_Society of the Army of the Potomac Enters Town, continued._
When this great crowd entered the courthouse, after making such a long
march in hot weather, most of them were willing to rest awhile before the
exercises commenced. Yet Gen. King is not one to rest long when business
had to be attended to, so he called the large assembly to order, and
announced that illness had prevented the attendance of Gen. D. McM. Gregg,
president of the society, and in his absence Gen. Martin T. McMahon would
preside in his stead. Dr. J. S. Dill, pastor of the Baptist church, was
presented and offered a most earnest prayer. Mr. St. Geo. R. Fitzhugh, who
had been selected by the committee of entertainment to extend the welcome,
was then introduced and made the following address:
MR. FITZHUGH'S ADDRESS.
MR. CHAIRMAN: It is with feelings of profound pride and unfeigned pleasure
that our entire community extends a cordial and hearty welcome to the
illustrious Chief Magistrate of our country, who honors us with his
presence to-day. We recognize in our President the pure patriot and the
stainless statesman, whose wise and courageous administration, in both war
and peace, has endeared him to the hearts of his countrymen and has shed
new lustre upon the exalted office which he fills.
Our people also welcome with much pride and warmth his eminent official
family, and the brilliant commander of our invincible army, and all these
distinguished men before me, who are guests of the Society of the Army of
the Potomac and of our city.
And now, our friends of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, I find it
difficult to command adequate words with which to express to you the
supreme gratification and enthusiasm of our people at your prompt
acceptance of their invitation to hold your annual reunion in this old
town and at your presence here to-day in such numbers.
We not only welcome you with open arms and glowing hearts, but we feel
that this action on your part rises to the dignity of an impressive epoch
in our national life; and we are not surprised that our illustrious
President, and all these distinguished men, should desire to grace this
inspiring occasion with their presence.
It is the first time that your society has held one of its annual reunions
on southern soil, and, in making this new departure, it was preëminently
fit that you should honor Fredericksburg with your choice.
A French philosopher has written, "Happy the people whose annals are
tiresome," but the far nobler and more inspiring thought of the
Anglo-Saxon race is that "character constitutes the true strength of
nations and historic glory their best inheritance."
As American citizens you are proud of the grand traditions and heroic
memories that crowd your country's history; and nowhere else on this
continent could your feet tread on ground more hallowed by historic
memories than here.
I think before you leave us you will acknowledge that if the immortal
names and deeds that this locality suggests should be stricken from the
annals of time, most of the present school books of our country would be
valueless and our national history itself would be as the play of Hamlet,
with Hamlet left out.
The school boys and girls of our whole country are familiar with the story
of Capt. John Smith and Pocahontas, and history records that right here
Captain John Smith battled with and repulsed the Indians. So we may fairly
claim, without the exercise of poetic license, that the struggle of the
Anglo-Saxon race, to establish its civilization and supremacy on this
continent, commenced on this spot in 1608, just one year after Jamestown
was settled.
If we should draw a circle around this ancient city, with a radius of less
than fifty miles, we should find within that narrow compass the birthplace
of George Washington, of Thomas Jefferson, of James Madison, of James
Monroe, of Zachary Taylor, of Chief-Justice John Marshall, of the Lees of
the Revolution, of Patrick Henry, of Henry Clay, of Matthew Maury and of
Robert E. Lee. If we should extend the circle but a very, very little, it
would also embrace the birthplace of William Henry Harrison, of John
Tyler, of Winfield Scott, and likewise the birthplace of this Republic
at Yorktown.
[Illustration: A Tombstone in St. George's Churchyard, remarkable for its
date. (See page 246)]
[Illustration: Confederate Monument in Confederate Cemetery. (See page
189)]
Is there any other similar segment of space on the habitable globe so
resplendent with stars of the first magnitude!
Seven Presidents of the United States and three of the greatest military
leaders of modern times were born within two hours' ride of this city,
estimated according to the most improved modern methods of travel!
