Memorial Day was established in 1868 by Civil War veterans to remember their comrades that died in service. Today we remember the dead of all United States wars and pay special tribute to the men and women who have died in service to We the People.
Today, I walked through the Gettysburg National Cemetery before the annual ceremonies. It’s something to stand on that hill among the graves and look to all directions and imagine the surrounded soldiers gathering there on the evening of July 1, 1863 preparing to defend the ground that would become their grave. Kind of spooky.
I remember today my great-great-great-grandfather, Lewis Dreher of the 27th Indiana who fought with his regiment through the Valley in 1862 and at Cedar Mountain before being wounded at the Battle of Antietam. He went home, re-enlisted in 1863, never did a lick of good service and died in 1870 as a broken young man. I remember the men lying in the National Cemetery: Sgt. McKinney of the 1st Pennsylvania Reserves who died defending his hometown, the many men of my ancestor’s regiment who died down the road on Culp’s Hill on July Second and Third, James Ivers of New York who – though no relation – shares a name with my very good friend and whose grave we like to visit and remember, and all the men of the U.S. Regulars who fought and died at Gettysburg and who rest undivided by state.
Especially I remember the Unknowns. The men whose bodies were so mangled or their remains so oddly placed that it couldn’t even be determined what unit they fought with or what state they’d come from. I think they are the best representation of the effort of the United States in all wars – anonymous men from disparate communities fighting for common cause. General Thomas – the disowned Virginian commanding the Federal Army of the Cumberland – understood the idea of the United States. When he was asked if the burials on Orchard Knob at Chattanooga should be by state he replied, “No. No. Mix ’em up. I’m tired of state’s rights.”
“Mix ’em all up.” Pretty much encapsulates the American Experience.
Drink to the Dead.
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