Dedication of monuments erected by the state of Iowa

Front matter

m

Qass_

Book.

Contents

Page Letter of Transmittal - - - - - - 11

Colonel Alonzo Abernethy

Personnel of Dedicating Party - - - - - 18

Introduction

The dedication of Iowa monuments on southern battlefields has been completed and their final transfer made to the care of the general government. The governor and commissioners have finished the task assigned, and found it a pleasant mission. They were courteously met and cordially treated by southern officials, who joined heartily, as occasion offered, in the ceremonies. They gave abundant assurance of their loyalty to the Union and their love of the old flag. For these evidences of a re-united people all hearts may well rejoice.

The occasion, however, as one battlefield after another was visited, proved one of pathetic reminiscence. It brought out in bold relief the limitations and shortcomings of human nature. It illustrated the colossal blunder of introducing African slavery into the American colonies. Although three hundred thousand slaves had been imported before Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, the institution had been opposed by eminent men in America from the beginning. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Jay, and Hamilton, regarded it as an evil, inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence, and the spirit of Christianity, Jefferson even going so far as to say: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just." They had fled from one form of bondage in the old world, only to institute a worse form in the new. Eleven years later the public conscience of the nation foreshadowed the extinction of both slavery and the slave trade by the exclusion of slavery from the Northwest Territory in the ordinance of 1787, and the prohibition of the slave trade in the constitution.

Before the end of another eleven years, however, the institution was encouraged and defended. It had become profitable. It tended to promote the development of the country and to foster a class in ease and luxury. It spread over the south, and both prospered. Human nature made the succeeding history inevitable.

Slavery had become a national and serious issue when Henry Clay devised the Missouri compromise in 1820.

Before California was admitted in 1850 the great leaders of the nation, Webster and Calhoun, Clay and Hayne, Chase and Toombs, Seward and Hunter, Sumner and Jefferson Davis, all had foreseen the impending struggle, the irrepressible conflict, and were scanning the horizon of the future with unrest and concern.

Slavery had divided and antagonized the American people before Stephen A. Douglas invented the doctrine of popular sovereignty in 1854, to settle the Kansas-Nebraska imbroglio regarding the extension of slavery.

Before Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated, so able a man even as Alexander H. Stephens, who had already accepted the vice-presidency of the Southern Confederacy, in a public speech at Savannah, Georgia, February 21, 1861, made the following declaration :

"The prevailing idea entertained by Jefferson and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution was that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature, that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, politically. Our new government (the Southern Confederacy), is founded upon exactly the opposite idea, its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is the natural and normal condition."

Slavery had blinded the conscience of half a nation of American citizens; and slavery declared war when Beauregard fired on Fort Sumter, although the south still contends, as in 1861, that their people were patriotically defending their homes and the rights they held sacred.

Dr. Channing- was right when he wrote Daniel Webster that slavery was the calamity of the south, not its crime; that the north should share the burden of putting an end to it. The north did finally share in the burden, although not in the way suggested. It was only ended, if indeed the burden is yet ended, when the whole land was strewn with its wreckage.

During the long, dark years of this mournful history, some other factors contributed powerful aid, notably the doctrine of states rights. Our forefathers had sought with passionate longing for escape from the wrongs and oppressions which had imbedded their fangs so relentlessly into all their past history. Every form of authority was hateful to them, and the doctrine of states rights was a natural result. The theory of states rights as first enunciated by Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, proved later inadequate to the exigencies of the government, and was undergoing modification or abandonment, when later it was found to be a bulwark — the bulwark — of slavery; and the civil war was the logical result.

These companion errors, slavery and states rights, had to be expiated in tears and blood, and north and south alike had to share in the burden of their obliteration. Thank God, slavery has vanished and the bulwark is no longer needed. We can all join in Grant's final prayer, "Let us have peace," a peace that shall abide and abide forever.