That meteoric Mars of naval warfare, John Paul Jones, lived and kept store
in this town, and went from here to take command of a ship of our colonial
navy. He was the first man who ever raised our flag upon a national ship,
and he struck terror to the heart of the British navy by his marvellous
naval exploits during the Revolution.
It was right here that Washington's boyhood and youth were spent, and that
he was trained and disciplined for his transcendent career, and it was to
the unpretending home of his mother, still standing here--which you will
visit--that Washington and Lafayette came when the war closed, to lay
their laurels at her feet; and her ashes repose here, under a beautiful
monument, erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
But there are other memories of heroic type, suggested by this locality,
which come nearer home to our hearts, whose mournful splendor time cannot
pale!
Here, and within fifteen miles of this city, in Spotsylvania county, more
great armies manoeuvred, more great battles were fought, more men were
engaged in mortal combat and more officers and privates were killed and
wounded than in any similar territory in the world. More men fell in the
battles of this one small county during the Civil war than Great Britain
has lost in all her wars of a century; and more men were killed and
wounded in four hours at the battle of Fredericksburg than Great Britain
had lost in killed, wounded and prisoners in her eight months' war in
South Africa.
When the fog lifted its curtain from the bleak plains about Fredericksburg
on the morning of December 13, 1862, the sun flashed down on a spectacle
of terrible moral sublimity!
One hundred thousand Union veterans, with two hundred and twenty cannon,
were in "battle's magnificently stern array," and in motion, with nothing
to obscure their serried ranks from the view of their expectant
adversaries, safely entrenched on the sloping hills adjacent. The
different sub-divisions of this great army were commanded that day by
consummate masters of the art of war, whose names and brilliant exploits
now illumine the pages of our national history, but its commander-in-chief
was deficient in both strategic and tactical ability, and his most
conspicuous merit seemed to be his perfect faith in the courage and
invincibility of his army.
General Burnside did not overrate the magnificent courage and sublime
self-sacrifice of his army, whose contempt of death that day on the open
plains about Fredericksburg seemed to strike the electric chain wherewith
we all are bound, and a thrill of admiration swept down the line of Lee's
army for four miles whilst yet the battle raged; but General Burnside did
underrate the strength of the positions which, without inspection or
information, he rashly assailed, and he did underrate the valor of the men
who held those positions. The appalling magnitude of his mistake was soon
apparent, alike to his officers and his men, and yet column after column
of that devoted army advanced, without a halting step, to the carnival of
death, over a plain swept by the ceaseless and terrible fire of protected
infantry and artillery--a plain of which General E. P. Alexander, in
command of the Confederate artillery, posted on the heights, remarked the
evening before, that "not a chicken could live there when his guns were
opened."
No honors awaited the daring of these heroes that day; no despatch could
give their names to the plaudits of their admiring countrymen, their
advance was uncheered by the hope of emolument or fame; their death would
be unnoticed, and yet they marched to their doom with unblanched cheeks
and unfaltering tread.
Pause a moment and picture those serried ranks as they marched undismayed
with grim precision and intrepid step to certain death, and, very many, to
unknown graves, and tell me whether heroism did not have its holocaust,
and patriotism and courage their grand coronation on these plains about
Fredericksburg; and tell me whether a nation's gratitude and meed of
honor to these unknelled, uncoffined and unknown heroes, who thus gave up
their lives for their country, in obedience to orders, should be measured
by the accident of victory or defeat, or by the unclouded grandeur of the
sacrifice they cheerfully made. Tell me whether the majestic memorial,
which that splendid old veteran, General Butterfield, proposes to erect on
the plains of Fredericksburg, to perpetuate the fame of the Fifth corps,
will not commemorate a higher type of heroism than any similar memorial to
that corps on the heights about Gettysburg! Tell me whether there was not
more courage and more manhood required to assail Marye's Heights than to
hold Cemetery Hill!
