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 DELIVERED AT LEXINGTON ON THE 
 
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 jjcdication of the f^oiun and ]|[emorial |iatt, 
 
 APRIL li), 1871, 
 
 BEING THE 
 
 96TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 
 
 BY DR. GEORGE R. LORING. 
 
 WITH THE niOCEEDINGS AND A HISTORICAL 
 ArrEXDIX. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN & SON, 
 
 18 71. 
 
QT6t 
 
 
 <\ 
 
 \ 
 
Co the Pcmorg of 
 SAMUELADAMS, WHO INSPIRED, 
 
 AND 
 
 JOHN A. ANDREW, WHO SUSTAINED, 
 
 the heroism and devotion to freedom and humanity, which have given 
 
 Massachusetts her great name, I reverently dedicate this 
 
 Memorial of the valor of Lexington in the 
 
 two great American Wars. 
 
€ 
 
 Ci 
 
ORATION 
 
 Fellow-Citizexs : 
 
 !Nint:ty-six years ago to-day the town of Lex- 
 ington became immortal in history. The story is 
 a familiar one. It has been recorded by the care- 
 fnl and patient annaUst; ilhunined by the poet; 
 exalted by the orator; repeated with holy zeal at 
 the fireside; passed from tongne to tongue along 
 all the admiring lands; and received as an inspi- 
 ration by all the sons of men toiling and hoping 
 to be free. And what a wonderful story it is! 
 There had been great wars, and great protests; 
 — great wars for freedom and independent 
 nationality, great protests against tyranny and 
 oppression. There had been great efforts, and 
 great failures; — great efibrts to establish pojjular 
 government, and great failures in organizing 
 republican states. For the diffusion of Christian 
 light, and the freedom of Christian thought, man 
 had risen to the sublimest heights of heroism; 
 and, betrayed too often, had been left in the 
 darkness of despair. The history of popular 
 resistance Avas not encouraging; the history of 
 popular effort was not in all things admirable. 
 The clouds wdiich gathered around aspiring 
 
C\ 
 
 6 
 
 humanity had been dark and heavy. The world 
 had bi^ield with astonishment and admiration 
 mingled with contempt, the dismal and tempest- 
 uous voyage of those who had launched forth 
 upon the stormy sea of high purpose and reform. 
 1*^0 greatness of unshaken empire, no jiossession 
 of jDermauent power had jet rewarded the sons 
 of revolution and revolt. There was hideed the 
 dauntless protesting spirit, which no convulsion 
 could extinguish, no disaster chill; there were, 
 too, the traditions of freedom; but no more. 
 
 It was the inspiration of this defiant spirit, the 
 natural inheritance of our fathers, of our IN^ew 
 England fathers at least, sons of Puritans, and 
 Separatists, and JSTon-conformists, recognizing 
 amidst all surrounding events, whatever was 
 manly, and generous, and just, and noble, which 
 immortalized this spot. The scene, enacted here, 
 in all its attributes, in all its significance, in all its 
 touching associations and high quality, has not 
 been equalled. There is a romance and sublimity 
 about it, not woven around the old battle-fields, 
 and the classic passes even. Its simplicity is 
 captivating and amazing. The courage, and 
 confidence, and faith, the untutored assui-ance, 
 the absence of all art, the presence of all natural 
 nobility, the unassuming self-assertion, displayed ^,1 
 
 here — have they ever been surpassed? We are 
 familiar with deeds of personal daring — and with 
 the courage of heroic bands, on occasions where 
 the exercise of heroic qualities seemed to be 
 more natural than the exercise of meaner ones; 
 but not with the sudden and spontaneous con- 
 
 di 
 
 I 
 
 J. 
 
version of a small and placid comnuiiiity into a 
 towering ridge of defiance, and immortal pur- 
 pose, reaching to the skies. 
 
 But around this little hamlet of eight or ten 
 families, a century ago, there was a rare accumu- 
 lation of great thoughts and lofty emotions. To 
 this little isolated community, the soundest doc- 
 trines of free society and state, civil and i-eligious 
 freedom, the events of American history, the 
 breadth and strength of American humanity, the 
 depth and Avisdom of American thought, be- 
 longed by inheritance. Upon the people of this 
 town had fallen the stern virtues, and all the 
 hardy qualities which had been nourished by the 
 trials and hardships which attended the founders 
 of the American empire. These virtues were 
 the precious freight of the Mayflower, and they 
 had been developed and strengthened by the 
 hard experiences of the colonists, and their de- 
 scendants for many generations. By history and 
 tradition were their minds cultivated to the high- 
 est conceptions of nationality. The familiar 
 thought of the time was of high and solemn im- 
 port. And tt was the remarkable and peculiar 
 fortune of Lexington, that to her bosom had 
 come for safety and repose the great agitators 
 of that day, and that her spiritual guide and 
 light w^as one who "took a broad and enlight- 
 ened view of the duties and obligations of the 
 citizen." 
 
 On the night of the 18th of April, 1775, 
 Gerry, and Orne, nnd Lee, had found shelter 
 in a near and adjoining town, and Adams and 
 
8 
 
 Ilnncoek were guarded by Mnnroe and his brave 
 liand, at the hcmse of the Rev. Jonas Chirk, in 
 this immediate neighborhood. Are yon snr- 
 jorised that the custodians of such precious hves, 
 should have baptized the cause of American 
 freedom with their blood in the early morning? 
 They had not forgotten, moreover, the teachings 
 of their beloved pastor, the friend and connection 
 of Hancock, the equal of Adams in all mental 
 and moral qualities, who while he protected the 
 patriots, and shared their dangers, exclaimed: — 
 "luspired w^ith the principles of piety, governed 
 by the laws of God, encouraged and supported 
 with motives of religion, such men in the court 
 or in the field, in peace and in war, in private and 
 in public stations, look v/ith a generous contempt, 
 a sacred abhoi'rence upon every advantage they 
 might make to themselves at the expense of their 
 virtue. ISTo self-interest, no venal motive can 
 countervail with them the public good, the safety 
 and happiness of society — of mankind. The 
 ])()wers of the great and the flatteries of the vul- 
 gai- are equally despised; the greatest trials are 
 cheerfidly endured, the most self-denying serv- 
 ices are with pleasure engaged in, in the canse of 
 God, In honor to God they wait upon the king, 
 in devotion to Him they serve their country, and 
 for the glory of His name stand I'eady cheerfully 
 to submit to every hardship, firmly to face eveiy 
 danger, and for the support of His cause, and 
 the defence of the liberties and lives of His peo- 
 ple, freely to make their own a sacrifice, and shed 
 their dearest blood." Ave you surprised that a 
 
9 
 
 pastor like this should lend a patriotic people? 
 They remembered the words of the " noble- 
 minded AYiNTiiROP," when he appeared at the 
 bar of his accusers to sustain the character and 
 administration of Massachusetts — " Civil liberty 
 is the proper end and object of authority, and 
 cannot subsist without it. It is a liberty to that 
 only which is good, just and honest. Tiiis lib- 
 erty you are to stand for, with the hazard not 
 only of your goods, but, if need be, of your 
 lives." They remembered also that the fathers 
 of New England by a solemn instrument, in the 
 words of Hutchinson, "formed themselves into a 
 proper democracy." The glowing words of 
 Warren, just then advancing along the refulgent 
 path which led to his martvrdom: — "lam con- 
 vinced that the true spirit of liberty was never 
 so universally diffused through all ranks and or- 
 ders of men, on the ftice of the earth, as it now 
 is through all IS^orth America," were uttered as a 
 direct appeal to them. They had heard the fiery 
 eloquence and unanswerable argument of James 
 Otis, Avhich, as John Adams said, " breathed into 
 this country the bi'cath of life." The voice of 
 Samuel Adams was ringing in their ears, pro- 
 claiming: '' We will not sul)mit to any tax, nor 
 become slaves. AVe will take up arms, and spend 
 our last drop of blood before the King and Par- 
 liament shall impose on us, and settle crown offi- 
 cers in this country to dragoon us. The country 
 was first settled by our ancestors, therefore we 
 are free, and want no king. The times Avere 
 never better in Rome than when they had no 
 
10 
 
 king- and were a free state; and as this is a great 
 empire, Ave shall have it in our power to give 
 laws to England; " spoken with a spirit of defi- 
 ance wdiich has not vet been defeated, and with 
 a spirit of prophec}^ which, as the Lord liveth, 
 will one day be fulfilled. And they had heard 
 the call of that unknown sentinel on the Avatch- 
 towers, who cried: — "If an army should be sent 
 to reduce us to slavery, we will put our lives in 
 our hands, and cry to the Judge of all the earth, 
 who will do right, saying: Behold, how they 
 come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou 
 hast given us to inherit. Help us, O Lord, our 
 God, for we rest on Thee, and in thy name we 
 go against this multitude ! '' 
 
 If we would fully appreciate the devotion and 
 valor which inspired these words, we should ever 
 bear in mind what " a feeble folk " our fiithers 
 were, in all the attributes which constitute a state. 
 The population of the colonies, at the time when 
 they made their stand here for civil freedom, 
 and dreamed with Samuel Adams of American 
 nationality, was less than three millions; that of 
 Massachusetts was less than three hundred thou- 
 sand; that of Boston about thirteen thousand. 
 The entries of foreign and coasting vessels into 
 the port of Boston, were about three hundred 
 annually, and the clearances about four hundred. 
 The valuation of all the property of Massachu- 
 setts, including the Province of Maine, w\as about 
 ten millions only. The travel on the great line 
 to ISTew York was all more than accommodated, 
 (the conveyances being less crowded than at this 
 
11 
 
 dny,) by two stage-coaches and twelve horses. 
 Tlie strangers who visited Boston landed mostly 
 at Long Wharf, we are told. Where these stran- 
 gers came from we are not told. Xo bridges 
 spanned the Charles or the Mystic — and none 
 had been projected to East Boston. In Essex 
 county, one of the oldest and most populous 
 sections of the colony, there were only three post- 
 oflices, and the ap[)ointmcnt of three post-mas- 
 ters was all the pati'onage of that kind which the 
 Provincial Congress possessed. A weekly mail 
 was a luxury; a weekly newspaper was all that 
 the most inquisitive or ambitious could obtain for 
 the gratification of their curiosity or ventilation 
 of their views. The entire population of that 
 section of Massachusetts, through Avhich the 
 British troops passed on their way to Concord, 
 including a territory of five miles on either hand, 
 was less than five thousand. The entire Ameri- 
 can army employed during the Kevolutionary 
 war which opened at Lexington, was less than 
 twenty thousand men. And seven thousand 
 American regulars, five thousand French troops, 
 and four thousand militia, defeated Cornwalhs at 
 Yorktown, and secured our independence, with a 
 loss of three hundred men. Of what our fathers 
 had not, in these days of steam, and magnetism, 
 and hourly mails, and half-hourly newspapers, 
 and daily intelligence fron Cathay and farthest 
 Ind, and teeming towns, and a country populous 
 from sea to sea, and armies flashing a million 
 bayonets, with siege guns, which mounted on 
 Bunker Hill, would bombard Salem on the one 
 
12 
 
 hand and Lexington on the other — it were vain 
 to endeavor to tell. 
 
 It is difheult to conceive why great fleets, and 
 the flower of the English army should have been 
 sent to subdue a people like this — a j^eople feeble 
 in numbers and resources, and so reasonable in 
 their demands upon the mother country, that the 
 most powerful eloquence in the British Parlia- 
 ment was heard in their defence. But so it was: 
 and the arrogance of man was once more em- <4 <; 
 
 ployed to accomplish a divine purpose. It is not j 
 
 eas}^ to understand why imposing military feints 
 at midday, and forays at midnight, and Sunday 
 excursions among a church-going people, should 
 have been organized to overawe and terrify — 
 unless the invader carried in his breast that con- i 
 
 science which " makes cowards of us all." And 
 it is impossible to comprehend the reason why 
 Leslie retreated from Salem, without firing a 
 gun, leaving the imperial Pickering master of 
 the field ; or why a well-armed and disciplined 
 body of veteran troops did not pursue a trium- 
 phant and destro3dng way to Concord, blasting a 
 terrified countrv in their march, and returnino: 
 laden with the spoils of victory; unless the man- 
 ifest wickedness, and cowardice of the enterprise 
 had paralyzed their arms. As we look back upon 
 the repeated insults heaped upon the people of 
 Boston, the occupation of her harbor with float- 
 ing batteries, the slaughter of her citizens in her 
 peaceful streets, the occupation of the town with 
 strong military force, our hearts are filled with 
 gratitude to that overruling Providence, who 
 
 O 
 
13 
 
 sta^'cd the hands of the poAVorful, and converted 
 all his efforts into the simple lesson that for the 
 cause of freedom, " it must needs be that offences 
 come." And we rehearse the story of those few 
 eventful hours, which we have met to commemo- 
 rate, with mingled gratitude and admiration, and 
 with that sense of fascination, which the tale of 
 rare adventure and great purpose always awakens. 
 The night of the eighteenth of April comes 
 on, mild and soft as midsummer, and the hour 
 approaches when the signal of conflict is to 
 be given to a waiting American people. The 
 hidden designs of the British governor are di- 
 vulged to the officers of the British army, and 
 the work of carrjdng them into operation com- 
 mences. That the vigilant and watchful patriots 
 are informed and alert is soon apparent. Joseph 
 Warren is more than a match for Lord Percy. 
 By the way of Roxbury he despatches William 
 Dawes — and across the river to Charlestown he 
 sends Paul Kevere. At that moment the lii2:hts 
 are fixed on the Xorth Church steeple, and be- 
 fore a man of the British soldiery was embarked 
 in the boats which were to convey the army to 
 the shore of Middlesex, " the news of their com- 
 ing was travelling with the rapidity of light 
 through the country." On spodBevere, arousing 
 the inhabitants in every hamlet and on all the 
 wayside. He warned Adams and Hancock of 
 their danger, at the house of Rev. Mr. Clark; 
 roused Samuel Prescott to the work; was cap- 
 tured by British officers on the road, was ivleascd, 
 and returned with renewed vigor to his rally. 
 
14 
 
 Every patriot upon whose head a price had been 
 set was placed in safety, to await the moment- 
 ous events of the coming day; and in the silent 
 watches of the night, the militia of Lexington, 
 under Captain John Parker, assembled on this 
 green, to scatter, after some delay, each man to 
 his own home; and slumber settled down once 
 more upon the silent spot. Bat now the morn- 
 ing of the nineteenth of April dawned, Wednes- 
 day morning, ninety-six years ago this day of 
 wxek and month; and just before the sun 
 appeared above the horizon, the British troops, 
 following an advance guard, marched with quick, 
 defiant step, into the little village, and were con- 
 fronted b}^ Parker's hastily gathered company, 
 drawn up in battle array, — the unconscious 
 .heroes, in whose hands was placed the subliiue ser- 
 vice" of firing the first shot for American freedom, 
 and a Republic of human equality. And there 
 they fell — Parker, and Muzzey, and Munroe, and 
 Jonathan and Caleb Harrington, and Iladley, 
 and Brown, the seven sons of Lexington — and 
 Porter, the offering sent by Woburn to the sacri- 
 fice; — there they fell; and the invader passed on; 
 the widow and the orphan remained behind; the 
 long agony had begun. " D^y came in all the 
 beauty of an early spring. The trees were bud- 
 ding; the grass growing rankly a full month be- 
 fore its time; the blue bird and the robin glad- 
 dening the genial season, and calling forth the 
 beams of the sun which on that morning shone 
 with the w^armth of summer; but distress and 
 horror gathered over the inhabitants of the peace- 
 
15 
 
 fill town. There, on the green, hiy in death the 
 gray-haired and the young; the grassy fiehl was 
 red with the innoeent hlood of their hrethren 
 shiin, erying unto Grod for vengeance from the 
 ground." The invader passed on to meet the 
 men of Acton, and Concord, and TJedford, and 
 Carhsle, and Littleton, and Chelmsford, and 
 Heading, and Sudbury; and to be harrassed in 
 an iofnominious ilight bv the gathering militia 
 from all adjoining towns. The blood of Essex 
 mingled with that of ^Middlesex in the great 
 event — and the men of Danvers lay down with 
 the heroes of Acton, and Bedford, and Lexing- 
 ton, to awake to a glorious immortality. "Fi'om 
 the nineteenth of April, 1775," said the Kev. 
 Jonas Clark, the learned and fervent, " will be 
 dated the liberty of the American world." 
 
