“Peace Eternal in a Nation United”
–Inscibed across the base of the memorial
From the placard:
Veterans of the Union and Confederate armies from across the nation converged on Gettysburg in 1938 — 75 years after the battle — for their last great reunion. All Civil War veterans were invited with expenses paid, and nearly 2,000 attended. The majority were in their 90s, and many were over 100.
On the warm evening of Sunday, July 3, they gathered here with others to dedicate a monument to peace and national unity. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the dedication speech to a crowd estimated at 200,000.
The monument, designed by Paul Philippe Cret, is built of Alabama limestone and Maine granite, topped by a natural gas torch to be lit eternally to symbolize the unity of the United States.
At President Roosevelt’s signal, the flag shrouding the monument was lowered into the arms of a Union veteran and a Confederate veteran. It was the last great “hurrah” for the old soldiers.
Erica says:
This is one of the things I love most about the US as a whole. The Union and Confederate soldiers, though they were fighting each other, both fought for *their* country, which ultimately was the same as the other’s and they were brothers after all.
Our winners are good winners. Throughout history we’ve walloped our enemies, then invited them back for dinner as friends and equals after the dust settles. We conquer countries, rebuild the damage we caused, then leave.
It’s a surprise, but not really a surprise, that we would honor the Union and Confederate soldiers together, regardless of the winners and losers. I’m sure glad we’re like that, and it’s this part of the United States I hope my children grow up on.
July 25, 2007, 1:26 pm