The charge of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg was far grander, even with
its dreadful recoil, than was the defence of the stone wall at
Fredericksburg; and the heroes of the former deserve more of their country
than do the latter.
Napoleon, after the battle of Austerlitz, addressing his army, said:
"Soldiers, it will be enough for one of you to say, 'I was at the battle
of Austerlitz,' for your countrymen to say, 'There is a brave man.'"
Impartial history will record that the Union soldiers who fought at
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania
Courthouse were not only brave men, but that their valor on those immortal
fields decorated the Stars and Stripes with imperishable glory. And no
American army of the future, composed of those who wore the blue and the
gray, or their descendants, will ever permit that glory to be tarnished!
It was the brilliant prowess of the Confederate army on the battlefields
of Spotsylvania that shed such dazzling lustre on the Union arms at
Gettysburg. If we should blot out the battlefields of Spotsylvania, we
should rob Gettysburg of all its glory; we should filch from General Grant
half his fame as a great commander, and should obscure to the future
student of the art of war Grant's invincible pertinacity and his sagacious
and successful policy of concentration and attrition, which alone explains
and vindicates his famous march of eighty miles from Culpeper Courthouse
to Petersburg, with a loss of tens of thousands of his brave troops, when
he might have transferred his army by transports to the shadow of the
Confederate capital without the loss of a man.
Grant knew that the destruction of Lee's army, and not the capture of
Richmond, was the profoundest strategy. The Army of the Potomac, under the
consummate leadership of General Grant, won infinitely more prestige at
Appomattox, where eight thousand worn-out Confederates laid down their
arms, than the German army, under its great field-marshal, Von Moltke, won
at Sedan, where the French Emperor, Louis Napoleon, and 86,000 French
soldiers, neither footsore nor hungry, surrendered, and for the plain
reason that no such conflicts as those in Spotsylvania lay across the
march of Von Moltke to Sedan. The march to Appomattox was over the
battlefields of Spotsylvania, and Appomattox was only the culmination of
the courage and carnage of those fields.
It was the conspicuous characteristic of both the Union and Confederate
armies that their courage was alike invincible; defeat could not quench
it; it shone with additional splendor amid the gloom of disaster, and no
soldier on either side need blush to have borne a part in any one of the
great battles of the Civil war, whatever fortune may have decreed as to
its temporary result.
It is noteworthy, above almost any other events of history, that the two
most memorable and momentous struggles in which the Anglo-Saxon race has
embarked, both closed on the soil of Virginia, a century apart, by the
surrender of one Anglo-Saxon army to an army of the same race, and without
the loss of prestige on either side.
For our great race, when vanquished by itself, proudly rears its crest
unconquered and sublime!
One of those memorable struggles closed at Yorktown, where colonial
dependence perished, national independence was secured and our great
republic born. The other closed at Appomattox, where the doctrine of
secession and the institution of slavery perished and a more perfect union
than our fathers made was established.
Secession and slavery perished on Virginia soil, and her people, though
impoverished by the loss of the latter, have shed no tears over the grave
of these dead issues; but they love and cherish the memory of the Southern
heroes whose sacred ashes repose in her bosom, and they proudly spurn any
suggestion that such moral heroism and sublime self-sacrifice as they
exhibited could be born of other than conscientious conviction!
If the South was, by a wise providence, denied in that grand struggle the
honor of final triumph, her people to-day share equally with the victors
of that day the glorious fruits of their victory in a more perfect and
indissoluble union of indestructible States, under that superlative symbol
of a world-power--the glorious Stars and Stripes.
All through this splendid address Mr. Fitzhugh was vociferously applauded,
the President and his cabinet heartily and enthusiastically joining in the
applause, and when he closed the demonstration was kept up for several
minutes.
Gov. Tyler was then introduced and welcomed the veterans to Virginia, and
assured them that when their visit to Fredericksburg was ended, Richmond,
the Capital of the Confederacy, awaited them with extended hands and
outstretched arms. Gen. McMahon responded in a short address, full of
harmony and good feeling, and introduced Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, the
orator of the occasion.
