that this nation, under God, should not perish, returned to the paths of peace, and wherever they went they strove to heal the nation's wounds and make the waste places fruitful again. They and their sons and daughters have made the richest and freest land on earth ; and through them, without regard to sectional lines, the spirit of peace and good will between us has been growing sweeter and stronger. Shall we not highly resolve to do all in our power to influence Congress and the States to erect a Peace Monument which shall be grander than 54 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY anj" now here, or which may be erected hereafter on this great battlefield. Comrades: When I was under twenty-two, and most of you were younger, fifty years ago, these peaceful fields where our tents are pitched were swept by shot and shell. More than two years had passed since the first hostile shot was fired across the sparkling waters of Charleston Bay. The war had begun. Someone had said that his white cambric handkerchief would wipe up every drop of blood that would be shed. Fort Sumter surrendered after a gallant defense by Major Anderson and his United States regulars. Our flag had fallen. I remember how the news came to a little college town in North- ern New York. There was no shouting then, but a solemn stillness that could be felt was upon us. Two impetuous boys caught the early morning stage and enlisted as soon as the)' reached their homes. A whole company followed when the call for three-year volunteers was made. Of the two boys, one fell mortally wounded at Glendale, on the Peninsula, and died a few days later in Libbj' Prison. He was a handsome lad, brave and sweet, and his name was Deming — Captain Deming. The other boj^ was on the same battlefield that night, almost within hail, commanding the First New York Battery. If there happens to be one here who served at Glendale on the Peninsula and on this great battlefield with the Sixty-first New York Regiment, and its noble company of Hamil- ton boys — Brodie was their Captain — I should like to clasp his hand after the meeting adjourns. I am to speak of the Army of tlie Potomac, with which I served from early December, 1861, until the end of the war in 186.5 (with the Sixth Corps after it was formed). How often that army has been the theme for writers and speakers of all sorts! AVho will come afterwards to separate the wheat from the chaff, give credit only where honor was due and sift the truth from romance and exaggeration? I shall attempt to pass the career of the army in BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 55 review before you, like a swiftly-moving panorama as one views it from the window of a Pullman car at rest. They are fresh pictures drawn mainly from memory. Those who served with me and observed as keenly would recognize the truth. The formation of the Arni)^ of the Potomac, following the first Bull Run, began with the arrival of the first three year's regiments in the early fall of 1861. Its camps, across the Potomac from the Capitol, stretched far up and down the river. General George B. ]McClellan was the conmiander of the army. It was customary, indeed, to speak of the army as " McClellan's army," for he organized and trained it. "All quiet along the Potomac " became a daily message, and "Why don't the army move?" came the response from home. The armj'^ moved in the early spring of 1862, by river and bay to Fortress Monroe, where the little " Monitor " swung at anchor in the Roads; the huge " Virginia," hidden behind Sewall's Point beyond, and the wrecks of her victims, the wooden ships " Congress " and " Cumberland," lay sunken close to the shore above Newport News. The campaign on the Peninsula had begun. " On to Rich- mond ! " urged us forward. General Magruder, behind breastworks and forts at Yorktown, with about 20,000 men, halted our advance. Yorktown must be taken by siege. Big siege guns were brought up; engineers talked of parallels and approaches, and we burrowed and shoveled and built them, line after line, until all was ready at last for a grand assault. Magruder evacuated Yorktown that night, leaving us the empty bag. The First Vermont Brigade of Smith's Division had charged across the Warwick River, days before, at Lee's Mills, driving the enemy from the front line of breastworks, and holding them until General Smith was ordered not to bring on a battle. The gallant Green IVIountain Boys returned under a murderous fire. If they had been allowed to push forward, half a mile, the skeleton weak- ness of ISIagruder's army would have been exposed that day. We 56 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY knew it, when we crossed at the same place to follow Magruder. Caution, in warfare, has often proved to be a poor captain. The battle of Williamsburg began with a costly front attack on Fort Magruder by Hooker; Hancock's reconnaisance in force the second day exposed the enemy's unprotected left flank. Early's attempt to cut off Hancock's Brigade and two New York Batteries, of Smith's Division, Sixth Corps, was easily repulsed. The road was again clear at daylight and we advanced up the Peninsula, until the church spires of Richmond could be seen from trees on Hooker's front. The Chickahominy River, a harmless-looking stream, divided our army in the middle. Soon the rain began to fall in floods and the little river suddenly overflowed its banks a mile, covering all the bottom land and sweeping away the weak bridges. Then General Johnson attacked McClellan. The battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, was desperately fought, with the odds heavily against the divided Army of the Potomac, but we held om- ground and the victory was ours. The Army of the Potomac had shown that it could fight. But we lay down behind breastworks instead of pushing " on to Richmond " while there was time. We lay there in poisonous swamps, waiting for reinforcements, while thousands sickened and scores died from fever and other camp diseases, caused by unwholesome water and unsanitary conditions. Meanwhile, General Johnson, the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, who had been wounded, was succeeded by General Robert E. Lee, the peerless gentleman and accomplished soldier, destined to command the great Southern army to the end. General Lee assumed the off'ensive late in June and attacked McClellan's right wing, on the left bank of the Chickahominy, first calling " Stonewall " Jackson back from the Shenandoah to pounce on Porter's right flank, while Hill's Corps assaulted in front. Our left wing across the Chickahominy remained inert, instead of boldly advancing " on to Richmond," only sending small reinforcements across a bridge, at the right of Smith's Division, to Porter's relief. JiATTLE OK (i!:TTVSHri{(; .57 I'ortcr's Fil'tli Corps was l)fatcn, afttT hard (iglitiiig, and witlidrcw at night to the Soutli hank of the river. The retreat to t!ie James Hiver, or a "change of 1)ase," as we called it, had commenced. \Vr fought at Savage Station and White Oak Swamp, and at Glendalc, or Charles City Crossroads, for Tree's army pressed after us. We fouglit every day and ran all night. Our last stand was made at Malvern Hill. There, with the Army of the Potomac on the defensive and the y\rmy of Norlheiii NHrginia recklessly aggressive, was fought the fiercest hattle on the Peninsula. I saw a thrilling part of it, for no place could he found there for the First New York IJattery, which had arrived at sumise from Charles City Crossroads, so we stood waiting for ordeis in front of the Malvern House. The Southern army, hlceding at every vein, fought to the limit of courage and endm-ance, until hrave men could do no more. We won a great victory that day and held the field in triumi)h; hut the retreat was resumed, in black darkness and through floods of rain with loud thunder and fierce lightning. The scene that greeted us at Harrison's Landing, when we reached there in the gloomy dawn, sick at heart and very weary, could hardly be described. The bi-oad plain was an ocean of mud, t-hurncd deep by thousands of wagons which had preceded us. ^Ve plodded across to the soaked fields and waited for the usual daily aj)pcarance of the enemy, but they did not uppenv. liCe's army had gone beyond the limit of human endurance at Malvern Hill. Even "Stonewall" Jackson slept. The Army of the I'otomac was nearly demoralized, but it had found itself. President Lincoln jjaid us a visit and was received with great enthusiasm when he reviewed the army. (Jeneral McClellan's i)lan to transfer his arniy across the James and attack Kiehmond from the South was not api)rovc