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 Book ^W- 
 
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61st Congress 1 
 3d Session j 
 
 SENATE 
 
 J Document 
 I No. 857 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF THE RECEPTION 
 AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE 
 
 STEPHENSON GRAND ARMY 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 PRESENTED BY THE GRAND 
 ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 
 
 9 
 
 JULY 3, 1909 
 
 I 
 
 M^i 
 
 mSBi 
 
 '.- ". .-y--^. :,:^: ! -£ 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 1911 
 
£>6 
 
 
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 [S. Con. Res. '.—Passed March 2. 1911.1 
 
 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concur- 
 ring), That there be printed and bound, in the form of eulogies, 
 including illustrations, seven thousand copies of the proceedings 
 on the occasion of the dedication of the Stephenson Grand Army 
 memorial, in Washington, July third, nineteen hundred and nine, 
 of which one thousand five hundred shall be for the use of the 
 Senate, three thousand five hundred for the use of the House of 
 Representatives, and two thousand to be delivered to the Stephen- 
 son Grand Army memorial committee. 
 
 Attest: Charles G. Bennett, 
 
 Secretary of the Senate. 
 Attest: A. McDowell, 
 
 Clerk of the House of Representatives. 
 2 
 

 =\ 
 
 f 
 
 PROCEEDINGS ON THE OCCASION OF THE 
 RECEPTION AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE 
 STEPHENSON GRAND ARMY MEMORIAL 
 
 At the Forty-third National Encampment of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic, held at Salt Lake City, Utah, August 
 12 and 13, 1909, a resolution was passed appointing a com- 
 mittee, composed of the comrades mentioned below, to 
 prepare the necessary data for the volume containing 
 the proceedings on the occasion of the dedication of the 
 Stephenson Grand Army memorial, in anticipation of the 
 passage by Congress of concurrent resolution 7. 
 The members of the committee are as follows : 
 Thomas S. Hopkins, chairman. 
 Commander in Chief S. Ft. Van Sant. 
 Gen. Louis Wagner. 
 John McElroy. 
 In 1902 Congress passed the following joint resolution: 
 
 [Public resolution, No. 19.] 
 
 JOINT RESOLUTION Granting permission for the erection of a monument or 
 statue in Washington City, District of Columbia, in honor of the late Benja- 
 min F. Stephenson, founder of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
 
 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 United States of America in Congress assembled, That permission 
 be, and is hereby, granted the Grand Army of the Republic of the 
 United States of America to erect a statue to the memory and in 
 honor of the late Benjamin F. Stephenson, founder of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic of the United States of America, on one of 
 the public reservations of the city of Washington, District of 
 Columbia, other than the grounds of the Capitol or Library of 
 Congress, to be designated by the Secretary of War, the Joint 
 Committee on the Library, the Superintendent of Public Buildings 
 and Grounds, and the committee of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
 lic appointed by it for that purpose: Provided, That the statue, 
 
 3 
 
4 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 with pedestal, shall cost not less than fifteen thousand dollars, and 
 thai it shall be presented to the people of the United States by the 
 said Grand Army of the Republic. 
 Approved, May 3, 1902. 
 
 This resolution was repealed by the joint resolution 
 (Public resolution, No. 23) approved March 1, 1907, which 
 is as follows : 
 
 [Public resolution. No. 23.] 
 
 JOINT RRSOLUTION Authorizing the selection of a site and the erection of a 
 pedestal for the Stephenson Grand Army memorial, in Washington, District 
 of Columbia. 
 
 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 United Stales of America in Congress assembled, That the chair- 
 man of the Committee on the Library of the Senate, the chairman 
 of the Committee on the Library of the House of Representatives, 
 the Secretary of War, and the secretary and the treasurer of the 
 Stephenson memorial committee of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
 lic are hereby created a commission and authorized to select a 
 site upon the property belonging to the United States in the city 
 of Washington, other than the Capitol and Library grounds, for 
 the erection of the Stephenson Grand Army memorial, to be pre- 
 sented by the Grand Army of the Republic to the people of the 
 United States. 
 
 Sec. 2. That for the preparation of the site so selected and the 
 erection of a pedestal upon which to place the said memorial, 
 under the direction of the commission hereby created, the sum of 
 ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is 
 hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not other- 
 wise appropriated. 
 
 Sec. 3. That the joint resolution " granting permission for the 
 erection of a monument or statue in Washington City, District of 
 Columbia, in honor of the late Benjamin F. Stephenson, founder 
 of the Grand Army of the Republic," approved May third, nineteen 
 hundred and two, is hereby repealed. 
 
 Approved, March 4, 1907, 11 a. m. 
 
 It seems proper that a brief history of the inception of 
 the movement for the erection of the memorial and a 
 short account of the events that led to the successful com- 
 pletion of the work should be here recorded. 
 
 At the Thirty-fourth National Encampment of the 
 Grand Army of the Republic, held in the city of Chicago, 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 5 
 
 111., August 29 and 30, 1900, the committee on resolutions 
 recommended that the following resolution, in further- 
 ance of the object set forth in a preamble and resolution 
 presented by the department of New York, be approved, 
 and the recommendation was concurred in : 
 
 Resolved by the encampment, That the Grand Army of the Re- 
 public favors the passage of a joint resolution by the Fifty-sixth 
 Congress, introduced by Comrade Amos J. Cummings, M. C, of 
 New York (House Res. No. 153), which undertakes to grant au- 
 thority for the erection of a monument or statue at the Capital of 
 the Nation to perpetuate the memory of the late Benjamin F. 
 Stephenson, M. D., of Illinois, founder of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic, the further purpose in view being to honor by such a 
 memorial the greatest and most powerful patriotic organization in 
 the world, and that the proper steps be taken to procure the 
 necessary subscriptions from the posts of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic for the purposes above indicated. (Journal Thirty- 
 fourth National Encampment, G. A. R., Chicago, 111., Aug., 1900, 
 p. 250.) 
 
 August 7, 1902, Commander in Chief Ell Torrance, in 
 General Orders, No. 6, after reciting the action of the 
 Thirty-fourth National Encampment and the passage by 
 Congress of the above joint resolution, appointed a com- 
 mittee — 
 
 to aid in the consummation of this most worthy and patriotic 
 object; * * * to represent the Grand Army of the Republic 
 in selecting a suitable site for said statue; to determine the design 
 and character thereof; and to taTie the proper steps to procure 
 the necessary funds from the posts of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic to defray the cost of said statue, in accordance with the 
 requirements of said joint resolution of Congress. 
 
 The committee named was — 
 
 Charles A. Partridge, Chicago, 111. 
 James Tanner, Washington, D. C. 
 Louis Wagner, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 John McElroy, Washington, D. C. 
 Thomas S. Hopkins, Washington, D. C. 
 (Journal Thirty-sixth National Encampment, G. A. R., 
 p. 345.) 
 
6 Stephenson Grano Army Memorial. 
 
 This committee organized, and elected Comrade 
 Charles A. Partridge as chairman, John McElroy as 
 secretary, and Louis Wagner as treasurer. 
 . During the next six years the committee received from 
 members of the Grand Army and their friends over 
 $28,000. 
 
 Congress, by the resolution approved March 4, 1907, 
 appropriating $10,000 for the erection of the pedestal 
 upon which to place the memorial, also provided that 
 the chairman of the Committee on the Library of the 
 Senate, the chairman of the Committee on the Library 
 of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of War, 
 and the secretary and the treasurer of the Stephenson 
 memorial committee of the Grand Army of the Republic 
 should constitute a commission with authority to select 
 a site upon the property belonging to the United States 
 in the city of Washington, other than the Capitol and 
 Library grounds, for the erection of the memorial. 
 
 The chairman of the Committee on the Library of the 
 Senate was Hon. George Peabody Wetmore; the chair- 
 man of the Committee on the Library of the House of 
 Representatives was Hon. James T. McCreery, who was 
 succeeded by Hon. Samuel W. McCall; the Secretary of 
 War at that time was Hon. William Howard Taft, who 
 was succeeded by Hon. J. M. Dickinson. The secretary of 
 the commission was Hon. IJred W. Carpenter. 
 
 On February 29, 1908, the commission met in the city 
 of Washington and selected the site where the memorial 
 now stands, and also approved, with some modifications, 
 the model submitted by the sculptor, J. Massey Rhind, of 
 New York City. 
 
 On April 8, 1909, the committee, accompanied by Com- 
 mander in Chief Henry M. Nevius and Senior Vice Com- 
 mander in Chief J. Kent Hamilton, called on the President 
 and invited him to be present at the unveiling ceremonies, 
 which invitation was graciously accepted, and the date, 
 Saturday, July 3, 1909, at 2.30 o'clock, was agreed on. 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 7 
 
 By a resolution of the committee Thomas S. Hopkins 
 was appointed a committee of one, with power to add 
 others, in his discretion, to arrange for the details of the 
 ceremonies incident to the unveiling of the memorial. 
 The other members of the committee will be found on 
 page 11, under the title "Executive Committee." 
 
 About 3,000 invitations were sent out to Members of 
 Congress, Government officials, patriotic societies, com- 
 rades of the Grand Army, and distinguished citizens. 
 The form of invitation was as follows: 
 
 [G. A. H. emblem.] 
 
 The Benjamin F. Stephenson Memorial Committee 
 
 requests the honor of your presence 
 
 at the unveiling of the Memorial to 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stephenson 
 
 Founder of 
 
 The Grand Army of the Bepublic 
 
 At the intersection of Seventh Street and Louisiana Avenue 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Saturday afternoon, July the third 
 
 nineteen hundred and nine 
 
 at two thirty o'clock 
 
 As an illustration of the manner in which the Grand 
 Army of the Republic is viewed by those outside of this 
 country, and the surprising knowledge by others of the 
 principles of the organization, a single instance is given 
 below. 
 
