DEDICATION OF THE 76TH REGIMENT MONUMENT AT GETTYSBURG

The Cortland Democrat, July 13, 1888.

Dedication of the 76th Monument.

   On Sunday July 1st, the surviving members of the old 76th Regiment dedicated the monument erected by them on the battle ground of Gettysburg. Bishop Newman, of Washington, opened the exercises with prayer, when the following short address was delivered by Mr. Benj. F. Taylor of this village, who is president of the association.

   COMRADES AND CITIZENS:—We have assembled here to-day to honor the memory of our fallen comrades, by erecting upon this consecrated ground a monument dedicated to their memory.

   To those of us who were here twenty five years ago and witnessed the struggle between the two armies upon this battle field, that scene is as firmly impressed upon our minds as though it were but yesterday.

   What a strange contrast was it to the scene at the present time; then there was the excitement of the battle, the noise of musketry, the groans of the wounded and dying; now it is the quiet of peace.

   It is the anniversary of our struggle at Gettysburg; a battle that in the history of the nation is brilliant with the deeds of brave men.

   Our mission and purpose here is a noble one, and how fitting are these services on this beautiful Sabbath day.

   Comrades, to those of us who took part in that struggle, it needs no monument to mark the resting place of our dead, but this monument which we dedicate to-day, will speak to future generations of the bravery of our soldiers upon the battle field and of the high respect in which the people hold the sacrifices they made.

   With this thought in mind we erect this work of art and as President of the Veterans of the 76th Regiment, and in their behalf, I turn over to the keeping of the Gettysburg Monument Association, the monument we now dedicate to the honor [and] memory of our fallen comrades.

   May the recollections of their deeds be as lasting as the granite column that shall for many years stand a silent guard over their grass covered graves; may you in the future protect, cherish and beautify this place as a tribute of respect and honor to those who fell here.

   For ages to come the people will tread the pathway that leads to this beautiful place renowned in the history of this country.

   Mr. Taylor then introduced Ex-Judge A. P. Smith, of Cortland, who delivered the following excellent address:

   Mr. President, Comrades and Citizens:—You, Mr. President, have very forcibly epitomized the purposes of this gathering. Like the Mohammedans to Mecca, and the Crusaders to Jerusalem, the survivors of the grand old 76th New York Volunteers, have this holy Sabbath morning, made their way to this sacred place where a quarter of a century ago this very hour, the advance regiment of that grand Union army opened the fire that was "heard around the world!" On this spot where we now stand was felt the first shock of the great battle. Here our gallant regimental commander, the valiant Grover, fell. Here in the fiery crucible of war went down some of our noblest and best—Captain Storey, Sergeant Major Thomas Martin and a long list of equally deserving. There stands the knoll that hid the enemy from sight until they arose and returned our first volley with that deadly fire!

   On this memorable spot we to-day erect the granite shaft that for all time shall point to that interesting portion of the great event which changed the current of the war and set the fortunes of the nation on the road to final triumph. Hereafter for all time the pilgrims to this historic field shall read with wonder and admiration the portion of history here carved in the enduring granite. Listen, oh ye survivors:—

   Whole number engaged, 348.

   Killed, 32.

   Wounded and missing, 202.

   Total expended in the service, 234.

   Left for duty, 114.

   Who shall say as they read these figures in the years to come that the 76th New York did not do its duty at Gettysburg?

   Other regiments covered themselves with glory. We join in the nation's paeans of praise for their faithful services. What honors one branch of the service, honors all. We only ask to stand beside them and share their laurels. When the entire history of that grand struggle shall be thus carved in stone and wrought in bronze and embalmed by historians and poets in story and in song, and the music of future bards shall be sung by redeemed people with patriotic fervor, what a glorious symphony shall arise to Heaven and how the thrones of oppression shall be shaken by the melody!

    Already we can proudly say "There is not a slave in all the broad domain." Already 4,000,000 of chattels have joined the army of wage-earners. Already is ignorance and superstition being supplanted by education and refinement. Already are the harvests of liberty being gathered from the fields of carnage.