 Ninety-six years have passed away, my fi-iends, 
 since the events I have narrated; and what a 
 new and I'efulgent chapter has been added to 
 American history in our own da}'! What a 
 chapter to the illustrious record of this most fa- 
 vored town! It seems almost needless to recite 
 it here, Avhei'e every event was brought home to 
 your own fireside, in the personal history of 
 ever}^ father, and brother, and son who went 
 forth to war; where the charities of the hour 
 were dispensed with unbounded liberality; and 
 where the bereavements of the conflict were 
 brought home to many a sorrow-stricken heart. 
 And yet an amazing chapter this is — casting into 
 the shade the marvels of romance, and all the 
 heroic adventure that poet ever ])ainted. 
 
16 
 
 A IS^ew England youth, with the blood of the 
 Puritan running in his veins, and the stern resolve 
 of the Puritan slumbering in his heart, had passed 
 his days in the quiet pleasures and pursuits of a 
 l^ew England village. His mind had been culti- 
 vated in the simple and useful studies of the 
 district school. He had been taught to " forgive 
 his enemies," as the foundation of true Christian 
 courage, and as the first step pointed out by Him 
 who is the way, and the truth, and the life. He ^- ' 
 
 had adopted the honest calling of his fathers, — 
 resolved to joreserve those manly and reliable 
 qualities which had given his people their power 
 and influence through many generations. The 
 traditions of the old wars, and trials, and suc- 
 cesses of his country, the trophies of his ances- 
 tors hano'ino- on the walls of his humble dwell- 
 ing, taught him through what rugged paths his 
 rights and privileges as a citizen had come down 
 to him. AVhen the nineteenth of April came 
 round, he had before him the bloody drama on 
 the village green of Lexington. When the seven- 
 teenth of June returned, he heard the roar of 
 the cannon on Bunker Hill, and saw " the thick 
 volumes of smoke and flame rising from the 
 burning Charlestown." He believed in the Re- 
 l^ublic, and in that portion of it especially known 
 as Massachusetts, the home of human equality, 
 of firm faith, and high aspiration. In the dim 
 and shadowy past stood the giant forms of the 
 mighty dead who had given his country power 
 and renown, types of heroic virtues in their 
 day and generation; watching with solemn and 
 
17 
 
 earnest gaze from their eele.stial battlements, the 
 country they had transmitted to their sons. 
 
 It is not easy to imagine the event which coukl 
 burst ni)on this young man's home, and provide 
 him with a new existence, in Avhich all his slum- 
 bering energies might find ins])iration. But the 
 event came. The existence of that Union he 
 had been taught to love, was threatened, and the 
 echoes of the signal gun of rebellion, reverbera- 
 ting across the land, reached his quiet home. 
 From that moment a life of heroism commenced. 
 Obedient to the first call of his country, he re- 
 ceived the blessing of his mothei*, turned away 
 Avith hidden emotion from his sister's tears, sum- 
 moned his manliness, and entered upon his career. 
 The trials of the rendezvous, the jar and tumult 
 of the nudtitude, the weary march, the loneliness 
 and solitude of a life with an unknown crow'd, 
 the intense excitement of desperate adventure, 
 and oh! that longing and aching thought of 
 home! what a weight to bear, as he joined that 
 first regiment from Massachusetts, and hastened 
 to defend and save the capital from the tread of 
 the invader. Amidst the hardships of the camj), 
 the wildness of l)attle, the weariness of the 
 march, the burning heat, and the biting cold, 
 now stunned and blinded in the charge, and now 
 a patient sufi'erer in the hospital, in prison to- 
 day, and in the very jaws of death to-moi-row", 
 he performs the self-sacj-ificing duty which his 
 country has imposed upon her defenders. The 
 disasters of the Union army are his sorrows — its 
 successes are his joys. He follows his flag in 
 
18 
 
 victoiy and defeat — disheartened never — perhaps 
 with ^leade at Gettysburg, perhaps with Sheri- 
 dan in the valley, perhaps with Hooker at Look- 
 out Mountain, perha])S with Grant at Yicksburg, 
 perhaps with Sherman at Atlanta, perhaps toiling 
 in the Avilderness, perhaps entering Riehmond on 
 that glonous morning when the loyal host passed 
 through its gates, and planted the Flag of the 
 Union on its rebellious ramparts; and oh, dis- 
 tressing ehance of ruthless war! perhaps eut t^l 
 down on the very eve of victory, and borne 
 hither to fill a grave around which the tenderest 
 affections, and the most heroic memories now 
 cluster. 
 
 Can you tell me where in song or story a life 
 like this, with all its emotions, has been recorded? 
 Around the memory of this youth, and thousands 
 such as he, gather all the gentle associations 
 which soften and beautify the savagery of war. 
 History has immortalized the generous and self- 
 sacrificing deed of Sir Philip Sidney, as he stayed 
 the hand which would moisten his own parched 
 and dying lip, until the agony of his expiring 
 comrade had been relieved. Shall not history 
 also tell of him, whose last w^ords were " "Write to 
 mother and tell her I behaved well;" of him, 
 whose glazed eye was turned upon the pictiu-e of 
 his child so far aw^i}^, held there in his stiffening 
 grasp; of him, who defiant of wounds rushed on 
 to battle still, and who fell at last with this mes- 
 sage on his lips — "^ Tell my fjither I was dressing 
 my line when I was hit;" of him, who clasped 
 to his heart, in its last thi'ob, the written words 
 
19 
 
 of her wlioni be loved; of him, who i-ejoiced in 
 death, and only asked that he might be buried in 
 his own native town; of him, who ])referred 
 death on the })icket-line to a surrender; of the 
 thousands, who, we are told, rose superior to the 
 agony of the hospital, and declared, as the holy 
 light irradiated their pale faces, that they could 
 die without regret, for the great and sacred 
 cause? kShall not all this be told as the heavenly 
 voice, uttered by Christian heroes bearing to 
 the battle-field all the moral obligations, and 
 kind affections, and pious sentiment, and intel- 
 ligent devotion of free and educated Christian 
 homes? 
 
 Such was the xVmerican soldier in the i>-reat 
 conflict for freedom; and such was the ins})ira- 
 tion he received from his relations to a Christian 
 people in whose cause he fought, and foi* whose 
 faith he fell. And, then, what a radiant atmos- 
 phere of charit}^, and religion and humanity, was 
 gathered about him, as he discharged his high 
 service. The prayers which follow^ed the Crusa- 
 ders in their warlike march to the Holy Sepul- 
 chre, the stern religious faith which inspired the 
 hosts of Cromwell, the fires of freedom which 
 lighted the path of our armies in the Revolution, 
 were all cold and dull when compared with that 
 fervid devotion to liberty and humanity, which 
 glowed in the hearts of the lo^^al American 
 people during the great war. What unbounded 
 charities were lavished on our soldiers! Tell 
 me, if you can, the town in which societies were 
 not organized for their relief. Tell me, if you 
 
20 
 
 can, the church in whicli prayers Avere not uttered 
 in their behalf. Fing-ers that had previously 
 known no toil, labored for them incessantly. 
 Female devotion, in camp, in hospital, at home, 
 became a national virtue. The fact that we had 
 an army in such a field, seemed to warm the 
 American heart to the most genei'ous sentiments, 
 and to fill the Amei'ican mind with the loftiest 
 thought. When Phelps and Fi*emont proclaimed 
 freedom as the laAv for all territory occupied by 
 their ai'mies; when Andrew announced that for 
 personal liberty the peo])le of Massachusetts 
 would never cease to fill the ranks; when Lin- 
 coln sent forth his Emancipation Proclamation, 
 as the holiest object of the war; they uttered 
 only the voice of the faithful, whose holy zeal 
 had become the life-blood of the nation. This 
 it was which silenced the unfriendly words of 
 foreign powers, and won for our cause a pojndar 
 response abroad which jealous potentates dared 
 not defy. They indeed learned to respect our 
 valor on the field. The woi'k performed at 
 Yicksburg, and Gettysburg, and Nashville, and 
 Atlanta, taught them that Grant, and Sherman, 
 and Meade, and Thomas, were generals upon 
 whose military power the most warlike nation 
 might rely. The guns of Fai*ragut and Wins^ 
 low proclaimed our supremacy on. the high seas, 
 over the watery grave of the Alabama, and the 
 silenced forts of New Orleans and Mobile. But 
 the all-conquering force — that which robbed the 
 designs of Great Britain of all populai' support 
 at home, — that which threw disgi'ace around the 
 
21 
 
 efforts of Louis Napoleon to plant an ally to the 
 rebellion on this continent — was the devotion of 
 our ])eople to the cause of freedom and universal 
 human rights, during- the war. All honor then 
 to our armies! All honor to those who led us 
 on to victory! But glory and honor and grati- 
 tude to those who clothed the war with the robes 
 of charity — to those Avho elevated it to the most 
 humane ])urpose — to those who amidst the smoke 
 and carnage of battle, led the American people 
 on to national purity and redemption. As we 
 hallow the graves of the dead, and erect monu- 
 mental structures to their memory, let us not 
 forget their illustrious comrades in civil life, who 
 sanctified the cause for which thev fell. On a 
 day like this we may invoke the spirits of Abraham 
 Lincoln and John A. Andrew, to bless us in our 
 work, as they once blessed these dead heroes in 
 theirs. On a day like this we may pay a grateful 
 tribute to the great charities of the wai- — and 
 learn that in the exercise of heroic virtues there 
 is no distinction of race or sex or condition 
 amouij: the children of God. 
 
 I congratulate this town up(Mi the ])ai"t it has 
 performed once and again in the great drama of 
 this age. It is the same stoiy, I know, repeated 
 so often, in the thousands of towns throughout 
 the Xorth — but none the less admirable and 
 instructive. You, who sit here, have not forgot- 
 ten the prompt and ready response to every call 
 for men to iill up the ranks of our armies, deci- 
 mated by disease and death. Year after year the 
 call was made upon you, and year aftei* year was 
 
22 
 
 the same response given. I learn from your ; 
 
 faithful and accurate historian, that your boun- ! 
 
 ties were offered freely and liberally; that your 
 quota was more than filled; that you provided 
 for the families of the soldiers absent; that you 
 expended more than twenty-seven thousand 
 dolLars in the work; and that you sent two 
 hundred and forty-four soldiers into the army, 
 being nine more than the town's quota. The 
 private bounty and charity of the town, more- ^ ) 
 
 over, were increasing. The sons and brothers 
 who were in the field, were not forgotten by the ! 
 
 mothers and sisters who remained behind. And 
 we are truly told that "Lexington also furnished 
 one hospital nurse, whose services were scarcely 
 surpassed by any of that class of self-sacrificing I 
 
 women, who submitted to every hardship, and 
 encountered every danger, to relieve the suffer- ^ ■' 
 
 ings of the patriotic defenders of our free insti- 
 tutions ; " one devoted and kind-hearted Ameri- 
 can woman, let me add, who, having dispensed 
 her charity w^ith a lil)eral hand dui'ing the strug- 
 gles of her own country, has devoted herself also 
 to alleviating the sufferings of the wounded and 
 stricken on the battle-fields of Europe, brethren 
 of him to whom she had given her heart, and 
 whose 'spirit and memory attend her in her 
 heavenly service. 
 
 There are those here who cannot forget that 
 sad story that out of the number who went hence 
 into battle, twenty laid down their lives in their 
 country's service. On an occasion like this we 
 are all reminded of their labors, their sufferings, 
 
23 
 
 their death. At their graves, as the annual 
 pilgrimage comes round, we recall their lives, we 
 remember their service, we renew our vows to 
 our country, and we offer with grateful hands the 
 fairest tribute which nature has provided as a 
 crown to her favorite sons. While we sympa- 
 thize with the domestic sorrow wdiich is renewed 
 every day in those sacred solitudes where their 
 voices are no longer heard; — with her, whose 
 daily w^alk is attended by the sainted form of 
 that beloved son, now closer than ever to her 
 heart, and crowned with perennial youth; — with 
 her, wdiose sad pleasure it is to see each day in 
 the faces of her children, the features of their 
 father, and to hear his voice in theirs; — with 
 him, who is hastening to join that son upon 
 wiiom he hoped to lean in the evening w^alk of 
 life; — we rejoice and thank God for the example 
 of heroism and valor wdiich they have bequeathed 
 to us and our countiy as a rich inheritance. 
 Strew, then, their graves w^ith liowers. Embalm 
 their memories in your hearts. May the sod 
 which covers them be sacred forever. And as 
 the winds pass over their graves, may they bear 
 to the remotest regions of our land the sacred 
 story of their lives, and the beauty and signifi- 
 cance of their deaths. And when the last of 
 their comrades shall have gone to his rest, and 
 the Grand Armv shall all be mustered in heaven, 
 may each returning spring take up the hallowed 
 duty, and crown these mounds, to teach coming 
 jrenerations the sweet harmonv which exists 
 between the bountiful heart of creation, and the 
 
24: 
 
 life and death of her brave, and true-hearted, 
 and devoted sons. 
 
 The erection of a monumental structure to the 
 memory of your fallen heroes, as a sacred object 
 upon which the eyes of your children and your 
 children's children to the remotest generation 
 may rest, is in obedience to that natural senti- 
 ment of gratitude, which has adorned the civil- 
 ized world with enduring memorials of noble 
 deeds and noble men. A Memorial Hall dedi- 1*'] 
 
 cated to such historic events as attend the name 
 of Lexington, and adorned with appropi'iate 
 statues and tablets, possesses an interest for the 
 mind of every American citizen. To those 
 generous benefactors, who have contributed so 
 largely towards the erection and adornment of 
 this structure, not this community alone, but the 
 nation owes a debt of gratitude. And were the 
 distinguished and accomplished first President of 
 your Monument Association, the classic orator 
 and statesman of the last generation in Massa- 
 chusetts alive to-day, I am sure you would hear 
 from his silver tongue an approving and encour- 
 auinii' word for a desi^xn which in coinbinin£>' 
 historical emblems and records, with the culture 
 of books, and accommodation for the exercise of 
 the rights and privileges of independent citizens, 
 represents the genius as well as the kindly affec- 
 tions of our people. It is not given to all to 
 unite in one Memorial Hall, the memory of the 
 soldiers of two great wars for progress and 
 humanity. Nor did the distinguished and public- 
 spirited benefactors Avho interested themselves to 
 
25 
 
 perpetuate by eiuluring* moiiument the lieroic 
 deeds enacted here by the revohitionarv fathers, 
 antieipate such a fbitunate combination as this. 
 ^o\v, indeed, may the humblest student sitting 
 within this sacred liall, I'emeraber that for the 
 fi'eedom of thought which giv^cs an inestimable 
 value to the volume in his hands, the youthful 
 blood of two generations of men in this town 
 has been freeh^ shed. As he turns with i)i-ide to 
 the history of his country and learns there the 
 great virtues and the social and civil ])rinciples, 
 which make a people truly powerful, contem- 
 plating also with pride the statues of the illus- 
 trious men who i)racticed these virtues in the 
 beginning, and fixed these princii)les, he can turn 
 then to the tablets which adorn these walls, and 
 learn the price which you have paid lor the 
 preservatiou of the blessed institutions trans- 
 mitted to us by the fathers. I have stood 
 beneath the triumphal arches, which have told 
 for ages the story of ancient Avarriors, and have 
 sorrowfully studied on those tablets, the mournful 
 processions of drooj)ing captives. I have paused 
 in the great halls designed for the I'cpose of 
 veterans of the Grand Army of Xapoleon, or 
 for the naval heroes of the mistress of the seas. 
 I have lingered in the shadow of the i)roud 
 column wdiich records the imi)ei'ial triumphs of 
 personal ambition; but in all the significance, in 
 all the associations, which give true value to the 
 memorial of great eveuts, they were low and 
 mean, when compared with this structure, which 
 invites an intelligent people within its walls, and 
 
26 
 
 ])er})etiiatc.s the memory of a war fought for 
 freedom and the elevation of mankind. Let it 
 be nndei'stood hereafter that the triumphs of the 
 Amei-iean sword mean the advaneement of reh- 
 gion and edueation. 
 
