And now, our friends of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, I find it difficult to command adequate words with which to express to you the supreme gratification and enthusiasm of our people at your prompt acceptance of their invitation to hold your annual reunion in this old town and at your presence here to-day in such numbers.
We not only welcome you with open arms and glowing hearts, but we feel that this action on your part rises to the dignity of an impressive epoch in our national life; and we are not surprised that our illustrious President, and all these distinguished men, should desire to grace this inspiring occasion with their presence.
It is the first time that your society has held one of its annual reunions on southern soil, and, in making this new departure, it was preëminently fit that you should honor Fredericksburg with your choice.
A French philosopher has written, “Happy the people whose annals are tiresome,” but the far nobler and more inspiring thought of the Anglo-Saxon race is that “character constitutes the true strength of nations and historic glory their best inheritance.”
As American citizens you are proud of the grand traditions and heroic memories that crowd your country’s history; and nowhere else on this continent could your feet tread on ground more hallowed by historic memories than here.
I think before you leave us you will acknowledge that if the immortal names and deeds that this locality suggests should be stricken from the annals of time, most of the present school books of our country would be valueless and our national history itself would be as the play of Hamlet, with Hamlet left out.
The school boys and girls of our whole country are familiar with the story of Capt. John Smith and Pocahontas, and history records that right here Captain John Smith battled with and repulsed the Indians. So we may fairly claim, without the exercise of poetic license, that the struggle of the Anglo-Saxon race, to establish its civilization and supremacy on this continent, commenced on this spot in 1608, just one year after Jamestown was settled.
If we should draw a circle around this ancient city, with a radius of less than fifty miles, we should find within that narrow compass the birthplace of George Washington, of Thomas Jefferson, of James Madison, of James Monroe, of Zachary Taylor, of Chief-Justice John Marshall, of the Lees of the Revolution, of Patrick Henry, of Henry Clay, of Matthew Maury and of Robert E. Lee. If we should extend the circle but a very, very little, it would also embrace the birthplace of William Henry Harrison, of John Tyler, of Winfield Scott, and likewise the birthplace of this Republic at Yorktown.
A Tombstone in St. George’s Churchyard, remarkable for its date.
(See [page 246])