 Through the minister of Guatemala to the United States, 
 Senor Dr. Don Luis Toledo Herrarte, an invitation to 
 attend the unveiling ceremonies was sent to His Excel- 
 lency Manuel Estrada Cabrera, President of Guatemala. 
 
 President Cabrera cabled the following to Minister 
 Herrarte : 
 
 Senor Dr. Don Luis Toledo Herrarte, 
 
 Minister of Guatemala, Washington. 
 Sir: With singular satisfaction I have received an invitation 
 to be present at the ceremonies attending the unveiling of the 
 
8 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 monument in honor of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stephenson, 
 founder of that great patriotic society, the Grand Army of the 
 Republic, on July 3, at Washington. I desire you, as my repre- 
 sentative, to attend these ceremonies and to communicate to the 
 committee representing the surviving veterans of the sanguinary 
 four years Civil War my high appreciation of their courtesy. 
 The motto of the Grand Army is " Fraternity, Charity, and Loy- 
 alty." By their unbending loyalty to the Federal Union and to 
 the principles and person of the lamented Lincoln its members 
 saved the State as a cherished heritage for posterity; and by 
 their manifestations of fraternal feeling and magnanimous charity 
 for a fallen and honorable foe they have challenged the admira- 
 tion of the world. All honor to the Grand Army of the Republic 
 
 and its worthy founder. 
 
 Man i el Estrada Cabrera, 
 
 President of Guatemala. 
 
 The monument is located on the circle (United States 
 Reservation No. 36-A) at the intersection of Louisiana 
 Avenue, Seventh and C Streets NW. It is constructed of 
 granite, is triangular in shape, and in height is 40 feet 
 above the base. Upon each of the three sides are life- 
 size figures in bronze, representing the three cardinal 
 principles of the Grand Army of the Republic, viz, Fra- 
 ternity, Charity, and Loyalty. On the west face of the 
 monument, below the figure representing Fraternity, is 
 a bronze tablet, containing, in relief, the bust of Dr. 
 Stephenson. Immediately under this and between two 
 bronze Grand Army badges is the following inscription 
 in letters of bronze: 
 
 Grand Army of the Republic 
 
 Organized at Decatur, Illinois, April (>, 1865, 
 
 By Benjamin Franklin Stephenson, M. D. 
 
 The designs for the program, decorations, and the 
 unveiling were contributed by Mr. Frederick D. Owen. 
 
 The music at the unveiling was furnished by the 
 Marine Rand. All the available troops at Fort Meyer 
 and in the Washington Rarracks, detachments of the 
 Marine Corps and sailors from the vessels on the Poto- 
 mac, and the District Militia were ordered out to partici- 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 9 
 
 pate in the exercises, with Maj. Gen W. W. Wotherspoon, 
 United States Army, as grand marshal and Maj. S. D. 
 Sturgis, United States Army, as chief of staff. 
 
 The orders for the parade of the military, etc., printed 
 on the second and third pages of the program, show in 
 detail the order of exercises and the composition of the 
 several committees. 
 
 Headquarters Department of the East, 
 General Orders, 1 Governors Island, 
 
 No. 73. J New York Cily, June 11, 1909. 
 
 In compliance with instructions from the War Department, 
 dated May 28, 1909, troops from posts hereafter named are de- 
 tailed to participate in the parade and ceremonies incident to the 
 dedication of a memorial to Dr. Stephenson, the founder of the 
 Grand Army of the Republic, to be held at Washington, D. C, 
 July 3, 1909, at the junction of Seventh Street, Pennsylvania Ave- 
 nue, and Louisiana Avenue, and at the proper time will proceed, 
 fully armed and equipped, to that place, so as to arrive not later 
 than 12 o'clock, noon, on that date: 
 
 Fort Myer, Va. — Headquarters, band, and three troops, Fifteenth 
 Cavalry, and two batteries, Second Battalion, Third Field Artillery. 
 
 Washington Barracks, D. C. — Engineer band, and Companies A 
 and B, First Battalion of Engineers, to be organized into three 
 provisional companies. 
 
 Fort Washington, Md. — Two companies of Coast Artillery, to be 
 selected by the post commander. 
 
 Maj. Frederick S. Foltz, Fifteenth Cavalry, will command the 
 regular troops that are to participate in these ceremonies, and he 
 will communicate direct with Mr. Thomas S. Hopkins, Hibbs 
 Building, Washington, D. C, in regard to the details of concentra- 
 tion, march, strength of organizations, place and hour of assem- 
 bly, and other details, and communicate same to the organizations 
 named above. He will also communicate direct with post com- 
 manders involved, and by concert of action arrange all details 
 with them. 
 
 All available officers at the posts named will accompany the 
 troops so that they will have as full a complement of commis- 
 sioned officers as practicable. 
 
 All organizations will be sized before leaving stations, and dress 
 and equipment will be complete. 
 
 It is desired that in appearance and bearing these troops shall 
 be as nearly perfect as it is possible to have them. 
 
10 Stephenson Grand Army Memoriae. 
 
 Only a sufficient detail to perform the necessary guard and other 
 duties will be left at posts where the entire garrison is detailed by 
 this order. 
 
 The full-dress uniform will be worn on this occasion. 
 
 All officers required to be mounted will make necessary arrange- 
 ments for proper and suitable mounts, the Quartermaster's De- 
 partment furnishing transportation therefor. 
 
 Departures and arrivals, stating strength of commands, etc., as 
 required by paragraph 820, Army Regulations, 1908, will be 
 promptly reported, by telegraph, by commanding officers, direct 
 to The Adjutant General, Department of the East. 
 
 The Quartermaster's Department will furnish the necessary 
 transportation; the Subsistence Department, suitable rations; and 
 the Medical Department, such medical supplies and attendance as 
 may be deemed necessary by the post surgeon. (32409.) 
 
 By command of Major General Wood: 
 
 George S. Anderson, 
 Colonel. General Staff, Chief of Staff. 
 
 Official: 
 
 H. O. S. Heistand, 
 
 Adjutant General. 
 
 ORDER OF EXERCISES 
 Saturday, July 3, 1909, 2.30 p. m. 
 
 Music — Overture, " 1863 " (Rollinson), United States Marine Band. 
 
 Calling to order and presentation of presiding officer, by Chas. 
 A. Partridge, chairman Stephenson G. A. R. memorial com- 
 mittee, Hon. William Warner, United States Senator and past 
 commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
 presiding. 
 
 Invocation, Rev. John Fletcher Spence, D. D., chaplain in chief, 
 Grand Army of the Republic. 
 
 Presentation of the memorial to the Commander in Chief of tin- 
 Grand Army of the Republic, Gen. Louis Wagner, treasurer 
 Stephenson G. A. R. memorial committee. 
 
 Acceptance of, and presentation to the United States, Henry M. 
 Nevius, commander in chief, Grand Army of the Republic. 
 
 Unveiling of the memorial, Mrs. Grace Ross Van Casteel. 
 
 Music — " The Star-Spangled Banner," Mrs. Anna Grant Fugitt, 
 accompanied by the United States Marine Band. 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 11 
 
 Address, the President. 
 
 Music — " Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," soprano solo by 
 
 Mrs. Anna Grant Fugitt, accompanied by the United States 
 
 Marine Band. 
 Presentation of the sculptor, J. Massey Rhind. 
 Address — " The Enlisted Man," Hon. J. Hampton Moore, Member 
 
 of Congress from Philadelphia. 
 Benediction, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D. 
 Concluding music — " My Country, ' Tis of Thee," audience and 
 
 United States Marine Band. 
 Parade by detachment of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, and 
 
 District Militia, Maj. Gen. W. W. Wotherspoon, United States 
 
 Army, grand marshal; Maj. S. D. Sturgis, United States Army, 
 
 chief of staff. 
 
 CONGRESSIONAL COMMISSION 
 
 Chairman of the Committee on the Library of the Senate. 
 
 Chairman of the Committee on the Library of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 The Secretary of War. 
 
 The secretary and the treasurer of the Benjamin F. Stephenson 
 memorial committee. 
 
 THE BENJAMIN F. STEPHENSON MEMORIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 Charles A. Partridge, chairman, Chicago, 111. 
 John McElroy, secretary, Washington, D. C. 
 Louis Wagner, treasurer, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 James Tanner, Washington, D. C. 
 Thomas S. Hopkins, Washington, D. C. 
 
 J. Massey Rhind, sculptor 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
 
 Thos. S. Hopkins, chairman. 
 
 John McElroy. James Tanner. 
 
 Col. John Tweedale, U. S. A. Arthur Hendricks. 
 George H. Patrick. James L. Davenport. 
 
12 
 
 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON RECEPTION 
 
 Edwin H. Holbrook, Commander Department of the Potomac, 
 G. A. R., chairman. 
 
 Past department commanders, Department of the Potomac, 
 
 A. H. G. Richardson. 
 George E. Corson. 
 Harrison Dingman. 
 Charles C. Royce. 
 Samuel S. Burdett. 
 D. S. Alexander. 
 Newton M. Brooks. 
 Jerome B. Burke. 
 Charles P. Lincoln. 
 William S. Odell. 
 
 G. A. R.: 
 M. Emmett Urell. 
 J. M. Pipes. 
 A. F. Dinsmore. 
 S. E. Faunce. 
 Nathan Bickford. 
 John McElroy. 
 Thomas S. Hopkins. 
 Arthur Hendricks. 
 Calvin Farnsworth. 
 George H. Slaybaugh. 
 
 Israel W. Stone. 
 B. F. Bingham. 
 I. G. Kimball. 
 A. Hart. 
 
