248 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



ossal Belgian lion, marks the spot where the Old Guard 

 went down in final defeat, after Napoleon had dominated 

 the world for twenty years. And when I visited this 

 monument a few years ago the straws hung from the open 

 jaws of the lion, showing that the doves of peace had 

 there built their nest. 



At Cheronea the Greek mound marks the spot where 

 their heroes were buried twenty-three hundred years ago, 

 and in the broken fragments of the old lion on that mound 

 the wild bees have made their home. 



When the warring hosts cease their contests peace re- 

 sumes its sway, and the birds are in possession of the 

 field at Shiloh. 



Germany has erected a monument to the great Armin- 

 ius, who overthrew a splendid Roman army in the days of 

 Augustus, and whose name troubled the sleep of the Em- 

 peror and led him to cry aloud in the anguish of his 

 heart : "0, Valens, give me back my legions ! ' ' 



Jinghis Khan erected a pyramid of skulls to commem- 

 orate his victories — the most ghastly memorial of the 

 scourge of mankind. These monuments have usually cel- 

 ebrated the victories of aggression but it has remained 

 to the people of our country to make a memorial or mon- 

 ument of the battlefield itself. 



These national parks are created rather to commem- 

 orate the full and complete reconciliation that has come 

 upon the participants in our Civil War. As the war of 

 York and Lancaster ended in the union of the Red and 

 White Roses, so the reunion of the states is cemented 

 upon every battlefield of the war. 



We have met on one of the greatest of these battle- 

 fields, upon the fiftieth anniversary of the contest. To- 

 day we stand among the trees, where the whistling bullet, 

 the shrieking shot and shell dealt such havoc ; and best of 



