Spirit Of Jefferson

Hagerstown Memorial Celebration.

The dedication and decoration with flowers of Washington Cemetery, at Hagerstown, Washington county, Md., in which the remains of nearly 2,500 Confederate dead are interred, took place with appropriate and imposing ceremonies on Tuesday last, in the presence of one of the largest gatherings ever known in that section. Military, citizens, ladies and children were in attendance from all parts of Western Maryland, the Valley of Virginia, Baltimore and Washington cities. In the procession were the Berkeley Light Infantry, of Martinsburg, commanded by Capt. Faulkner, the Shepherdstown Band, and a division marshaled by Col. W. A. Morgan and Capt. J. S. Melvin, of this county, containing delegations from Virginia and West Virginia. The following dedication dirge, words by Major H. Kyd Douglas, and music by Mr. F. J. Halm, of Hagerstown-was sung by the full choir with great feeling and fine effect:

"Their banners furled-their cannon hushed;
These graves their camping ground;
Their bones are dust-their swords are rust-
Their souls are with their God we trust:

Green fields now hide the wounds they felt;
Where once the Blue and Gray;
The Blue now rest on the hills they pressed:
With flowers and tears our Gray are blessed.

To consecrate this hallowed spot,
Help us, O Lord of Hosts:
Unknown to fame-unknown in name-
These tears and flowers our love proclaim.

Bless Thou these dead! and speed the day
When Blue and Gray unite:
And on each tomb his foe shall write,
God only knows which one was right!
They both shall write in words of light,
God only knows which side was right!"

Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, the famous cavalry leader of Virginia, delivered the oration of the day. As reported by the Baltimore Sun, he said he felt unable to accept the first invitation tendered him, but a second call to speak at such a place was like a blast from the horn of Roderick Dhu, and moved his heart to overflowing. It was a great honor to be called on to speak in memory of 2,500 brave men who slept their last sleep. He referred to the passions which burned in the past, and thanked God that the blood of brothers no longer flowed, nor was the banner of the blue thrown against the gray. Having accepted the facts as they are, they met to honor those who had covered themselves with glory. If the music of other lands and flags of other nations have power to move their hearts, then they also could glory in the soft strains of "My Maryland," and look back with pride to the cross of St. Andrew, which had been victorious on a hundred battle-fields, and embalmed in the immortal strains of Father Ryan. It was meet then that we should decorate the graves of our soldier dead.

Gen. Lee spoke at length in praise of the dead who died for a cause they held to be just, and had been brought to this cemetery by loving hearts and tender hands, who will attend to their last resting place. He spoke in high eulogy of the character of Gen. Robt. E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, "Charley" Winder, Jeb Stuart and others whose bravery and honesty could not be disputed. He spoke of them in no boastful spirit. No one recognized better than he that the preservation of this Union is the life blood of the nation, that peace and prosperity depend upon fraternal harmony, and none more deprecates any spirit of discord. But he spoke with the feeling of the mother whose one son fell under the blue and the other under the gray. Hearts on both sides suffered the same loss, and he felt for the grief of those who mourned over the brave soldiers-Meade and Reynolds.

Our people may not have been soon enough accorded their rights, but history shows no nation their superior. They should still preserve their identity as a people and hope for the future. Let us look at the bright side, for it is the right side. He closed with a most affectionate allusion to the old soldiers under his command and an eloquent tribute to all the Confederate dead. Gen. Lee was warmly applauded.

Major H. Kyd Douglas read a letter from Brevet Major-General Crawford, of the United States army, dated Chambersburg, Pa., June 11, in which he regrets that a sudden call to New York would prevent his accepting an invitation to attend the celebration. He adds: The fields you mention upon which fell the men whose deeds and death you are about to commemorate are well known to me, and I would have gone most willingly to add my testimony to the bravery and devotion of the gallant men who rest there. In their devotion to principle, and in their high qualities which enabled them to die for it, they have the respect of every true American.

Daniel B. Lucas, Esq., Charlestown, read the following original poem, composed expressly for the occasion:

Let perish every throb of hate:
Let only Love commemorate;
Let pride, and power's lust,
And all things perish but the true,
While here we render homage due,
And sing our songs of praise to you,
O. Consecrated Dust!

Heroes! You were to us that live.
And now this feeble tribute give,
What wine is to its must!
Unpurified, and weak as tears,
Our vintage mellows not with years,
While yours more rich with age appears,
As stronger grows our trust!

You were to us that here upraise
'These sad memorials in your praise,
What steel is to its rust!
While we grow dimmer year by year,
You gleam like some keen cimeter,
And brighten in an atmosphere,
More heavenly, we trust!

You were to us whose sympathy
Here consecrates your memory.
What storms are to the gust!
We break in tears, and are forgiven;
You rose, and thunderbolts were driven;
You shook the trembling floor of Heaven,
Whose ashes are our trust!

Like feeble rockets we expire-
You, meteors, set a world on fire!
O! Martyrs to a cause so just,
We can but flicker, and are done-
We can but glimmer where you shone-
We can but leave you here alone,
In sweet repose and trust!

Let perish every throb of hate:
Let love alone commemorate,
Let dust return to dust!
Let all things perish but the true,
While here we shed our tears anew,
And dedicate, and leave to You,
These graves, O! God, our trust!