 A. P. Tasker. 
 
 B. P. Entrikin. 
 Newton Ferree. 
 John S. Walker. 
 
 COMMITTEE ON ARRANGEMENTS AND USHERS 
 
 Frederick D. Owen, chairman. 
 
 Sidney I. Besselievre. Harry O. Hall. 
 
 Frank L. Biscoe. 
 Frederick C. Bryan. 
 John D. Carmody. 
 Chester M. Clark. 
 John C. Dalphin. 
 U. S. J. Dunbar. 
 Francis F. Gillen. 
 
 Samuel Herrick. 
 Edwin A. Hill. 
 Earl G. Marsh. 
 H. S. McAllister. 
 Wallace D. McLean. 
 F. L. Molby. 
 Wilton D. Morrill. 
 
 Henry Moser. 
 Henry W. Samson. 
 Frank R. Whcater. 
 Francis B. Wheaton. 
 John L. Wirt. 
 Dr. William D. Wirt. 
 
 Designs for the court, decorations, and the unveiling contributed 
 by Frederick I). Owen. 
 
 George C. Hough, assistant. 
 
 The day was an ideal one, and nothing occurred to mar 
 the ceremonies. 
 
 There were about 6,000 persons in attendance. Three 
 thousand seats were provided. Members of the Grand 
 Army from all over the country were present. A prill- 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 13 
 
 cipal stand for the speakers and distinguished guests, in- 
 cluding all past commanders in chief and past department 
 commanders of the Grand Army, accommodated 300. 
 
 The President, accompanied by Col. Spencer Cosby, 
 United States Army, and Assistant Secretary Wendell W. 
 Mischler, arrived promptly and was greeted with hearty 
 applause. 
 
 It was an inspiring scene, especially at the moment 
 when Mrs. Grace Ross Van Casteel, the daughter of an 
 Illinois veteran, released the cord holding the two great 
 American flags that veiled the memorial. As they parted 
 and gracefully rose in the air to a position above the 
 shaft, the band played " The Star-Spangled Banner," and 
 the audience rose and gave a mighty cheer. 
 
ADDRESSES BY THOSE PARTICIPATING IN 
 THE UNVEILING CEREMONIES 
 
 At 2.30 p. m. Comrade Charles A. Partridge, 1 assistant 
 adjutant general of the Department of Illinois and chair- 
 man of the Benjamin F. Stephenson memorial committee, 
 stepped to the speakers' stand and called "Attention!" 
 There was an instant hush, and he continued: 
 
 " Comrades and fellow citizens: The Grand Army of the 
 Repuhlic has arranged a formal service, dignified and 
 impressive, intended for ceremonial occasions of this 
 character. But the committee having in charge the 
 arrangements for this event, remembering the capri- 
 ciousness of Washington weather and recalling that on a 
 recent occasion, when an event of vast national interest 
 was pending — the inauguration of a President — the Gov- 
 ernment Weather Bureau was unable to predict or give 
 warning of an impending storm, determined to abridge 
 the program so that, even in the sultriness of a July day, 
 it should not be unduly weaning, and so omitted the 
 formal, ritualistic service. 
 
 " The local committee of arrangements, of which Com- 
 rade Thomas S. Hopkins is chairman, has arranged a 
 program which we trust will prove pleasing to those who 
 have assembled here. As the first step in the carrying 
 out of that program it becomes my pleasant duty, as 
 chairman of the general committee, to present, as the 
 presiding officer for this occasion, a United States Senator 
 and a much-beloved past commander in chief of the 
 Grand Army of the Republic, the Hon. William Warner." 
 
 > Died December 13, 1910. 
 14 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 15 
 
 Senator Warner then took the chair as presiding 
 officer, and in chosen words introduced the several 
 speakers. 
 
 Invocation of Rev. Dr. John F. Spence, chaplain in 
 chief of the Grand Army of the Republic: 
 
 Thou divine and blessed Father, Thou infinite God, whose 
 loving kindness is over all Thy works, we put our trust in Thee. 
 We recognize Thy presence and Thy goodness as ever with the 
 children of men. We thank Thee, O God, for the companionship 
 and the comradeship, with all the tender and thrilling memories 
 that gather about us as we enter upon the duties of this hour. 
 We thank Thee for the life and work of the Jehovah called, 
 appointed, and directed martyred President Lincoln. We thank 
 Thee especially for that one stroke of his pen whicli burst the 
 bonds of more than four millions of blacks and caused universal 
 freedom to reign triumphant on the battered throne of slavery, 
 so that, no matter where a man is born or the color of his skin 
 or where his liberties were cloven, down to the moment his foot 
 touches Columbia's soil, his soul walks abroad in its liberty. 
 
 Divine Father, we pray Thy blessing upon our Chief Executive. 
 We thank Thee for his presence with us. May the Spirit Divine 
 direct him in the supreme leadership of our Nation. May the 
 words which he shall speak to us this day be golden and fall 
 upon our hearts as drops of " honey from the Great Rock." 
 
 We thank Thee, O God, for the Grand Army of the Republic 
 and for what it has accomplished for the Nation and for the 
 world. We thank Thee for the life and work of its founder, 
 Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stephenson, whose monument we this 
 day unveil and dedicate in the spirit of true comradeship and 
 loyalty. 
 
 Our God and our fathers' God, bless the Grand Army of the 
 Republic, the Women's Relief Corps, and all loyal organizations 
 whose generous hearts and open hands made this dedication 
 possible. We thank Thee for a reunited country, for the one 
 flag, under whose folds Federals and ex-Confederates may har- 
 moniously march to the conquest of the world for freedom and 
 for God. 
 
 O God, wilt Thou quicken our physical vision so that we may 
 discern and read the wireless messages of our great unseen com- 
 rades who may be near us observing this patriotic event. 
 
 Dear Father in Heaven, we pray that this blood-baptized Nation 
 may remain, as now, forever solidly one, and be all-powerful in 
 the federation of the whole human family, whose immortal and 
 sacred watchwords shall be, in their deepest and divinest mean- 
 ing, Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty. Amen. 
 
REMARKS OF GEN. LOUIS WAGNER, PAST COM- 
 MANDER IN CHIEF, GRAND ARMY OF THE 
 REPURLIC 
 
 Mr. President, Commander in Chief Nevius, ladies and 
 gentlemen: The Thirty-fourth National Encampment, 
 held at Chicago, 111., in 1900, authorized the appointment 
 of a committee to select a site, and so forth, for a statue 
 of Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, the founder of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic. On August 7, 1902, the present 
 committee, consisting of Comrades Charles A. Partridge, 
 Thomas S. Hopkins, James Tanner, John McElroy, and 
 myself, was appointed to raise funds for that purpose. 
 
 This matter had engaged the attention of the members 
 of the G. A. R., and especially those of the Department 
 of Illinois, where, in the city of Decatur, the first post 
 was organized on April 0, 18G6, but no successful results 
 had been achieved. 
 
 The newly appointed committee commenced work 
 promptly, but at first with very moderate prospects of 
 success. 
 
 Circulars were issued and sent to every post, and also 
 to many friends of the Grand Army, but the contributions 
 received were few and far between. 
 
 By persistent labor and continued agitation in the 
 encampments of the larger departments and in the 
 national encampments the interest in this matter was 
 increased, but it was not until 1906 that sufficient funds 
 had been assured to justify the appointment of a sub- 
 committee, consisting of Comrades James Tanner, 
 Thomas S. Hopkins, and myself, to consider plans and. 
 after their approval, to proceed with the work. 
 16 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 17 
 
 Suggestions and models were invited, and after careful 
 consideration the offer of Mr. J. Massey Rhind, of New 
 York City, was accepted by the committee. 
 
 As chairman of this committee, I have the honor, as 
 well as the privilege, to be one of the speakers of this 
 interesting occasion. 
 
 It is not my intention in connection with this unveiling 
 to tell you about the Grand Army of the Republic, its 
 organization, and the purposes for which it was estab- 
 lished. The commander in chief will no doubt do that. 
 Neither will I refer to the difficulties encountered by 
 our committee, but it is my pleasure to mention very 
 briefly the encouragement and the valuable assistance 
 received at the hands of our friends in official position 
 in Washington. 
 
 Hon. George P. Wetmore, Senator from Rhode Island, 
 then and now chairman of the Committee on the 
 Library of the United States Senate, has always been 
 interested in our work, and to him much of its success 
 is to be attributed. 
 
 Hon. J. Hampton Moore, Member of the House of 
 Representatives from the third Pennsylvania district, 
 cared for the joint resolution of Congress to appoint a 
 commission in connection with this memorial after it 
 had passed the Senate and had reached the House of 
 Representatives, and to his persistence the passage of 
 the resolution must be ascribed, it having failed of pas- 
 sage the previous year because no Member of the House 
 seemed to be specially interested in it. 
 
 The commission appointed under this resolution had 
 for its chairman the Secretary of War, now the President 
 of the United States, and I am sure that it is a source 
 of intense gratification to us that he, in his high and 
 exalted position, is with us to-day to accept, in the name 
 of the United States of America, this memorial. 
 
 The work originally contemplated a memorial to Dr. 
 Stephenson, but as it progressed and as contributions 
 
 82325°— S. Doc. 857, 61-3 2 
 
18 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 increased in amount, it was thought advisable to enlarge 
 its scope and to make it not merely a memorial to the 
 founder of the Grand Army of the Republic, but of the 
 Grand Army itself, a memorial of which our comrades 
 might feel proud, and which will be recognized by future 
 generations as emblematic of a Grand Army which made 
 the United States of America a possibility. 
 
 In conclusion, I beg to add that the cost of this 
 memorial is $35,000— $10,000 of this sum having been 
 appropriated by Congress to pay for the foundation and 
 substructure, and it is with great pleasure I add that 
 our committee has more than enough money to pay all 
 the hills, including the unveiling of the memorial. 
 