At the conclusion of the able and patriotic address of Gen. Sickles, the
presidential party and Gen. Sickles, lunched at Mr. Fitzhugh's and the
society and visitors were provided for at the Opera House. After lunch the
visitors and citizens marched to Mr. Fitzhugh's residence, where the
President held a reception and where several thousand people greeted and
shook him by the hand.
The procession then formed and marched to the National cemetery, to
witness the laying of the corner-stone of the monument to be erected by
Gen. Daniel Butterfield to the memory of the men of the Fifth Army Corps,
who fell in the several battles in Fredericksburg and vicinity.
The Masonic ceremonies were in charge of Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M. In
accepting the invitation to preside on the interesting occasion, Gen.
Horatio C. King said:
I deeply appreciate the honor of being asked to preside on this most
interesting occasion, and in presence of the honored Chief Magistrate and
the members of his official family. I recall with pride the fact that I
first saw the light of Masonry in the Blue Lodge at Winchester, in this
magnificent State, in 1864, when I was a soldier in the great war, and
that from that day to this I have continued in good standing in our noble
order. It may not be amiss for me to add that he who honors and graces
this occasion to-day by his presence, our President, was also initiated at
or about the same time in the same lodge, and that he has also held fast
to the tenets of the organization through his lodge at his home in Ohio.
It is most fitting that this dedication should be made by this
time-honored Fredericksburg Lodge, whose history antedates the Revolution
and in whose precincts the Father of his Country was enrolled.
The occasion is one to inspire every patriot, and the generosity of Gen.
Butterfield, in raising this memorial to the fallen comrades whom he so
gallantly commanded, will shine through ages to come on the pages of
American history.
MASONIC CEREMONIES.
The ceremonies were then conducted by the Masonic Lodge, the following
officers, members and visitors being present and taking part:
Alvin T. Embrey, senior warden, acting worshipful master; Right Worshipful
James P. Corbin, senior warden _pro tem_; Wm. H. Hurkamp, junior warden;
Edgar M. Young, Jr., treasurer; Right Worshipful Silvanus J. Quinn,
secretary; Maurice Hirsh, senior deacon; Allan Randolph Howard, junior
deacon; Rev. James Polk Stump, chaplain, and John S. Taliaferro, tiler;
Worshipful Brothers Albert B. Botts, James T. Lowery, Thomas N. Brent,
Isaac Hirsh.
_Members_: Joe M. Goldsmith, John Scott Berry, John R. Bernard, John C.
Melville, Robert A. Johnson, O. L. Harris, James Roach, George A. Walker,
A. Mason Garner, Wm. T. Dix, Wm. Bernard, H. Hoomes Johnston, Charles L.
Kalmbach, Edgar Mersereau, Adolph Loewenson, George W. Wroten, Joseph H.
Davis, J. Shirver Woods, Edwin J. Cartright and Maurice B. Rowe.
_Visiting Masons_: Most Worshipful J. Howard Wayt, P. G. M., Staunton,
Va.; Wm. D. Carter, 102, Va.; W. J. Ford. 163, Ky.; W. C. Stump, 5, D. C.;
B. P. Owens, 14, Va., and Dr. J. W. Bovee, of B. B. French, D. C.
The handsome silver trowel used in laying the corner-stone, was made by
order of Gen. Butterfield for that occasion and then to be presented to
the Masonic Lodge performing the service. After the service of laying the
corner-stone, Gen. Edward Hill, who spoke for Gen. Butterfield, in an able
address, presented the monument to the Secretary of War to be kept, cared
for and preserved by him and his successors in office, to which Secretary
Root responded in a brief and appropriate speech, accepting the monument
and promising to preserve it as requested.
CAMP FIRE AT OPERA HOUSE.
