Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/445

 The Maryland Confederate Monument at Gettysburg. 439'

Dr. Randolph H. McKim, late of Holy Trinity Church, New York, and now of Trinity Church, New Orleans, and the sole surviving member of the personal staff of General Steuart at the battle of Gettysburg. He prayed that the liberty for which the South had fought and the Union for which the North had contended might never be broken asunder. Captain George Thomas then delivered the dedicatory address, which occupied three-quarters of an hour, and was heard attentively. At its conclusion, Mr. John M. Krauth accepted the monument, and said that the Association would deem it a privilege and a duty to guard the monument to the gallantry and courage of the men of whom it was a memorial. The audience was then dismissed with the benediction. During the services the Fifth regiment band, under Adam Itzel, played two dirges, and it was noticeable that during the whole day no National or Southern airs were played. Everybody returned to Gettysburg at the conclusion of the exercises, took dinner, and, until train time, enjoyed the pranks of some of the members of the Fifth regiment, who, headed by Latchford's Drum Corps, marched about the town in high glee, and heard a brief speech made by General Steuart from the platform of one of the cars.

General Bradley T. Johnson was detained in Baltimore by court business, but met the excursionists on their return at Emory Grove. Upon the return of the excursion to the city at 8:20 P. M., the Fifth regiment escorted the organizations to their hall, on Mulberry and Cathedral streets.

ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN THOMAS.

Captain George Thomas, of St. Mary's county, acting-adjutant of the Second Maryland regiment in the battle of Gettysburg, who was badly wounded in the charge on the works, July 2, delivered the ad- dress. Captain Thomas said : " This is indeed a beautiful country, singularly favored by nature, wonderfully improved by the hand of man. Its natural beauties and attractions, its evidences of thrift and well-being, are well calculated to arrest the attention of even the least observant. Peace and happiness, quietude and contentment, would seem to have found here their most congenial home But yet more beautiful and yet more attractive are the occasion, the prompting and the circumstances that mark our assemblage of today. To one taking in at a glance this splendid panorama of hill and plain, of mountain side and vale, of fertile field and busy mart of trade, it would seem scarce credible that this spot, so favored by nature and