 Tui'ning now, my friends, from the gjorious 
 I'eeord of the past, and ])ansing reverently before 
 the memorials of Ameriean heroism and devotion 
 whieh yon this day dedieate, let ns eonsider, foi- 
 a moment, \Yhat we have aeeomplished for onr- 
 selves and foi- mankii d by oni* great wars. For 
 onrselves, by the revolution, an independent 
 nationality, bnilt npon snch foundations that a 
 great eivil eonvnlsion was not only tolerable, but 
 pi'omotive ol' all the progressive design whieh 
 lay elose to the hearts of our fathers. The i-evo- 
 lutiona'i-y wai*, small in all its pi-oportions, secnred 
 to mankind the tirst opportnnity for a free repub- 
 lie, as the result of natui-al development, and not 
 of violenee or eonvnlsion. The great war for 
 the Union not only eonlirmed our nationality, 
 but revealed its true proportions, ]mritled it, 
 brought it baek to the sul)lime objeet of its 
 founders, taught the woi'ld to respeet its skill 
 and valor in eonfliet on land and on sea, and to 
 admire its devotion to the broadest doetrines of 
 hnman rights as the fonndation of i^-ood 2;-overn- 
 ment. Our first stej) won the admiration of the 
 thoughtful — oui' last won the respeet of the 
 arrogant and the thoughtless. In less than a 
 eentury we have I'isen from eolonial feebleness, 
 to a eommanding national presenee, an empire, 
 the only one known in history whieh foreign foe 
 
27 
 
 has never vanquished, and which a great civil 
 strife has merely ])uri(ic(l and strengthened. 
 History i-ecords that each succeeding stej) in 
 the woi'k has been honoi-able; — but of the last 
 great conflict, its magnitude and its results are 
 so amazing, that even now it seems to ns as ii" it 
 must have been a dream. Covering an extent 
 of territory as broad as all Europe; calling into 
 the field larger bodies of armed men, than any 
 similar event of modern times; conducted ui)on 
 a scale of operations unknown before, and in 
 accordance with the breadth of our possessions, 
 and the activity and normal condition of oui" 
 citizen soldiery; complicated with dillicult j^olit- 
 ical questions :it home, and still more dilhcult 
 problems abroad; it constitutes a chapter in 
 history upon which the student will always' linger 
 Avith amazement and romantic interest. In the 
 sudden and i-apid development of military genius; 
 in the organization of gi'eat armies; in the rapid- 
 ity of evolution; in the extent of its operations; 
 in the imj)rovement of all the enginery <>l war; 
 in the social revolution; and in the solution of 
 constitutiona' ([uestions which had long existed 
 between the states and the general govermnent; 
 — the work of a century Avas accomplished dur- 
 ing the four years' conflict. Such a tremendous 
 struggle could not but result either in gi-eat good 
 or great evil. As the flood swept on, it became 
 manifest that it must act as an aj^ent of destruc- 
 tion, nnless it left in its path the fei'tilizing 
 deposit, as the l)ed of a new and moi-e luxuriant 
 harvest. That it preserved the best government 
 
28 
 
 ever instituted ])y man, would seem to be a suffi- 
 cient answer to any candid mind, which would 
 fairly estimate its consequences. That it swe[)t 
 away a great social wrong, and purged the Con- 
 stitution and the statute-book of all complicity 
 with that wrong, is a still moi-e satisfactoiy 
 consideration. That this is the accepted faith of 
 the American peo[)le, I cannot for a moment 
 doubt. Looking l)ack over the history of the 
 past, they have learned to resjiect the powxM' of " 
 
 our government, and to admire and adore its 
 spirit. The guai'dian now of every citizen, it 
 stretches forth its hands for the protection of all 
 against injustice and wrong under every i'orm, 
 offering education in the one, and the ballot in 
 the other, as the sure foundations of social and 
 civil equality and freedom, and national pros- 
 perity and strength. 
 
 Fortunately for ourselves, and as I think for 
 the prospects of republican freedom everywhere, 
 we stand no longer as a I'ival or a dependent 
 among the nations of the earth, but as an ally 
 and equal for all wdio ai-e advancing towards free 
 institutions; as a rebuke to despotism every- 
 where. Recognizing the necessity and the des- 
 tiny, that our institutions must one day cover 
 this entire continent, not by conquest, but by the 
 peaceful adoption of free and aspiring people; 
 remembering that "^ the Continental Congress, 
 by solemn resolution invited Canada, and then 
 appointed a commission with Benjamin Franklin 
 at its head, to foi^m a union between the colo- " 
 nies and the people of (Canada; " remembering 
 
29 
 
 too the expression of Congress to these ])eo])le, 
 " that their interests and onrs ai'e insej^arahly 
 nnited;" renieml)ering', also, the written deelai'a- 
 tion of Riehard Cobden to Charles Sumner more 
 than twenty years ago, that " natni'e has deeided 
 that Canada and the United States must l^eeome 
 one for all purposes of inter-eommunieation; " 
 and remembering, moreover, the broad and 
 statesmanlike assertion of ]\Ir. Sumner that, ^' the 
 United States ean never be indifferent to Canada, 
 nor to the other British ])i'ovinces, near neighbors 
 and kindred;-' I antieij)ate the tiuie when the 
 Amei'iean flag shall protect the American citi- 
 zen, on all lands and seas, from the Frozen ocean 
 to the Isthmns, as a reward for that manly asser- 
 tion and endeavor, which have taught foivign 
 powers the strength of republican institutions to 
 preserve themselves from overthrow, and to exer- 
 cise an imperial sway, when necessaiy, without 
 the exercise of despotic ])OAvers. AVe ai"e now 
 wise enough to " ask for nothing but Avhat is 
 right; " and we are powerful enough "to submit 
 to nothing Avhich is wrong." Composed of all 
 nationalities, we would sympathize Avith all in 
 their endeavors after fi'cedom and education. 
 To a united German llepublic, advancing we 
 trust to her place among the nations, we extend 
 a cordial hand. To convulsed, and bleeding, and 
 betrayed France, we present the calm ])o\ver 
 of our own republic, and the " moderation and 
 wisdom that tempered our Kevolution,'' in which 
 her own great son learned his first lesson, and 
 performed his first noble service. For Ireland 
 
30 
 
 we offer our fervent prayers; — and to England 
 we extend our warning voice, that she may learn 
 justice and honor ere it is too late. 
 
 Our revolutionary fathers heard in the British 
 Parliament the appeals of Edmund Bui-ke for 
 conciliation and peace with the colonies; they lis- 
 tened to the thunders of Chatham when he rejoiced 
 "that America had resisted; " they were cheered 
 by the burning words of Barre as he protested 
 against the oppressive acts of the ministry 
 towards their brethren in America. We do not 
 forget the fountains of our republican thought — 
 the genius of Milton, the doctrines of the Puri- 
 tans, the assertions of Magna Charta. We speak 
 the language of Shakspeare, and Milton, and 
 Bacon, and Kevvton. We study with reverent 
 interest that scene of the Pilgrim embarkation in 
 the Kotunda of the American Capitol; and we 
 pass beneath the same scene in the corridors of 
 the Parliament House in England, the most con- 
 spicuous of all the national frescoes there. 
 
 We have not yet forgotten, I trust, the warm as- 
 surances of sympathy, during oin- civil war, from 
 John Bright, and Thomas Hughes, and Newman 
 Hall. We know well that the liberal heart of 
 England and the freedom-loving heart of Amer- 
 ica beat in unison. But we cannot shut our eyes J^ 
 to the other side — that side full of insult and 
 wrong, in which England from the days of the 
 Boston Port Bill, down to the ravages of the 
 Alabama has always been the aggressor. The 
 flings of her statesmen against what they have 
 seen tit to call " an unbalanced democracy" here; 
 
 < 
 
31 
 
 the contempt of her sehohii's lor American 
 thonglit, until Ilawtlioi'ne, and Ijon<;cr('ll()w and 
 Emer.son conqnei'ed tlieir prejudices; her agj^ivs- 
 sive acts towards onr commerce and onr fisheries; 
 her swift recog-nition of rebel l)eingerency ; her 
 chronic antagonisms to American nationaHty, — 
 have inllicted a wound on the national heart not 
 easil}' healed. But now let the quarrels between 
 the mother and the daughter cease; and let them 
 join in one great civilizing mission. ANHiile the 
 United States have eai-ned the power to call for 
 instant redress for wrongs inllicted uj)()n them- 
 selves, they have also earned the right to protest 
 against acts of injustice towards othei-s. and to 
 encourage all the ])()i)ular as])ii-ations which have 
 been excited bv the success of their own free 
 institutions. 
 
 A\ ill not England learn her lesson, tlu! lesson 
 taught her by her child, whom she sent ibi'th 
 from her home, two centuries and a half ago? 
 Can she resist forever the demands for five 
 education, the l)all()t, equal inheritance, and 
 division of land? AVill nothing but im]iending 
 ruin induce hei- to lift her heavy hand from Ire- 
 land, and allow her jieojde to rise to the full 
 statui-e of elevated and ])rosperous humanity? 
 AVill she never learn that the example set by 
 a young, free, busy, ])rosperons and ])owerful 
 nation is woi-th studying, and that a peaceful 
 alliance with a republic holding in its hands the 
 great highway from ocean to ocean, ]X)ssesses 
 commercial advantages, which are as valuable at 
 
32 
 
 least as uneasy and iiiiprotliictive colonial posses- 
 sions'? 
 
 From the 19tli of April, 1775, to the 19th 
 of April, 1871, the great American Kepnblic 
 has been advancing "from strength to strength," 
 working out the ]iroblem submitted to her, when 
 she entered the family of nations. From first to 
 last, what has she not done to awaken popular 
 thought, to instruct the wise, to inspire the 
 brave? The inevitable centre, hereafter, of the ^ 
 
 great commercial enterprises of the world, it is 
 her system of government, her form of civiliza- 
 tion, and, I trust, her national honor and honesty, 
 which are to be an example for ail men. And 
 when the two nations which separated on that 
 " glorious morning," on the green of Lexington, 
 shall join hands again, the signal will be given 
 for international honor, and peace, and arbitra- 
 tion, and justice, to take the place of jealousy, 
 and wrong, and injustice, and confusion, and 
 war. The lesson, which, in all our strange expe- 
 riences and vicissitudes, we have taught ourselves 
 and others, may never be forgotten. And with 
 hearts filled with gratitude to God, who hath 
 given us the victory, and so protected our 
 country that we can proudly call around us the 
 heroic memories of two great wars, on this 
 historic day, may we renew our vows to be true 
 to our great inheritance, and to transmit it in all 
 its glory to our children, for the beauty of the 
 whole earth. 
 
PROCEEDINGS 
 
 AT TlIK 
 
 jjedicaliou of the |/nvii and ||cmLirial [jail, 
 
 I. E X I X G r () X , M A S S . 
 
 APRIL 1'.), 1871. 
 
 At tlie annual town mectin<>- held in ^Farcli, 1871, the 
 linildinu- Committee of the New Town Memorial and 
 Lii)rary Hall? Bnilding- reportc<l the work nearly eompleted 
 and ready for delivery to the titwn. It was voted that the 
 Buildinii" be dedieated with appropriate ceremonies on the 
 lOtli of April, beinix the ninety-sixth anniversary of the 
 battle of Lexin<rton, and a committee of eight citizens, to 
 be joined to the members of the Building Committee, were 
 constituted a Conunittee of Arrangements with discretion- 
 ary powers to carry out the vote, and an appropriation of 
 a sum not exceeding three hundred dollars was made. 
 The Committee of Arrangements was organized with the 
 following gentlemen as members thereof, viz : — 
 
 Of the Building Coinniitlee : — Messrs. Charles Hud- 
 son, John Hastings, Sargent C. A\'hicher, ILunmon IJeed, 
 Luke C. Childs, Warren E. Kussell,,and Reuben W. IJee.l. 
 
 Of other citizens joined: — Messrs. (ieorgc W. lvoI)iii- 
 son, Joseph N. Brewer, George Munroe, Matthew II. 
 
34 
 
 MeiTiam, Oliver P, Mills, Alonzo Goddard, Charles E. 
 Goodwin, and Charles Blodi-ctt : to whom the followinji 
 gentlemen were added hy the Committee, namely : — Loring 
 W. Muzzey, Chai-Ies M. Parker, George L. Stratton, 
 George E. Muzzey, and Frederic Witherell. 
 
 At the same meeting it Avas considered appropriate that 
 the formalities of receivini>: the kevs from the Buildino: 
 Committee, should be tendered the young men of the 
 town, as significant of the prospective provision, kept Jfli 
 
 prominently in view in the design and erection of the 
 building, for the wants and privileges of those who are to 
 come after and succeed the j^assing generation. 
 
 In accordance with this spirit, ]\Iessrs. James E. Parker, 
 Billiuiis Smith, ir. , Euirene Tuttle, and Charles S. 
 Blodgett, were appointed a Representative Conmiittee to 
 receive the keys, as the emblems of the trust confided to 
 them. 
 
 An enthusiastic interest prevailed in the community for 
 the creditable success of the contemplated ceremonies, 
 enhanced by a spirit of patriotism and grateful remem- 
 brance of sacrifices in war, wdiich were on this occasion to 
 be formallv expressed in the consecration of the Memorial 
 Hall. Citizens responded liberally by placing at the dis- 
 posal of the Ccmimittee necessary funds for the execution 
 of their plans. 
 
 The morning of the 19th of April dawned auspiciously. 
 The Hall, the old jNIonument, and many private residences, 
 were gaily decked with the national colors, appropriate 
 mottoes and emblems. The inauguration of the festivities 
 of the day was announced by a salute of artillery at sun- 
 rise, which was repeated at noon and at sunset. At eleven 
 
o'clock the procession was formed on the ground in front of 
 the raih'oad depot, in the following order: — 
 
 (jermania Band, 20 pieces, conducted by A. Ilcinicke. 
 
 Col. Juhn W. TTmlson, Chief xAIarshal. 
 
 Assistant Marshal, Lieut. Jarvis W. Dean. 
 
 Detachment of Maiden Battery, Lieut. W. B. Patterson, 
 
 Commanding. 
 
 Ilaocock Engine Company. 
 
 Assistant 3Iarshal, Lieut. George E. Muzzey. 
 
 Public Schools of the Town, about two hundred children in all. 
 
 Assistant IMai'shal, Lieut. Samuel E. Chandler. 
 
 Committee of Arrangements and Building Committee. 
 
 Committee of Young Men. 
 
 President of the Day, Orator and Chaplain. 
 
 Distinguished Civilians. 
 
 Clergymen of Lexington. 
 
 Other Civic Gruests. 
 
 Assistant Marshal, Major Jonas F. Capelle. 
 
 Officers of the United States Army 
 
 Lieut. Col. John G. Chandler and Capt. Lewis E. Crone. 
 
 Soldiers of the War of ISPi. 
 
 Officers and Soldiers of the last War, from Lexington, together 
 
 with those from other places, now resident in the Town. 
 
 Assistant Marshal, Capt. William Plummer. 
 
 Town Officers. 
 
 Citizens generally. 
 
 The route of the procession was from tlie place of form- 
 ing, up Main and ^Monument streets, around the Common, 
 and thence to the Hall. 
 
 After a voluntary by the band the Chief ]\Larshal intro- 
 duced Asa Cottkell, Esq., President of the day, who on 
 
36 
 
 assuming the duties of the place, addressed tlie audience as 
 follows : 
 
 ADDRESS OF ASA COTTKELL, ESQ. 
 
 " Ladies and Gentleiuoi : 
 
 " The returninir year lias aijaiii brouirlit around the 
 vernal season, and the day on which, ninety-six years aao, 
 tlie brave nien whose lineal descendants are among" those 
 here present, stood and offered the first resistance to tlie 
 scarlet-coated soldiery of Britain, on the soil of this very 
 town, then bearing ihe same name which it bears now, and 
 that name was rendered, then and there, by their deeds, 
 historical and immortal. 
 