 Commander in Chief, in the name of the committee 
 on Stephenson memorial, I present to you this structure 
 ready for unveiling. 
 
FIGURES REPRESENTING • FRATERNiTY." 
 
REMARKS OF HENRY M. NEVIUS, COMMANDER IN 
 CHIEF, GRAND ARMY OF THE REPURLIC » 
 
 Mr. President, Comrade Warner, chairman of this 
 ceremony, Comrade Partridge, chairman of the Stephen- 
 son memorial committee, comrades, ladies, and gentle- 
 men : As your chairman has announced, I come from a 
 sick room to you to-day to participate in the dedication 
 of this memorial, and as I look over this large, intelli- 
 gent, and enthusiastic audience, considering the extreme 
 heat of the day, my physical condition, and the dis- 
 tinguished gentlemen who are to follow me, I am 
 admonished that I must be brief. 
 
 As the representative head of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic and in behalf of that noble organization, it 
 affords me great pleasure to receive at your hand, Com- 
 rade Wagner, one of the members of the Stephenson 
 memorial committee, who has labored so long, so earn- 
 estly, and so effectively in the necessary work of col- 
 lecting the funds for the proper construction of this 
 memorial, and to receive from you, representing as you 
 do the committee appointed by the Grand Army of the 
 Republic, this magnificent structure, fashioned by the 
 hand of the sculptor and the artisan from solid granite 
 and bronze, the magnificent monument which stands 
 before us, now being dedicated to the name and memory 
 of Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, a soldier of the Civil 
 War and the comrade who organized the Grand Army 
 of the Republic and who was the first commander of the 
 Department of Illinois, where the organization originated, 
 and who drew the ritual, the by-laws, and the constitu- 
 tion of the order. 
 
 1 Died January 28, 1911. 
 
 19 
 
20 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 Comrade Dr. Stephenson and Comrade Rutley, the 
 chaplain of his regiment, and other comrades had con- 
 sidered the idea of organizing the survivors of the Civil 
 War into a grand organization to preserve and strengthen 
 those kind and fraternal feelings which hind together the 
 soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the 
 late rebellion and to perpetuate the memory and history 
 of our comrades dead. 
 
 It was not, however, until after the close of the Civil 
 War that Comrade Dr. Stephenson had perfected his 
 plan for the proper organization of the Grand Army of 
 the Republic. In April, 1866, the first Grand Army post 
 was organized at Decatur, 111., which culminated in the 
 organization of many posts in that department, and from 
 this beginning departments were formed in different 
 States until to-day every State in this grand old Union 
 represents and contains a department of the Grand Army 
 of the Republic — an organization of men each and every 
 member of which possesses an honorable discharge from 
 service in the Civil War, and an organization into which 
 no man on whom the stain of treason rests can come. 
 
 The history and life of Comrade Dr. Benjamin F. 
 Stephenson, the organizer and originator, are so inter- 
 woven with the history and life of the Grand Army of 
 the Republic that it seems impossible to sever the origi- 
 nator from the organization itself. 
 
 Upon the face of this beautiful monument is the 
 profile, in bold relief in bronze, of Comrade Dr. Benja- 
 min F. Stephenson, and beneath it in bronze is the badge 
 of the Grand Army of the Republic, both the obverse 
 and reverse sides. This badge was designed by Com- 
 rade Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, and from the date 
 of the origin of the order has been worn and ever will 
 be worn by the comrades of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic. This monument, which is triangular in its 
 form, has upon each of its three sides figures in bronze 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 21 
 
 representing the cardinal principles of the Grand Army of 
 the Republic — Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty. 
 
 It is meet and proper that this memorial should be 
 erected and dedicated here in the Capital City of our 
 country as a lasting tribute to those who freely offered 
 their lives that this Nation might live. 
 
 From time immemorial, in all lands, monuments have 
 been erected in honor of the name and memory of men 
 and women who by their activities in life have made 
 themselves famous. In almost every State in this Union 
 monuments have been erected to the name and memory 
 of General Washington and other famous generals and 
 statesmen. 
 
 At Bunker Hill there stands a monument whose proud 
 apex pierces the clouds as it greets the rising sun of the 
 early morn, where it long has stood and forever will 
 stand as a memorial to the deeds of valor, heroism, loy- 
 alty, and patriotism of the men and women of 1776, who 
 achieved the liberty and independence of our common 
 country and who established for themselves a constitu- 
 tion and a government of the people, for the people, 
 and by the people. 
 
 In 1861, when our sister States of the South tore down 
 the flag of Washington and engaged in the mad attempt 
 of severing the bonds of Union established by our fathers 
 and to destroy the Constitution of the Government and its 
 institutions, the men who comprise the Grand Army of 
 the Republic responded to the call of Abraham Lincoln, 
 the President of the United States, to enforce the law. 
 And then began the bloodiest struggle of ancient or mod- 
 ern times. The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps of the 
 United States faced a firm and determined foe, and 
 behind them, in almost every State in the Union, were 
 foes who were not actually taking up arms, but who 
 did all in their power to assist the Southern Confederacy; 
 and a strong political party went before the country with 
 
22 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 a platform denouncing the war and demanding a cessa- 
 tion of hostilities, declaring for peace upon any terms, 
 even the dissolution of the Union. But the men who had 
 responded to the call of the President and who enlisted 
 for the war with a firm determination that the Union, 
 one and indivisible, must and should he preserved, never 
 faltered and never wavered. 
 
 I remember well the night of July 10, 1864 — the only 
 time, in my judgment, that this Capital City was ever in 
 danger. Gen. Jubal A. Early was sweeping down the 
 valley; he had fought the battle at Monocacy, and on that 
 night was approaching the city of Washington on this 
 very street where we now are, which at that time was 
 called the Seventh Street Pike. The regiment to which 
 I belonged had reached Baltimore from City Point for 
 the purpose of being remounted. We were immediately 
 loaded, not in palace cars or ordinary coaches, but in 
 cattle cars, and rushed here. And at midnight on July 10 
 we marched out over this very ground and up the Seventh 
 Street Pike, being joined by fragments of commands who 
 were here and by convalescents from the hospitals, to 
 Fort Stevens; and on the morning of July 11, when Early 
 marshaled his forces to capture this city, we went out over 
 the breastworks and, confronting him, informed and satis- 
 fied him that he, Early, was late. At that time I lost my 
 left arm. At 4 o'clock on that afternoon the advance of 
 the Sixth Corps had reached Silver Springs, and the 
 Capital was safe, and the gallant Sheridan hurled Early 
 and his forces back up the valley. From that time on the 
 Union Army and Navy never knew defeat. The love and 
 confidence existing between them and Abraham Lincoln, 
 their Commander in Chief, inspired all with a zeal and 
 energy that overcame all opposition until at Appomatox, 
 when the last armed foe laid down his arms, when the 
 question was forever settled that under our Constitution 
 the National Government is and forever must be supreme. 
 

 FIGURE REPRESENTING "CHARITY. 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 23 
 
 Then peace was declared and law reestablished through- 
 out the length and breadth of our land. 
 
 Long years have passed since then, and the men who 
 stood on the firing lines on the two sides in that great 
 conflict have clasped hands o'er the bloody chasm, and 
 let us thank God that to-day the men who comprise the 
 two armies are, as American citizens, vieing with each 
 other in upholding, upbuilding, and maintaining this 
 great Nation under the one flag, beneath whose sheltering 
 folds all men enjoy protection in their life, liberty, and 
 property. 
 
 And now, Mr. President, to you, as the Chief Executive 
 of this great Nation, it is my privilege and my pleasure, 
 on behalf of my comrades, to present this beautiful monu- 
 ment, erected to the name and memory of Comrade 
 Benjamin F. Stephenson and the Grand Army of the 
 Republic, organized by him. May you and those in 
 authority under you and your successors in office ever 
 guard this memorial, erected and dedicated to the 
 memory of the noble sons of those worthy sires whose 
 monument stands at Bunker Hill. 
 
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT 
 
 Mr. Chairman, my fellow citizens: We are met to 
 dedicate a memorial to a Union soldier who served four 
 years as a surgeon in the Civil War and who also builded 
 an institution by which there should be united in the 
 bonds of fellowship all the sweet association, all the deep 
 lesson of loyalty, and all the pride of patriotism that such 
 a civil war as that could arouse in millions of hearts. 
 When men at the formative period in life — from 18 to 
 22 — arc associated in any work, whether it be in college, 
 in society, in church, or otherwise, they carry with them 
 afterwards the fondest memories and associations for 
 each other because they have passed through a common 
 mold. But how much greater must be the sweet associa- 
 tion and the bond of union between men who for four 
 years passed through the dangers of the Civil War, 
 those who survived thinking of the tender memories of 
 those who gave up their lives for their country; those 
 surviving carrying with them the sweet association, the 
 stories of courage, and tales full of humor and of pathos. 
 I can conceive of no bond of union stronger than that 
 which unites the men who fought from 1861 to 1865 
 in the Grand Army; and it was to the credit of the 
 founder of the Grand Army of the Republic that he saw 
 the solid basis upon which such a structure as that great 
 society could be erected. 
 
 You will recollect that there were prophets of evil with 
 respect to the fate of the United States after the war 
 should cease, after the end should be accomplished for 
 which the North was fighting, and it was said that the 
 aggregation of a million men in arms threatened our 
 24 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 25 
 
 free institutions. They recalled that the Pretorian Guard 
 of Rome was an instrument in furthering the ambition 
 of those who would suppress free institutions and who 
 were to assume despotic power. But all those prophecies 
 faded into nothingness. The men who composed that 
 million were men in favor of free institutions, who had 
 fought for them, and did not intend to sacrifice them to 
 anything else. There was no man with the ambition to 
 use that Army as an instrument of despotism, even 
 if it had been willing to furnish itself as such; and 
 so it was the marvel of other countries that this great 
 body of organized force, than which there never was a 
 stronger or better disciplined army, faded out and dis- 
 appeared into the paths of peace, preserving nothing but 
 the sweet memory and association they had formed dur- 
 ing the war and the consciousness that they had in their 
 own hearts of having rendered that greatest service, to 
 wit, the preservation of their country. 
 
