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FromThe Daily Register, Mobile, Alabama, May 13, 1892
The Gray and the Blue
Semmes Camp Appoints a Committee to Receive the Illinois Grand Army Men
At a meeting of the Raphael Semmes Camp No. 11, United Confederate Veterans, held at their hall last night, the reports of the officers and committees were rendered. These reports showed the camp to be in fair condition both from a financial and numerical point of view. On the twentieth instant the survivors of the Seventy-sixth Illinois Infantry will arrive in this city to place in the National Soldiers' Cemetery a monument to commemorate the valor of their comrades who fell at the siege of Fort Blakely in April, 1865. This monument is the first to be erected in the National Cemetery here by any regiment.
The structure is of Georgia granite. The main base is three feet square and eighteen inches thick, rough cut. The upper base is two and a half feet square and one foot thick; on the obverse side of this piece is cut in raised letters:
SECOND BRIGADE
Second Division
Thirteenth Army Corps
the command to which the regiment was at that time attached.
The shaft proper is five feet high and twenty-two inches square, with corners bevelled. The upper part, finished I scroll work, tapers to a point eight inches square, and upon this rests a plinth six inches thick and ten inches square, leaving an inch projection over the scroll work. On top of the plinth rests a cannon ball six inches in diameter (which is surmounted by an eagle with wings and neck outstretched as if about to fly. The ball and eagle are of copper and dovered with gold leaf.
On the front of the shaft is the dedication as follows:
IN MEMORY
of our Heroes who fell at
FORT BLAKELY, ALA.
April 9, 1865
Erected by
the Survivors of the
Regiment
1892
Above this inscription, upon the scroll work, is the regimental badge (a Maltese cross suspended from an arrow) in relieve. The back is adorned with an unfurled flag depending from a shaft, at the foot of which appears a pyramid of cannon balls. On the right side of the shaft are inscribed the following names:
William T. Duke
Micajah S. Moore
William Grimes
George H. Hopkins
George F. Tremain
Joseph Mailloux
Charles Perkins
Bordman H. Noble
James O. Endsley, Jr.
Daniel O. Harrison
Jonathan Osborne
Michael Kirchner
Harvey B. Longnecker
Eldrick Grouillette
Charles Goodwood, color bearer
On the left side are fourteen names, as follows:
Oren Swan
Joel Lesco
Cedrick Dean
Harlan B. Hunt
George W. King
Floyd Fuller
John Collins
David L. Button
Walter B. Bates
Dennis O'Brien
Samuel Daniel
Daniel J. Green
Jacob Obrecht
Henry B. Hussey, color bearer
These twenty-nine names represent those members of the regiment who were killed or mortally wounded during the siege. It is stated that during the final charge on the ninth of April, Henry B. Hussey, the color bearer, being shot down while scaling the works, the colors were seized by Charles Goldwood who met a similar fate. The flag was then taken up by James Fleming and planted on the confederate works.
Last night Camp Semmes appointed a committee of ten members to act as a committee of arrangements for the purpose of extending to the gallant federal veterans who will accompany the monument the courtesies of the camp. It is hoped by the Confederate Veterans that the reception of the men who wore the blue at the hands of their foemen twenty-seven years ago will be one of the most pleasing incidents of the occasion.
FromThe Daily Register, Mobile, Alabama, Tuesday, May 31, 1892
MONUMENT OF THE SEVENTY-SIXTH ILLINOIS UNVEILED
Goldwood Post of the Grand Army of the Republic Conduct the Ceremonies at Mobile
National Decoration Day was observed here yesterday at the national soldiers cemetery by services and the ritual of the Grand Army of the Republic, conducted by Goldwood Post No. 11. There was no formal programme made up.
The shaft commemorating the twenty-nine members of the Seventy-sixth Illinois Regiment, who lost their lives at the Siege of Fort Blakely, was unveiled during the services. Captain Romeyn, of the United States Army, recently commandant at Mount Vernon Barracks, delivered an oration. Mr. S. C. Munhall, of Watseka, Ill., who was sergeant major of the Seventy-sixth Illinois, and to whose efforts, in greater part the monument is due, and Captain A. H. South, of Watseka, a member of the Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry, came to Mobile to superintend the erection of the shaft and were the guests of Goldwood post at yesterday's ceremonies.
At five o-clock the cremonies began with the ritual of the Grand Army of the Republic; the services were followed by Captain Romeyn's address, which was a graceful and pertinent presentation of the claims of the dead heroes of the war upon the memories of the survivors. At the conclusion of the address the national colors which draped the Seventy-sixth Regiment's monument were hauled away by Miss Elsie Smith, the eleven year-old daughter of Comrade W. W. Smith of Goldwood Post, revealing the monument which is of Georgia granite.
The main base is three feet square and eighteen inches thick, rough cut. The upper base is two and a half feet square and one foot thick; and the obverse side of this piece is cut in raised letters: "Second Brigade, Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps," the command to which the regiment was at that time attached. The shaft proper is five feet high and twenty-two inches square, with corners bevelled.
The upper part, finished in scroll work, tapers to a point eight inches square and upon this rests a plinth six inches thick and ten inches square, leaving an inch projection over the scroll work. On top of the plinth rests a cannon-ball six inches in diameter, which is surmounted by an eagle with wings and neck outstretched as if about to fly.
The ball and eagle are of copper and covered with a gold-leaf. The faces of the shaft bear the following inscriptions: "In memory of our heroes who fell at Fort Blakely, Ala., April 9, 1865. Erected by the survivors of the regiment, 1892." Above this inscription is the regimental badge (a Maltese cross, suspended from an arrow) in relief. The other faces of the shaft bear the names of the twenty-nine members of the regiment whose memory the monument enshrines. The back is adorned with an unfurled flag, depending from a staff planted in a pyramid of cannon balls.
The Gilmer Rifles, the colored militia company of this city, commanded by Captain Reuben Mims, marched out to the cemetery, headed by the Echo Brass Band. There was also a large crowd, probably fifteen hundred, colored people assembled at the National Cemetery. The rostrum in the cemetery upon which the grand army post's services were conducted was guarded by policemen. Captain Mims, it is said, became offended because no colored minister, several of whom were present, nor any representative negroes were invited to participate in the ceremonies, and during the delivery of Captain Romeyn's address, assembled his company with the drum and marched it back to the armory.
The Memorial Association of this city, composed of colored people, held a meeting at the Gilmer Rifles hall last week and made preparations to celebrate the day. The association invited Colonel M. D. Wickersham to deliver an address on Decoration Day at the National Cemetery, but Colonel Wickersham declined on account of a severe cold and sore throat. Captain Mims says that he was refused permission to place his company's flat upon the rostrum, the band was not invited to play, and his request, to have Colonel Wickersham's letter giving his reasons for declining the invitation to deliver an address read, was also refused.
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