The monuments we have dedicated, "emphasize in enduring form that the American people once had a cause of war, having its root in the very origin of the Republic, which they settled by an appeal to the sword without dishonor to either side. They mutely bear witness that it is impossible for another Ireland, or another Poland, to exist in America. They give expression to a national epic, the grandest and the noblest in the annals of time."*

By the census of i860 Iowa had a population of six hundred and seventy-five thousand, of which number one hundred and sixteen thousand were subject to military duty, that is able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. Our state, though not yet fifteen years old when the battle of Bull Run was fought, sent seventy-five thousand volunteers to fight the battle for the Union, more than one-fifth of whom were in their graves before the surrender at Appomattox. Iowa boys deserted the farm and the school, hastened to the front and led

*Col. Josiah Patterson, national Shiloh commission, "Ohio at Shiloh," page 199.

the assault, shoulder to shoulder with the boys of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and other neighboring states, on nearly every western battlefield of the war from Wilson's Creek, Missouri, in 1 86 1, to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1864. Their casualties in killed, wounded and missing at Shiloh, Vicksburg and Chattanooga, three typical battlefields of the west, all under the matchless leadership of that matchless leader, Ulysses S. Grant, aggregated the appalling sum of 4,646; six hundred and fifty-six of this number surrendered their lives in these heroic struggles.

If we include Iowa's "victims of the barbarities at Andersonville" we must add the two hundred and fourteen sons of Iowa whose headstones stand in the adjoining national cemetery, in the midst of which is erected the beautiful Iowa monument, crowned with its pathetic mourner. There in the short space of thirteen months, from March i, 1864, to April i, 1865, 12,912 weary souls took their flight, while their wasted and uncovered bodies were thrown into shallow ditches outside — practically one thousand deaths per month. There were but forty-five deaths less among the 52,160 prisoners at Andersonville, than there were among the 175,811 Confederate prisoners in the twelve most noted Union prisons of the north, during the same period.

Congress has established national military parks on five of the great battlefields of the war, two in the east, Gettysburg and Antietam, and three in the west, Chickamauga and Chattanooga, Shiloh and Vicksburg.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga park was established in 1890, and contains 7,000 acres. Shiloh park, embracing 3,600 acres, was established in 1895 by a bill introduced by Iowa's brilliant congressman, David B. Henderson. The Vicksburg park, with an area of about 1,300 acres, was authorized in 1899. The government has expended large sums of money in improving and beautifying these parks; has macadamized the old roads which passed through the fields when the battles were fought and established extensive new ones throughout the parks and leading to them. It has placed thereon many markers, monuments and cannon, and invited states — north and south — to place memorials for their respective organizatlons. Many northern states have already erected memorials in these parks, as have also a number of southern states.

Since 1894 our state has appropriated money to mark the positions of Iowa regiments and place suitable memorial monuments and tablets on three of these historic fields of heroism and carnage and to erect a monument in the cemetery at Andersonville. Commissions were appointed and authorized to execute this work.

The appropriations for the expense of the work were as follows:

Two for Shiloh, the first in 1896 and a second in 1902; total appropriation, $50,870.28. Two for Vicksburg, the first in 1900, and the second in 1902; total appropriation, $152,- 000.00. Two at Chattanooga, the first in 1894, and the second in 1902; total appropriation, $36,500.00. One at Andersonville, in 1904; appropriation $10,000.00. The total appropriations aggregate $249,370.28.

The work of these commissions had been done, and well done, when the Thirty-first General Assembly in 1906 provided for a joint dedication of Iowa's beautiful and imposing memorials by the several commissions on a single trip, their acceptance by the state through its governor, and their final transfer by him to the secretary of war. To pay the expenses of the commissioners and an Iowa military band an appropriation of $7,500 was made.

Captain J. F. Merry, the genial general immigration agent of the Illinois Central railroad, chairman of the Vicksburg commission, arranged a round trip itinerary for the Iowa special train to convey the governor and members of his staff, the commissioners and speakers. The low rate of one cent a mile was secured and advertised from all Iowa points to each of the four dedications and return. Also a one and a half cent rate for the round trip including the four dedications for all who desired to take it, and especially for members of the governor's and commissioners' families, though never limited to them. For the convenience and comfort of these, a train of sleepers and diners was made up and named the "Governor's Special."