 Stephenson organized this Grand Army of the Republic 
 to preserve the essence of that Army in its finest charac- 
 teristic — in its democracy and in its patriotism. Far be 
 it from me to criticize in the slightest such organizations 
 as the Cincinnati and the Loyal Legion. They are great 
 organizations, and those who belong to them may well 
 have pride in them, but the Grand Army of the Republic 
 knows no limitation but service to the Government in 
 the Civil War; and therefore it is that Congress, recog- 
 nizing the usefulness of such an organization in preserv- 
 ing patriotism, in maintaining it in its intensity during 
 those years when commercial greed seemed to make 
 many people forget it, properly contributed $10,000 to 
 this memorial and recognized the Grand Army of the 
 Republic as an institution which may well have national 
 gratitude and national recognition. More than that, the 
 Grand Army of the Republic is most useful in this: It 
 represents the concentrated opinion of the men who 
 fought in the War to Preserve the Union, and it there- 
 
26 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 fore may give authoritative expression, which no other 
 body and no other part of the people can give, to that 
 forgetfulness of the bitterness of the strife which existed 
 during the four years of the war. I am glad to say that, 
 while that bitterness may in a few instances obtain, you 
 will never find it to exist between the men who actually 
 exposed their lives on one side and the men who exposed 
 their lives on the other. The union of the two sections 
 has been molded strongly and more strongly by those 
 meetings, which ought to be encouraged between the 
 Blue and the Gray to occur as often as possible. Even 
 within my recollection, on occasions like this and on 
 Memorial Day and on Fourths of July, I have seen the 
 ranks of the Grand Army thinned. I know there are 
 many who, by jaunty step and by keeping their hats on, 
 are able to deceive the people as to their age, but the 
 fact is that those ranks are thinning from day to day — 
 perhaps a hundred a day are going to their long home. 
 It is fitting that such an association, which in the course of 
 the next generation will pass away, should have such an 
 enduring monument as this to testify not only to the patri- 
 otic service that they rendered during the war, but also 
 to the service to the country that they have rendered by 
 their holding high loyalty and patriotism since the war 
 to the present day. 
 
 Mr. Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic, inasmuch as Congress contributed to this 
 monument and provided for its erection, I am here 
 officially to accept at your hands, on behalf of the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States, this fitting memorial of 
 Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty. 
 

 FIGURE REPRESENTING "LOYALTY.' 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. J. HAMPTON MOORE, MEMBER 
 OF CONGRESS FROM PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, fellow citizens : In honor- 
 ing the founders of the Grand Army of the Republic we 
 are paying tribute to the soldier of the Civil War who 
 fought on land and sea. He is familiar to the present 
 generation as "the veteran," grizzled and gray; the 
 wearer of a modest suit of blue, the quiet dispenser of 
 the garlands of May upon the graves of his departed com- 
 rades of the ship, the camp, and the field. He has become 
 a benign, historic figure, typifying " Fraternity, Charity, 
 and Loyalty " in the personal as in the national sense, and 
 has earned the undying gratitude of the American heart, 
 than which perhaps no greater tribute has ever fallen to 
 martial hero. " Veteran " though we regard him now, it 
 is well to remember that he was of the youth and flower 
 of the land when marching forth to battle from 44 to 48 
 years ago. 
 
 Lincoln's first call 
 
 Lincoln called for volunteers the day following the 
 assault upon Sumter, in April, 1861. The country was 
 then in a high state of excitement, so that the first call, 
 for 75,000 men, was promptly responded to. The issue 
 then was not the overthrow of slavery. The President 
 demanded that the laws of the Union should be respected 
 and enforced, and for this the volunteers enlisted. It 
 was not expected they would long be needed in the field, 
 but those who hoped for a short campaign were counting 
 " without their host." The seceding States were deter- 
 mined to defend the position they had taken, and pre- 
 
 27 
 
28 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 pared to fight to " the last ditch." Amongst the Con- 
 federate leaders there were men like Lee and Stephens, 
 who had opposed secession, but when the " die was cast " 
 their loyalty to their States was stronger than their love 
 for the Union and they had to fight. With what deter- 
 mination they fought the early victories of the Con- 
 federate Army well attest. 
 
 from three months to four years 
 
 The President's call was for three months' service, but 
 he was soon obliged to issue other calls, and these were 
 followed by drafts upon the male population, until the 
 northern troops had swollen to great bodies of men 
 who ultimately sang as they marched from their homes 
 in the North to the bloody Southland, " We are coming, 
 Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more." 
 
 With each succeeding clash of arms, with each defeat 
 or victory throughout the whole of the first year's strug- 
 gle, the spirit and determination of Unionist and Con- 
 federate were equally aroused. Patriotism and the sense 
 of personal obligation to a cause were never displayed 
 with greater earnestness. The whole country was called 
 upon for fighting men. The war lengthened into years 
 and did not end until at least 1,000,000 men a year had 
 been engaged for every one of the four years of strife. 
 It had developed into the cruelest and the bravest, the 
 bloodiest and the most heroic, of all the wars of history. 
 Fully 350,000 soldiers upon the Union side fell in their 
 tracks or died from their wounds. The Confederates 
 killed or dying from their wounds were less numerous. 
 
 consider the sacrifice 
 
 That war has passed. The vast majority of those who 
 returned from the service have gone to the great beyond. 
 Millions of afflicted parents and martyred wives and 
 sisters of the combatants have been gathered to their 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 29 
 
 fathers. It is only the veterans few who now remain to 
 tell of the sacrifice. 
 
 And oh, in the light of history, what a sacrifice that 
 was! Up to the time that Sumter was fired on we had 
 prospered as a nation. We had built the superstructure 
 upon the foundation which our fathers laid in 1776 and 
 1787. We had been fulfilling the destiny which they had 
 mapped out for us. From 4,000,000 of people under the 
 administration of Washington we had grown in 70 years 
 to be 32,000,000 under Abraham Lincoln. We had pro- 
 gressed as a common country in all essentials save one. 
 We could not agree upon the question of slavery. If in 
 the present day we are to give full understanding to 
 the sacrifice of the soldier of 1861, we must take an 
 account of the stock of our country at that time. 
 
 FAREWELL TO OPPORTUNITY 
 
 We had long since settled down to business as a 
 Union under the Constitution of the United States. We 
 had fought a successful second war with England. We 
 had just closed victoriously a war with Mexico. We 
 had brought the Indians under governmental regulation 
 and we had begun to discover the wealth of our own 
 great resources. Gold had been found in California, 
 and with its discovery the trend of empire took its west- 
 ward way. We had experienced and overcome the 
 effects of a financial panic in 1857, the result of our own 
 excesses. We had just learned that there was silver in 
 Colorado and Nevada; that there was natural gas and 
 petroleum in Pennsylvania. We had begun to penetrate 
 the Oregon country. We had established a growing 
 merchant marine; our ships were known upon all the 
 seas, and Commodore Perry had opened up the ports 
 of Japan. The railroad had begun to people the wilder- 
 ness and bring it to the metropolis. We were begin- 
 ning to appreciate the telegraph. The steam printing 
 
30 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 press had been invented; the steam shovel, the power 
 loom, and the sewing machine were new creations; the 
 harvester and the reaper and other mechanical devices 
 had come to the relief of labor. It seemed, indeed, as 
 though the golden age of opportunity had set in for the 
 youth of the land. 
 
 YOUTH AND OLD AGE ENLISTED 
 
 The relinquishment of all these was a part of the 
 sacrifice, but not all. The call to duty put them by, but 
 the youth who shouldered his musket to engage in the 
 hazard of deadly warfare must also say good-bye to 
 mother and to fireside; the man must say farewell to 
 wife and children, farewell to hopes and aspirations, 
 farewell to ease and opportunity, farewell, indeed, to 
 life itself. Old men or young men, it made but little 
 difference then; the cause demanded fighting men, and 
 on to war they went. 
 
 Down the streets of Philadelphia, in August, 1861, 
 marched a regiment the average age of whose members 
 was 19 years. " Why, they're only schoolboys," said a 
 bystander, but schoolboys though they were, Birney's 
 Zouaves were famous soldiers before that war was over. 
 
 " A DRESS PARADE OF THE DEAD " 
 
 The youth of the Army! Remember the One hundred 
 and fifty-first Pennsylvania? A regiment with a hun- 
 dred school teachers and their scholars. Have you heard 
 the story? Under the command of a Juniata pedagogue 
 that gallant regiment stood at Gettysburg, face to face 
 with the enemy, administering shot for shot and blow 
 for blow until 56 per cent of its members had fallen dead 
 and wounded. They spoke of the fallen of that regi- 
 ment as " a dress parade of the dead," so accurate was 
 their alignment as they fell. 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 31 
 
 they were not hirelings 
 
 But all the gallantry was not upon the side of the young 
 men. There were fathers in those battles leading their 
 sons or loyally following the lead of their sons. " I want 
 to fight with your regiment," said old John Burns at 
 Gettysburg — and all day long his " bell-crowned hat " 
 and his " swallow-tail coat " were conspicuous with his 
 musket where the fighting was thickest. His silver hair 
 and his 70 years had not diminished his patriotism nor 
 lessened his love of the Union. 
 
 These were the men, both old and young, whose 
 achievements invoke our admiration. Not hireling sol- 
 diers, not the professional — 
 
 He who fights and runs away, 
 May live to fight another day — 
 
 but the soldiers of duty; soldiers who answered their 
 country's call, who went into the frag to stand until they 
 had won or lost. 
 