 "Yes, that name IjEXIXGTOX stirs the spirit of every 
 true American as the sound of a trumpet ; it is associated 
 forever with the early history of the heroic age of that 
 peojile, who now stand foremost in the march of empire, 
 of freedom, of civilization, and of progress. And here on 
 this peaceful dav, in this peaceful time, having recently 
 passed through the great crisis which so long threatened to 
 blast the hopes of our ancestors, and of good men eveiy- 
 where, we, citizens of Lexington and of the United States, 
 no lonu'cr drenciied in fraternal blood, and fir from the din 
 of c:\rnage and sights of horror, whose echo and whose 
 shadow l)eyond the broad ocean contrast with our own 
 sense of j)reservation, and solid ground of security and 
 rejoicing; we, hopeful, and with reason, of our country's 
 glory and its future, are to-day gathered. 
 
 " We are assembled here for a happy cause and for a 
 worthy [)urpose. An event, slight perhaps in itself, slight 
 by comparison with the fdl of em[)ires, or the con(iuests of 
 kings ; but yet pleasant as a symbol of })eace and the 
 success of democratic govei'iiment, has sunniioncd and 
 collected us here. That event is the com{)letion ol' this Hall. 
 It is a mark of the growth of the town, and an important 
 
 4 
 
 I'd 
 
 i 
 
37 
 
 e|iocli in its history. It is a si^n that ii republican system 
 oF o-overnnient, by tiie i)C()j)le for themselves, is not falling 
 into disrepute or deterioration. 
 
 " AVe are liere to honor the occasion with some fittinL( 
 ceremonial. We are here in the presence of each other, 
 our townsmen, their wives, their families and friends 
 collectively, to look with our own eyes on this proof of 
 proijress and advance. 
 
 " The town hall, the church and the school-house, are to 
 be seen and liave lonjj been visil)le, on everv hill, and in 
 every valley in Xew Kngland. These, far more than the 
 lines of railway and their station-houses and depots ; more 
 even than the wonderful wire-work over which the liirht- 
 ninij, as man's slave, i)ears the latest intelliLrence of all 
 that has most recently j)assed on this planet ; far more 
 even than the thrivinir farm and substantial farm-house, or 
 the ornamental villa ; far more than the myriad manufac- 
 tories, many windowed and storied ; f\ir more than the 
 crowded and lofty warehouses of yonder city, each one of 
 which is a princely fortune ; far more than the thick clus- 
 tering" masts of the shij)ping about its wharves : far more 
 than our universities, our parks, our o[)era houses, our 
 hotels : more than all tiiese, the village town-house, now 
 massive and sul)stantial ; the airy school-house, not devoid 
 of architectural pretensions, that has taken the |)lace of the 
 primitive single-roomed log-cabin in the midst of the forest ; 
 and the heaven-pointing spires in every hamlet and borough, 
 indicate the spirit of our age and nati(H) : these are the true 
 exponents of the character and intelligence of our people : 
 these are the jewels of our country : these show our maimer 
 of liviuix and our life : these tell to all, the wav in which 
 the descendants of the pilgrims aim to secure and enjoy the 
 highest possible blessings of human existence — liberty, 
 knowledire, and virtue. 
 
 "Here shall the men, and perhaps tlie women, come to 
 determine what shall be the laws, and who shall make and 
 
administer them, with the power to cliange both the laws 
 and the law ministers, at their own sovereign will and 
 pleasure. The state-house, and the court-house and the 
 prison, have no terrors to us, while we contemplate this 
 structure — for if oppression and injustice emanate from or 
 await us there — here we will come and within these walls, 
 by our votes, abolish or change them. 
 
 "These new and numerous, and fair but not magnificent 
 or extravaoaiit edifices, are the best siijn of the o-eneral 
 welfare. Gorgeous cathedrals, royal palaces and massive 
 pyramids, conjure up memories of the munificence of des- 
 potism ; but wide-spread and universal comfort, and not 
 isolated "randeur, is the harvest we and our fathers have 
 sowed and cultivate. The monuments of our national 
 glory, are our improvements in every thing that increases 
 the intelligence and hap[)iness of the general people, dimin- 
 ishes j)ain and suffering, elevates the dignity of man, and 
 enlarges enliirhtened and safe freedom for the whole. And 
 therefore, with devout and grateful hearts, we are assem- 
 bled to receive this Building from those intrusted with the 
 task of erecting and completing it, and to render our 
 acknowledgments for the zeal, energy and fidelity with 
 which their commission has been executed. 
 
 " As on yonder Common, stands the Monmnent of Lex- 
 ington's early heroes, here to-day, we hail the emblem of 
 the true meaninfj and value of their immortal labors. 
 Here, when the citizens shall fi'om time to time meet 
 together, these tablets, trophies, statues and mementoes, 
 and the associations clustering about them, will renew their 
 patriotism, and increase their love of country. If civil 
 discord has so recently nearly shattered the edifice of our 
 national greatness and safety, never may this Hall, while 
 that memory lasts, jar with selfish and sectional hate and 
 strife. Here let local and partizan jealousy have no room ; 
 let the genius of the place prohibit it ; let the name of 
 Lexington be associated with Concord. 
 
39 
 
 "This r)uil(lin<T owes its erection in part, as you know, 
 to private and patriotic bounty, which deniand:?, and will 
 never fail to receive with us, due acknowled^nnent, and the 
 best meed of being understood and appreciated. This Hall 
 is not only for us, but for those who are to come after us, 
 and fill the places that we now till. To the young men of 
 this town, this noble edifice is to be this day committed. 
 Thev are to maintain it in the future, and hence thev for- 
 mally receive it, and become its sponsors. Let them, then, 
 reiiard it as a sacred leoacv, and honor it as such, cherish- 
 ing the suggestions and monitions of the wise and eloquent 
 men who are present to address them, for to them we look, 
 to perpetuate all those glorious associations that now cluster 
 around and hallow it. 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 "This Hall having been completed to the acceptance of 
 the gentlemen who were aj)pointed to superintend its erec- 
 tion, it remains for them to submit to their constituents the 
 result of their labors, and formallv vest it in the authori- 
 ties of the town. The Committee n(jw desire to attend to 
 that duty by their chairman. 
 
 " Let me invite your attention to a gentleman, who, for 
 a score of his best years, with great ability and zeal, has 
 devoted himself to your progress and material advance- 
 ment. Any words of commendation I might attempt to 
 oiler, would fall so far short of the meed of praise your 
 own thoughts would suggest, that they would rather detract 
 from than add to his conceded merits. 
 
 " Allow me to introduce to you the Hon. Cii.vrles 
 Hudson, Chairman of the Building Conniiittee." 
 
 jNIr. Hudson, in behalf of the Building Committee, 
 tendered the kevs to the Committee of Young Men, with 
 the following address : 
 
40 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES HUDSON. 
 " Mr. Chairindu : 
 
 " The committee intrusted with tlie important duty of 
 erecting a public edifice to meet the wants of the town, 
 present and prospccti\e, congratuhite you and themselves 
 that the ohject of their appointment is so far accomplished 
 that they can with propriety submit their work to their con- 
 stituents, and respectfully ask to be discharged from any 
 further sidistantive labor on the subject. 
 
 " The committee, from their first appointment, ha\c felt 
 that they assumed a high responsibility in urging their fel- 
 low citizens to embark in an enterprise which would impose 
 upon the town a heavy pe.cuniary burden ; and though we 
 were aware of the wants of the place, we should have 
 deemed it prudent to defer action on the subject till the 
 town had, reduced its outstanding debt ; but for the liljcral 
 offer of a native of Lexington, a worthy and j)atriotic lady 
 of whom we may justly be proud. Mrs. Maria Cauy, of 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., moved bv a generous regard for the place 
 of her nativity, offered to the town six thousand dollars on 
 condition that we shouM erect an edifice which would meet 
 the wants of the public, and at the same time furnish a 
 Memorial Hall in honor of our departed patriots, and a 
 suitable room for the Free Library, which she had partially 
 endowed. And thouuh at the time of our meetinu', when 
 the vote to build was t:d<en, she was traveling in a foreign 
 land, we were persuaded that distance would not alienate 
 nor the wide Atlantic quench her regard for her native town ; 
 and that a manly effort and a generous trust on our [)art, 
 would secure to us fin-ther aid. And in this we were not 
 disajipointed. For our generous benefactress has enlarged 
 her donation to twenty thousand dollars — four thousand for 
 the Memorial Hall, six thousand for the Library, and ten 
 thousand for the edifice itself. With these benefactions for 
 such worthy objects, the town of Lexington can well aflbrd 
 to contract a debt. 
 
41 
 
 " In the construction of the Building we have endeavored 
 to meet the present and future wants of the town, rather 
 than to provide rooms to rent. The i;eneral desiirn of tiie 
 committee, modified and molded hy the skill and taste of 
 the architect, has been adopted ; and the execution of the 
 plan carried out by the art and the untiring; fidelity of the 
 contractors has given us an edifice of wiiich we mny justl)' 
 be proud. The division we have made of the interior may 
 require a brief explanation. We have sometimes been told 
 that our Library Hall was too hxr<;e. But we have fondly 
 looked forward to a time when not only the increase of 
 books will require more room, but when the wants of the 
 people will demand a reading room, and their taste a cabi- 
 net of historic relics, and a collection of specimens illustra- 
 tive of the arts and sciences, and when the walls may be 
 adorned with portraits and paintings. 
 
 " Our Memorial Hall requires a passing notice. Though 
 its conception is original, we are not ashamed of its design. 
 It is consecrated to the memory of the departed, and its 
 emblems illustrate their patriotism, and show our gratitude. 
 Our statues, we regret to say, are not completed, but will 
 be in a few months. As you approach the Memorial Hall 
 from the front entrance, you will, when these statues are in 
 position, see in the niche nearly in front of you on the left, 
 a life-sized marble statue of a soldier of 1775 — a minute- 
 man, leaving his plough and seizing his musket and 
 powder-horn at the call of his country, and with a counte- 
 nance which bespeaks firmness of purpose and trust in the 
 Lord of Hosts, standing forth to resist aggression, and, if 
 need be, sacrifice his life in the cause of freedom. On his 
 ri"^ht is a marble tablet, bearinf^ the names of the fjallant 
 men of Lexington who fell on the memorable 19th of April, 
 1775, fulfilling the pledge previously given, that they would 
 be faithful unto death. 
 
 "In the niche, nearly in front of you on the right, stands 
 a marble statue, representing the class of men who rallied 
 
 F 
 
42 ^ ; 
 
 under the flag of the Union, when treason raised its im[)ious 
 hand against our country ; and on his left yon can read the 
 names of the devoted men of the Lexington (juota, who 
 perislied in defence of our liberties. We recognize them as 
 our late neighbors, friends, and protectors, apparently retir- 
 ing from the field after they had performed their whole duty. 
 They seem to us a reserved corps of freedom's ardent vota- 
 ries, watchfully rept)sing upon their arms to guard the 
 interests of the Kepublic. AVe are awed in their presence ; 
 and with grateful emotion silentlv breathe forth the bene- 
 diction : — ii 
 
 " ' Rest, patriot soldiers ! be yonr names revered ; j 
 
 Your valor shielded what our fathers reared.' 
 
 i 
 i 
 
 " But facing these statues are two empty niches, anxiously 
 waitiuij to be filled by the statues of two illustrious men of ' 
 
 tlic Revolution, endeared to the whole country, and particu- 
 larly identified with Lexington, and the day we celebrate. 
 When one of these niches is filled with a statue of the first j 
 
 signer of the Declaration of Independence, whose name on .^ 
 
 that inmiortal instrument stands out in bold relief, showing 
 at once his patriotism and his penmanship ; and the other is 
 filled with that of the sturdy ])atriot who organized the 
 American Ivevolution, and who, when he heard the report of 
 the British uuns on Lexini>ton Common on the 19th of *" 
 
 April, '75, exclaimed in prophetic rapture, ' What a glorious 
 mornino- for America is this ! ' then we shall have a Memo- 
 rial Hall worthy of tlie birth-place of American liberty, 
 and shall have done something to perpetuate the memory 
 of John Hancock and Samuel Adams, two of 
 
 " ' The few immortal names 
 That were not born to die.' 
 
 " And these niches must be filled. The friends of these 
 distinguished statesmen and patriots ask it ; the pid)lic 
 voice demands that it be done. Thus far we have been 
 
43 
 
 mostly dependent upon female rrcnerosity. Not only Mrs. 
 Cauy, but Mrs. Samuel B. Kindge, of Cambridge, a native 
 of Lcxintjton, has substantially erected one of our statues, 
 and Mrs. P^benezer Suttox, of Peabody, lias made us a 
 liberal irift toward filling the vacant niches. Such exam- 
 pies should excite the gentlemen to action, and so furnish us 
 with the needed funds. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, we Inve already said that, in erecting 
 tliis edifice, we have looked forward to the future growth of 
 the town. We have built it not so much for ourselves as 
 for those that come after us — for oiu* children and our 
 children's children. Impressed with this view, the town 
 has done well in selecting a connnittee of voumx men to 
 receive the hall in her name. You, young gentlemen, have 
 been made the honored agents to represent not only the 
 Lexington of to-day, but the Lexington that Is to be. You 
 stand as an intermediate link between us and posterity. It 
 is with peculiar pleasure, therefore, that we pass this Build- 
 ing over to you, who, according to the course of nature, 
 will enjoy it when we shall have passed off the stage. 
 Here you will assemble for the transaction of public busi- 
 ness. In this Hall you will convene to hear public lectures, 
 to interchange kind offices, to join iu social gatherings, and 
 to partake of such innocent amusements as are calculated 
 to dispel gloom, and give that variety which has been 
 denominated the spice of life. But you nuist remem1)er 
 that this Hall is not the entire Iniilding, nor is this edifice 
 the only thing committed to your care. There are institu- 
 tions connected with it, more valuable than the brick and 
 mortar of which its walls are composed. The Memorial 
 Hall embodies the spirit of patriotism which made, and 
 still preserves us a free people ; and the I^il)rary Hall is 
 but the portal to that field of knowledge on which [)ersonal 
 enjoyment and ])ublic prosperity uuist depend. Tiiese 
 institutions you will fondly cherish. To you, young men, 
 we look with confidence, tbat you will exert your intluence 
 
44 
 
 to fill the niches in the one hall, and the shelves in the 
 other, so that patriotism may he chastened with knowledge, 
 and that both may combine to make us an enlightened, 
 free and prosperous community. But the time-piece behind 
 me, that faithful monitor, the gift of one of our prominent 
 citizens,* admonishes me to draw my remarks to a close. 
 I bow to the admonition, and will deliver to you these keys 
 as emblematic of this edifice and the institutions it embo- 
 soms, with an ardent hope and a firm belief that these 
 great interests will be cherished, and that what is committed 
 to you will be handed down unimpaired to those that shall " 
 
 come after you." 
 
 Mr. James E. Parker, in behalf of the Committee of 
 Young Men, responded as follows : 
 
 ADDRESS OF JAMES E. PARKER, ESQ. 
 
 " 3Ir. Chairman : — 
 
 "On behalf of the town of Lexington, more particularly 
 the young men of the town, whom I have the honor to ^ 
 
 represent, I receive these keys from your hands, believing 
 that the mechanical execution of the work has been thor- 
 ough and complete, and that great credit is due the con- 
 tractors for the faithful discharge of their duties. It also 
 becomes my pleasant duty to express to you, sir, personally, 
 and to your colleagues on the Building Committee, the 
 sense of obligation which the people of the town feel 
 toward you for the untiring exertions which you have made 
 that this structure might be what it is, a credit to the town, l 
 
 and perhaps no unworthy memorial of those brave men 
 who struggled not far from here, ninety-six years ago to- 
 day, and of those equally brave men who, later, (in the 
 language of the lamented Lincoln,) gave up their lives that 
 the nation might live, and whose bones, in many instances, 
 
 * George W. Robinson, Esq. 
 
45 
 
 still rest in that 'sacred' Southern soil, sacred indeed, 
 pow that they have consecrated it with their blood." 
 
 The dedicatory prayer was then offered by Rev. A. B. 
 MuzzEY, Chaplain of the day. After which the President 
 of the day introduced Dr. George B. Loring, who deliv- 
 ered the eloquent oration which has been kindly furnished 
 us for publication. 
 
 At the close of the oration, after music by the band, the 
 following original hymn, composed for this occasion by 
 Mrs. C. A. Means, was sung by the assembly. 
 