Mon.— 2

The special left Des Moines for Chicago at nine o'clock Monday night, November 12th, and on Tuesday morning at ten o'clock left Chicago on its journey through the south.

PERSONNEL OF THE OFFICIAL PARTY.

Governor and Mrs. A. B. Cummins,

General and Mrs. W. H. Thrift, Des Moines,

Colonel and Mrs. G. E. Logan, Des Moines,

Colonel and Mrs. H. B. Hedge, Des Moines,

Colonel and Mrs. A. A. Penquite, Colfax,

Colonel Chas. E. Mitchell, Marion,

Major Geo. M. Parker, Sac City,

Secretary and Mrs. W. B. Martin, Des Moines,

Treasurer G. S. Gilbertson, Forest City,

Judge G. S. Robinson, Sioux City,

Hon. and Mrs. Chas. Aldrich, Boone,

Mr. and Mrs. T. E. McCurdy, Hazelton,

Senator John Hughes, Williamsburg,

Senator and Mrs. S. H. Harper, Ottumwa,

Senator and Mrs. M. W. Harmon, Independence,

Hon. W. V. Wilcox, Des Moines,

Judge Jesse Miller, Des Moines,

Hon. B. Murphy, Vinton,

Hon. G. H. Ragsdale, Des Moines,

John Briar, Des Moines,

Edwin P. Peterson, Des Moines,

Wm. Coalson, Des Moines,

Captain and Mrs. J. F. Merry, Manchester,

Judge L. C. Blanchard, Oskaloosa,

Senator J. A. Fitchpatrick, Nevada,

Hon. and Mrs. E. J. C. Bealer, Cedar Rapids,

David A. Haggard, Algona,

Hon. W. O. Mitchell, Kansas City, Mo.