 SERVICE OF THE RANK AND FILE 
 
 Associated with the exercises of this day are memories 
 of heroism such as the world had never seen. The paltry 
 few medals of honor which the Congress of the United 
 States has bestowed upon worthy men went chiefly to 
 private soldiers, sergeants, corporals, and other noncom- 
 missioned officers. Admiring comrades and companions 
 have reared their shafts of bronze and marble to the 
 memory of beloved and gallant commanders. The pri- 
 vate soldier, more than any other, knew the value of 
 able and magnetic leaders, but in no other instance, it is 
 believed, has a memorial sprung so directly from the 
 hearts of the people in honor of the private soldier — the 
 modern veteran — as does this memorial of the founder 
 of the Grand Army of the Republic. We may not — aye, 
 we dare not — minimize the glory of the victorious com- 
 
32 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 mander; but wc must not — indeed, we shall not — disre- 
 gard the services of the rank and fde. 
 
 HEROES AT THE BLOODY ANGLE 
 
 Where in the world's history has there been such self- 
 sacrifice, such gallantry, as in the American Civil War? 
 Who can stand at the Bloody Angle and not bow low in 
 reverence to the gallant men of Pickett's Division, whose 
 desperate charged repulsed was the turn of tide in the 
 war, and who of the eulogists of that command will fail 
 to bow in turn to those intrepid, those immovable, Union 
 men who met and drove the heroes back? Neither artist 
 nor historian has yet been found to adequately paint the 
 picture of that immortal clash of heroes. 
 
 You read "The Charge of the Light Brigade"; you 
 catch the swing and rhythm of the lines. You see the 
 dash, you hear the^lash, and then, in imagination, you 
 witness the sad return of the broken regiment. But did 
 you ever read the simple story of the First Minnesota 
 Begiment? May we not compare it to "The Charge of 
 the Light Brigade"? 
 
 A SENTENCE OF DEATH 
 
 " Colonel Colvill," said General Hancock at Gettysburg, 
 "move your regiment forward and take those colors!" 
 
 " Forward the Light Brigade, 
 Charge for the guns,'* he said. 
 
 It was the sentence of death. Home and loved ones 
 all behind them and knowing duty only, the First Minne- 
 sota, tired and broken from losses and long marches, 
 moved steadily upon an entire Confederate division: 
 
 Their's not to make reply, 
 Their's not to reason why, 
 Their's but to do and die. 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 33 
 
 But that deadly charge served the purpose of the com- 
 manding general; it saved a break in the Union line, and 
 consequent disaster. 
 
 Oh, the wild charge they made! ■ 
 
 sang the poet Tennyson : 
 
 All the world wondered. 
 
 And yet, world renowned as was the battle of 
 Balaklava, the total loss inflicted upon the Light Brigade 
 was only 37 per cent. 
 
 What was the loss of the First Minnesota? Of the 262 
 men who made that awful charge at Gettysburg, 215 
 were killed or wounded. Only 47 came back. Will not 
 some modern Tennyson write the unparalleled story of 
 the First Minnesota, with its 82 per cent of death? 
 
 INCIDENTS OF PERSONAL BRAVERY 
 
 " Colonel," said a beardless youth at Chancellorsville, 
 " if you need the ammunition on the other side of the 
 field, I will get it." He performed the task and marched 
 backward to the regiment while the bullets whistled 
 round him. "Why did you walk backward?" said the 
 commander. " Because, if they hit me, I wanted them 
 to hit me in the face. It would look better to the folks 
 at home." 
 
 " No, sir," said a soldier at Gaines Mills, who had been 
 shot in the thigh, " that ambulance is for those who can 
 not walk." And he walked, though his trousers were 
 stiff with blood. 
 
 "You're a Yank," said a stricken Confederate at 
 Petersburg, as he received the canteen of a passing 
 Unionist, " but you've saved my life." 
 
 " Well," said a lad whose cheek bone was shattered by 
 a piece of shell at Fredericksburg, " this is what I came 
 for," and he marched on. 
 
 82325°— S. Doc. 857. 61-3 3 
 
34 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 remember the unknown dead 
 These are a meager few of innumerable incidents by 
 which we may judge the personal valor of the private 
 soldier. Take him collectively: A regiment is ordered 
 to make an assault to serve a strategy of the commander. 
 They strike blindly; hundreds fall, some to be reported 
 killed, some wounded, some missing. By the side of a 
 swamp the command is given to march, and through 
 " the slashing " a thousand men proceed, climbing over 
 the limbs and branches and through the vines, unable 
 themselves to fight, while the enemy pours its deadly fire 
 from the other side. 
 
 In the swamp they fall, in the wilderness they drop, 
 in the trench they lie. Men unscathed or wounded men 
 return from battle and are justly glorified and feted, but 
 what of those who were left behind, unheralded, un- 
 marked? Where is the poet who has written the praises 
 of those who came not back? Where is the monument 
 that fittingly records the heroism and the sacrifices of 
 the uncounted dead? Let us include them in the exer- 
 cises of this hour. Let us hope the extent of their great 
 sacrifice may some day be measured and more fully 
 appreciated by mankind. 
 
 Lay him low; lay him low, 
 ' Neath the clover, or the snow ; 
 What cares he, he can not know ; 
 Lay him low. 
 
 world's RECORD OF LOSSES 
 Statistics vary with regard to the losses in the wars of 
 the world, but regimental losses were greater in the Civil 
 War than in any prior war of history. No record has 
 been produced showing a regimental loss of 50 per cent 
 in any of the world's wars. The Light Brigade at Bala- 
 klava lost 37 per cent. The Garde Schutzen at Metz 
 lost -16 per cent. The Third Wesphalen at Mars la Tour 
 lost 49 per cent. 1 But in the Northern Army were 70 
 regiments, representing nearly every State of the North, 
 
 i Computed by Gen. St. Clair A. Mulholland. 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 35 
 
 that lost in single engagements alone more than 50 per 
 cent of killed and wounded. There were 150 regiments 
 of the Northern Army which lost more in single combats 
 than did the Light Brigade at Balaklava. Witness the 
 Fifth New York (Duryea's Zouaves), which went into the 
 first Bull Bun fight with 462 men and came out with 351 
 killed or wounded; or that heroic company of colored 
 troops under Capt. John McMurray, at Chapin's Farm, 
 which lost 87 per cent killed and wounded, the greatest 
 percentage of company loss in the whole war. 
 
 THE MORALE OF THE ARMY 
 
 He was not a soldier of fortune who enlisted from 
 'sixty-one to 'sixty-five. He was fighting for the integrity 
 of his country — the northern man for the preservation 
 of the Union, the southern man for the rights, as he 
 believed them, of the separate States. He was not a 
 marauding soldier, the soldier of 'sixty-one, for the lines 
 of either side were strictly drawn and moral standards 
 were established not to be shaken. The bushwhacker 
 and the coward had no welcome place in the ranks. 
 
 " I never entered a battle," said a northern general 
 recently, " without suggesting first the offering up of 
 prayer." A member of the Cabinet of the great har- 
 monizer, the present occupant of the White House, who 
 graces this occasion with his presence, was a child in 
 Texas during the war. His father was a Union man and 
 duty called him North. " But he would never have 
 gone," said his distinguished son, " had he not full faith 
 that southern chivalry would protect his wife and chil- 
 dren from molestation." 
 
 THE GLORY OF THE SOLDIER 
 
 One glory of the true soldier is in having " met a foe- 
 man worthy of his steel." Since there is small honor in 
 a one-sided victory or a battle with weaklings, the martial 
 glory of the Union soldier was in having met those who 
 were his equals on the field of battle or in the ships. The 
 
36 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 four long years of fighting, the scales tipped now in favor 
 of one and now in favor of the other, proclaims forever 
 the fighting prowess of the two great armies. But viewed 
 from the standpoint of the citizen soldier of the North, 
 the veteran type, whom the Grand Army of the Republic 
 was organized to honor, the chief glory of the war has 
 been the preservation of the union of the States and the 
 resumption of that great progress which was halted in 
 the early days of 'sixty-one. Nor is it stretching the truth 
 to say that the veterans of the southern armies, laying 
 aside the bitterness and disappointment of defeat, have 
 come to realize the strength and wisdom of the Union 
 and the inviolability of the Constitution and the laws. 
 
 A NEW ACCOUNTING OF STOCK 
 
 After the lapse of nearly half a century, we are enabled 
 again to take an accounting of the Nation's slock and to 
 compare it with those conditions that prevailed, with 
 those opportunities that were postponed, when Lincoln 
 first sounded the tocsin of war. We had 32,000,000 of 
 people, including nearly 4,000,000 slaves, in scattered and 
 conflicting States then. We have 90,000,000 of people 
 and no slaves in 46 united States to-day. Then the per 
 capita circulation of the country was approximately $14; 
 to-day it approximates $35. Then the estimated wealth 
 of the country was $16,000,000,000; to-day it is estimated 
 at more than $116,000,000,000. Then, largely by reason 
 of the lack of a union of States, there were no national 
 banks, and deposits in State banks, perhaps, did not 
 exceed half a billion. The total deposits in national 
 banks and kindred companies throughout the United 
 Stales now exceed the wonderful total of $13,000,000,000. 
 The war plunged us into a debt of more than two and a 
 half billions, and this we have reduced to approximately 
 a billion. No nation upon earth, united as we have been 
 since the great struggle, has prospered as we have in the 
 United States. We have come to be the great wealth- 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 37 
 
 producing nation of the world. We have resumed the 
 work that was stopped in 1861, and have proven our 
 industrial and agricultural capacity until we are able to 
 create a wealth of $25,000,000,000 per annum. 
 