 Our fathers, truo and brave, 
 Here gave their lives, to save 
 
 Our land so dear ; 
 God, whom they loved, their shield ; 
 Their watch-word, " Die, not yield," 
 Ou many a well fought field, 
 
 They knew no fear. 
 
 Once more at Freedom's call. 
 Sons left their homes to fall, 
 
 No more to rise ; 
 Worthy their fathers' fame. 
 We hold each honored name. 
 And praise with loud acclaim 
 
 And tear-dimmed eyes. 
 
 Thank God, the strife is o'er ; 
 Peace crowns our laud once more 
 
 With heavenly li^^ht ; 
 These walls shall proudly tell 
 How those we loved so well, 
 For their dear country fell 
 
 In deadly fight. 
 
46 
 
 Long may the arts of peace 
 Bid strife and tumult cease, 
 
 'Neath Learniug's sway ; 
 While wisdom rules our laud, 
 Firm as a rock we'll stand, 
 Held by that mighty Hand 
 
 Which guards our way. 
 
 This closed the exercises at the Hall, and the company 
 proceeded to the Eaih-oad depot, which had been tastily 
 fitted up for the dinner. The tables were bountifully sup- 
 plied, and were served to about four hundred persons. 
 
 The Divine blessing was invoked by the Rev. Chaplain. 
 After dinner, the President began the intellectual feast 
 in savins: : 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 "I feel that I should leave an important duty unfulfilled, 
 if I did not, before vacating this chair, in behalf of the 
 Committee of Arrangements and the citizens of this town 
 generally, say a word of welcome to the gallant men 
 who to-day represent the defenders of our most cherished 
 risrhts. 
 
 "Just ten vears ac'o to-day, some of vou, whom I now 
 have the honor to address, were marching to the defence of 
 our common country. Just ten vears aoo, Massachusetts' 
 good Governor, the ever blessed Andreav, sent forth upon 
 the wings of the lightning, to the yeomanry of old ]Middlesex, 
 that the nation's cajoital was in danger, and the nation's 
 life threatened ; when, as the wand of the maoician brinofs 
 forth from hidden springs the wonders of his art, up 
 sprang the men of ^Middlesex, ready to maintain the right, 
 and strike the first blow to protect the liberties their 
 fathers struck the first blow to secure. Worthv sons of 
 
 ' 
 
47 
 
 heroic sires, welcome, thrice welcome, to this our festive 
 fjatherinf;. 
 
 " And I am sure I could not render a more acceptable 
 service ti) my fellow citizens assembled to-day, than to 
 retiu-n their acknowledfrments to the distinjiuislied guests 
 who have honored the occasion by their presence, and 
 especially their thanks to the distinguished orator, whose 
 unrivalled wisdom and eloquence have so instructed and 
 charmed us. 
 
 " The happy events of this day will be long cherished by 
 our citizens ; esteeming it, however, but an interlude or 
 introduction to the sublime spectacle, of the nation wor- 
 shiping at the shrine of liberty on the 19th of Aj)ril, 
 1875 — believinof that tiic nation's best and noblest men 
 will make a pilgrimage to that si)ot, which was a field of 
 blood in 1775, but which, in 1875, shall be a field of 
 glory. 
 
 " And now permit me to introduce, as the toast-master 
 for the occasion, a «entleman whom Lexiniiton loves to 
 honor — born amid the ruined hills of New Enfjland, a 
 soldier on tlie plains of Mexico, a citizen true and loyal on 
 the patriotic soil of Lexington — thougii absent fi-om us for 
 a season, we siiall presently sec that his absence has not 
 diminished his patriotism, or abated his zeal in advocating 
 universal freedom — I have the honor to introduce to you 
 Colonel Isaac II. Wrjoirr. 
 
 Colonel Wright proceeded to the duties assigned him 
 in these words of welcome and congratulation. 
 
 ADDRESS OF COLONEL ISAAC H. WRIGHT. 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 "With little or no time for reflection and preparation, I 
 have again revisited your ancient town u[)on the call of 
 your Committee of Arrangements, to ofliciate as Toast- 
 
48 
 
 Master at this most interesting festival. In default of time 
 for pre-arranged and digested thought, I must trust to the 
 inspiration of the occasion, and to your generous indul- 
 gence, for whatever of acceptance my impromptu labors 
 may meet with at your hands. 
 
 " The President of the Day has imposed a heavy weight 
 of obligation upon me, by the very complimentary terms in 
 which he has presented me to this company, and in fact has 
 left me but one course to pursue, in the absence of all hope 
 on my part to realize the very exalted anticipations which 
 his words would excite. And that course is, to put in a 
 disclaimer, which I now do, against all and singular, the 
 commendations with which he has so lavishly invested me. 
 There being then a tacit convention that my friend Cott- 
 rell's high-wrouglit eulogium shall not be brought up in 
 judgment against my short-comings, I may be permitted to 
 say tiiat whatever of justice and truth there may be in his 
 remarks is properly attributable, in part at least, to circum- 
 stances which transpired in former days while I was a resi- 
 dent of Lexinirton. 
 
 "It will be remembered by many who now hear me, that 
 many years ago, when that distinguished apostle of universal 
 liberty, Louis Kossuth, made a pilgrimage to this town 
 to do reverence at the shrine of the Massachusetts martyrs 
 to American liberty, I had the honor to receive and intro- 
 duce to the citizens of Lexington, that eminent scholar and 
 enlightened patriot, from whose eloquent lips we heard 
 with delight the avowal of those doctrines of universal 
 political freedom, of which he was at once the exponent 
 and the martyr. Upon that occasion and some others of a 
 kindred public character, I had the [)leasure, while a citizen 
 of the town, of being identified in some humble capacity 
 with the patriotic demonstrations of the people ; and I am 
 willing to attribute to a grateful appreciation of ni}'' labors 
 in that behalf, any small share of the commendations of 
 your President which I may justly appropriate to myself. 
 
49 
 
 " Ijcxington has done nuicli in the past by her influence 
 and example, to establisli and u|)h()Kl the cause of lil)erty 
 and humanity. When, on the 19th of April, 1775, she 
 was called upon to otFer up her sons as a barrier to stay the 
 triumphal march of the invadinf*' host, by that distinguished 
 destiny a seal was set upon her brow ; she was consecrated 
 to Freedom's holy cause by a baptism of bk)od, and from 
 that day fortli a hiiih and solemn mission devolved upon her. 
 And well has she fulfilled that mission ! Faithfully by her 
 public schools, and her town-meetin<ifs — those infant schools 
 of Republics — has she inculcated and cherished that enlight- 
 ened and discriminating love of liberty, upon which the 
 experiment of popular self-government was successfully 
 founded in this country, almost a century ago. Freely has 
 she sent forth her sons to do battle for the country on every 
 field and on every ocean where the old Pine-Tree flag or 
 the Stars and Stripes have heralded the battle for liberty or 
 constitutional law. Generously has she poured forth her 
 means to succor and sustain the wounded, and the widows 
 and orphans of the honored dead. To-day, on this proud 
 anniversary, her sons and daughters gather together in 
 magnificent array to dedicate a noble Memorial Hall ; a 
 monument of patriotism replete with beauty, and crowned 
 with usefulness. 
 
 '■ The past, then, at least is secure ; the people of Lexing- 
 ton have thus far faithfully cherished her ancient fame, and 
 kept alive within her bounds the fires of liberty. Nor do I 
 doubt that in the time to come, the sons and dauirhters of 
 this time-honored town will enudate the noble example of 
 those who have gone before them, and by their patriotism 
 and public spirit in all emergencies, whether of war or 
 peace, fully meet the high expectations founded on a past 
 so glorious. AVhcn I look around upon the earnest and 
 intelligent faces that grace this festive board ; when I con- 
 sider the patriotic character of the large assembly which 
 has this day crowded yonder beautiful Memorial Hall, and 
 
 G 
 
50 
 
 the deep and earnest attention with which the orator's elo- 
 quent and fitting address was listened to by all ; I see an 
 ample guarantee that Lexington will ever be true to her 
 ancient fame, and that lier sons and daughters will never 
 fail to emulate the virtues of their predecessors. 
 
 " Let me now bespeak your attention to the Regular Toasts, 
 as I shall announce them, and to the responses of the eloquent 
 gentlemen whom I shall call upon to answer thereto." 
 
 First regular toast : 
 
 TJie President of the United States. tl 
 
 Response by the Band, "Hail Columbia," and cheers 
 for the President. 
 
 Second regular toast : 
 
 The Governor of the Commonwealth — Illustrious in an illus- 
 trious line of succession of leaders that have steadily mar- 
 shalled the State iu the foremost rauk. 
 
 Response by General S. E. Chamberlain of the Gov- 
 ernor's staff, who gave some interesting reminiscences of Cll 
 the sons of LexiuLfton in the late war. 
 
 Third regular toast : 
 
 The Army and Navy — Tlieir recent exploits iu war, by sea 
 aud laud, demonstrate that the fathers iuspired tlie sous aud 
 prompted them to uoble deeds aud heroic sufferiug. 
 
 Response by the Band, " Star Spangled Banner." 
 
 Fourth regular toast : 
 
 The Nation in 1783 — in 1871 — The iufaut Hercules in the 
 cradle, aud the resistless champion of right aud justice. v 
 
 Ex-Governor Walter Harriman, of New Hampshire, 
 
 responded as follows : 
 
 Iu the brief moment allotted to me, of course, I can do no 
 more tliau barely to glance at a tlieme like tliis : — Tlie infant 
 Hercules iu tlie cradle, and the resistless champion of right 
 aud justice ! What emotions this sentiment awakens ! What 
 
51 
 
 patriotic fervor it inspires ! Wliat natioual grandeur it brings 
 to the foreground ! 
 
 Look at our country to-day. What variety of soil, of cli- 
 mate, of production. ^Material riclies are poured, witli unstinted 
 prodigality, at our feet. The ''horn of plenty " is no fable. 
 K)very\vhere we find the full stream of its bounty. And all this 
 is free to our hand. Xo Chinese wall invests this country. It 
 opens its doors wide to the down-trodden and the oppressed, and 
 its invitation has the endorsement of its visible progress. What 
 nation has enlarged its census roll, or its territorial area, or the 
 individual prosperity of its citizens as ours has done ? Ouly 
 two hundred and fifty years ago the Pilgrim Fathers stood on 
 Plymouth liock : 
 
 Amid the storm they sang, 
 
 And the stars lieard, and the sea ; 
 And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 
 
 To the anthem of the free. 
 
 Before them, stretching from ocean to ocean, were the tangled 
 wastes of a wilderness — the abiding-place of savage beasts and 
 savage men. See, now, what marvellous contrast is presented. 
 Look on the smiling face of the land. See the harvests of the 
 West, and the white-winged commerce of the East ; how cities, 
 towns, villages, have sprung up as if by the magic spell of 
 enchantment ; how canals float our ships from lake to sea ; how 
 railroads have laid their iron tramways over plains — spanning 
 rivers — tunnelling rnountains. See the churches whose spires 
 lift the finger of prayer up into the sky ; and the school-houses, 
 which are the nurseries of American thrift, culture and states- 
 manship. All this, and more, — aye, more ! the result of ouly 
 ninety years of a government hardly equalled, certainly never 
 
 excelled. 
 
 O, Beautiful ! My Country ! ours once more ! 
 
 What were our lives without thee ; 
 
 What all our lives to save thee ; 
 
 We reck not what we gave thee ; 
 
 We will not dare to doubt thee. 
 Bow down, dear Land, for thou hast found release ; 
 
 Bow down, in prayer and praise ; 
 
 Thy God, in these distempered days, 
 Hath taught thee the sure wisdom of His ways, 
 And through thine enemies hath wrought thy peace. 
 
52 
 
 Let the American citizen study the institutions fostered by 
 this government ; let him appreciate the freedom of the people ; 
 let him reverence, as he ought, the glory of our flag, which has 
 caught -within its folds a full constellation of stars, and then 
 he will understand, in some measure, the significance of those 
 talismanic words which are a passport and protection in every 
 quarter of the globe — " I am an American citizen ! " 
 
 Look over this country. No nation ever had so valuable 
 territorial resources ; none ever had given in trust such noble 
 principles of government. The simple statement of a few facts 
 is overwhelming. We have a frontier line of more than ten : 
 
 thousand miles. We have a sea-coast of four thousand, and a ; 
 
 lake-coast of twelve hundred. The longest river in Europe — j 
 
 the famous Danube, which washes the feet of Vienna, is but 
 half the size of our Mississippi. The song of the llhiiie has 
 been sung by every tongue, l)ut even our Ohio is six hundred 
 miles longer than that. The Thames flows by the lioman 
 embankments which gave foothold to the city of London, but 
 our little Hudson bears its wealth of merchandise and beauty to 
 the bosom of New York, and is a hundred and twenty miles 
 longer than the famous English stream. The whole of England 
 might be jnit into the old State of Virginia, and yet leave margin %t' 
 
 enough to form a State nearly the size of Massachusetts ! Our 
 territories embrace over a billion of acres, with only a popula- 
 tion of less than half a million. There is elbow-room for multi- 
 tudes of people yet to come. A grand, prosperous, free home 
 opens its doors with a wide hospitality in this country, to the 
 deserving of all climes. And not' only is there land, but there 
 are the honest thrift and the resolute activity resulting from 
 these great and generous national principles, which, like granite 
 blocks cut from the quarry of eternity, underlie our govern- 
 mental institutions. While, tried by fire, Ave have that last, 
 that grandest of all possessions, — a clear, heroic, American ^^ 
 
 manhood. Tiiis i.s the jewel in our crown ; this, the central 
 luminary in our constellation ; this, the rich product of our 
 fathers' fidelity ; this, the chiefest boon to be transmitted to 
 posterity. 
 
 Fifth rei'iilnr toast : 
 
 Lexington Gammon and Concord North Bridge. 
 
53 
 
 Response by Hon. J. ]\I. Usher, who spoke of the glory 
 of the early history of Lexington, and believed that the 
 services of the day were a pledge that the future of the 
 town would be equal to her past. 
 
 Sixth regular toast : 
 
 The Orator of the Day — The thrilling eloqiieuce of bis 
 address is equalled only by his ardent patriotism. 
 
 Dr. George 15. Lorino responded : 
 
 I know of no position more ditlicnlt and embarrassing tlian 
 that of the Orator of the Day, when called upon to respond to a 
 toast complimentary to himself. Every other man in the com- 
 munity finds some one ready and willing to respond for him. 
 Every topic finds an advocate. Tlie Governor has his aide, who 
 can present his case gracefully and eloquently. The President 
 of the United States always has an admiring friend, Avho is 
 ready to speak for him. The Flag has its eulogist ; the " day 
 we celebrate," its historian. But the unhappy orator is com- 
 pelled, after having worn out the patience of the audience in 
 one place, to test his powers on his own behalf, in another. 
 And after my long and severe demand upon your time, 1 really 
 feel ashamed to proceed again. 
 
 I must apologize for the length of my oration. It was a 
 wise thought of my friend Mr. Ibulson, when he urged brevity 
 with his invitation. ]5ut I could not help it. The charm of 
 the subject led me on ; and I beg you and him to forgive 
 me, and to charge upon yourselves the faidt of having a 
 fascinating history whicii led me awav. And then there were 
 certain associations, which I could not forget as the task went 
 on. I remembered that to Essex County belongs a share of the 
 glories of this early era and of this day. It was the courage 
 and resolution of Col. Pickering and his little baud, at the 
 North Bridge in Salem which set an example not forgotten by 
 the men of Lexington and Concord. It was John Felt, walk- 
 ing by the side of Col. Leslie on his march through Salem in 
 search of secreted cannon, aud threatening him with instant 
 death if he ordered his men to (ire, whose spirit attended me as 
 I warmed my heart over the valor of your town. And the men 
 
54 
 
 of Danvers, who rushed to the fray, leaving their comrades on 
 the field, the first offering of that patriotic town to the cause of 
 freedom ; they too attended me in my labors. So too Abed- 
 nego Judkius of Swampscott, (I think that was tlie Puritanic 
 name he bore,) seizing his fowling-piece, and hastening to the 
 fight with unshod feet, and his half-cooked hoe-cake under his 
 arm, came on in the procession of Essex boys, to assure me that 
 of whatever I said for Middlesex, they would claim a share. 
 Do you wonder then that my story was a long one ? To me I 
 assure you it is most interesting, and 1 thank most deeply your 
 Committee for giving me an opportunity to dwell for a season 
 among scenes and memories so grand. I give you — " 
 
 21ie Revolutionary Heroes of Essex and Middlesex — Their 
 united devotion to the great cause of Freedom has never been 
 forgotten by their sons. 
 