Colonel H. H. Rood, Mt. Vernon,

Captain J. H. Dean, Des Moines,

Colonel Chas. A. Clark, Cedar Rapids,

Rev. Dr. A. L. Frisbie, Des Moines,

Major S. H. M. Byers, Des Moines,

Captain and Mrs. J. A. Brewer, Des Moines,

Secretary Daniel C. Bishard, Altoona,

Mr. and Mrs. M. V. B. Evans, Beaman,

Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Tompkins, Clear Lake,

Rev. and Mrs. S. H. Hedrix, Allerton,

Captain J. A. Young, Washington,

Colonel Alonzo Abemethy, Osage,

Dr. T. C. Alexander, Oakland,

Captain E. B. Bascom, Lansing,

Colonel A. J. Miller, Oxford,

Hon. Mahlon Head, Jefferson,

Miss Rena Head, Jefferson,

Mr. and Mrs. F. P. Spencer, Randolph,

Major J. D. Fegan, Clinton,

Captain Frank Critz, Riverside,

Superintendent S. B. Humbert, Cedar Falls,

Mr. Elliott Frazier, Morning Sun,

Major R. D. Cramer, Memphis, Mo.,

E. E. Alexander, Oakland,

H. S. Young, Winfield,

Mrs. Hervey Bell, Washington,

Miss Cora Bell, Washington,

Colonel and Mrs. Geo. W. Crosley, Webster City,

Captain and Mrs. John Hayes, Red Oak,

Miss Mary F. Hayes, Red Oak,

Colonel G. L. Godfrey, Des Moines,

Judge R. G. Reiniger, Charles City,

Captain Geo. W. Morgridge, Muscatine,

Captain and Mrs. C. W. Kepler, Mt. Vernon,

Captain and Mrs. Daniel Matson, Mediapolis,

James W. Carson, Woodbum,

Mr. and Mrs. Asa Turner, Farrar,

General James B. Weaver, Colfax,

H^n. N. E. Kendall, Albia,

Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Alger, Villisca,

S. W. Baker, Des Moines,

A. Biggs, Anita,

W. S. Browning, Winfield,

John G. Farmer, Cedar Rapids,

Mr. and Mrs. Finlayson, Grundy Center,

Spencer Frink, Tipton,

Mr. and Mrs. John M. Grimm, Cedar Rapids,

Donald Grimm, Cedar Rapids,

Miss Anna Grimm, Cedar Rapids,

Miss Anna Smouse, Cedar Rapids,

Mrs. O. F. Higbee, Mediapolis,

F. M. Hubbell, Des Moines, Mrs. W. G. Kiefer, Hazelton, Andrew Macumber, Winterset, W. H. Miller, Tipton,

Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Moore, Wellman,

John Rath, Ackley,

A. C. Reeder, Tipton,

J. A. Reeder, Tipton,

Frank Rieman, Altoona,

C. W. Reynolds, Grundy Center,

J. G. Rounds, Des Moines,

S. H. Rounds, Cedar Falls,

E. A. Sherman, Cedar Rapids,

Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Snyder, Cedar Falls,

H. L. Spencer, Oskaloosa,

T. P. Spilman, Ottumwa,

H. D. Thompson, Des Moines,

J. F. Traer, Vinton,

C. L. Watrous, Des Moines,

Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Willcox, Wellman,

W. A. Wood, Ottumwa.

Band.

Geo. W. Landers, Leader, William Bashaw, S. M. Haley, William Beckman, Paul Schaeffer, J. E. Wilkinson, L S. Shaffer, Forest Hammans, J. H. Grill, G. O. Riggs, W. A. Howland, C. M. Anderson, C. S. Crouthers, Charles Spayde, C. F. Pixley, Robert Dalziel, A. F. Whitney, William Dalziel, B. E. Meddig, John Dalziel, Wesley Rees, Charles Fuller, Elbert Peyton.

VIGKSBURG

Captain J. F. Merry, chairman of the commission, proceeded to Vicksburg four days in advance of the date fixed for the dedication of the Iowa monuments in order to complete the necessary preparations for that event. The official train arrived somewhat late on the morning of November fourteenth, and was met by Chairman Merry with a large number of carriages and other vehicles prepared to take the entire party on a drive through the national cemetery and along the investment lines. This enabled the visitors to see the beautiful cemetery, the monument erected therein in memory of the Twenty-fifth and Thirty-first Iowa; and beyond, the monuments of other commands, including those of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. The drive ended at the Baldwin's Ferry road and the whole party returned to the city.

During the afternoon many took vehicles and visited special points upon the line of investment where their own commands had been engaged.

As soon as the date for the dedication was fixed, the mayor and board of aldermen of Vicksburg, for themselves and for the citizens of Vicksburg, arranged to tender a reception in honor of Governor and Mrs. Vardaman, the members of the governor's staff and party; in honor of Governor and Mrs. Cummins, the members of his staff and party; in honor of Major General Grenville M. Dodge; and in honor of the Iowa Vicksburg park monument commission, the members of their party and friends. To this reception the citizens of Vicksburg and all northern visitors were cordially invited. The reception took place at eight o'clock in the evening, and proved a thoroughly delightful affair, the absence of Governor Vardaman on official business being the only flaw in the pleasure of the occasion. Throughout the evening music was furnished by the Fifty-fifth regimental band and punch was served by Vicksburg's charming women.

The morning of the fifteenth was spent in sight-seeing and in visiting the national military park. In addition to those who came on the official train about one hundred and fifty survivors of the campaign and siege, together with their families, were present in the city to witness and take part in the dedicatory exercises.

The procession to the park formed at one o'clock, headed by Captain D. A. Campbell, marshal of the day, and his aid, Captain R. E. Walne. Next came the Iowa Band in a float. Following came carriages containing Governors Vardaman and Cummins, General Stephen D. Lee, Colonel Charles A. Clark, the members of Governor Vardaman's staff and the staff of Governor Cummins; Captain W. T. Rigby, chairman of the national park commission; Colonel J. G. Everest, one of the national park commissioners; General John Kountz, secretary and historian of the national park commission; Major B. W. Griffith; General John W. Noble; General Grenville M. Dodge; General J. B. Weaver; the members of the Iowa commission, and many other prominent men and women. The procession was a long one, although it contained no military organizations.

