CONGRESS. (MILITARY PARKS.) 



spoliation by the invading army. In that 

 lamation be simply reiterated what the law of 

 nations has always maintained, namely, that 

 when hostilities are in progress all insti'tutions 

 of this character should fc spared if possible 



,* true that the exigencies of war may 

 sometimes necessitate the occu| i.e de- 



struction of such institutions, but tin- i* not 

 that caw. On Hunter's raid his men camped on 

 the grounds of this university, and. under the 

 license which sometimes prevails when soldier* 

 are in ramp, contrary to his orders some of his 

 men entered these buildings and destroyed this 



-Now.' sir. it being a legal duty on the part of 

 the Government to compensate .such institutions 



for damages inflicted in this way. it being our 

 legal d-iiy by force of the proclamation of our 

 own President, it being a moral duty on our 

 part to repair, as well as we can. the injury that 

 wa* done to this institution, it seems to me that 

 we ought as well jiatriotically to vote, this money 

 unanimously. We have done it in the case of 

 William and Mary Coll. ^ . which was a case less 

 deterring than that of this institution. 



i institution wns the |>et of the Father of 

 his Country. George Washington himself do- 

 nated to it a fund now equal to the sum of 

 $50,000, the annual interest of which at 6 per 

 cent is paid by the State of Virginia t. this in- 

 stitution. I hope, sir. there will not be a single 

 Tote or voice raised on this floor against this 

 I. ill. f<.r it is right and proper that we should 



pa>- U." 



Mr. Reed, of Maine, said in criticism of the 



- I do not purpose. Mr. Speaker, to occupy the 

 five minutes which have been given me by the 

 gentleman from Missouri. My only purpose is to 

 state what seems to me to be sound sense in con- 

 nection with this matter, for from the indica- 

 tions which have already appeared it is evident 

 that this question is to be considered upon senti- 

 ment and not upon reason and wisdom. 



"The bill for the relief of the William and 

 Mary College passed the last Congress. It was 

 up many years ago. It was then carefully de- 

 bated and carefully considered; and in a Demo- 

 cratic House the bill had been refused passage 

 on account of its probable consequences. With- 

 out discussion, without examination, it was 

 paesed by the last Congress and was signed by 

 the President. In my Judgment, the passage of 

 thai act was a great mistake. In my jndgt 

 also, it never would have passed if there had 

 been that opportunity for discussion which a 

 great question like that really demand 

 wonld this, even if there is involved in it a 

 mental feeling which we might have toward a 

 college bearing the name of the Father of his 

 rv. ev.n if then- had been added to it the 

 name of the general who commanded the rebel 

 forcesduringthe war. That M-ntirnental feeling is 

 very natural; but the principle involved, in my 

 judgment, is something that we can not afford 

 to san 



tr is a dreadful thing: it is barbarism 

 and. as a great general has said, can not be re- 

 fined. But whoever provokes war must be pre- 

 pared to take the consequences of war, and, 

 among other consequences, even the lawlessness 



of the troops who are engaged. And while tin-re 

 may be every effort to save institutions of learn- 

 ing". iMtftaaoni of charity, librai a -s. and other 

 of that sort, nevertheless no nation can 

 alTonl to adopt the doctrine that all injuries of 



that class are to be oompeiuhted \\lun tin war 



i. because such inju: ; out in ... 



I. road a fashion that in> nation ought to think of 

 endeavoring to liquidate claims arising on that 

 At, 



"The passage of this bill will he a j.r. .-.-d.-nt 

 in addition tO thai air- i-hed and 



is now ipioted. a- I prophesied it would be if the 

 bill pas-ed. This is an additional precedent to 



d for granting compensation for 

 kind of injury that took place and a great dial 

 of injury that did not take place during the 

 Southern rebellion. We ought not t<> paw tin- 

 bill. We ought not to establish the principle. 

 Whenever war is made the con- ..f tin- 



war must be taken. They arc not subjects of 

 recompense." 



The rules were suspended, and the mcjisu re- 

 was passed and duly approved by tin President. 



Military Parks. The Congress passed and 

 the President approved two measures for mili- 

 tary narks. One was for such a park at Shiloh, 

 as follows : 



Be it enacted, etc.. That in order that the armies of 

 the Southwest which served in the civil war. like 

 their comrades of the Kastcrn armies at (lettysburtf 

 and those of the central West at Chickamauga. may 

 have the history of one of their inemoruhU- battle* 

 preserved on the ground where they fought, the bat-, 

 tleficld of Shiloh, in the State of Tonne*.* > 

 declared to be a national military park, \\ i 

 title to the same shall have been ucuuircd by the 

 United States and jurisdiction over the Inn*. 

 roads of the same shall have been ^ranted t<> the 

 I'nitcd States by the State of Tennessee ; that is to 

 say. the area inclosed by the following lines, or so 

 much thereof as the c.,mmi*Hont :- k may 



deem necessary, to wit: Beginning at Ion 

 murk on the north bank of . k \\lnn it 



empties into the Tennessee river : anlly 



in a straight line to the point when the river nwl to 

 Crum]* Landing, Term., crocs- .thence 



long the channel <>r BnakeereektoOwl T. . k ; tin-nee 

 along tin- channel of Owl <-rcek to the crowing of 

 I to Purely. Tenn. ; thence southwardly in a 

 straight line to the intersection of an east and west 

 line drawn from the point where the road to Ham- 

 burg, Tenn., crosses Lick creek, near the mouth of 

 tin- latter: t: A art! along the said east and 



MI- t- the point where the Hamburg 

 crosses Lick creek ; thence along the channel ot I.i, k 

 ep-i-k to the Tennessee river; thence ul< r 

 mark of the Tennessee river to the j-oint of be^inninjr. 

 containing 8.000 acn-. more or !>>. an<l the ana thtm 

 ..11 be known as tl ' ..-i.-iml Mill 



:-..rk. 



SEC. 2. That the establishment of t)ie Shiloh Na- 

 tional Military I'ark shall bccarrie-1 tru:ir<i 

 the control and direction of 



-u the passage of this act, sha 

 title t< the same either under the act ap- 

 Aii(/. 1. I 1 --*, entitled " An Act to aiithori/o 

 the condemnation of land f ? .i.ii.- Luiid- 



ings, and for other purposes," or under tin- a- 1 ap- 

 '.titled "An Act to estal.li.-h 

 and protect national << meteries," as he may 

 and as title is procured to any jx-rt'x.n ot the lands 

 and roads within the b-tral bomoariei ';' the park he 

 tnav proceed with the establishment <>f the park upon 

 sucn portions as may thus be tic'juind. 



Sic. 8. That the Secretary of War in hereby au- 