 Seventh regular toast : 
 
 The Men of Lexington who fell on the X'dth of April, 1775 — 
 Good seed well sown ; it has produced a harvest of glory. 
 
 Response by Rev. A. B. Muzzey, a descendant of one 
 
 of the soldiers in the battle of Lexinoton : 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 With the first knowledge of your intention to dedicate this 
 fair and substantial editice on the 19th of April, I resolved to be 
 present as a spectator on the occasion. My attachment to my 
 native town grows more and more strong as I descend the vale 
 of years ; and the connection of my own relatives with the 
 scenes of this ever-memorable day, increases and intensifies this 
 interest. One of the proto-martyrs, whose names are on that 
 tablet, Isaac Muzzey, was my kinsman. Amos Muzzey, my 
 grandfather, was a member of that Spartan band commanded 
 by Parker, the Leonidas of the Revolution. My own father, ^ 
 
 born on the 19th of April, saw the British column, a boy of 
 nine, on that day, and half a century afterward he took the 
 depositions of five of the survivors of Captain Parker's com- 
 pany, to the effect that they witnessed the return of the British 
 fire by our soldiers. And, in the recent struggle to save the 
 life of the republic, out of fourteen of my name and blood, of 
 the age to bear arms, eleven took part in the contest. 
 
55 
 
 For another reason I rejoice to be with you at this time. 
 The men of my profession took a conspicuous share in our great 
 Revohitiou, In their preaching and their devotions on the 8ab- 
 batli, they remembered their country. When President Lang- 
 don offered prayer with our troops on Cambridge Common, as 
 tliey left, in gloom and doubt but with brave hearts, for the 
 bloody struggle of the 1 7th of June, he followed a custom not 
 uncommon in that eventful period. AVhat Macaulay says of 
 the early Puritans was true of their descendants ; seconded and 
 supported by their ministers, they were men " who could look 
 calmly upon the stormy battle, because they had first looked 
 upward to God." To Jonas Clark the pastor of Lexington, it 
 was in large measure owipg that this town so early took a 
 bold and decided stand for the rights and liberties of the Colo- 
 nies. Not only by his appeals in the pulpit, but by his zeal and 
 perseverance in private and in public, by his sound judgment 
 and broad views, he siiowed himself a statesman, and fitted for 
 a far higher sphere than he ever reached. By his voice and by 
 his pen, he took a prominent part in many measures that led on 
 to the final establishment of our civil and religious rights, and 
 to the independence of these United States. 
 
 To Mr. Clark's influence, joined to their own inherent patri- 
 otism, it was due that, so early as 1765, the inhabitants of 
 Lexington at a public meeting asserted their chartered rights 
 and privileges, and protested against the odious Stamp act. 
 Nor did they limit their interest to themselves; but in 1768 
 they chose a delegate to "join," as they expressed it, ''such as 
 were, or might be, sent from the several towns in the Province, 
 to consult and advise what may be best for the public good at 
 this critical juncture." In 1769 they passed a vote "not to use 
 any tea or snutf till the duties are taken off." And in 1774, 
 they chose a delegate to the Provincial Congress. 
 
 Thus from the beginning was seen the influence of these local 
 municipalities on the destiny of the whole country. In every 
 land, but nowhere more reiliarkably than in this, it is manifest 
 that the history of towns is a most important part in the history 
 of nations. Towns are otdy the elements of nations ; and 
 whatever affects the well-being of the one, affects that also of 
 the other. John Adams, writing of the situation of beleaguered 
 Boston in 1775, says, "the condition of that beloved town will 
 
56 
 
 plead with all America with more irresistible persuasion thaa 
 augels, trumpet-tongued." 
 
 There is a peculiar fitness in combining, as you do this day, 
 the dedication of your "• Town and Memorial Ilall." The two 
 are inseparably connected. The course pursued by this town, 
 from the inception of the Revolution down to the present day, 
 has been not of local interest alone, but national. The whole 
 country has an equal share in the great system of free, repre- 
 sentative institutions, the inauguration of which was insured on 
 this spot the UHh of April, 1775. These memorial tablets 
 record indeed only the names of the sacred band belonging to 
 yonr own town. But Parker led more than that little company 
 who stood on yonder green ; he led the embattled host that par- 
 took of his and their spirit thenceforth. When he rallied his 
 men in the afternoon of that signal day, and met the returning 
 enemy, he prefigured our noble army, which, again and again, 
 with thinned ranks and amid fallen comrades, returned to the 
 dread fields of that long and bloody struggle. 
 
 " Lexington, in the sacrifice of that day," as our worthy his- 
 torian tells ns, "lost, including all her killed and wounded, both 
 morning and afternoon, more than one-sixth of her entire com- 
 pany, — a proportion greater than that of the most sanguinary 
 battle-fields in all history." Who can be surpi-ised that her 
 illustrious example stirred the entire continent to arms ? Who 
 can wonder that no less than twenty cities and towns in the 
 Union have taken her venerated name ? Wherever, indeed, the 
 great gospel of lii)erty shall be made known, this which she 
 hath done, shall be told also for a memorial of her. 
 
 I rejoice that the new monument, projected nearly twenty 
 years since, and made the occasion of that eloquent address of 
 Everett to the whole people of the United States, was not lost 
 sight of; but yon have combined with its nolde purpose the still 
 wider object of a memorial to those of this town who fell in 
 the late civil war. You do well to add the plan of a Public 
 Library. So should it be always ;' light and liberty, the educa- 
 tion of the people, step by step with the extension of our limits 
 and the progress of each age. They were our intelligent yeo- 
 manry, freeholders and freemen, who here laid the corner-stone 
 of the republic. They who thought deeply, as well as felt 
 strongly, in the infancy of our freedom, did their part toward 
 
 tl 
 
57 
 
 the emancipation of these colonies, no less than the gallant 
 Parker anil the determined men iu his command. 
 
 Tlicy fought for their lij-csidcs, but not for them alone. That 
 was indeed a sad night when the alarm guns were fired and the 
 drum beat to arms. Dark, iudeed, was that day when wives 
 and mothers and sisters saw those dearest to them go forth, not 
 knowing the dim future, but sure that some homes must be 
 made desolate. Stern was the summons to check tiieir tears, 
 and bind up the bleeding wounds, and speak peace to the dying. 
 Would that we could do justice to their service and sacrifice. 
 What better can we do than to ponder their example and imbibe 
 their spirit ? ^\'itli this " memorial" of the past, we can learn 
 from them the great lesson that the love of home and the love 
 of country should be one and indissoluble iu our hearts. We 
 were taught in the recent test of our institutions, for which Tiew 
 patriot-martyrs, thank God, sprang up, that we are never to rest 
 on our arms, and feel sure that the country is safe. We may 
 well to-day, as we look at the alienations and the disuniting 
 causes and tendencies among portions of the people, and in our 
 national councils, take-up tiie strain of the elder Quincy, who 
 died just before our Republic was born, " Now is the time to 
 summon every aid, human and divine, to exhibit every moral 
 virtue, and call forth every Christian grace. The Avisdom of 
 the serpent, the innocence of the dove, and the intrepidity of 
 the lion, with the blessing of God, will save us." 
 
 In this home of our fathers, let us drink at the same fountain 
 of pure patriotism from which the men whose names we here 
 consign to our children, drank in the day of their perils and 
 toils, their anxieties and their sacrifices, on to the pouring out of 
 their life-blood. And may the draught invigorate us for every 
 high duty we owe to this consecrated soil, the protection of our 
 domestic altars, the repression of all narrow and selfish pur- 
 poses, the upholding of our free institutions, and the perpetuity 
 of the Union. 
 
 Eiiihth re2;iilar toast : 
 
 Memorial Hall — Devoted to the memory of the martyrs of 
 liberty and patriotism, 
 
 " Who seem to die in such a cause 
 We cannot call them dead." 
 11 
 
58 
 
 Response, " Aiild Lung Syne," by the Band. 
 Ninth reeular toast : 
 
 The Cory Lihraiy — A supplement to the common school, 
 calcuhited to improve and elevate the community. 
 
 Eloquently responded to by Hon. Joseph White, 
 
 Secretary of the State Board of Education. 
 
 Tenth regular Toast : 
 
 Tlte Soldiers of ilie late War — Let not the depth of our 
 remembrance of the dead make ns forget the claims of the 
 living. Ij 
 
 Responded to by Col. John W. Hudson. 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 It is strikingly true of Lexington in one particular, that her' 
 experience during the late rebellion was an epitome of that of 
 the nation ; for the officers and men who served on her quota, 
 (and the same is true of those who have, since the war, come 
 here to live,) were to he found in active service in nearly all the 
 departments iuto which the military forces of the Union were 
 divided, from 18G1 to 1865. 
 
 Of such of these gentlemen as sur\ ive the war 1 will gladly 
 say a few words, since they are too uuassumiug to say much 
 about themselves. Indeed, one of them, now resident here and 
 well known to you, Capt. MonSE,* served zealously in the field 
 for two years, and was then so severely wounded in battle that 
 the surgeons despaired of his life ; and yet some of our people 
 were not aware that he had been iu the service at all. 
 
 Of the experiences of these men, no town need have been 
 ashamed. You have already been told by (ieu. CnAMiJERLAiN 
 how early one of the CuANDLEEf family began his active service. 
 Another J (oue of the Marshals to-day) enlisted in a militia 
 company about the same time, bore a part, with several com- 
 rades from the town, in the first battle of Bull Run. and with 
 one of these § was wounded and carried away to Libby Prison ; 
 and there Chandler was reduced so low and detained so lousj 
 
 * Capt. John N. Morse, 35th Mass. ^'ols. 
 
 tKij-\VAKD T. CllAKDLER, 3d M. V. M.— uftci-wnrds 22d Mass. Vols. 
 
 X Samuel E. Chandler, 5tli M. V. M., and afterwards Adj't of a Mo. Cav. Kegt. 
 
 vUlfrNuv A. Am.ieh, r.tli M. V. M. 
 
50 
 
 that he was giveu up, at length, lor dead, and lemarks ajipro- 
 priate to such a supposition were made in one of our churches. 
 
 Others, of those still living, participated in tlu> battles of the 
 Peninsula, from Yorktown to Malvern Hill, in the disasters of 
 Pope's Retreat, in the struggles at South Mountain, Antietam, 
 Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, ia the closely contested 
 operations in North and South Carolina, and in the tremendous 
 conflict at Gettysburg ; and from the best information 1 can 
 obtain, they quite uniformly helped sustain the reputation for 
 courage and steadiness of the 12th, 13th, 16th, 22d, 24th, and 
 other regiments, in which they served. One* of those present 
 to-day lost an arm in rescuing the colors of the 22d regiment at 
 Gaines' Mills, and received some slight wounds afterwards. At 
 Antietam several of those who survive were severely injured, — 
 one of them, Lieut. Deax, of the 35th regiment, (also one of 
 the Marshals to-day,) so badly that he has literally been rescued 
 from the jaws of death. 
 
 In the assaults made and received by the Army of the Poto- 
 mac in its long campaign under Gen. Grant, many of these men 
 well sustained their parts at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, the 
 North Anna, Cold Harbor, the investment of Petersburg, the 
 battle at the i\Iine, and the incessant extensions of the lines to 
 the left, till at last the enemy's works were taken, and, after a 
 short pursuit of Lee, our labor was done. And then it fell to 
 the lot of Lexington, of all the towns of the loyal States, to 
 furnish the excellent and experienced coramissaryf who was 
 selected out of the whole Army to go over to Appomattox Court 
 House and ration the prisoners there taken and paroled. 
 
 At Spottsylvania, where the Second Corps captured the entire 
 division of Bushrod Johnson, some of the soldiers of this town 
 were at the extreme front in that wild scene, one of whom, already 
 distinguished by heroic service in seizing the colors of his regi- 
 ment just as they had been twice struck down — in which act he 
 was dangerously wounded — and by marked good conduct on all 
 occasions, here actually crowded his way through the enemy at 
 the head of his company, doing probably as good service as any 
 person on that field. I refer to another of the JNLarshals, Major 
 
 * LOCIS E. Crone, now Cupuiin I . .■^. Array, rcsidt-nt in Lexington, 
 t Major I^OUINO \V. Mlzzey, A. C. S. Vole. 
 
60 
 
 Capelle of the IGth regiment, who left the State a corporal aud 
 came home promoted and brevetted for bravery in action. 
 
 And a few days later, in a most gallant charge upon two suc- 
 cessive lines of works, another of your guests to-day, Major 
 Kelihek,* now of Lexington, was nearly torn in pieces by a 
 shell, so that all I can find of his subsequent experience with 
 his regiment, is the ftict that he returned to the front and was 
 honorably discharged for his injuries. 
 
 Several times as Grant knocked at the gates of Petersburg, 
 it became necessary, as a part of his plans, to make demonstra- 
 tions before Richmond. In these demonstrations — nothing less [ 
 than severe, and, of course, hopeless battles — in the 24th and •"'i 
 other regiments, several of the men of whom I am speaking, _ ! 
 constantly assisted, aud not without adding to already well- 
 earned reputations for distinguished courage. 
 
 Aud let it not be forgotten that onef of your citizens, who 
 sei'ved faithfully in the Army of the Potomac, and is also 
 your guest to-day, survives the hardships aud fiendish horrors 
 of the Andersonville Prison. 
 
 In other parts of the couutry, too, — in the movements of the 
 army of Buell aud Rosecrans,| in the capture of New Orleans, 
 the siege of Vicksburg, the defence of Knoxville, and the deliv- 
 erance of the forces hemmed in at Chattanooga, in the gallant 
 Navy,§ aud wherever our arms were borne except, perhaps, the 
 North West, some of these gentlemen sustained their full share 
 of the hardships, the romance and the glory of the grand con- 
 flict. One of them, Page,|| (another of your guests,) lost his arm 
 as Hooker's command, to which he belonged, was securing 
 Lookout Mountain, while the rest of the forces near Chatta- 
 nooga carried Missionary Ridge, and the combined movement 
 opened the way for the capture of Rome aud Atlanta, and for 
 the great march to the sea. 
 
 Aud I can testify, from personal observation, of the alacrity 
 with which such services have been performed. For exam- 
 ple, while the first movement against the ridge that shielded 
 
 * Major John Keliher, 20th Mass. Vols. 
 
 t Geokce B. Dennett, r2th Mass. Vols. 
 
 J Colonel John G. Chandler, U. S. A., of Lexington, served in this army. 
 
 ^ Anujiig others, John Whitman, Acting Ensign, U. S. N. 
 
 II GrovNEK a. PACiE, S'M Mass. Vols. 
 
01 
 
 Petcrf^biirg, was in progress, I was unexpectedly greeted 
 one afternoon by a young man, a neighbor at home, from the 
 very borders of Lexington Common, and who was then serving 
 in a INIassachusetts regiment in the Fifth Corps. I know 
 not why I should conceal the fact that he bore the honored 
 name of Harrington.* lie told me it was his brigade, the rear 
 of which was nearly concealed in the woods close by, and that 
 he supposed they were going to charge the rebel position which, 
 he understood, lay beyond. We enjoyed a few minutes' pleasant 
 talk of home and of army aflfairs, when the bugles in the woods 
 sounded the attention. " ]My brigade is going in," said he, 
 " those are our bugles ; " and with a hasty good-bye, and the 
 outward appearance of as light a heart as if he were bidden to 
 a festival of peace, he seized his musket and disappeared into 
 the woods at the steady double-quick step of the trained soldier. 
 Five minutes later I heard the desultory skirmish fire, and then 
 the rapid and confused sound of musketry, which indicated 
 plainly enough the fact that his brigade had indeed gone in, 
 and was sharply contending for what, I know too well, became 
 from that day forth, historic ground. He survives the war, but 
 not, it would seem, because he shunned its dangers. 
 
