They honor a former foe. [from the Richmond, Va., times, Sunday, Feb'y 5, 1899.]
Funeral of a Confederate veteran conducted by G. A. R. Post. A touching eulogy spoken.
Living Ex-Confederates walk arm in arm with the Veterans of the Blue under the old flag.[This article, as is seen, is taken from one of our home Journals. Every true Southerner hails with glistening eye, and quickened pulsation, all that comes to him truthfully of re-united tie in National bonds. No one can better estimate valour and magnanimity than the ‘brother’ of the genial and productive section, who has from the [309] beginning of the ‘compact’ and ‘league’ freely rendered—yea, unto life itself—in behalf of ‘freedom's sanctuary’ and the ‘Asylum of the oppressed.’ And, so now, is he ready, to fight, with his brethren for all of justice in Our Nation's prescience—glory—if that be the proper term. No Southerner could fail in the last sad rite to a brother! The remarks of Comrade Bartlett, of Post 113, G. A. R., are appreciated. There should be hesitancy in fully endorsing all of the ‘touching eulogy’ of Rev. Edward A. Horton. No concession should be made for misguided feeling and action, in the exemplification of the Confederate soldier. He felt that he was animated by the purest motives—that he fought for guaranteed right, for home and fireside—for life itself. It cannot be questioned, that he accepted the fiat of the conqueror, with an acquiescense that has proven his resplendant manhood. He is (and may-be — has been for years) a re-emplanoplied citizen of the United States of America—inferior in worth and meed to no other, of whatever section of birth or place of residence. Whatever may be the propriety of the Rev. Mr. Horton's application, in actuality—the Ex-Confederate Soldier, ‘ascends to Heaven’ with no stain upon his manhood—his soul; in humble submission to Omniptent call—in charity and brotherly feeling to all, even to the assumptive, yet, withal, in abiding confidence in the justice of the cause for which he fought—with a courage; the sublimity of which has not more impressed in the time and tide of the world's history—than the self-sacrifice, which is scarce less touching. ‘They know not what they do’! There is no apology to be made! If the Confederate Soldier yielded to ‘outrageous fortune’ he never dared the impiety to question Omnipotence.—Ed.] Simple services over the remains of John Buck were held in the Bulfinch Place chapel yesterday at noon, says the Boston Herald, of January 30th. Although it was only a soldier's funeral, with a flag-draped casket at the altar and a few white-haired veterans in the pews, yet this simple service of tribute from the living to a dead warrior, was unique in the history of military funerals of the State, and full of deepest meaning. For the flag on the hero's casket was not one for which he had [310] fought; the ‘comrades’ at his bier were not his comrades in arms: their uniform had not been his uniform, nor their cause his cause. But the God of battles, who is also a God of love, had softened men's hearts, and when John Buck, a private in the Confederate cavalry, answered the final roll-call, Union soldiers mourned and did him homage at the grave.
United in death.
And in the doing of it the State Department of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Military order of the Loyal Legion, the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth, through his representative, the delegates from over twenty Massachusetts Grand Army posts, and many private citizens, gave Massachusetts the proud privilege of demonstrating completely and convincingly the reality of a reconciliation which to-day knows no Mason and Dixon line. And while President. McKinley has voiced a desire to see the graves of the Confederate dead displaying tokens of Northern tribute, Massachusetts Grand Army men have gone a step further, and have sought out and ministered in sickness and poverty to a one-time Confederate, and, at death, have garlanded his casket with flowers and done him the homage of a military burial, even as to one of their own. For though foes sometime in life, in death they were not divided. And more than this can no man do. To the solemn tones of the great church organ the G. A. R. veterans marched down the isle to their places on the left. On the right sat a delegation from the Red, White and Blue Club of boys from the Bulfinch Place church, their banner at the head of one of the pews. At the foot of the platform sat Department Commander W. H. Bartlett, Junior Vice-Commander George M. Fiske, Assistant Inspector-General S. S. Sturgeon, Assistant Adjutant-General Warren B. Stetson, Assistant A. D. C., J. A. Ward and the Rev. Edward A. Horton, Chaplain of Post 113, G. A. R. The casket was covered with a modest but tasteful display of carnations, calla lilies, and laurel and ivy wreaths, which rested above the Stars and Stripes of a reunited country. The department colors stood at the left, with the State flag on the right.An eloquent Address.
Joseph White, a member of Post 113, sang ‘Our Faithful Friends,’ and then Department Commander Bartlett made touching [311] reference to the significance of the occasion in the followingwords: The truest characteristic of a good soldier is respect for a fallen foe. How often in our service have we known military honors and Christian burial to be accorded to the fallen of either side by those who were their foes. If such service was appropriate amid the exigencies of war, how much more becoming now in this time of peace, when those who were our foes have become our friends. The comrades of the G. A. R., who have honored themselves by their presence here in honor of this dead soldier, are greater than when they stood in line of battle in the face of rattling musketry and amid the storm of fiery shot and bursting shell. Such deeds enrich our own lives; they exemplify the golden rule, and bring us ‘nearer, my God, to Thee.’ The greatest mystery to every man is the mystery of his own existence. As we grope blindly through this world, seemingly driven hither and thither by every wind of fate, how often the questions rise trembling to our lips—Whence, why, whither? We are what we are by reason of birth, heredity, education and environment. Why was it, comrades, the fate of this soldier to fight under the Stars and Bars and yours to fight beneath the Stars and Stripes? Who can tell? Enough for us that each fought for the right, as God gave him to see the right. So in the spirit of true fraternity and heavenly charity, the fundamental tenets of our order, we lay this soldier to rest, the gray beside the blue, in the great republic of the dead, ‘under the roses, the blue; under the lilies, the gray.’ Let us fervently trust that in the clearer light beyond, with all doubts solved, all misunderstandings removed, all estrangements effaced, they may meet and greet each other as friends and brothers in the republic of heaven. Soldier, hail and farewell. Rest in peace until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.Touching eulogy.
The eulogy was pronounced by the Rev. Edward A. Horton, who paid a high tribute to the bravery of the deceased, as follows :Here lie the mortal parts of a valorous soul. The touch of the hero was on him. He took his place and fought valiantly, fearlessly, even unto death. Subtract courage from this world's qualities and the things of chief moment will be sadly neglected. [312] He lived long enough to have the whole tale told, and to come into the full light of national patriotism. The years that have ensued since he fought have given opportunity for him to reconsider and retrace his steps, and he ascends to Heaven a Union man. He saw again the glory in the banner of the free. What more can you ask than that he came clearly to see and to recognize the right?Then the bugler sounded ‘Taps,’ the soloist veteran sang ‘Only Waiting.’ Colonel J. Payson Bradley, of the Governor's staff, extended the sympathy of the Commonwealth to the State of Virginia, the birthplace of the dead soldier, and the casket was borne out between the ranks of the white-haired veterans. With them, arm in arm, marched two Confederate soldiers—John D. Hun, adjutant in General Forrest's division of the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry, and Carl G. Monroe, regimental orderly in the First Virginia Cavalry, under Colonel Ezra Warren, the famous ‘Black Horse Cavalry’ at the battle of Bull Run. Members of twenty-one Massachusetts posts, one Connecticut and one Maine post marched as escort to the grave. The pall-bearers were Captain E. C. McFarland, Arthur Hooper, G. W. Brooks, Ira B. Goodrich, John W. Small, and Paul H Kendricken, all of Post 113. Interment was at Mount Hope Cemetery. The funeral and military arrangements were made possible through the generosity and personal efforts of Dr. John H. Dixwell, the Hon. Oliver W. Holmes, and Adjutant-General B. R. Houghton.
