Perhaps it was necessary for brother to fight brother to determine the
course in history our nation would take. Tragedy often walks with
greatness; it required a terrible war before America could continue with
confidence down the road of progress. The Civil War was the
watershed--both a beginning and an end--in our history, and many
legacies of that war keep it ever-present in our thoughts.
The Civil War lives in battle names now so much a part of our heritage:
Bull Run, Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Stone's River,
Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Atlanta, the
Wilderness, and the Crater. These grounds, drenched in human blood, are
as sacred as our most revered cemeteries.
--It lives in the crosses that mark the final resting places for
thousands of American patriots. Most of these soldiers died in the
flower of youth. We shall never know what contributions their numbers
might have made to politics, literature, the sciences, the arts--to
American life in general. In this respect was the conflict of the 1860's
a great calamity.
[Illustration: Acclaimed by many as the best likeness of "Stonewall"
Jackson, this equestrian statue is on the grounds of the Manassas
National Military Park.]
--It lives in the many statues and monuments erected across our land.
These stone images stand as silent sentries of our past. They are
reminders of the cost of what today belongs to all Americans.
--It lives in the Congressional Medal of Honor, given birth by that war,
and in Memorial Day, which sprang from the heartache caused by that war.
--It lives in the American Red Cross, whose origins date from Clara
Barton and her tender nursing of wounded Federal soldiers.
--It lives in the songs given popularity by men of blue and gray:
"Dixie," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," "The Bonnie Blue Flag," "The
Battle Cry of Freedom," "Lorena," "The Yellow Rose of Texas," "Maryland,
My Maryland," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again," "Tenting Tonight
on the Old Camp Ground," "Home, Sweet Home," and many others.
[Illustration: This 1862 Army Model was the first Congressional
Medal of Honor ever struck. The present Medal is quite different
from its predecessor.]
--It lives in the extinction of slavery, which Robert E. Lee once termed
a heavy impediment to the whole Southern people.
--It lives in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to
the U. S. Constitution, which promise equality without racial
limitations.
--It lives most of all in the unity of the American people. Until 1860
it was customary to say "the United States are". After 1865 it was more
correct to say "the United States is". Today we acknowledge this change
by a phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance: "... one nation, under God,
indivisible...."
The Civil War did preserve the old Union with all of its virtues and all
of its defects. But at the same time, as Lincoln and others hoped, the
war gave birth to something better: a new Union, stronger and more
enduring. The idea of secession ended forever with the Southern
Confederacy; the oneness of modern America became reality with
Appomattox and Durham Station.
Therefore, one cannot and should not forget the tragedy, courage, and
lessons of the Civil War. If we would overlook the 1860's that endowed
us with unity, we must also ignore the 1770's that brought us freedom.
For unity and freedom are the bedrocks on which America rests--just as
they are our hopes for the years yet to come.