Historical voices

We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation’s destroyers.

We must never forget that victory to the rebellion meant death to the republic.

But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.

In the raging storm of fire and blood, in the fierce torrent of shot and shell, of sword and bayonet, whether on foot or on horse, unflinching courage marked the rebel not less than the loyal soldier.

The essence and significance of our devotions here to-day are not to be found in the fact that the men whose remains fill these graves were brave in battle.

We are sometimes asked, in the name of patriotism, to forget the merits of this fearful struggle, and to remember with equal admiration those who struck at the nation’s life and those who struck to save it,--those who fought for slavery…

No loftier tribute can be paid to the most illustrious of all the benefactors of mankind than we pay to these unrecognized soldiers, when we write above their graves this shining epitaph.

Those unknown heroes whose whitened bones have been piously gathered here, and whose green graves we now strew with sweet and beautiful flowers, choice emblems alike of pure hearts and brave spirits, reached in their glorious career that…

The offering we bring to-day is due alike to the patriot soldiers dead and their noble comrades who still live; for whether living or dead, whether in time or eternity, the loyal soldiers who imperiled all for country and freedom are one…

Dark and sad will be the hour to this nation when it forgets to pay grateful homage to its greatest benefactors.

Into the measureless depths of every loyal soul it is now whispering lessons of all that is precious, priceless, holiest, and most enduring in human existence.

There is in the very air of this resting ground of the unknown dead a silent, subtle, and an all-pervading eloquence, far more touching, impressive, and thrilling than living lips have ever uttered.

Time, education, and circumstances are rapidly destroying these mere color distinctions, and men will be valued in this country as well as in others, for what they are, and for what they can do.

This conduct is the homage which the black man pays to the white man’s prejudice whose wishes, like a well-trained servant, he is taught to anticipate and obey.

With a colored man on a sleeping car as its conductor, the last to have his bed made up at night, and the last to have his boots blacked in the morning, and the last to be served in any way, is the colored passenger.

While the rank and file of our race quote with much vehemence the doctrine of human equality, they are often among the first to deny and denounce it in practice.

They were trained in the school of servility to believe that white men alone were entitled to be waited upon by colored men; and the lesson taught by my presence on the “Tennessee” was not to be learned upon the instant, without thought…

The fact that I was colored and they were colored had so long made us equal, that the contradiction now presented was too much for them.

In a circle so brilliant, it is no affectation of modesty to say I was for the most part a listener and a learner.

This is perhaps true in some degree in every community; but it is especially so of the National Capital, and this for the reason that there is ever a large class of people here dependent upon the influence and favor of powerful public men…

Interested parties are ever ready to fan the flame of animosity and magnify the grounds of hostility in order to gain the favor of one or the other.

Variance between great men finds no healing influence in the atmosphere of Washington.

The truth is, that neither one was entirely just to the other, because neither saw the other in his true character; and having once fallen asunder, the occasion never came when they could be brought together.

It was giving to a part the strength of the whole, and lifting what must be despised for its isolation into an organization and relationship which would compel consideration and respect.