Rededication of the Winnebago, IL Memorial for the Fallen Heroes

Delivered by Congressman Don Manzullo

"Rededication" is defined as redoing the process of consecration, of hallowing, of sanctifying. It assumes a renewal of the purpose for which the original dedication was made.

We, therefore, go back to August 22, 1899, and listen to Congressman Robert Hitt, the former reporter for the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, who served as the Charge de Affaires to the French government, and who served in Congress representing this area from 1882 to 1906.

Hitt was from Mt. Morris, in nearby Ogle County , and according to the report of his speech that appeared in the August 23, 1899 edition of the Rockford Daily Register Gazette, "He never made a more vigorous speech in his life or one that apparently came more from the heart. His audience was a sympathetic and inspiring one…."

Well, what did Hitt say that caused him to rise to this occasion, and what was it about the crowd assembled that caused them to be so sympathetic and inspiring? Note, usually it is the speaker who is inspiring and the crown reacting in return. What was inspiring about the crowd were many of the participants.

Lincoln faced a situation similar the that of Hitt in 1899, and I am similarly challenged today, August 22, 1999, one hundred years to the date that Congressman Hitt spoke at this very site. On January 27, 1838 Lincoln spoke before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois. It was a time of relative serenity. Troubles abounded still in the young land, such as the issue of slavery, which simply could not go away. Lincoln feared a pervasive complacency, so insidious that though fortification be continually made for the European invaders, danger loomed inside:

"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reaches us, it must spring up among us. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide."

Lincoln feared that as the men who fought the Revolutionary War died off and could no longer relate their oral histories to their children and grandchildren, that this nation would suffer because succeeding generations would not know of the pains and reasons for the sacrifices that made this nation great. Lincoln called these Revolutionary War veterans "pillars of the temple of liberty."

Lincoln lamented:

"I do not mean to say the scenes of the revolution…will be entirely forgotten; but that like everything else, they must fade upon the memory of the world, and grow more and more dim by the lapse of time. In history, we hope, they will be read of, and recounted, so long as the Bible shall be read; -but even granting that they will, their influence cannot be what is heretofore has been …. At the close of that struggle, nearly every adult made had been a participator in some of its scenes. The consequence was, that of those scenes, in the form of a husband, a father, a son or a brother, a living history was to be found in every family- a history bearing the indubitable testimonies of its own authenticity, in the limbs mangled, in the scars of wounds received, in the midst of the very scenes related- a history, too that could be read and understood alike by all, the wise and the ignorant, the learned and the unlearned. – But those histories are gone. They can be read no more forever. They were a fortress of strength; but, what invading foeman could never do, the silent artillery of time has done; the leveling of its walls. They are gone. – They were a forest of giant oaks; but the all-resistless hurricane has swept over them, and left only, here and there, a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its foliage; unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few more gentle breezes, and to combat with its mutilated limbs, a few more ruder storms, then to sink, and be no more."

Lincoln gave a name to these men, speaking of all and in particular of George Washington, the father of the Revolution and of our country, and challenged us:

"They were the pillars of the temple of liberty; and now, that they have crumbled away; that temple must fall, unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason. Passion has helped us, but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason…must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence. Let those materials be molded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws; and that we improved to the last; that we remained free to the last; tat we revered his name to the last; that, during his long sleep, we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place….[And that, we, the new pillars of the temple of liberty] shall be…[the ones] to learn that [only] the last trump shall awaken our Washington.

Upon these, let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, " the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Congressman Hitt spoke to many in the crowd who fought in the War Between the States. In addition to those from Winnebago, veterans came from Rockford, Harlem, Harrison, Pecatonica, New Milford, Durand, and Byron. Congressman Hitt was concerned because the Civil War vets in 1899 were dying off at the rate of 30,000 per year, and would soon be gone. It was those in the crowd- those who fought with the ones who perished and who were remembered on August 22, 1899- that made the crowd inspiring. The pillars of the temple of liberty of the Civil War were dying off at a frightening rate. Their lives were inspiring. They represented the remnant of those being honored. Hitt said:

"[W]e commemorate by the dedication of this lofty and beautiful monument the deeds of men who died for this country, for the memory of those who did more than you or any of us. All that a man hath will he give in exchange for life. You were willing and did your duty. In doing their duty, they gave all and we want to testify by our presence, words, and this monument, the admiration and respect with which we hold the memory of the hallowed dead. The sacrifice they made and the cause for which they fell was the most righteous in which man could perish… They were no better men than you or the rest of us. It was not because they were taller or shorter or more educated nor because of individual merits, but it fell to their lot and became a duty in a supreme moment that they should do an act, not for themselves or for a neighbor, but for all mankind."

This crowd that inspired, the one that day one hundred years ago, was filled with veterans of that terrible War, and they served as the span between the War and August 22, 1899. Hitt compressed in a few sentences why these fallen ones are so worthy of a memorial:

"These men didn’t die like the fool dieth, but in obedience to a command. It is only now, after so many years have passed, that we can put some measure of the value on the great ruin which they prevented and the blessing which they secured for us. That is what makes them worth of monuments, but these monuments will crumble to dust before the memory passes away of what they did for us."

What did Hitt mean when he said monuments will crumble to dust before the memory passes away of what they did for us?

He said you can’t maintain in perpetuity a physical object such as a memorial, but you can maintain - etched in the heart and soul of a nation - the memory of their purpose and the succeeding events that reaffirm even more the totality of their sacrifice. They fought and died, said Hitt, so that others could have their freedom. And if these brave men who marched from Illinois to the call of Lincoln had not answered the call, the issue of slavery may never have been resolved. Hitt said,

"When these volunteer soldiers marched out, the country was divided, had little credit and seemed unable to hold together. We had millions of slaves in a country supposed to be free. The country would have remained divided, but for the volunteer army. The plain men of that army did what the wisdom of the wise had failed to do."

Because these volunteers went, America became a world power since it showed to the world that it could endure a civil war and still maintain as one nation, and it could eliminate the practice of slavery. Any nation that could do that had to be a power to be reckoned with. You see, the so called "wise" of which Hitt spoke were the Sen. Sewards of New York, who would have let the South go and then combine with foreign nations to bring other lands into a "new" United States.

Those "wise ones" all had their plans smashed when the one from Illinois was elected president. He had studied the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and believed in his heart those documents, along with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (which outlawed slavery in the new Western states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan) were prophetic in that they spoke silently of the quiet yet determined march toward the elimination of slavery. He knew full well of the oratories of John Quincy Adams in the House of Representatives who railed against slavery and Mr. Jefferson, who as Governor of Virginia, a member of the Virginia state legislature, the US Congress and Governor of Virginia tried no less than a dozen times to eliminate slavery either wholly or gradually over a period of time. And he knew of Henry Clay, a close friend of his wife’s family, whose plan to eliminate slavery in one generation could have been realized if calmer heads on both sides had prevailed.

In the end, it became apparent to Lincoln, that the shackles of slavery, unfortunately, would have to be unfettered by the blood of men, men such as those who heeded the call of Lincoln and followed him into battle. From the blood that flowed from their bodies, this nation was reborn with a sense of destiny;, of resolve, of passion, of strength and of world leadership.

And what made the crowd in 1899 so sympathetic to Congressman Hitt? They knew that he must have known what was in Lincoln’s heart. Remember, Hitt attended the Lincoln-Douglas debates as a reporter. He heard every word Lincoln had said about the subject, including the trap Lincoln set for Douglas in Freeport that was short-term disaster for Lincoln but would end the political future of Douglas and slingshot Lincoln into the White House. Hitt was merely picking up the story of what Lincoln would have experienced had Lincoln lived to see the hard fought fruits of that terrible War.

What if Lincoln had given in? What if Lincoln had not summoned the boys from Illinois and the rest of the nation? What if he had given in to his naysayers and critics and the Sewards who sought to set up the Albany Plan or the shadow government to run the White House because all the wise people knew that Lincoln simply was not smart enough or up to the challenge?

What if Lincoln had allowed a House divided to become the rule of law?

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