 OUR PROGRESS WITH PEACE 
 
 So vast, indeed, have been our national operations 
 that our wealth is now equal to that of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, of France, and of Italy combined, and, strange 
 as it appears in comparison with these old-world coun- 
 tries, our debt is less than that of either of them. What 
 if this Union had not been preserved? What if it had 
 not been possible that this Grand Army of the Republic 
 had ever been formed? In the wonderful rehabilitation 
 of the country it was the veteran'soldier who took a lead- 
 ing and an honorable 'part. He had saved the Union; 
 now he must preserve and develop it. He caught the 
 spirit of Grant at Appomattox, and with enthusiasm 
 turned from the sword to the plow. He returned to the 
 farm, the factory, and to the mine. He resumed his 
 clerical and business pursuits; he took up again the 
 studies in law, in medicine, in commerce, that had been 
 interrupted when he marched to the front. 
 
 A SAFEGUARD OF THE NATION 
 
 What better time than this to own our obligation, our 
 eternal gratitude, to the Grand Army of the Republic! 
 Tested in the crucible of war, it has taught us the holiest 
 lessons of peace. It has stood for " Fraternity," that 
 worthy soldiers might know and better appreciate each 
 other; it has stood for " Charity," that the poor and the 
 feeble and the desolate might not go unattended; it has 
 stood for " Loyalty," that the Union might never again be 
 short of defenders; and, over all, it has set an example 
 of citizenship, which is the truest safeguard of the 
 Nation. So long as the Grand Army of the Republic is 
 a power in the land and so long as its memory shall last, 
 this Government will not fail. 
 
CONCLUSION OF CEREMONIES 
 
 At the conclusion of the ceremonies at the monument, 
 the troops, which during the services had been massed 
 on Louisiana Avenue and adjoining streets, were called 
 to attention and put into motion. 
 
 The President, the commander in chief of the Grand 
 Army, and other officials took their positions on the 
 west side of the tier of seats where they had been seated 
 during the exercises, facing Seventh Street. 
 
 About 2,000 soldiers were in line. The two divisions, 
 under command of Gen. Wotherspoon and preceded by 
 a platoon of police, marched down Louisiana Avenue 
 into Seventh Street, past the reviewing stand, to the 
 Avenue. Then the column moved west along the Ave- 
 nue to the Treasury and up Fifteenth Street to New York 
 Avenue, where it was dismissed. 
 
 The first division, under command of Col. Joseph 
 Garrard, of the Fifteenth Cavalry, was composed of 
 regular troops. Behind the Engineer Band came Com- 
 panies A and B, United States Engineers. Two com- 
 panies of Coast Artillery, two companies of Marines, and 
 a detachment of seamen from the United States Navy 
 followed the Engineers. 
 
 Two batteries of the Third Field Artillery and a 
 squadron of cavalry formed the rear of the column in 
 the first division. 
 
 Brig. Gen. George H. Harries, commanding the National 
 Guard of the District, was marshal of the second division. 
 The entire brigade of the local guardsmen took part in 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 39 
 
 the parade with the exception of the First Battery of 
 Field Artillery. Behind Gen. Harries rode the general 
 staff and general noncommissioned staff. The band pre- 
 ceded the First Infantry, under command of Col. Ourand. 
 The Second Begiment was commanded by Maj. Sims. 
 The First Separate Battalion, the Naval Battalion, and 
 the Ambulance Corps followed the Second Begiment 
 of Infantry. 
 
 It was a fitting close to a day that was eventful in the 
 history of the Grand Army of the Bepublic. The martial 
 music, the note of the bugle, the glittering of bayonets, 
 the clanking of sabers, awakened sleeping memories in 
 the minds of the veterans — memories of the days when 
 they were young and followed the flag through the smoke 
 of battle. Many were heard to congratulate each other 
 that they had lived to see the day and the event. 
 
A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF DR. BENJAMIN 
 FRANKLIN STEPHENSON AND OF THE ORGANIZA- 
 TION OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stephenson was born in Wayne 
 County, 111., October 3, 1823. He was the son of James 
 Stephenson, of South Carolina, who emigrated to Ken- 
 tucky, and there married Margaret Clinton, of North 
 Carolina, and he was one of 11 children. 
 
 When Dr. Stephenson was about 3 years of age his 
 parents removed to Sangamon County, where he passed 
 his early youth. This was a virgin country into which 
 the young child was brought. It was a wilderness, and 
 out of it, here and there, men who had become toughened 
 and hardened by a pioneer life were building homes and 
 character, and laying the foundation of the Nation's 
 greatness. Those who constituted the advance guard of 
 civilization felt but lightly the constraints and limitations 
 of the law, and they were quick to resent any interference 
 with their personal liberty. They drank deeply from 
 the waters of freedom, and it permeated every fiber of 
 their bodies and created a strain in their blood that 
 exists in their descendants to this day, and when Fort 
 Sumter was fired upon and the rights and liberties of 
 the people were threatened the descendants of these 
 freedom-loving pioneers, as if by instinct, arrayed them- 
 selves upon the side of the Union. 
 
 Miss Stephenson, in her memoir, says: 
 
 The schools to which my father was sent were such as the 
 new country all'orded — one end filled with a big fireplace 
 which roasted one's face, while the hack froze, or vice versa — 
 and the seats were of split logs, and the walls were innocent of 
 plaster. The spaces between the logs were nicknamed " win- 
 dows." The " master " nourished a big ferule, and was not 
 sparing of its use. * * Notwithstanding these extremely 
 
 40 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 41 
 
 primitive educational advantages, Frank (as he was called in 
 boyhood) learned rapidly what the rural pedagogue professed 
 to teach. The curriculum, however, extended but little beyond 
 the three " R's." When still quite young he was noted for his 
 proficiency in spelling and in the rural spelling schools he was 
 quite a champion. 
 
 These pioneers knew none of the luxuries of modern 
 life. Their clothing was made of homespun material, 
 the spinning and weaving of cloth being one of the 
 principal occupations of the women of the household. 
 
 Their fare was simple, but wholesome and abundant. 
 The woods furnished game and nuts and honey. They 
 had milk and butter and corn bread, and the garden 
 supplied vegetables. 
 
 Miss Stephenson says: 
 
 The settlers' families were widely scattered. Springfield was 
 but a village; the nearest church, or preaching station, was 
 several miles distant. My grandfather (Mr. James Stephenson) 
 used to call the family together on Sunday and have scriptural 
 reading. Sometimes they would meet at the house of a neighbor 
 and read the Bible together. My grandfather's library consisted 
 chiefly of books on church doctrine, expositions of the Bible, 
 moral philosophies, etc. There were, however, among the books, 
 some histories, and a few volumes of poetry. Of these, Frank's 
 chief favorite was Milton, over whose sublime pages he was 
 accustomed to pore in his boyhood's leisure hours. 
 
 Later he became a devoted reader of Shakespeare. 
 
 As was the custom in those days, as the boy grew older 
 he spent less and less time in the school and more and 
 more upon the farm. This assistance in the clearing 
 and the cultivation of the farm was a necessity. He did 
 not give of his time and strength grudgingly, but he 
 helped his father cheerfully and efficiently, though the 
 work was hard and the hours long. But hard work could 
 not and did not overcome the ambition to better his 
 condition. ■: 
 
 There was an elder brother, William, who had settled 
 in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and there practiced medicine 
 and kept a drug store. When Frank was about 23 years 
 of age he joined his brother, assisted in the store, and 
 
42 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 studied medicine. Later he attended medical lectures 
 at Columbus, Ohio, and during the winter of 1849-50 he 
 studied at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and received 
 his diploma from that institution February 7, 1850. 
 
 His health having become seriously impaired, he did 
 not begin the practice of his profession for nearly two 
 years. He then settled in Petersburg, 111., on the banks 
 of the historic Sangamon River. 
 
 March 30, 1855, he married Miss Barbara B. Moore, 
 who was a native of Kentucky, but who emigrated to 
 Springfield, 111., with her father, in 1853. There were 
 born to them one son, Dr. B. M. Stephenson, of Peoria, 
 111., and two daughters, Mary H. and Carrie, of Peters- 
 burg, 111., all of whom, at the present writing, are living. 1 
 
 Miss Stephenson says: 
 
 Concerning the domestic relations of my father, I can truly 
 say that he was a most affectionate and exemplary husband and 
 father. Such was his character, and so uniform his tenderness 
 toward his family that words fail me to express the affection, 
 akin to worship, with which his children regarded him, and 
 still regard his memory. 
 
 Soon after his marriage he accepted a professorship 
 in the Iowa Medical College, at Keokuk, Iowa, and lec- 
 tured there during 1855, 1856, and 1857. 
 
 The events which led up to the War of the Rebellion 
 were now beginning to engross the hearts and minds of 
 the people. Political feeling ran high. Dr. Stephenson 
 was bitterly opposed to slavery, and when Mr. Lincoln 
 was nominated he became his ardent supporter. 
 
 The dark cloud of war which had been gathering so 
 long, now that Mr. Lincoln was elected, grew blacker 
 and blacker, and at last burst with the firing on Fort 
 Sumter and the massacre of the Massachusetts troops in 
 the streets of Baltimore. 
 
 Dr. Stephenson was among the first to offer his services 
 to his country. He enlisted at Jacksonville, 111., May 25, 
 1801, and was subsequently appointed surgeon of the 
 
 1 Mrs. Stephenson died January 7, 1911. 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 43 
 
 Fourteenth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. 
 John M. Palmer commanding. About the middle of 
 September in the same year he was discharged. 
 