The trains carried hundreds of visitors to the scene of the dedication, and when the hour for the ceremonies arrived, there were two thousand or more people gathered about the pavilion which had been erected for the occasion. The platform was decorated in the national colors and provided with seats for the invited guests. In front and to the left of the platform was seated a chorus of one hundred Vicksburg school-children.

The fact that Captain J. F. Merry, chairman of the Iowa Vicksburg commission, was the father of the Vicksburg national military park, and that Captain W. T. Rigby, chairman of the national Vicksburg park commission, was also a gallant Iowa soldier and most efficient executive officer, predisposed the citizens of Vicksburg to extend a hearty and cordial greeting to the representatives of the state who had come to dedicate their monuments upon this notable field. From the beginning to the close of the visit of the Iowa party, the citizens of Vicksburg extended to them an hospitable welcome as was attested by the profusely decorated homes all along the route of the procession to the state memorial.

Monument at Vicksburg, Mississippi,

1:30 P. M.

Governor's Salute .... Warren Light Artillery

of Vicksburg:

Call to Order Captain J. F. Merry

"Almighty God, who art over all men and over all nations, the Everlasting Truth and Righteousness and Fatherhood and Love: Accept, we beseech thee, our supplications, and grant us, we beseech thee, answers to our requests, teaching us how and what we ought to ask. Give us, we beseech thee, the spirit of reverent, obedient children, whose desire is to honor thee and thy truth, thy wisdom and thy law, helping us to understand the lessons that are written there for our instruction, so that we may avoid those things which might destroy harmony among us.

"Bless us, we pray thee, as we meet here on this patriotic occasion. May we come with no spirit of vindictiveness, but with a spirit of brotherhood and good citizenship and love for our common country. We pray thee that we may have the spirit of peace and mutual regard, and that throughout our nation. In the days to come, there may be still that common respect and sacred confidence which shall hold us sacredly together. We remember the days of conflict and struggle, when there was so much misunderstanding and opposition and bitterness. We pray that thou wilt teach us, as a people, and guide us on to that prosperity for which we hope. May we fulfill our part. May we do It well.

"We remember those who fell here. We cannot hallow nor consecrate this ground. We can only dedicate to the memory of the brave dead these monuments, which shall testify to their fidelity, their courage, their self-sacrifice, their loyalty to the principles in which they believed.

"And now, while they rest so quietly about us, we pray that the great peace by which nations are blest may also fall upon us, and may be our permanent and blessed possession.

"Hear us, help us and bless us. Bless us as a nation. Bless the president of the United States and those who are associated with him. Bless all of this convocation, these school children, those who bear middle life's burdens, and those of us who are advanced in years. Accept our thanks for thy multiplied goodness. Hear us and bless us, and save the United States of America, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."

Secretary's Report .... Henry Harrison Rood

Secretary of the Commission

Governor Cummins:

During the Twenty-ninth General Assembly, in 1902, the state of Iowa, ever generous toward the men who served in her commands during the civil war, appropriated one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to erect monuments and tablets in the Vicksburg national military park, to commemorate the services of the thirty-two organizations which served in the campaign and siege of Vicksburg, March 29 — July 4, 1863.

The act provided for the appointment of nine commissioners by the governor of the state to carry out its provisions. Acting by this authority you appointed on this commission the following persons: John F. Merry, Luclen C. Blanchard, Joseph A. Fitchpatrick, Elmer J. C. Bealer, David A. Haggard, William O. Mitchell, William H. C. Jacques, James H. Dean and Henry H. Rood.

They met at Des Moines, May 21, 1902, and organized, electing Captain John F. Merry chairman, and Henry H. Rood secretary.

They present on this occasion a partial and condensed report, reserving until the completion and acceptance of all the monuments and tablets a full report to be made to you, and through you to the legislature of the state.

