son drear,
Or in the battle's van,
The fittest place for man to die,
Is where he dies for man."

We hung a wreath here, and again our procession moved forward and halted
on the left (west) side of the avenue, at a tablet bearing the inspired
words:

"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit
shall return unto God who gave it."

Here we placed another wreath, and moved onward to a tablet on the right
(east) side of the avenue, where we read--

"A thousand battle-fields have drunk
The blood of warriors brave,
And countless homes are dark and drear,
Thro' the land they died to save."

Another wreath was placed here, and we marched to the last tablet in the
north of the Cemetery, standing in the midst of a section of graves
numbering thousands, and inscribed--

"Through all rebellion's horrors
Bright shines our nation's fame,
Our gallant soldiers, perishing,
Have won a deathless name."

After hanging a wreath here, we marched to the center of the Cemetery,
and hung our last wreath upon the flag-staff from which the stars and
stripes shall ever float above those who died in its defence.

It was no place for speech. The surroundings were too solemn. Our only
other services were to unite in singing "My Native Country, Thee,"
(America,) and Rev. Dr. Pierson offered prayer. And so we decorated the
National Cemetery at Andersonville, Georgia. It was little, very little,
we did, but we could not do more, and we dared not do less. Here are the
graves of 12,848 "brave boys," who died as prisoners of war in the
stockades. Eight hundred and sixty-eight other soldiers have been
disinterred and brought here from Macon, Columbus, Eufaula, Americus,
and other places in Georgia, so that now this Cemetery numbers 13,716
graves. We could not decorate them all, and we dared not decorate those
of the States we represented, or of any particular class. We dared not
single out any for special honors. We felt that all were worthy of equal
honor from us, and from the nation they died to save. And so we
decorated the Cemetery as a whole, as best we could, and our tribute of
affection was bestowed equally upon each one of all these 13,716
hallowed graves. And most earnestly did we implore the blessing of
Almighty God to rest upon our whole country, and upon all the fathers,
mothers, sisters, brothers, widows, and orphans, whose "dead" we thus
attempted to honor