 In February, 1862, Dr. Stephenson was reappointed 
 surgeon of the regiment and rejoined it at Fort Donelson. 
 Some time later he was appointed brigade surgeon, and 
 for meritorious services at the Battle of Shiloh Gov. 
 Yates conferred upon him the rank of major. At Shiloh 
 he started into the battle on Sunday morning with his 
 regiment, but he was soon separated from it, being busily 
 engaged in caring for the wounded. As the tide of battle 
 ebbed and flowed, he was so engrossed with his duties 
 that he took little note of the shifting positions of the two 
 armies, and he was inside of the enemy's lines six times 
 on that memorable day. 
 
 He was present with his regiment at the battles of 
 Shiloh, Corinth, Big Hatchee, Vicksburg, a"hd others. 
 
 Col. Cyrus Hall, commanding Fourteenth Illinois, who, 
 in his report of the Battle of Shiloh, dated April 10, 1862, 
 names several of the field officers, including Dr. Stephen- 
 son, says: 
 
 All proved themselves gallant, brave, and indefatigable officers. 
 (Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. X, pt. 1, p. 225.) 
 
 The regiment in this battle lost 33 killed, 143 wounded, 
 and 19 missing. 
 
 Brig. Gen. James C. Veatch, commanding Second 
 Brigade, Fourth Division, district of west Tennessee, in 
 his report dated October 9, 1862, of the battle of Hatchee, 
 says: 
 
 Maj. Stephenson, senior surgeon of the brigade, devoted him- 
 self to the relief of the wounded, and his skill, energy, and 
 devotion to duty were seen and felt by my whole command. 
 (Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XVII, part 1, p. 324.) 
 
 Dr. Stephenson's military record, as shown by the 
 official records of the War Department, is as follows: 
 
 B. F. Stephenson was enrolled May 25, 1861, at Jacksonville, 
 for the Fourteenth Illinois Infantry Volunteers. He is shown 
 on the records with the rank of lieutenant surgeon, and is re- 
 
44 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 ported present on the muster roll dated August 31, 1861. As 
 Benjamin F. Stephenson lie was mustered into service to 
 take effect April 7, 1862, as surgeon of the fourteenth Illinois 
 Infantry Volunteers, to serve three years. On the muster roll 
 dated October 31, 1862, he is shown present, with remark, 
 " Detached as brigade surgeon." In Special Orders, No. 247, 
 Seventeenth Army Corps, dated October 31, 1863, he was relieved 
 from duty as surgeon in charge of post hospital at Natchez, Miss. 
 He was mustered out of service June 24, 1864, at Springfield, 
 111., as surgeon, Fourteenth Illinois Infantry Volunteers, by 
 reason of expiration of term of service. 
 
 After leaving the Army, Dr. Stephenson located at 
 Springfield, 111., and resumed the practice of medicine. 
 He was made a member of the board of examining sur- 
 geons at Camp Butler, near Springfield, and early in 
 1805 was placed in charge of the hospital at that point 
 and remained in charge until the soldiers were all 
 mustered out. 
 
 From the time he left the service he was noted for his 
 affection for his comrades. It was no fad of the hour 
 with him. The tics formed on the field and in the camp 
 were as sacred to him as if they had been ordained from 
 on high. It was genuine love, the wellsprings of which 
 were deep down in his heart. The knowledge that a 
 comrade or the widow or child of a comrade was in 
 want or distress appealed to him so strongly that he knew 
 no rest or peace of mind until relief had been provided. 
 
 He gave employment to soldiers, soldiers' widows and orphans 
 whenever he could and induced others to employ them. He 
 attended them in illness, free of charge, if they were unable 
 to pay. An appeal from them was an open sesame to his 
 gentle heart and to his generous purse. 
 
 It is probable that about the time of the close of 
 hostilities he conceived the idea of some kind of an 
 association or society composed of the veterans of the 
 Civil War. At first it did not take shape or form in his 
 mind, but lie gradually worked oul ;i plan, and in Janu- 
 ary, 186T>, he consulted with some of his comrades as to 
 the formation of a society to be called "The Grand 
 Army of the Republic," whose motto should be " Fra- 
 
Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 45 
 
 ternity, Charity, and Loyalty." It was to be a secret order, 
 with grips and passwords, nonpartisan and loyal. He 
 did not receive much encouragement. But he was per- 
 sistent. By February, 1866, he had prepared the com- 
 plete ritual, rules, and regulations for the organization. 
 Col. Daniel Grass, a friend, who saw and read the origi- 
 nal manuscript, says that it was submitted to him by Dr. 
 Stephenson in the early part of February, 1866, and that 
 it was all in his (Dr. Stephenson's) — 
 
 own handwriting, including erasures, interlineations, and punc- 
 tuations. There was not a line, word, or letter in it written 
 by any other person * * *. The whole was printed and 
 used, at first, in the organization of posts of the Grand Army 
 of the Republic almost literally as submitted to me by Dr. 
 Stephenson. 
 
 On the 6th of April, 1866, the anniversary of the Battle 
 of Shiloh, Dr. Stephenson established the first post of the 
 Grand Army of the Bepublic — Post No. 1, of Decatur, III. 
 The charter members were Capt. M. F. Kanan, Maj. 
 George B. Steele, George H. Dunning, Col. Isaac C. Pugh, 
 Lieut. Col. John H. Nale, J. T. Bishop, C. Biebsame, Dr. 
 J. W. Bouth, B. F. Sibley, I. N. Coltrin, Joseph Prior, and 
 A. Toland. 
 
 The next post organized was at Springfield, Dr. 
 Stephenson's home, and was named Stephenson Post, 
 No. 2. From this time on the order grew with amazing 
 rapidity. In 1890 it contained 409,000 members. 
 
 After Dr. Stephenson had organized 40 posts, an 
 encampment was called, which met at Springfield on the 
 12th of July, 1866. Gen. John M. Palmer was elected 
 department commander of Illinois. Dr. Stephenson was 
 elected provisional commander in chief. On the per- 
 manent organization of the order, at the first national 
 encampment held at Indianapolis, Ind., November 20, 
 1866, he was elected adjutant general. At that encamp- 
 ment the following resolution was adopted: 
 
 Whereas we, the members of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
 recognize in Maj. B. F. Stephenson, of Springfield, 111., the head 
 and front of the organization: Therefore be it 
 
46 Stei'henson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 Resolved, That for the energy, loyalty, and perseverance mani- 
 fested in organizing the Grand Army of the Republic he is 
 entitled to the gratitude of all loyal men, and that we, as soldiers, 
 tender him our thanks and pledge him our friendship at all 
 times and under all circumstances. 
 
 In a short account of the organization he says: 
 
 The idea originated with me in the month of January, 1866, 
 and I consulted a number of my former comrades and friends 
 as to the feasibility of organizing the soldiers into a mutual 
 benefit society. This idea was suggested to me by the number 
 of soldiers' widows and orphans then in want in our country. 
 I was discouraged by almost all. The plan was pronounced 
 altogether wild and impracticable. 
 
 Up to this time (the organization of the Department of Illinois, 
 July 12, 1866) not a single man of distinction in this or any 
 other State had dared to connect his name with the order, and 
 even then many of them did it with trepidation. 
 
 No man disputed my claims to its origin while its success 
 was problematical. Then it was my order. 
 
 In another article from his pen lie says: 
 
 We claim to stand aloof from all party politics other than 
 that which pertains to the perpetuity of this Union and the 
 interest and well-being of the soldier. 
 
 He could have truthfully added that he had practically 
 impoverished himself in his efforts to estahlish the Grand 
 Army. 
 
 Dr. Stephenson continued his interest in the Grand 
 Army until his death, which took place at Rock Creek. 
 111., August 30, 1871. His body lies at rest in Rose Hill 
 Cemetery, Petersburg, 111., having been laid there, with 
 appropriate ceremonies, by Estill Post, No. 71, Grand 
 Army of the Republic, Department of Illinois. 
 
 The comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic owe 
 him a debt of gratitude which they can never repay, but 
 as long as they live they will cherish with tenderness the 
 memory of the one who laid deep and strong the founda- 
 tions of that wonderful structure, the like of which never 
 was and never will be again. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Report of the B. F. Stephenson Grand Army Memorial 
 Committee to the Forty-third National Encampment 
 of the Grand Army of the Republic, Salt Lake City, 
 August 12, 1909. 
 
 To the Forty-third National Encampment: 
 
 Your committee on the B. F. Stephenson Grand Army 
 Memorial respectfully reports that since the last annual 
 encampment their work has been practically completed. 
 
 The monument, which occupies an admirable location 
 at the National Capital, is a dignified and imposing 
 structure, symmetrical in design and pleasing in appear- 
 ance. It is fully paid for, as are all bills incurred by the 
 committee in connection with its dedication. 
 
 In accordance with the action of the Forty-second 
 National Encampment, the exercises were under the 
 direction of the commander in chief, your committee, 
 however, cooperating in the preparation and carrying 
 out of the program. 
 
 Inasmuch as the commander in chief has dwelt some- 
 what at length in his address upon this event, describing 
 the memorial and giving in detail the program of the 
 exercises, we would be merely repeating what has already 
 been placed before the encampment to say more regard- 
 ing this very interesting occasion. A resolution is now 
 before the Congress of the United States which pro- 
 vides for the publication by the National Government of 
 a memorial volume giving in detail the addresses made 
 
 47 
 
48 Stephenson Grand Army Memorial. 
 
 on the occasion of the unveiling. It is confidently ex- 
 pected that at the next session this resolution will be 
 adopted, and that before our next encampment these 
 volumes will be ready for distribution. 
 
 The accompanying statement of the treasurer gives in 
 detail the receipts and expenditures of the committee. 
 Submitted in F., C, and L. 
 
 Charles A. Partridge, 
 
 Chairman. 
 James Tanner. 
 Louis Wagner. 
 John McElroy. 
 Thos. S. Hopkins. 
 
 IF. N 'M 
 
WMflSff 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 012 028 457 5