In explanation of the dedication of the completed monuments and tablets before the entire number has been finished and accepted, they state that they yielded to the pressure of their comrades for this earlier date because the passing years are thinning their ranks so rapidly that many of them would by death or the Infirmities of age be prevented from attending. They were actuated also by the fact that dedication at this date would make It possible for the state In one general Itinerary to dedicate her monuments on this and other fields at the same time.

This commission entered upon Its duties Impressed with the responsibility of Its position. The wise expenditure of the large appropriation, the selection of such designs as would be approved by the state at large and by the survivors of those who served here, and fitly honor the gallant spirits who died here, appealed profoundly to the minds and hearts of its members.

They looked also beyond the present to that time, now alas too near, when all who took part in the great struggle for the possession or defense of this stronghold shall have passed away, and sought to place here such memorials as would appeal powerfully to succeeding generations of a great, united and expanding country.

In October, 1902, the full commission visited Washington, Richmond and Gettysburg, to study examples of memorial art to be seen there, and later a sub-committee visited New York and Boston for the same purpose, and to interview sculptors and select one for the state memorial.

These investigations resulted in the selection of Henry Hudson KItson, of Quincy, Massachusetts, as the sculptor, and the suggestion to him by the commission of the general features of the state memorial. He cordially approved of the general features of the design as giving an excellent opportunity to unite the skill of the architect, and the art of the sculptor. Mr. KItson selected Mr. Guy Lowell, of Boston, as the architect, and the present structure was finally decided upon and a contract was made with Mr. Kitson for its erection at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars. This contract was dated May 20, 1904, and because of the large amount of bronze work in the bas-reliefs and equestrian statue, he asked for four years' time for its completion. This will allow him until May 28, 1908, to complete the work.

The study of the many questions involved in the discharge of these duties, the selection and development of designs and their working out under the hands of architect, sculptor and workman has been an experience of absorbing interest, and has presented many and grave problems for decision; the final result is left to a thoughtful and discriminating people.

It is our duty to say, Governor Cummins, that during this period you have given to the work of the commission intelligent and earnest sympathy and support.

The commission, and especially the secretary, is under great obligations to Captain W. T. Rigby, chairman of the Vicksburg national military park commission, who from the time of the appointment of this commission up to the present has given them freely of his time and effort. His thorough knowledge of the park and of the history of the commands engaged here has enabled him to give us advice and information of very great value, and we take this opportunity to thank him therefor.

After competitive investigation the contract for the thirteen battery, regimental and brigade monuments was let to Mr. Edmund H. Prior of Postville, Iowa, for the sum of twenty-eight thousand five hundred dollars; later five hundred dollars was added to increase the size of the Third Iowa infantry monument, it being the only single regimental monument.

Mr. Prior submitted designs which harmonized fully with the design for the state memorial, giving the same style of architecture to all the monuments, and making the effect of the whole series harmonious and pleasing. Bronze tablets attached to these smaller monuments, give the names of the commanding officers, the losses sustained by each command, the number of the battery or regiment, its brigade, division and corps, forming a complete battle history for the campaign of each.

These thirteen monuments have been accepted by the commission. The excellence of the material used, the beauty of the workmanship, and the accuracy of the setting has had the full approval of the commission.

To further mark the positions and history of the Iowa troops, a contract for fifty-nine bronze tablets, to be set on substantial granite posts, was awarded after competition in design and price to the Gorham Manufacturing company of Providence, Rhode Island, for seven thousand five hundred dollars. These mark camps, skirmish lines, the most advanced positions in assaults, and greatly aid in making the series of monuments and tablets give a full history of each command in the campaign.

The fine proportions and exquisite beauty of these tablets will, it is believed, please all who examine them. The material used throughout in aU the monuments and tablets is granite (Barre), and United States standard bronze; the one the most indestructible material known to builders, the other equally enduring, lends itself under the hands of the skilled artist to forms of beauty and inspiration.

The inscription on the state memorial is:

"Iowa's Memorial to Her Soldiers Who Served in the Campaign and Siege of Vicksburg, March 29- July4, 1863."

