Commemoration

The American novelist Carl Sandburg, writing of his war service in 1898, remembered that over all of the volunteers in the war with Spain “was the shadow of the Civil War and the men who fought it to the end that had come only 33 years before our enlistment.”¹¹ Sandburg's observation reminds us that Victorian America was essentially a postwar world, in which the sacrifices of a highly destructive Civil War were still keenly felt and the martial and national legacy of the conflict weighed heavily on the minds of postwar generations.

Studies of commemoration have concentrated mainly on the remembrance activities of veterans and the organizations that spoke for them, the Grand Army of the Republic, for example.¹⁴ These studies stress that in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, in a spirit of militaristic nationalism, vet­erans from both North and South trod the path of reunion, glorifying and sentimentalizing the Civil War, and celebrating the prowess of the American soldier. Much of the history of sectional reunion concentrates on how the South came to terms with defeat, famously of course through the mythology of the Lost Cause, which romanticized the Old South. In the 1990s, however, historians such as Nina Silber, David W.

The participation of Guard units in these commemorative activities has generally been overlooked. Almost twenty years after they fought for the Union at First Bull Run, the 71st New York traveled to New Orleans at the invitation of Southern veterans and community leaders to participate in the Mardi Gras celebrations of 1881. Militia units from New Orleans, the Washington Artillery, for example, had also been present at First Bull Run. The journey was a chance for the 71st to confirm its martial reputation, something to which the regiment clung tenaciously in the face of growing Lost Cause cele­bration of Southern martial superiority, the tendency for the North to celebrate only its great victories, notably at Gettysburg, and the recruiting and financial difficulties faced by Guard formations in the immediate postwar environment. The establishment of a martial reputation during the Civil War, always a source of regimental and local pride, took on greater significance as the process of reunion and reconciliation took hold in the 1880s.

The journey came at a time of increasing interest in New York in remem­bering the Civil War and in the preservation of its heritage. In 1881, the New York Times noted that the “relics and records of the war have been too long neglected. It is high time that they were arranged and protected with a... reverent care worthy of the patriotism of our volunteer soldiery, worthy of the great State of New York.”¹⁶ The 71st's journey, therefore, came at a pivotal point on the path of sectional reunion and at a time of increasing public and government interest in the preservation of New York's Civil War heritage.

At Hammond, Louisiana, a detachment of the Washington Artillery welcomed the regiment with a 71-gun salute. Each man in the detachment was a veteran. Gentlemen of business and social prominence, they proceeded to exchange war stories with the veterans of the 71st.¹⁷ One of the artillery­men said that he had a Yankee bullet in him somewhere, which he would like to present to a Northern veteran if he could only get it out. A member of the 71st, with tears in his eyes, declared that he had a piece of “Johnny” bullet in his thigh “and that he would give a thousand dollars to get both of them out so they could exchange. Then the two veterans went off to get a drink, and everybody within hearing, wished that they had a bullet in some portion of their body.”¹⁸ Though amusing, this account of the exchange of war stories is an important example of the way in which veterans imbued younger nonveteran members of the regiment with traditions and memories that would shape their views on reconciliation and warfare.

Another significant event was attendance by the regiment at a ceremony to honor the Confederate dead. Arriving at Greenwood Cemetery, near the place where Andrew Jackson turned back the British in 1815, the regimen­tal band played “Nearer My God to Thee” accompanied by the voices of several thousand spectators.

Here then is an early commemorative event, in which both veterans and younger Guardsmen took part, which gave meaning to the sacrifices of the Civil War generation. The ceremony foreshadowed the many commemora­tions in the coming decades that stressed the brotherhood of all American soldiers regardless of the cause for which they fought. A Southern newspa­per, the New Orleans Democrat, noted the significance of Northern soldiers decorating the graves of Confederate dead at a place where Americans had earlier defended their nation against the British. We “know that the act will be productive of great good—proving to the Southern people that the men of the North are as magnanimous in peace as they found them brave in war.”²⁰ Thus the salute both affirmed the mutual bonds of soldierly sacrifice and valor essential to reunion and confirmed the older national bonds of the citizen soldiery, bonds established in revolution, which were confirmed through the mythology of a war of national defense. The expedition of the 71st to New Orleans has significance beyond Buck's assessment of it and beyond its place as one of the first veteran reunions. This was an active National Guard unit that included some veterans in its ranks but with the rank and file made up of nonveterans aged in their twenties and thirties.