At 8 o'clock in the evening a "camp fire" was held at the Opera House,
which was crowded to its utmost capacity. Short addresses were made by
Gen. McMahon, Gen. Hawley, Gen. Miles, Gen. Sewell, Gen. Tremain, Gen.
Geo. D. Ruggles, Capt. Patrick, Gen. Sickles, and a letter was read from
Gen. Shaw, all of whom were on the Union side. The Confederate veterans
were represented by Gen. Joseph Wheeler and Private John T. Goolrick.
When Gen. Wheeler was introduced, Gen. Hawley, who had already spoken,
interrupted with "Just a moment. Something occurs to me. Among the
extraordinary things that are happening in the world, this is especially
interesting to me. I find, on looking over the records, that Moses
Wheeler, more than 250 years ago, married the sister of Joseph Hawley in
Connecticut. Now, General, go on."
This produced great laughter, in which Gen. Hawley joined with much zest.
JUDGE GOOLRICK'S ADDRESS.
Judge Goolrick, who was introduced as the representative of the
Confederate veterans, and especially the private soldier, of whom there
are so few at this time, spoke as follows:
COMRADES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN--With sincere sentiments of good will,
commingled with a sense of gratitude, I welcome you within the gates
of our city, and no man has a better right to bid you come than
myself--for, just after the surrender at Appomattox, I was sitting on
the roadside, weary and worn, foot-sore and hungry, with an intense
solicitude for a change of my bill of fare from parched corn, upon
which I had luxuriated for about three days, when a kind-hearted
private soldier of the Army of the Potomac, seeing my dejected and
depressed appearance, came to me with words of cheer, comfort and
kindness, and, putting his hand down into his not overstocked
haversack, gave me all his rations of hardtack and bacon, and
immediately the gloom of defeat ceased to be so oppressive, and the
intense hunger, under which I had labored, also ceased. This act of
good fellowship, under the conditions which confronted me, at once
inspired a fraternal feeling for my enemy. So you see, Mr. Chairman, I
have a real right to be glad to see here to-day the representatives of
that army of which my benefactor was a member, and bid you be of good
cheer while you pitch your tents once again on the old camp ground.
You are now on a spot which is consecrated in the hearts of the
soldiers from the North and the South. Within the sound of my voice
Meagher's Irish Brigade immortalized itself by a charge into the jaws
of death, a charge in which the Irishman expressed his loyalty to the
land of his adoption, and gave evidence of that inborn bravery which
has made his name illustrious all over the world.
[Illustration: St. Mary's Catholic Church. (See page 214)]
[Illustration: Shiloh Baptist Church, Old Site (colored.) (See page 215)]
Within this county--at Chancellorsville--the soldiers of the South
conquered in a battle where death pulsated the very air, which was won
by unparalleled bravery and matchless strategy, though it cost the
life of the southland's idolized Stonewall Jackson, the very genius of
the war. Here the two master military leaders met for the first
time at the Wilderness, where was commenced the march by parallel
columns, which culminated in the surrender of the Army of Northern
Virginia, by our grand old commander, Lee, to the great and
magnanimous Grant.
On these fields Americanism, in its highest and holiest sense, was
illustrated and illuminated. Here a colossal column of men marched to
death, testifying thereby the very highest expression of
patriotism--love of country. For greater love hath no man that this,
that he lay down his life for his friends. It is to this spot you have
come--a place which is, and should be, the mecca of all lovers of
patriotism, self-sacrifice and lofty devotion to duty. And these have
not been lost, and will not be, for as the blood of the martyrs was
the seed and the seal of the church, so the blood and the bravery of
the soldiers of the North and the South have already cemented this
Republic in a closer union.
