Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 26.djvu/320

This page needs to be proofread.

310 Southern Historic 1 1 *SV/V7//

fought; the " comrades" at his bier were not his comrades in arms; their uniform had not been his uniform, nor their cause his cause. But the God of battles, who is also a God of love, had softened men's hearts, and when John Buck, a private in the Confederate cavalry, answered the final roll-call, Union soldiers mourned and did him homage at the grave.

UNITED IN DEATH.

And in the doing of it the State Department of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Military order of the Loyal Legion, the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth, through his representative, the delegates from over twenty Massachusetts Grand Army posts, and many private citizens, gave Massachusetts the proud privilege of demonstrating completely and convincingly the reality of a reconcil- iation which to-day knows no Mason and Dixon line. And while President McKinley has voiced a desire to see the graves of the Con- federate dead displaying tokens of Northern tribute, Massachusetts Grand Army men have gone a step further, and have sought out and ministered in sickness and poverty to a one-time Confederate, and, at death, have garlanded his casket with flowers and done him the homage of a military burial, even as to one of their own. For though foes sometime in life, in death they were not divided. And more than this can no man do.

To the solemn tones of the great church organ the G. A. R. vet- erans marched down the isle to their places on the left. On the right sat a delegation from the Red, White and Blue Club of boys from the Bulfinch Place church, their banner at the head of one of the pews. At the foot of the platform sat Department Commander W. H. Bartlett, Junior Vice-Commander George M. Fiske, Assistant In- spector-General S. S. Sturgeon, Assistant Adjutant-General Warren B. Stetson, Assistant A. D. C, J. A. Ward and the Rev. Edward A. Horton, Chaplain of Post 113, G. A. R.

The casket was covered with a modest but tasteful display of car- nations, calla lilies, and laurel and ivy wreaths, which rested above the Stars and Stripes of a reunited country. The department colors stood at the left, with the State flag on the right.

AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS.

Joseph White, a member of Post 113, sang "Our Faithful Friends," and then Department Commander Bartlett made touch-