   Twenty five years! How the memory struggles to grasp and retain the details. The stirring fife and drum; the war meeting at the school house; the grand uprising of an alarmed people; the patriotic sacrifices of loyal fathers and mothers; the unselfish devotion of loving wives; the mysterious hush of children at the vague, half understood preparations for departure; the farewell kiss of "the nearer one still and the dearer one yet than all other;" the last "good bye;" the long weary march; the deadly bivouac; the lonely sentinel on the outpost; the falling out of the exhausted by the wayside, and then the awful clash of arms in the deadly battle and the long list of "dead and wounded!"

   How the bent old forms trembled as they murmured, "Oh! my son!" How the faithful wife gathered her little ones closer to her as she ran her finger down the fatal column—
   "Oh! My God, my husband!" 
   "Dead!"

    What a world of meaning in a single word! And yet all over the land, how often with pallid cheek and quivering lips it was spoken a quarter of a century ago! Beneficent God, that Thou shouldst heal such wounds, and let in the compensating rays of sunshine on such dark pictures of human woe!

   To each organization its own history has a peculiar charm. To us the very number was talismanic, and there is a fragrance to the memory of the favorite regimental song with its chorus;—

   "Seventy-six is our banner;

   Twill cheer us in the fight,

   And we shall have the victory boys;

   For God is with the right."

   The regiment was recruited at Cortland and Cherry Valley among the sturdy inhabitants not only of Cortland and Otsego but the adjoining counties in Central New York.

   "Beaten at Bull Run! The enemy marching upon Washington!" This is what the lightning flashed over the telegraph wires. In less than a week the army drill was in operation, and in two months the regiment was in camp upon the Fair grounds. 
   Thus is patriotism strengthened by disaster, and victory snatched from defeat. The timid little appreciate as they see the black clouds piling in the west and hear the distant thunders and witness the lightnings playing in the air, that that shower is to purify the air and help to fill the granary; and so we little understood the purification and progress that should result from this terrible cloud and storm of war.

   This stone will never tell the whole story of the sacrifices and achievements of this regiment. It briefly tells the story of Gettysburg—but one of its twenty-five engagements. It has still twenty-four unmentioned here. Read the history of these battles and you read in part of the services of the Seventy-Sixth New York volunteers:—

BATTLES PARTICIPATED IN BY THE SEVENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.

Rappahannock Station, Va.

Warrenton Sulphur Springs, Va.

Gainesville, Va.

Second Bull Run, Va.

South Mountain., Md.

Antietam, Md.

Snicker’s Gap, Va.

Fredericksburg, Va.

Chancellorsville, Va.

Gettysburg, Penn.

Mine Run, Va.

Wilderness, Va.

Laurel Hill, Va.

Spotsylvania, Va.

North Anna (Jericho Ford), Va.

Totopotamy Creek, Va.

Coal Harbor (Bethesda Church), Va.

Petersburg, Va.

Weldon Railroad, Va.

Poplar Grove Church, Va.

First Hatcher’s Run, Va.

Hickford Raid, Va.

Second Hatcher’s Run, Va.

Five Forks, Va.

Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox Court House, Va.

   In its front fell the braves—Phil Kearny at Chantilly, Reynolds and Grover at Gettysburg, Wadsworth at the Wilderness. Its first engagement was at Rappahannock Station, Virginia, August 21st, 1862, and not a few of its members were permitted to witness the surrender at Appomattox, April 6th, 1865. What a three-year interval of marching and fighting! It entered the service with nearly a thousand men. Many times reduced to a mere skeleton by the casualties of active service; then filled up only to be depleted again until nearly twenty-five hundred men had [survived] to its roll call and finally on the 28th day of December, 1864, when consolidated with the 147th New York Vols., it contained but two commissioned officers and one-hundred and sixty-five non-commissioned officers and men. The other 2,300 had been mostly "expended in the service."

   Oh, the cruel fates of war! Where shall we look for compensation? Slavery wiped out; Aye, that national cancer is removed. The nation purified? Aye, that is indeed a compensation; but over and above it all, the brave men living and dead have demonstrated the power of this government to successfully defend itself not only from foreign invasion, but from internal dissension and insurrection, It has convinced the world—much of it against its wishes—that this is the strongest, yet the most flexible government under the sun. It has assured mankind that we are, and are to remain, a Nation "one and inseparable." The debate upon that question is closed—we will hope closed forever!