There has been a good deal said here, sir, to-day about peace. He who
fought ceased warfare when the war ended. 'Tis true it was waged with
great energy by warriors. After Lee told his boys to go home, and
Grant said, "Let us have peace," these warriors, after the war, were
like that chaplain in Early's army, who was seen going to the rear,
while the battle was raging in front. Early met him and asked him
where he was going. "To the rear--to the hospital department," said
he. "Why not stay in the front?" said old Jubal, "for I have heard you
urging my men for the last six months to prepare to go to heaven, and
now you have an opportunity to go to heaven yourself, and you are
dodging to the rear." These men who want war and talk war now had the
opportunity to take part, but most of them did not feel so inclined
when the battle raged fast and furious.
I suppose, sir, however, I was called to talk to-night because I am
rather an unique and curious living specimen of a soldier, for I was a
private, and there are few now living. It is said just before the
surrender a poor old soldier laid down to sleep, and he slept _a la_
Rip Van Winkle, for twenty years. Awaking up he rubbed his eyes;
looking around, he called a man walking on the road-side to him.
"Where," said the soldier, "is old Marse Bob Lee and his army?"
"General Lee," replied the man; "why, he has been dead many years; he
surrendered his army and then died." "Ah!" said the private; "ah, then
where are all the generals?" "They," replied the man, "have been sent
to Congress." "And what has become of the colonels?" "Why, they have
been elected to the Legislature." "What about the majors, captains and
lieutenants?" "They have been made sheriffs and clerks and
treasurers." "Where, then, tell me, where in the world have the
privates gone?" "The privates!" answered the man; "why, they are all
dead." And the old soldier rolled his eyes back and fell asleep again.
If he were to awake again to-day his eyes would be gladdened and his
heart made happy by monuments erected in Virginia's capital city, and
elsewhere, to emphasize the love and reverence with which the memory
of the brave private soldiers are held by a grateful people.
Sir, far be it from me to hold in slight estimation or little esteem,
the illustrious commanders. I am proud of the grand and glorious
leadership of my great captains, Lee and Jackson, and I willingly pay
a tribute to the greatness of Grant and to the memory of Hancock, "the
superb," and the splendid Meade. I would not, if I could, attempt to
dim the lustre of their names or throw any shadow over the brightness
of their deeds.
I was an humble private soldier in the Confederate army, and I am
proud here to proclaim that I was a follower of the peerless and
illustrious Lee, but I stand here to pay my loving tribute to the
private soldier of both armies. His splendid achievements, grand
heroism, unfaltering loyalty and unflinching bravery, have no parallel
in all time. He knew that if in the forefront of the fight he were
shot down that then his name would not be written on the scroll of
fame, his uncoffined body would find sepulture in a nameless grave,
and that he would have for an epitaph, "unknown!" Only a private shot;
and thus the story of his daring and dying would be told.
But, knowing all this, he failed not nor faltered. He was inspired by
the very holiest and highest, because of an absolutely unselfish sense
of duty. He was moved by a purpose to serve his country and its
cause. He marched, battled and bivouacked because his determination to
do, dare and die, if needs be, for the flag under which he served.
Whether under the sultry sun of summer or amidst the sleet and snow of
winter, he stood, unmoved from his unalterable resolve. No grander, no
more beautiful, no more splendid expression of the very highest type
of manhood could be found than was found in the life of the private
soldier of both or either army; and when the war ended, with them
verily it ended, and they all joined hands in a fraternity of
comradeship which was well exhibited by that private soldier of your
army who ministered to my necessities and cheered me in my sadness as
I sat under the very shadow of defeat and amidst the gloom of
surrender at Appomattox.
And members of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, to which that
private belonged, and to which we of the Army of Northern Virginia
surrendered, I meet and greet you on your first reunion south of the
river whose name you bear. We of the South will ever cherish, ever pay
the homage of our hearts' best devotion to the memory of our great
cause and its champions, we will ever keep them hallowed and sacred,
but with us the war is over. We pay allegiance and bear full fealty to
this great Republic of ours, and the men and the sons of the men who
followed Lee and Jackson stand ready with you to defend, always and
everywhere, the honor, the integrity and the interest of this fair
land of ours against all foes, whether from within or without its
borders.