One final aspect of Guard commemorative activities to consider is their regular attendance at summer training encampments. Between 1881 and 1892, every state revised its military code to establish organized, voluntary National Guard formations.²¹ These military codes mandated that Guard units undertake regular training in the field. Summer training camps became commonplace and states petitioned the federal government for inspections and training by regular army officers. By 1887, 13 state summer camps received inspections by regulars. The philosophy behind sending Guardsmen to summer camps was not to train them to be able to suppress internal disorder but rather to ensure that the Guard was a well-equipped and disciplined organization ready to take the field as the national reserve force.²² In doing so, the National Guard became a key part of United States military planning and in the process embedded the culture of military prowess in society. As a result, the prestige of the National Guard increased and young men who volunteered for duty in it represented the “ideal citizen” in every sense.

While the most vital military function of state encampments was teach­ing individual units how to operate together in a simulated battlefield environment, military periodicals espoused the moral and physical benefits of Guardsmen training together. Encampments promoted discipline and drill and imparted “a better knowledge of the requisite details of a soldier's life, than whole seasons of indoor instruction and practice in armories and arsenals.”²³ Others noted that if Guardsmen from various states trained together, it would have national effects and “allay sectional prejudice, create new friendships, and weld the young soldiers of the Republic together indis­solubly.”²⁴ Thus, like participation in commemorative events, encampments encouraged a national focus among Guard units.

Encampments were also sites of commemoration, where young Guardsmen could experience a taste of military life while imagining that they were on a Civil War battlefield. The presence of veterans in the ranks and members of GAR sustained these imaginings. GAR posts sometimes camped with Guardsmen. At the New Jersey department encampments of 1878, 1881, and 1883, veterans engaged in sham battles with New Jersey Guardsmen. GAR posts also engaged in shooting matches with Guardsmen.²⁵ The reenactment of battle at GAR camps and the sham battles at Guard encampments transmitted an interpretation of the past, their “communica­tive performance [providing] a dramatic vehicle for making rememberings in common possible.”²⁶ Thus, encampments and battles were inducements to memory in which the participants and, to some extent, the observers had the momentary experience of being “in the past.”

This experience of being “in the past” could also be transmitted to observers. The proximity of encampments to major cities meant that they were in easy traveling distance of friends and family members of the Guardsmen. While friends and family would travel considerable distances to visit soldiers in camp, they did not need to go so far afield to witness martial displays of a military nature. When the city of New York took over responsibility for Van Cortlandt Park, north of Brooklyn, in the 1880s, it turned part of the park into a parade ground. While curlers and skaters used the park's lake in the winter months, the park grounds also afforded excellent opportunity for field exercises in warmer weather. Over a hundred acres of land could accommodate the maneuvers of thousands of men. The Army and Navy Journal proclaimed that the “opportunities afforded by this extensive parade ground... for military exercise on a scale unprecedented in this city or its vicinity will attract tens of thousands of spectators on special occasions.” Hills overlooking the training area on its northern and western sides enabled “over a hundred thousand spectators” to see a “bril­liant spectacle as infantry, cavalry and artillery go through their exercises or arranged in mimic battle.”²⁷

Military spectacle such as this had a definite effect on both the reputation of the Guard and attitudes toward war and martial ideals. In 1887, the year of the Centennial of the Constitution, celebrations and parades were held across the country. The martial display that accompanied these commemora­tive events had a significant impact on public attitudes toward the military and in particular toward citizen soldiers. The Army and Navy Journal noted that citizens who had regarded citizen soldiers with indifference or contempt in the past “were so impressed that they made a complete change about” and were converted to the belief that “it is the citizen soldiery that is the greatest safeguard of the country or of the State in any emergency.”²⁸ In Philadelphia, state militia and Guard organizations, regular army units, and veterans from both North and South were reviewed by President Grover Cleveland. The Philadelphia press reported that there “was something in the spectacle of the inspiring military display... that aroused and impressed upon the people not only the thought that Americans are a martial nation, but that a certain amount of martial training or service... is one of the duties of citizenship.” Furthermore, the display “had the effect of stirring up the military feeling and enthusiasm of thousands as nothing else could have done save a genuine call to arms.”²⁹

Studies of Civil War commemoration have effectively dealt with the way in which the memories and commemorative activities of veterans romanticized war, leading to reverence of the volunteer soldier. This is only part of the story, however, albeit an important one. The veterans had fought their war. Their sons and grandsons had to find their own tests. How were the ideals of martial manhood passed down through these generations? It was done partially through popular remembrance of the war and commemorative events like the New Orleans visit. But it was also sustained by the regular appearance of Guard units on the streets of New York and other major cities.