Between the stately doric columns of the state memorial six massive bronze tablets, four feet six inches by five feet six inches in size will be placed, depicting scenes in the progress of the campaign: — Grand Gulf (naval). Port Gibson, Jackson, Champion Hill, Black River Bridge, Assault May twenty-second. When completed this noble structure of Greek architecture, in its simplicity, its dignity and strength will fitly typify the American soldier of 1861-65.

The six great bronze bas-reliefs present a series of pictures of the soldier in the supreme moment of battle; of such strength, beauty and power, as will make them (we believe) famous in the world of art; fairly pulsating with intense energy and action, they will convey to later generations a clear conception of the heroism of the period, and of the dress, accoutrements and arms, of the men who, on these seamed and rugged hills, grappled in fierce conflict.

It is the hope of this commission that here, in this national park, which now and for centuries to come will be the point of greatest historic interest upon the shores of the Father of Waters, the state of Iowa has erected a memorial which will appeal to the spirit of unity, of patriotism and of culture of a united and happy people.

Music, "America" . . . Vicksburg School Children

Unveiling of Monument . Miss Grace Kendrick Rigby

National Salute Warren Light Artillery

of Vicksburg

Music Fifty-fifth lov^a Regimental Band

"Nearer, My God, to Thee" "Dixie"

Presentation to Governor of Iowa, Captain J. P. Merry

Governor Cummins, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Some years after the memorable and amicable conference between General Ulysses S. Grant and General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, when the question of establishing commemorative battlefield parks was being discussed, General Grant was heard to say that if any one of the events of the civil war was more worthy of commemoration than another, it was the campaign and siege of Vicksburg. No one acquainted with General Grant would charge him with selfish motives in giving expression to such sentiments simply because Vicksburg was the place where he won his first great renown. It was simply because he was acquainted with every detail of that terrible conflict and appreciated then what so many have since, that the bravery

BRIGADE MONUMENT ERECTED AT VICKSBURG and the valor of every soldier who participated in the campaign and siege of Vicksburg, whether he wore the blue or the gray, was entitled to everlasting remembrance. Engaged in that campaign were 227 Confederate and 260 Federal organizations, 32 of which were composed of men enlisted from the prairie homes of the new but intensely patriotic state of Iowa. We do not claim that Iowa soldiers were superior to all others, but we do insist upon this and all other occasions that they were the equal of any, and nowhere during the civil war was their bravery more conspicuous than in the assault on Vicksburg, May 22, 1863. Since that day of carnage, Iowa has increased in population until today it has more than 2,000,- 000 of the happiest and most prosperous people on the face of the earth. Its commercial, industrial, educational and agricultural development has been phenomenal, but amid all these material changes the people of Iowa have never forgotten the part her troops had in making it possible for the Father of Waters to flow unvexed to the sea; and when the question of suitably commemorating their part in the battles that in 1863 waged over these black walnut hills and through these seemingly bottomless valleys, there was throughout Iowa but one sentiment, and that decidedly favorable to it. To the Hon. E. J. C. Bealer, a member of the Iowa legislature and now a member of the Vicksburg monument commission, is due the credit of introducing in the Iowa legislature during the session of 1902 a bill for the appropriation of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be expended in the construction of an Iowa state memorial, of Iowa regimental and battery monuments, and Iowa markers in the national military park at Vicksburg. That such a measure should have passed both houses without a dissenting voice and was promptly signed by His Excellency the Governor, who is with us on this occasion, indicates Iowa's loyalty to and her continued interest in her volunteer soldiers of the civil war. The commission appointed and charged with the patriotic duty of expending so large an amount of money realized to the fullest extent the responsibility this placed upon them. Mistakes may have been made, but if so they are trivial, and only such as are common to monument commissions every- M0D.-3 where. We are especially proud of our state memorial, the original conception of which was from the brain of our respected secretary, Colonel H. H. Rood. We confidently believe that when completed, Iowa will enjoy the distinction of having at Vicksburg the most artistic and beautiful commemorative memorial ever constructed in any park in any country — showing clearly that the commission made no mistake in the selection of Mr. Henry Hudson Kitson as its artist.