We worship at the same shrine of liberty. There is only one flag now.
It is our flag and yours. Under its shadow we stand with the men of
your army. And now, to-night, at this reunion, in this presence, let
me urge, as the shibboleth, the motto of both armies, to be our
inspiration in peace, our rallying cry, if needs be, in war, this:
"Whom God hath joined together let no party, no people and no power
put asunder."
Judge Goolrick was heartily applauded during the delivery of his address,
and at its close the cheering was loud and prolonged.
There was no business session of the society the next day and very many of
the Union veterans visited the various battlefields. The most of the
society and visitors went to Richmond on an excursion tendered the society
by Lee Camp, where they were met and entertained by the Confederate
veterans of that hospitable city.
Addresses were made on that occasion by Judge D. C. Richardson, Mayor
Richard M. Taylor, Gov. Chas. T. O'Ferrall and Attorney-General A. J.
Montague, of Richmond, and Gen. Horatio C. King, of New York, and Gen.
Geo. D. Ruggles, of Washington.
On the return of the excursionists from Richmond a reception and lunch
were tendered them at the Opera House, where they were met by a large
number of the ladies and gentlemen of the town, and a most enjoyable
evening was spent. Gen. King, secretary of the society, in a brief
address, acknowledged the cordial welcome and unbounded hospitality they
had met with in our town and the homes of our citizens, extended the
hearty thanks of the society to the officials and citizens and stated that
the reception was even warmer and more cordial than they had ever before
met with.
RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS ADOPTED.
At the business meeting of the society on the first evening the following
preamble and resolution, after very complimentary remarks of the town and
people, by many of the visitors, were enthusiastically adopted:
The reunion of the Society of the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg is
of peculiar significance, and the generous sentiment which prompted the
invitation, meets with a hearty response from every patriotic soldier of
that great army. Every animosity engendered by the conflict is here buried
with the more than one hundred and twenty thousand gallant men who shed
their blood and sacrificed their lives in their heroic devotion to
conviction and to duty. The work done here is an imperishable record of
the unsurpassed courage and bravery of the American soldier: therefore be
it--
Resolved, That we tender to the civic authorities and citizens of
Fredericksburg, and especially to the efficient local executive committee
and Mr. St. Geo. R. Fitzhugh, our most hearty thanks for a welcome that
sustains, in the highest, the fame of Virginia hospitality. The generous
and unstinted courtesies of all will render this reunion forever
memorable, and the most pleasurable emotion will always arise whenever the
name of Fredericksburg is mentioned.
As a fitting sequel of this distinguished gathering and the grand
reception on the part of the town and citizens, a letter, written by Gen.
Horatio C. King, twenty-five years secretary of the society, en route to
his home, in Brooklyn, N. Y., is inserted:
_Captain S. J. Quinn, Secretary Army of the Potomac Committee_:
MY DEAR CAPTAIN--The generous efforts of your citizens to kill us with
kindness were well nigh successful, but happily we survive to tell the
tale of the most unique and unsurpassed reunion in the history of the
Society of the Army of the Potomac.
Our first meeting on the soil of the South cannot fail to have a most
happy effect upon the comparatively few--mainly born since the great
conflict--who do not realize that the war ended in 1865.
The sentiments expressed by your orators, Mr. Fitzhugh, your honored
Governor Tyler and Judge Goolrick, and by Mayor Taylor, ex-Governor
O'Ferrall and Attorney-General Montague, in Richmond, should be
printed in letters of gold and circulated all over the nation. Purer
or more exalted patriotism has never been expressed.
To the thanks already extended I desire to add my personal obligations
for the untiring energy, zeal and efficiency of your local committee,
which have made my duties comparatively light and most enjoyable; and
I desire to make my acknowledgments especially to you and Brother
Corbin for the promptness of your correspondence and unremitting
attention.