 Several years ago a quite young man, then resident in town, 
 left our High School and removed to the West, where for a time 
 we lost sight of him. After the war began we heard that he 
 was in the Volunteer Army, and that he was serving as a 
 drummer. He was in the army, an enlisted man, but not a 
 drummer, nor yet a clerk at head-quarters, for which position 
 his penmanship and other acquirements would have fitted him 
 uncommonly well. He was a corporal in the ranks, armed and 
 accoutred with musket and cartridge-box and forty rounds, a 
 member of the 11th Illinois Infantry. He was at Fort Donel- 
 son, " hereafter," as Grant's order declared, to "be marked in 
 capitals on the map of our united country." There, after a night 
 of terrible hardship, necessarily passed without fires, — the mer- 
 cury only ten degrees above zero, — the troops sustained an 
 almost overwhelming attack from the enemy, when at length 
 a general assault was ordered and persisted in till a com- 
 manding position was gained, and the fate of the stronghold was 
 
 * George D. Hakuington, 22d Maas. Vols. 
 
(>2 
 
 decided. Iq this bold aud bloody struggle our corporal was so 
 severely wounded that, for more thau six months, he was unable 
 to leave his bed. He has a double claim, therefore, to rank 
 Avith those to whom Grant's order referred in the further words, 
 " and the men who fouglit the battle will live in the memory of 
 a grateful people." lie was honorably discharged for his 
 wounds ; yet even after this experience he did active and useful 
 militia service on the Mississippi so long as such service was 
 needed. He* is now your valued and honored townsman of 
 Lexington, none other than our present Town Clerk. 
 
 I have been thus particular, sir, in adverting to the services 
 of the persons to whom tlie sentiment referred, because I feared 
 that in the attention which we all give to the affairs of the hour, 
 what was already known of the deeds of your own soldiers 
 might be forgotten, and because I believed that, without some 
 such reminder, more than these gentlemen in their modesty 
 would offer, our people would neither know nor conjecture how 
 many of the painful toils aud grander scenes of the late great 
 war are represented in the very men whom you have been 
 accustomed to see daily walking your quiet streets. 
 
 Eleventh regular toast : 
 
 Acton — Her sacritices on the 19th of April, 1775, show that 
 her patriotism was not confined to her own soil. 
 
 Twelftli regular toast : 
 
 Arlington — A way-station between Boston and Lexington, 
 where Lord Percy's baggage train was switched off the track. 
 
 In answer to the inquhy, What became of Percy's bag- 
 gage? some one facetiously replied, that Percy got a check 
 for it. 
 
 Thirteenth regular toast : 
 
 The City of Charlestoum — She glories with no ignoble pride 
 in the possession within her borders of soil consecrated to 
 liberty. 
 
 The following letter from Mayor Kent was read in 
 response : — 
 
 * Leonard G. TJaikock, Esfj. 
 
m 
 
 City of Charlestown, Mayor's Office, Aj)ril 18, 1871. 
 
 Hon. Cn.ARLKS Hudson, Chairman, ttf. ; — 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have received your invitation to be present to-mor- 
 row, on the anniversary of tlie battle of Lexington. I shouhl be 
 exceedingly gratified to be with you, but my engagements will not 
 admit of it. The city of Charlestown has much in its history and 
 associations, in common with those of your ancient town, and it 
 cannot but sympathize with you on an occasion of so nnuh interest 
 to her as well as to you. If I understand the character of your 
 services, you are to commemorate not only the deeds of the Fathers, 
 who died to achieve Liberty, but also those of their descendants who 
 died to pi-escrve it. 
 
 Fitting and right it is, that, on such an Anniversary day, the 
 people should come together, and, as it were, renewedly consecrate 
 the memories of these men. As long as Bunker Hill Monument 
 shall stand — as long as the enduring marble on your Common shall 
 remain — as long as one stone of your Memorial Hall shall rest upon 
 another — as long as the record of great deeds done, shall last — so 
 long let us and our children cherish in all its vital force and essence, 
 that iilea, tlie value of which botli the fathers and the sons sealed 
 witli their blood— the idea of Liberty under the Law. 
 
 Thanking you personally, and in behalf of the city of Charlestown, 
 for the courtesy extended to me, 
 
 I have the honor to remain, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Wm. IL Kknt. 
 
 Ex-j\Iayor Robinson of Charlestown, who was called 
 upon, responded in the following eloquent speech : — 
 
 Mr. President. I hardly expected to be called on to respond 
 for the City of Charlcstowu. After the appropriate letter which 
 has just been read from her worthy Mayor, no word of mine is 
 necessary in her belialf Charlestown needs no one to respond 
 for her. The history of what she has done and suffered in the 
 cause of liberty, is always eloquent, and its remembrance is a 
 fitting response on this occasion. But, Sir, I am proud to 
 speak for her here to-day, and am happy to be present and par- 
 ticipate in these memorial services and festivities. Charlestown 
 rejoices with Lexington. Both have much in common ; both 
 possess soil on which patriotic men braved death, in order that 
 a nation might live. Lexington is suggestive -of Concord and 
 
64 
 
 Bunker Hill, — three noble names which will be remembered 
 and cherished so long as the history of American Independence 
 shall be preserved. 
 
 This goodly town has much of which to be proud. She has 
 other honors than that of April 19, 1775. The grandfather of 
 John Hancock — that great patriot of the Revolution — was a 
 minister here for fifty-four years ; his father was born in this 
 town, and it almost seems as though he was a child of Lexing- 
 ton. Then, too, it is not unworthy of mention, that the Rev. 
 Jonas Clark Avas for many years, the venerable and respected 
 minister in this place. He was fitted for the times in which he 
 lived. How much do we, how much did the men of his day 
 owe to him, for the words of patriotism and religion which he 
 littered in the old meeting-house on the Common. His preach- 
 ing did much to strengthen and fire the hearts of our patriotic 
 fathers, and enable them to meet with firmness, the day of trial 
 and of blood. I have sometimes thought that the lessons which 
 he taught, and the spirit which animated him were learned and 
 caught by Captain John Parker, the commander of that heroic 
 company who faced the British soldiery on the day which we 
 now commemorate, and, by some subtle process, communicated 
 to his grandson. 
 
 Theodore Parker was a son of Lexington. I mention his 
 name with love and respect. Although his religious views may 
 not be accepted, there can be no one so prejudiced as not to 
 honor him for his great, self-sacrificing life — his noble words 
 and eflJbrts in behalf of freedom and the uplifting of his fellow- 
 men. His grandfather, on yonder green, met the enemies of 
 his countrymen, in order to secure liberty for the wliite man, 
 but his grandson, with a broader love and an universal applica- 
 tion of the principles of liberty, contended for the freedom of 
 all. And it is not too much to say, that his labors and efforts 
 contributed in a large degree, to secure the liberation of four 
 millions of slaves. Li this place of his birth, let us not be 
 unmindful of his goodness, his purity of life, his devotion to 
 what he believed to be right, and of that independence of spirit 
 which was intoleratit of every kiad of bondage. Let us keep 
 his memory in sw(?et remembrance, for he was a worthy 
 descendant of a noble patriot, and a fair fruit of his native soil. 
 
(35 * 
 
 Mr. President, you must excuse me if I become a little 
 exuberant. I am at home agaiu ; every souud is merry, and 
 everytliiug is pleasant ; 
 
 " Home, home, sweet, sweet home, 
 there's no place like home." 
 
 I am a boy again, and the by-gone days come back to me. 
 Everytiiiug to-day greets me with a familiar face. These fiehls 
 and hill-sides have been my play-grounds — the neighboring 
 woods have echoed to the sound of my gun — the streams and 
 ponds on the outer limits of the town, have acknowledged the 
 presence of my fishing-rod — and the streets and paths have 
 responded to the footfall of ray school-boy feet. I see around 
 me many of my youthful companions and playmates — many 
 others to whom I looked up with respect and couHdeuce — others 
 who warmed my young heart by words of encouragement, and 
 familiar faces greet me on every side. 
 
 But alas ! As I look about me 1 miss many well-remem- 
 bered forms, and my youthful vision vanishes. No, no, I am 
 not a boy agaiu ; there has been a change. 
 
 The occasion, however, which has brought us together, recalls 
 me from such thoughts as these, and inspires other emotions 
 and suggests other themes. It is a privilege to be here ; it is 
 also our right and our duty. The sight of the old flag enkin- 
 dles our patriotic ardor, and the eloquent oration to which we 
 have this day listened, cannot but cause us to appreciate more 
 highly, the blessings of American liberty, and of those institu- 
 tions which are the safeguards of a free people. Our country 
 has become the home of a great nation ; we all rejoice in her 
 prosperity, and stand proudly erect because of our citizenship. 
 By the great principles of truth, liberty and justice, has she 
 advanced in her honorable career, and taken her place in the 
 front rank of nations, and the day is not far distant when the 
 star-spangled banner shall wave in beauty over the continent, 
 from the North Pole to the Isthmus, as it now does from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific shores, and the great glory of all shall 
 be, that every one. however humble, and of whatever color, 
 shall stand erect in the freedom of liberty and law, and there 
 shall be none to make iiim afraid. 
 
* 66 
 
 Sir, I can feelingly respond to the sentiment just offered. I 
 am a native of this town ; the family of my father had relatives 
 in the battle of Lexington ; my mother is a descendant of the 
 Hosmers of Acton, who, at the old North Bridge in Concord, 
 with their compatriots, met the British foe, 
 
 " And fired the shot heard round the world ; " 
 and until recently, my residence was on the spot over which the 
 red coats passed in their assault at Bunker Hill. These three 
 historic places can glory with each other in the possession of an 
 honorable fame. Each has a record sufficient for itself, and has 
 no cause to disparage that of the other. Surely, Charlestown 
 rejoices with Lexington and Concord in the possession by each 
 of that which is dear to us all; and she cannot more fittingly 
 respond on this occasion than in the expression of the hope that 
 each recurring anniversary of the great events of 1775 will 
 deepen the interest which the people of the three towns have in 
 the welfare of each other, and that the sympathy and good feeling 
 which arise from sufferings in a common cause, will become 
 broader and fraternal, and yearly consecrate anew the soil sacred 
 to the cause of liberty. 
 
 Fourteenth regular toast : 
 
 The Clergy of our day — They have a shining example in the 
 Lexington pastor of 1775. 
 
 Kev. Edwaed G. Porter responded : — 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 I was just leaving the hall when your committee detained me 
 to say a word in reply to this toast. If there were time I 
 would gladly speak of the important services rendered to the 
 cause of patriotism by the eminent men, who, through succes- 
 sive generations, occupied the old Lexington pulpit. This town 
 will never forget the names of Hancock and Clark, whose 
 united ministry extended over the remarkable period of one 
 hundred and five years. They had long pastorates in those days 
 as well as long sermons ; and the accounts do not show that the 
 people were weary of either. Some of their sermons have 
 lately come into my hands — quaint looking documents, all worn 
 by use and stained by time. They are written generally in a 
 vigorous, logical style, and show a thorough knowledge of the 
 
hi 
 
 Scriptures as well as a deep interest in the events of tlie time. 
 No one was before the Rev. Jonas Clauk in catching tlie spirit 
 of freedom, which in the spring of '75 began to spread with 
 such rapidity among the colonists. 
 
 If the men of Lexington were ready when the call of duty 
 came, it was because they had long been trained to a high esti- 
 mate of liberty in civil as in religious matters. In the old 
 " meeiing-Iiouse," (which I wish were still standing among us, 
 as a memorial of those times,) they often heard strong appeals 
 to stand firm by the principles which they bad inherited from 
 the Fathers of New England. 
 
 I trust, sir, that witli such bright examples before us, the 
 ministry and the citizens of Lexington will ever be true to those 
 lofty and patriotic sentiments which have to-day been repeated 
 in our hearing, and whicii we are proud to have inscribed upon 
 our Tablets with the names of our honored dead. 
 
 This closed the regular toasts of the occasion, but a few 
 voluntary sentiments and speeches were indulged, of which 
 we are able to notice the following : 
 
 The Ladies of Lexington : 
 
 Offered by Hon. S. B. Rindge, and responded to by 
 cheers. 
 
 Our Generous Benefactress^ Mrs. Maria Gary — Many daugh- 
 ters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 
 
 Offered by the President of the day, who accompanied 
 
 the sentiment with a neat speech. 
 
 The exercises were brought to a close by a grand 
 ball in the newly dedicated Hall, where the time was 
 pleasantly passed in social greetings of old and new friends 
 and festive enjoyments till the " wee' small hours of the 
 night." 
 
 The occasion throughout was one of universal enjoy- 
 ment, and will be long remembered with pleasure by those 
 who were so fortunate as to participate in it. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
 
 In compiling a Historical Sketch of the inception and completion of 
 the Ne%o Tcnvu Ball, embracing as it does within its walls, a Town 
 Hall especially adapted to municipal purposes and for the public use 
 of citizens, a Memorial Hall, commemorative of great events in 
 national and local history, and a Library Hall, for the accommoda- 
 tion of a Free Public Library, — there is need to refer to various 
 sources, all contributing to the accomplishment of the work just 
 completed. These are the action of the Town, the Lexington Monu- 
 ment Association and Mr. and Mrs. Cary through it, and other 
 endowments, chiefly of ]\Irs. Cahy, to the Library and to the general 
 purposes of the Building. 
 
 The matter of improved accommodations for municipal and popular 
 uses, was agitated for several years in the Town, and various plans 
 of enlargement and improvement of the old Hall suggested, and 
 committees appointed from time to time to examine the subject. 
 The desirability of improvement had been for a long time conceded, 
 but no acceptable proposition was submitted until certain proffers of 
 aid from JVIrs. Gary were made, which brought the subject before 
 the citizens in a more encouraging aspect. In October, 1869, Mrs. 
 Maria Caiiy communicated to the Selectmen a proposal to donate 
 six thousand dollars for the purpose of fitting up a Memorial Hall 
 and Town Library Hall, providing the Town should within three 
 years erect a suitable building for municipal purposes, to embrace in 
 its construction suitable accommodations for those objects. The 
 proposal was laid before the citizens at its annual town-meeting, 
 in November of the same year. The subject was referred to a 
 Committee consisting of Messrs. Charles Hudson, John Hastings, 
 Sargent C. VVhichkh, Hammon Reed, Luke C. Childs, Warren 
 E. Russell and Reuben W. Reed, who were empowered to consult 
 
 l^i 
 
00 
 
 architects and to procure plans and estimates. Tiic committee 
 reported at a special town-mcoting called for the purpose, January 
 2oth, 1870, submitting plans and estimates and recommending the 
 purchase of the site and the erection of a new Town Hail in accord- 
 ance therewith. The report was accepted, its recommendations 
 adopted, and the same gentlemen constituted a Buihling Committee 
 with necessary powers, and provision made for funds to pay the cost. 
 At the same meeting the proposition of Mrs. Cary was accepted and 
 the Town Clerk directed to communicate to her the thanks of the 
 citizens for her gencTous offer. 
 
 The Committee immediately undertook their duties, secured the 
 site and made contracts, and the work begun. Subsequently, in 
 April, 1870, a further proposition was received from Mrs. Cary, 
 increasing her donation in the aggregate to twenty thousand dollars, 
 whereby ten thousand dollars were secured to the general inir[)oses 
 of the building, six thousand to the Library, and four thousand to 
 the Memorial Hall through the Lexington Monument Association. 
 By this munificent generosity the erection of the Building was so 
 abundantly provided for that the Town was relieved from what might 
 have been considered bv some a serious financial burden. 
 
 THE CARY LIBRARY. 
 
