M'PHERSON MONUMENT.

     On the 3d day of August, 1866, McPherson Monument Society of Clyde was organized.  Its officers were Gen. R. P. Buckland of Fremont, president, and Capt. John M. Lemmon of Clyde, secretary. T he whole cost of the monument was to be $11,000, and the Clyde society pledged itself to raise $3,000 of the amount, which it raised by subscription.  In addition, this society greatly beautified the cemetery wherein lie the honored remains of the fallen hero.  It was through the efforts of General Buckland and Captain Lemmon that Congress was induced to appropriate four bronze cannon, 1,000 muskets and twenty-five cannonballs which have been placed in the cemetery, by the side of the monument.  The Society of the Army of the Tennessee raised $3,956 toward the erection of the monument.
     There were efforts made to have the McPherson Monument located at West Point instead of Clyde.  Finally, however, a resolution was adopted by the Army of the Tennessee, as follows:
     "That we the members of the Army of the Tennessee pledge ourselves to the erection of a monument to the memory of Major Gen. James B. McPherson to be placed over his remains at Clyde, Ohio."
     The statute of Major Gen. James Birdseye McPherson, is pronounced a perfect piece of art.  The pedestal is of granite, 9 feet in height, and 6½ feet at the base.  The figure, which is also 9 feet in height, and composed of bronze represents the commander in full military uniform, with sword belt and hat.  The left hand holds a field-glass, while the right hand and arm are extended as if pointing to where the battle rages fiercest.  The piece is from the Cincinnati Art Foundry of Rebisso, Mundhenk & Co., who are also the designers and sculptors of the equestrian statue of McPherson, previously erected at Washington.
     The statue occupies a knoll in beautiful McPherson Cemetery at Clyde, wherein the hero with father and mother and two brothers lie, and which once formed a portion of the homestead of the McPherson family, where the general was born.
     The unveiling ceremonies took place July 22, 1881, attended by 15,000 people, a large number of military societies and distinguished military men.  A procession more than a mile long was formed and marched to the cemetery where the assemblage was called to order by Gen. R. B. Hayes, president of the day.  The statue was unveiled by Gen. W. T. Sherman; the dedicatory oration was delivered by Gen. M. F. Force.  Formal addresses were delivered by Gen. W. E. Strong and Gen. W. T. Sherman, followed by short addresses by Generals Gibson, Hazen, Leggett, Belknap and Keifer.  General Force in his oration said:
     "In this place, in this presence, in sight of the home of his childhood, where he was born on the 14th of November, 1828, speaking to the playmates of his youth and the comrades of his career, there is little need of saying who James B. McPherson was.  They are present who remember the sunny-faced boy, cheerful, generous, affectionate, studious, diligent in every duty; his youthful toil helped to support

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a widowed mother Entering West Point at the age of 19 he feared his limited education would weigh han down, but in a class which included Schofield, Terrell, Sill, Tyler, Hood and afterward Sheridan, he quickly rose to the head and kept his place there.  The professor regarded him as one of the ablest men sent forth from the institution."
     General Sherman on the same occasion said -
     "Those whom the gods love die young.  My memory in a somewhat eventful career of forty years, retains three conspicuous examples.
*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *
     "My third youg hero lies buried in Clyde, Ohio, in the orchard where he played as a boy, he, too, died young, only 35 years old, and was of the kind whom, the gods love 'exceedingly well'. You, his neighbors, knew him as a boy and had a glimpse of him in manhood, and somehow I think a man may not be a prophet or a hero in his own home.  You knew his genial, hearty nature, his attachment to his family and neighbors, but you could not see the man as I have seen him, in danger, in battle, when every muscle and every tissue was in full action, when the heroic qualities shone out as a star in the darkest night.
     "McPherson. a youth, grew from a lieutenant of engineers to be a corps commander, an army commander, promotion as rapid as ever marked the progress of the mighty men, in the days of Napoleon, but like a brilliant meteor.  Loved of the Gods,' his voting life went out before we had achieved the full measure of the work demanded of us by the times.
*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *
     "A nation has adopted him as one of her heroes, and long after we are gone, and it may be forgotten, young men will gather about his equestrian statue in Washington and this one at Clyde, Ohio, and at Clyde, Ohio, and say to themselves:  'Behold the type of man who rescued us from anarchy; who died that freedom might become universal; that America might attain her true place in the general of nations, and whose virtues, heroism, and self-sacrifice we must imitate.
     "We must soon pass away and leave him alone in his glory, but before we go we should attempt to emphasize his fame, and I have sought elsewhere for language fitted to the subject, but cannot find anything more appropriate than what I myself wrote the day after his death, when the sounds of battle still thundered in my hearing, when my heart was torn by the loss of a comrade and friend, one whom I loved, in whose keeping was the fate of one of our best armies, and whose heart's blood still stained the hand with which I wrote.  I therefore beg to reproduce my own report of his death, made after I had consigned him to the care of loving aids to be brought here to Clyde, Ohio, for interment.

