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Military Park, composed of comrades who bear the scars of the conflict, knowing full well that they will be cared for as a priceless heritage-a heritage of heroic deeds performed that a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people might not perish from the earth."

The crest of the wave of the conflict passed beyond the borders of the State of Pennsylvania; it broke and fell at Gettysburg; it left a record of heroism unequalled in the annals of war.

Tennyson has immortalized the charge of the Light Brigade; history thrills us with the stories of Waterloo and Austerlitz, of Marengo, Gravelotte and Sedan;-vivid pictures of gallantry in battle. The Light Brigade lost 36.7 per cent. at Balaklava, and the Third Westphalian lost 49.4 per cent. at Mars-la-Tour, the highest record of casualties reported in authentic history until our late war. At Gettysburg the One hundred and Forty-first Pennsylvania lost 75.7 per cent., the First Minnesota lost 82.0 per cent., and on the Confederate side the Twenty-sixth North Carolina lost 71.7 per cent., not including the missing in action. In Fox's book: "Regimental Losses of the Civil War," it is stated that in the battle of the first day Captain Tuttle's company of this regiment went into action with three officers and eighty-four men, all of the officers and eightythree of the men were killed or wounded. In the presence of almost certain death American soldiers stood and fought without flinching.

"When can their glory fade,

Oh, the wild charge they made

All the world wondered!"'

And what of Chickamauga?

In 1890, the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, composed of gallant soldiers who had seen service in the Union and Confederate armies, reported to the House a bill to establish a National Military Park at the battlefield of Chickamauga.

In that report, after full and careful consideration the committee said: "The figures show Chickamauga to rank, for the numbers engaged and the time of their fighting, among the most noted battles of the modern world. The average losses on each side for the troops which fought through the two days were fully thirty-three per cent. while for many portions of each line the losses reached fifty per cent, and for some even seventy-five per cent. There is probably no other field in the world which presents more formidable natural obstacles to great military operations than the slopes of I ookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, while there is no field that surpasses Chickamauga in the deadliness and persistence of the fighting."

This is a calm statement of an historic fact back of which are the smoke and roar of conflict, the shrieks of the wounded, the groans of the dying, the agony in far-off homes, wives widowed, children fatherless, fathers and mothers bereft of sons in the twinkling of an eye, and myriads maimed for life-the fruit and flower of the Nation, its young manhood handicapped in the race for existence, but with the precious memory of duty well done at the cannon's mouth, and at the flaming throats of the guns.

It does not come to each generation to be privileged to offer life that a nation may live. In our time the opportunity came and it was accepted.

Does any one doubt that history will repeat itself if the opportunity is again presented? The young men of the Nation are as patriotic, as eager as the men of '61, their hearts beat as true, and they enthuse as readily. Men grow languid in peaceful persuits, but the lethargy disappears as the mist before the rising sun when the Nation calls for help.

The lessons of the war have been thoroughly taught in all our broad land. Memorial battlefields are an object-lesson and the monuments tell the story. Built of bronze and enduring granite they speak to the ages, to the millions of the future they convey a message of conflict, of sacrifice, of heroism and of patriotism. When individual deeds shall have been forgotten these monuments will bear witness to humanity of the sacrifice of self for the benefit of the State. But to the youth of the present generation they speak of the heroism of their fathers. Let but the impression be vivid enough and the future is secure; and can anything be more impressive or more vivid than that which is taught by these monumental battlefields? The sacrifices which purified and strengthened the Republic in the days of 1861-65, are here perpetuated, and these silent memorials appeal to this generation with irresistible power. The story may be told differently-it is told differently, but the great facts remain, the conflict was waged, men of heroic mould went forth to meet death face to face in the enthusiasm of their young manhood, the union of states survived, and the flag of our country, respected and beloved throughout the land, waves over a brave, happy and reunited people. Decoration days come and go, the graves of our heroes are kept green, the flag floats over the school house, children absorb patriotism at the sight of each gray haired veteran with his army button, and come weal or woe the Nation's honor is secure. Sentiment endures in human hearts, it moves the world. Love of country animates the hearts of the people, the sun of our prosperity not yet at meridian lights the way to a future glorious with promise.

Let us then who have borne the burden and heat of the day not lay down our arms fearful of the morrow, but let us rather relinquish them to the willing hands ready to receive them, and as the rising dawn of this new humanity illumines the land may we thank the Almighty Ruler of the Universe that He has vouchsafed to our beloved country the blessings of a people full of hope, resolute and eager to emulate the deeds of the fathers when necessity requires.

ACCEPTANCE ON BEHALF OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR BY
THE
NATIONAL

CHICKAMAUGA-CHATTANOOGA
MILITARY PARK COMMISSION.

GENERAL HENRY V. BOYNTON.

C

OMRADES and Friends:-In such a presence, and among such scenes

as surround us here, one may well wish for the graces of oratory. I am sure that all hearts in this vast audience of Northern and Southern Americans heartily respond to the eloquent, forcible and essentially national sentiments of Governor Hastings' address. As I listened to its graphic reproduction of the main features of the great battle pageant which made this valley memorable forever, there came to my mind that striking passage in the speech of Governor Campbell, of Ohio, at the dedication of this National Park, in which he applied the prophecy of Ezekiel over the Valley of Dry Bones to the sleeping dead of these great battlefields.

If some prophet of the god of battles could stretch forth his staff over these plains and ridges and mountains, and bid those who contended here to appear again, breathe into them the breath of life, and cause them to stand up as armies what a tremendous scene would be enrolled before us!

Here on this knoll would stand Grant, whose fame is assured; and Thomas whose fame is growing, and will continue to grow so long as history shall search for and record merit. There on the right would Hooker with his hosts be seen descending from the captured heights of Lookout. On the left, brilliant Sherman, with the famous Army of the Tennessee; here in the center, Thomas' soldiers of the Cumberland, deployed as a storming army. There, stretched along the crest of Missionary Ridge for eight miles, would stand Bragg's splendid army of seasoned veterans, with their banners, and gleaming rifles, and belching cannon. Then, as the six-gun signal sounded from this knoll, would come the sweep of that central host with a battle front of two miles and a half, onward to the ridge, upward to victory-thank God-equally for south and north-to a victory which was a long stride toward our present Union, and our giant nationality.

But I have not felt that it would be fitting in one not versed in public speaking to trust himself on such an occasion as this to impromptu speech, and so I have committed the brief remarks I propose to make to writing.

That this National Park has been established is largely due to the valor of the sons of Pennsylvania on these and many other fields, and to the patriotism with which these Empire states of Tennessee and Georgia, with their sister seceding states, have accepted the decree of a great case,

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