 The origin, progress and ])resent condition of the Cary Library 
 may be stated in brief as follows : — The want of greater facilities 
 for general reading, being felt in this community, a few individuals in 
 186G, associated and procured asocial Library for the benefit of them- 
 selves and their families. But Mrs. Maria Cary, taking a broader 
 and more liberal view of the subject, and wishing to extend the benefits 
 of the Library to all the citizens of her native Town, proposed in 1867, 
 that if Lexington would establish Sifrce Library for the benefit of their 
 entire population, she would place at their disposal the sum of one 
 thousand dollars, the interest of which should be appropriated to the 
 support of the said Library. At a meeting of the iidiabitants of 
 Lexington, legally held April 20, 18(58, it was voted to establish a 
 free Library, to accept the generous offer of Mrs. Cary on the terms 
 specified by her; and in gratitude to the donor, to give her name to 
 the Library. The Town at the same meeting constituted the Select- 
 men, the School Committee, and the settled Clergymen of the Town, 
 the parties designated by ^Irs. Cary as Trustees of her gift, a 
 Committee to obtain books or money for a Library, and when they 
 should secure an amount e(iual to four hundred dollars, they were 
 
70 
 
 empowered, through the Selectmen, to draw one thousand dollars 
 from the Treasury for the purchase of books. The Town also voted 
 to provide a place for the Library, and a person to take charge of 
 the same; and to appropriate forty dollars annually towards 
 replenishing the Library — which with the income of Mrs. Gary's gift, 
 would secure one hundred dollars a year for the repair or purchase 
 of books. 
 
 The Farmer's Club, having a good Library of nearly five hundred 
 volumes, generously gave their books to the Town ; and the Trustees 
 immediately entered into negotiation with the members of the 
 Social Library then recently formed, the greater part of whom 
 readily gave their shares, and the rest were willing to sell out at 
 cost; so that the Town came in possession of two good Libraries of 
 about eight hundred volumes, at a very moderate cost. The Trus- 
 tees were also enabled to add about four hundred volumes of new 
 books — making about twelve hundred volumes, when the Library 
 was first opened to the public, which was on the 27th of January, 
 18G8. Within the first three months, there were taken from the 
 Library 1,670 volumes — being conclusive evidence that the institu- 
 tion was duly appreciated by the people. 
 
 Soon after the Library was opened to the public, Mr. Benjamin 
 1)e Forest, a public spirited gentleman boarding in the Town, gen- 
 erously placed in the hands of two of our citizens a check of one 
 hundred dollars, to be expended at their discretion in the purchase 
 of substantial, standard works for the Librai'y. This with the 
 annual expenditure, added about two hundred volumes to the cata- 
 logue of books the first year. 
 
 Starting under such auspices, the Library has steadily increased by 
 gifts and by purchase, till the present number of volumes is about 
 two thousand; and when the books are removed to the new Hall, 
 we have the offer of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred 
 more. Besides, the generous gift of Mrs. Gary of five thousand 
 dollars to the permanent fund of the Library, will give us' an annual 
 income of between four and five hundred dollars to sustain this valu- 
 able institution, which reflects so much honor upon the founder, and 
 which promises to prove a lasting blessing to our inhabitants. 
 
 THE MEMORIAL HALL. 
 
 The Memorial Hall, which will always be a point of more or less 
 attraction in our public edifice, is in a certain sense the offspring of 
 the Lexington Monument Association. The impression becoming- 
 prevalent, that the Monument on the Gommon did not comport with 
 
71 
 
 modern taste, some of our prominent citizens conceived the idea of 
 superseding it by one more in accordance with the spirit of the age. 
 In 1850 they obtained an act of incorporation, and organized a 
 company, making the venerable Jonathan Harrington, the last 
 survivor of the battle of Lexington, their President. Their object 
 seems to have been simply to rear a more fashionable Monument in 
 honor of the citizens of Lexington who fell on the lUth of April, 
 1775. Nothing however was done more than to keep up the organi- 
 zation till 1858, when broader and more liberal views prevailed. It 
 was then perceived, that though the existing Monument was some- 
 what antiquated in its appearance, it bore the impress and breathed 
 the spirit of the Revolution, and was a fit memorial of the sturdy 
 patriots to whose memory it was erected ; and it was resolved to 
 give the proposed enterprise a national character, and erect a Monu- 
 ment commemorative of the opening scene of the Revolutionary 
 drama. To carry forward this idea a successful correspondence was 
 commenced with some of the most distinguished men in the country, 
 which resulted in an organization having Hon. Edward Everett for 
 President, with Vice Presidents representing every section of the 
 country, and each party in politics. The powers of the corporation 
 were vested in a Board of Directors, residents of Lexington and 
 vicinitv. 
 
 The general design of a Minute-man, placed on a lofty pedestal, 
 was adopted, and distinguished artists were employed to perfect the 
 design and mould the figure. A certificate of Membership, of artis- 
 tic taste, combining a representation of the Monument and of the 
 battle scene, was engraved, and the necessary measures were adopted 
 to obtain the means to carry forward the enterprise. After expend- 
 ing more than two thousand dollars in these preliminary measures, 
 the flattering prospects of the Association were dispelled by the 
 breaking out of the Rebellion. All efforts were suspended during 
 the war, and on the return of peace almost every city and town had 
 its attention called to some local Monument or memorial in honor of 
 its own fiiUen patriots. 
 
 When the elFort was made in 1858 and '59, to give the enterprise 
 a national character, William H. Gary, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., 
 one of the Vice Presidents of the Association, and a native of 
 Massachusetts, manifested a lively interest in the undertaking, and, 
 having a summer residence in Lexington, the birth-place of his wife, 
 intimated to some of the officers of the Association that lie would 
 render some pecuniary assistance towards the completion of the 
 object. But dying suddenly soon after, he made no provision in 
 behalf of the proposed Monument. But his widow and his heirs 
 
72 
 
 knowing his intention, with due respect to his memory and a generous 
 sympathy for the object in view, came forward unsolicited, and 
 offered the Association four thousand dollars in aid of the enterprise, 
 three thousand in land for a site, and one thousand in money when 
 the work should be commenced. But the war, as we have seen, 
 paralyzed the efforts of the Association, and peace found them 
 unable to prosecute their design with any prospect of success. 
 
 In this state of things Mrs. Gary, ever interested in the prosper- 
 ity and honor of the place of her nativity, proposed in behalf of 
 herself and friends, that if the Association would relinquish their 
 claim upon the land, and permit it to be sold, the avails of the sale 
 should be passed over to the Association, and that she would make 
 up the sum to four thousand dollars — the said Association to hold it 
 in trust, till the Town should erect a suitable Memorial Hall, when 
 the sum thus given should be expended in tablets or other suitable 
 emblems in honor of the heroes of the Revolution and of the late 
 war. The Association executed a release of the land, and the 
 money stipulated has been promptly paid over, and is to be expended 
 agreeably to the wish of the donors. The original design of a 
 Minute-man has been adhei-ed to ; and the combination of the heroes 
 of the two wars, does equal honor to the memory of those who won 
 our independence, and those who sustained the union of the States. 
 
 Thus has the Town been mainly indebted for the means of fitting 
 up the Memorial Hall, to Mrs. Gary and her friends, with the 
 cheerful cooperation and aid of the Lexington Monument Associa- 
 tion, through whose efforts means are being obtained to complete the 
 design and fill the remaining niches. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING. 
 
 The Town Hall is situated on Main Street, and occupies a por- 
 tion of the lot on which the Lexington House formerly stood, and 
 which was subsequently occupied as a young ladies' school. The 
 structure is an ornate piece of French architecture, presenting four 
 facades to the eye, of two stories in height, surmounted by a double 
 Louvre roof, within which is a third story. In outline of ground- 
 plan the building is a parallelogram, or rectangle, of 95 feet in length 
 by 58 feet in width, built of brick with freestone trimmings. The 
 first story is entered under a portico, located in the centre of the 
 principal facade. The entrance communicates with a staircase-hall of 
 20 1-2 feet in width by 24 feet in depth, the hall containing the 
 
r-o 
 i<) 
 
 principal staircases in two flights, each six foot in width, reaching to 
 the second or hall story of the building. Flanking the staircase hall 
 on each side are apartments for the Selectmen, Town Clerk, Post 
 Oflico and other business purposes. The staircase hall communicates 
 immediately with the Memorial Hall, which is situated on the same 
 floor in a central part of the building, and consists of an octagon 
 about nineteen feet in diameter, with four wings or corridors, 
 radiating from it at riirht angles with each other. Two of these 
 corridors, eight feet wide and nineteen feet long, extend to the 
 walls of the building, where they receive the light of two large 
 windows ; the remaining two connect, the one with the staircase 
 hall, as above mentioned, with a width of eleven feet by fourteen, 
 and the other by the same width about eight feet in length, with 
 the Library Hall. The octagon is separated from the corridors 
 only by an arch of about ten feet span and about twelve feet above 
 the floor. On the arch in front, as you approach from the stair- 
 case hall, is this inscription : 
 
 LEXINGTON 
 
 CONSECRATES THIS WALL AND ITS EMBLEMS 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF THE 
 
 FOUNDERS AND THE DEFENDERS OF OUR FREE INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The angles between these corridor recesses are cut off, so as to 
 present a face of about six feet, which are fini>hed in niches, in 
 ■which are four marble pedestals, designed to receive life-size marble 
 statues, two of which are nearly completed, and will soon be placed 
 in position. 
 
 The statue to be placed on the left from the entrance, is ''The 
 Minute Man of '7G," and in the corridor recess to the left is a tablet 
 of Italian marble, framed in l)cautifal red-veined Lis1)on marble, on 
 which is the following inscription : 
 
 "THE PLEDGE AND ITS REDEMPTION." 
 
 RESPONSE OF LEXINGTON TO THE 
 
 APPEAL OF BOSTON, 
 
 DEC. ]S, 1773. 
 
 We tiust in God that sJioulil the state of our atfairs n'(|iiire it, we shall be ready to 
 sacrifice our estates, and evcrjthinir dear in life, yea, and even 
 life itself, in support of the common cau.se." 
 
 NAMES OF THE CITIZENS OF LEXINGTON WHO FELL IN F r- S 
 
 CAUSE, APRIL 10, 1775. 
 
 Ensign Robkrt Minroe, Jonas I'akkkr, Saimki, Hadm.^'. .Town Urown, 
 
 Isaac Mizzv, Cai.ku I1.vhkin(;t<)N. .Ton.vtiian II.\rhiv(;t()n, .Jr. 
 
 Ji.I)KniAH MlNKOE, .loll.N Kav.m()m>, N atu.vm i:i. Wv.man. 
 
 "They poured out their Renerous blood like water, befoie lliey knew whether It 
 would fertilize a land of freedom or bondage." — Webster. 
 
74 
 
 On the riijlit and diroclly opposite tlie statue commemorative of 
 the Revohition, stands the statne of " The Union Soldier " of the war 
 of the Rebellion, and a scrond tablet of like character is placed in 
 the corridor recess near this, with the inscription, 
 
 "THE SONS DEFENDED WHAT THE FATHERS WON" 
 
 followed by the names of twenty soldiers of Lexington, who lost 
 their lives in the late war. 
 
 NAMES OF THE RESIDENTS OF LEXINGTON AND OTHERS SERVING ON 
 
 HER QUOTA WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES TO THEIR COUNTRY IN 
 
 THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 
 
 Frederick D. Fiske. 
 Charles Jl. Fiske. 
 Benjamin F. Thorn. 
 
 WlI,r,IA!M P. COTY. 
 
 John ^irANi.v. 
 CriARLES II. Puffer. 
 
 OiIARI.ES p.. TiARRINIiTON. 
 
 Cnpt. Charles R. .Toiinson. 
 JoriN O'Xeil. 
 Joseph Simonds. 
 
 Charles FLAor;. 
 Warren Kinnaston. 
 .John F. Recian. 
 Pexnis Mr:MAiir)N. 
 Thomas IT. Karle. 
 Timothy I.eary. 
 
 AViLLFAM TI. CrROVER. 
 
 Charles Cutler. 
 EnwARO E. Hatch. 
 Charles O. Muzzey. 
 
 Roth of these statues and tablets are the work of J. G. Batterson, 
 Esq.. of Hartford, Conn. 
 
 The two remaininfr niches are desiirned for marlile statues of 
 John ITancock and Samukl Adams, which it is hoped will be filled 
 at no distant day. 
 
 Passing from the rotunda, the remainder of the length and width 
 of this story of the building, forms the apartment which is to be 
 occupied as a pulilic lilirarv and reading-room. This apartment is 
 /).5 feet in length by 44 feet wide, and is to be furnished with all the 
 accommodations and conveniences necessary for the purpose for 
 which it is intended. 
 
 The two rear outer corners of this apartment are occupied, one as 
 a lilirarian's room, of 8 by 1C> feet, and the other as a staircase and 
 entry, forming a private entrance from the exterior to the Library 
 and audience hall in the second story. 
 
 The second story is mainly devoted to the pin-poses of an audiiMice 
 hall, the lloor area of which is .50 by 70 feet, with a clear height of 
 24 feet. A stage recess of 31 by 9 feet is flanked l)y anterooms, 
 respectively 14 by 12 1-2 feet. The hall will seat about seven hun- 
 dred persons, is amply lighted, and its walls and ceiling are tinted 
 in parti-colors. There are two other anterooms in tlie front cor- 
 ners of the hall, each 17 by IG feet, connecting immedi.ately with the 
 hall by sliding doors, which, when opened, would make the whole 
 virtually one aiiartment. 
 
i iJ 
 
 A niozzaninc, or intormodiato story, in front, and roar of tlio liall, 
 oontnins two proscenium l)oxos, over tlio two anterooms heforo men- 
 tioned. There are ladies' and fientlenien''s dressing-rooms over the 
 two front anterooms. The whole interior of the building is Qnishcd 
 in hard wood. 
 
 About one-half the roof story is sub-divided into halls and other 
 apartments, to be ooeupied by the Masonie Fraternity of the town. 
 Tiie remainin;j; half is li'ft unfinished. 
 
 From the windows of the audience hall can lie seen the spot where 
 on the memorable 19th of April the Lexington farmers frathered to 
 strike the first blow for American independ.^nce ; and the r>ritish 
 troops marched past the spot where this buihling now stands to 
 encounter them. You can also sec the house which was at tliat time 
 a tavern, where the ])atriots used to meet for consultation, and fur- 
 ther away and just discernible, is the house then occupied by Rev. 
 Jonas Clark, where Adams and Hancock passed the ni^i^ht of the 
 ]Sfh of April preceding the Lexington fight. 
 
 The building was erected, from designs prepareil l)v Messrs. 
 Gridley J. F. Ihyant and Louis P. Rogers, architects, of I'oston, bv 
 the Hon. Ailicrt Currier, of Newljuryport. 
 
 TfiK Conmiittec to whom was intrn.'stcd the preparation .niid 
 publication of flie proceedings at the Dedication of the Town 
 and ]\Icrnorial fLill, on the IDlli of April last, respectfully report 
 to their constituents and fellow citizens, that by causes beyond 
 their control, the publication has been delayed longer than was 
 anticipated ; but we believe that the valne of the pamphlet has 
 been increased by this delay, as it gave the speakers more time 
 to write out and condense their remarks. Knowing that the 
 exercises of the day met with the warm approbation of the 
 public, the Committee were desirous of preserving: them oiitire, 
 as far as practicable; and consequently we called upon our 
 Invited guests who bad enlivened our services at the table, to 
 furnish us with the substance of their remarks. Common 
 civility required this at our hands, and we only regret that all 
 
76 
 
 the gentlemen did not find it convenient to favor us with a copy 
 of tlieir speeches. 
 
 It seemed to be due not only to the character of Lexington, 
 but to the cause of history, and to the gentlemen who had 
 honored us with their presence, that a full report of the proceed- 
 ings of that day should be put in a form which would be 
 preserved as a part of our local annals. We also deemed it duo 
 to those by whose liberality we have been aided in the erection 
 of our edifice, and have been enabled to fit up our Memorial 
 Hall, and our Library, to state briefly the origin of these 
 institutions, that those who come after us may know to whom 
 they are indebted for the blessings they eujoy. We have 
 endeavored to give the public a pamphlet which, in its mechan- 
 ical execution, will do no discredit to the town. It is no part of 
 our duty to pass upon the merits of the performances of the 
 day. We will only say that we cheerfully present them to 
 the public, and invoke their judgment. Nor need we indulge 
 in words of comment or compliment in regard to the Building, 
 its proportions, arrangements or workmanship; they are subject 
 to your criticism, aud to the practical test of your oceiipan(ty. 
 May the edifice long serve to cherish good govemuieut, patriotism _jj 
 
 and learn ins:. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 MATTHEW II. MEIIRIAM, 
 CHARLES HUDSON, 
 OLIVER P. iAIlLLS, 
 
 Committee of PuhUcation. 
 
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