   To-day we celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the pivotal battle of the great struggle. With varying victories and defeats other battles have gone into history with their heroic incidents, their grand achievements and their stupendous failures. The oncoming generations will read them more for their incidents than for their controlling influence upon the final result. But to this historic battle shall they look not only for incident and entertainment, but as the world looks at Waterloo, as the one battle which turned the tide of war and determined the struggle. Had we met defeat here, no spirit of prophesy has pointed out any road to success.

   It was the first contest on free soil; it was the first great battle after this government had abolished slavery and taken a high stand for the right. It was a struggle for our homes as well as for National life. What a prize! How nobly won!

   We stand here to-day to voice our admiration alike for the daring personal courage and determined warlike sacrifices of Confederates as of Unionists. It was a struggle with brave men, each determined to win and each willing to make any sacrifice to that end. Let not the brave Sickles as he rejoices in his crutches so honorably won at Gettysburg, disparage the Confederates under Longstreet, in their unexcelled bravery at Round Top. Let not the friends of the glorious Hancock speak lightly of Pickett's charge across the plains. The grand and patriotic Doubleday shall never sneer at Early or at Hill. Noble men, fighting bravely and well for their own cherished principles. Equally brave, equally determined, each and all threw themselves into the fight determined to win. We recognize the difference in principles fought for, but the victor looks proudly upon the vanquished as a former foe worthy of his steel.

   What a change in twenty-five years! Then from Round Top to where we stand, the booming of cannon and death rattle of musketry, the rushing of cavalry; the rumbling of artillery; the shouts of leaders amid men; the blare of the trumpet; the din of martial bands; the groans of the dying and all the confusion of battle told of the fierce warring of brother against brother; hate and all the angry passions held high carnival.

   To-day the sunshine of peace and happiness and good will covers the field of carnage and baptizes anew our whole redeemed and happy land. To-day we meet on the scene of former bloodshed and carnage as brothers and friends.

   They are curious questions asked to-day:—"Were you a confederate?" or "Were you in the Union army?" for "We have drank from the canteen." We are no longer enemies. The one-legged soldier welcomes the one who gave him that distinction and the one-armed soldier grasps with his other hand the brave man who gave him that better than laurel wreath! The North extends the hand of friendship to the South and bids her journey with us along the highway to happiness and success. The South returns the greeting. The moss-backed Bourbons of both sections will still distrust each other and prophesy the coming of evils which will never come at their bidding. The young blood of both sections will flow in the channels of hope and the young pulses shall beat in unison.

   The social system of other days at the South has given way to the progress born of free labor. The "moss backs" can't prevent it. The progressive young spirit of the South has resolved upon it. Let Atlanta send greetings to Chicago and Birmingham to Pittsburg. There is hope in the new rivalry. There is no jealousy in the strife. It is a stripping of the giants for the race. Let the new contest be encouraged. The nation shall win, whichever section shall outstrip the other. Columbia gives a prize to the winner! Thanks to the triumph of free labor, the South, the garden of the world, shall "bud and blossom as the rose;" the sons of the stony soil of the North shall indulge in no envious feelings. The warm hand of the chivalric South shall give welcome to the horney hand of the Northern toiler, and Northern capital shall develop the hidden treasures of the South. The anvil and the forge have supplanted the cannon.

   The sword has indeed been converted into the plow-share and to-day in this glorious anniversary morning we shake hands across what a quarter of a century ago was "a bloody chasm!" We telephone the South our "peace and good will." Let the veil be lifted that covers the evidence of former and bygone strife; let the veil be lifted that has hitherto hidden brother from brother. Let us see each other face to face. Come here our Southern brothers, come here our Northern brothers; put your palms together and swear to high Heaven that with the same zeal which you once displayed in trying to be enemies you will in the future show in your friendships, and the warm and tender nature of the South shall mingle with the cool, calculating business training of the North, welding us together as one of the truest and most prosperous nations of the earth, while “Columbia the gem of the ocean” shall bless you and us, and thank God for the heat of the battle which destroyed the dross and welded us together.