I am afraid I but feebly conveyed to the audience last evening the
warm appreciation of the superabundant and delightful lunch so
gracefully provided by your people and so charmingly distributed by
your ladies.
Indeed, I cannot find words to express our gratitude for a reception
so complete as not to have elicited a single complaint or criticism.
We can never forget it or the good people who carried the reunion to
unqualified success.
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT M'KINLEY.
Visiting Fredericksburg in May, to attend the meeting of the Society of
the Army of the Potomac, and take part in laying the corner-stone of the
Butterfield monument, where he received the most marked demonstrations of
the love and loyalty of his people, without regard to party politics,
President McKinley returned to our beautiful capital with a grateful heart
and a determination to show himself President of the entire country,
dispensing justice to all alike. He was proud of his country and rejoiced
in its unparalleled prosperity. In September, 1901, he visited the
exposition at Buffalo, N. Y., where, while holding a reception on the 6th
of September, he was assassinated in the midst of the thousands who
surrounded him. The sad news was flashed by wire throughout our land and
the civilized world, and was received everywhere with unaffected sorrow.
Our City Council was assembled upon the sorrowful intelligence, and the
following preamble and resolutions were adopted, and telegraphed Mrs.
McKinley, which were the first adopted and received by her from any
quarter:
"Whereas, we have heard, with great sorrow and indignation, of an
attempt to assassinate his excellency, Wm. McKinley, President of the
United States, at Buffalo, N. Y., this afternoon; and, whereas, we
rejoice to learn by the latest telegram that his physicians express
the firm belief he will survive the wounds inflicted, therefore--
Resolved, by the Mayor and Common Council of the city of
Fredericksburg, Virginia, that we condemn, in the strongest language
we can command, this dastardly and wicked act, and call upon the
authorities to punish the would-be assassin to the full extent of the
law.
2nd, That we tender our profoundest sympathy to Mrs. McKinley in her
great affliction and earnestly pray that a kind and all-wise Heavenly
Father may restore her devoted husband and our much loved Chief
Magistrate to perfect health, to her and this united and happy
country.
3rd, That our worthy Mayor be requested to communicate by wire this
action of the Council to Mrs. McKinley."
Notwithstanding the best medical skill was employed to remain with the
stricken President day and night, who endeavored to locate and extract the
pistol ball, and the prayers of the nation, he calmly passed away on the
14th of September, eight days after the assassin's deadly work. The
monster murderer was an anarchist from Ohio, who was condemned before the
courts for his wicked act and paid the extreme penalty of the law.
As the news of the President's death was sent to the world with electric
speed, and announced in Fredericksburg, the City Council was immediately
assembled again and the following action taken:
"The Mayor and Common Council of the city of Fredericksburg desire to
unite with all the world in paying tribute to the memory of President
McKinley, as a patriot American, a pure citizen, a fearless Executive
and a Christian gentleman.
It is with pride and pleasure that we recall his recent visit to our
city and his expressions of gratification at being with us, and this
tribute to his memory is to testify and further emphasize our sincere
sorrow at his death. It is therefore--
Resolved, That the public buildings of this city be draped in mourning
for thirty days; that during the hour of the funeral service that the
bells of the city be tolled, and that a committee of three members of
the Council be appointed by the Mayor to confer with the ministers of
our churches in order to arrange a memorial meeting of our citizens,
and that these resolutions be spread upon the records of this council.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, with our expressions of
sympathy in this hour of her great bereavement, be forwarded to Mrs.
McKinley, widow of our distinguished President, signed by the Mayor,
and attested by the clerk, under the seal of this city."
This action of the Council was one of the few that Mrs. McKinley
personally responded to. To it she promptly replied, evincing her grateful
appreciation, with the tenderest expressions, for the sympathy tendered to
her in her great sorrow. The memorial services were held in St. George's
church, the day of the funeral, conducted by the city pastors, Dr. T. S.
Dunaway, delivering the address.