     "Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi.
          In the field near Atlanta, Ga., July 23rd, 1864.
"General L. Thomas,
     Adjutant-General, United States Army,
       "Washington, D. C.,
     General:  It is my painful duty to report that Brigadier General James B. McPherson, United States Army, Major-General of Volunteers and Commander of the Army of the Tennessee, was killed about noon yesterday.  At the time of the fatal shot, he was on horseback, placing his troops in position, near the city of Atlanta, and was passing a cross-road from a moving column toward the flank of troop that had already been established on the line.  He had quitted me but a few moments before, and was on his way to see in person to the execution of my orders.  About the time of the sad event, the enemy had rallied from his entrenchments of Atlanta, and by a circuit, got to the left and rear of this very line, and had begun an attack which resulted in a serious battle, so that General McPherson fell in battle, booted and spurred as the gallant and heroic gentleman should wish; not his loss alone, but the country's, and the army will mourn his death and cherish his memory as that of one who, though comparatively young, had risen by his merit and ability to the command of one of the best armies which the nation had called into existence, to vindicate her honor.
     "History tells of but few who so blended the grade and gentleness of the friend with the dignity, courage, faith and manliness of the soldier.  *     *     *     *     *
                         "I am with respect,
                              "W. T. Sherman,
                    "Major General Commanding."

     "In grateful recognition of the services and character of General McPherson, his surviving comrades of the Army of the Tennessee and his friends and neighbors residing at and near his birthplace, Clyde, Sandusky County, Ohio, have erected a portrait statute of heroic size in bronze.  It will fitly mark the last resting-place of the earthly remains of General McPherson.  It stands before us within a few rods of the spot where he was born, and is in the midst of

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REINTERMENT OF REMAINS OF MAJOR GEORGE CROGHAN,
FORT STEPHENSON PARK, AUGUST 2nd, 1906

MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES B. McPHERSON

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courts of reason for the settlement of controversies among nations following up the maintenance of the law with the vitalizing forces of civilization until all nations are molded into one international brotherhood, yielding to reason and conscience.  Then can we draw the sword from its sheath and fling it into the sea rejoicing that it has gone forever.  Let us recognize this truth, and today on this anniversary, we will lay a new stone in the temple of universal peace.  This temple which shall rise to the very firmament and be as broad as the ends of the earth.  May such occasions as this lead us away from an era of wars and battleships and new navies, and bring us to a time when patriotism and humanity can be compatible one with another and to a time

When navies are forgotten
And fleets are useless things,
when the dove shall warm her bosom
Beneath the eagle's wings.
When memory of battles,
At last is strange and old,
When nations have one banner
And creeds have found one fold.
Then Hate's last note of discord
In all God's world shall cease,
In the conquest which is service
In the victory which is peace!"