Volume_29_Issue_2

Preservation & Progress Volume 29, Issue 2 5 Following this, in 1900 President WilliamMcKinley spoke informally with then-Colonel Cowan about a national memorial to celebrate American heroism and north and south peace. McKinley was the first United States President involved with the Peace Light. In his book Gettysburg: Stories of Men and Monuments as Told by Battlefield Guides, Frederick W. Hawthorne wrote, “In 1913, over fifty-five thousand northern and southern veterans came to Gettysburg to participate in a massive reunion celebrating the 50th anniversary of the battle. One outcome of this reunion was a desire among the veterans to construct a lasting symbol to the unity of the nation—a monument to peace.” President WoodrowWilson addressed the crowd, saying “We have found one another again as brothers and comrades in arms, enemies no longer, generous friends rather, our battles long past, the quarrel forgotten—except that we shall not forget the splendid valor.” The day was also intended to be the laying of the cornerstone for an expected “Great Peace Memorial.” The proposal had been submitted to Congress in 1912, but a Joint Committee of the Congress declared that funding was impossible for the 62nd Congress to accomplish. Instead of the laying of a cornerstone on July 3 the New York Veterans held a “Celebration in the 1913 Great Tent.” Colonel Cowan gave a speech advocating the memorial, and the Gettysburg Peace Memorial Association was formed. On December 20th, 1913, the Association’s bill was presented to Congress which created the Gettysburg Memorial Commission. Fifty-one years later, the Peace Light was built and dedicated on July 3, 1938 at the 75th Reunion of veterans of the battle of Gettysburg. Various plans for the placement of the memorial included the Angle, Big Round Top, and Little Round Top. State legislatures of Virginia and Pennsylvania were the first to appropriate funds for the memorial beginning in 1936. Additional funding came from New York, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Six designs were submitted, and the peace memorial committee selected Lee Lawrie as the sculptor for the structure “overlooking Big and Little Round Top.” Plans changed, and the groundbreaking on Oak Hill began on February14, 1937. July 3, 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived by train and motorcade to Oak Hill escorted by the United States 3rd Cavalry Division. A 21-gun salute greeted him as approximately 250,000 guests watched the ceremony. It is reported that over 100,000 more people could not get there due to the heavily congested roads. Using the leadership and wisdom of Abraham Lincoln 75 years earlier, Roosevelt said: “… Lincoln also understood that after such a decision, a democracy should seek peace through a new unity. For a democracy can keep alive only if the settlement of old difficulties clears the ground and transfers energies to face new responsibilities. Never can it have as much ability and purpose as it needs in that striving; the end of battle does not end the infinity of those needs. … In later years new needs arose, and with them new tasks, worldwide in their perplexities, their bitterness and their modes of strife. Here in our land we give thanks that, avoiding war, we seek our ends through the peaceful processes of popular government under the Constitution. It is another conflict, a conflict as fundamental as Lincoln’s, fought not with glint of steel, but with appeals to reason and justice on a thousand fronts—seeking to save for our common country opportunity and security for citizens in a free society. We are near to winning this battle. In its winning and through the years may we live by the wisdom and the humanity of the heart of Abraham Lincoln.” When the president’s nine-minute speech ended at sunset, the 50-foot flag that had covered the Memorial was removed by two 91-year-old veterans and the flame was lighted with a photocell. There were nearly 25 veterans of the Gettysburg battle and approximately 2,000 other Civil War veterans in attendance, average age of 94. Unfortunately, Cowan did not live to see his idea become the Eternal Light Peace Memorial in 1938— he died in Louisville on August 23, 1919 at the age of 78. Over the years the Memorial has had many repairs, and the flame has been gas, electric, and non-existent during an oil crisis in 1947, but eventually returned to the flickering flame seen today. In the 80th year of its existence, the Peace Light continues to shine on Oak Hill during all kinds of weather, in all seasons. It signifies many things to many people, most of all peace, tranquility, respect for the opinions of others, and perhaps concern for our country and its continuing democracy. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln’s address to a throng of thousands attending the dedication of a national cemetery had posed his questions of long endurance for our nation or any nation under the tenets of democracy. The Peace Light stands to remind us of the challenge in the memory of all who gave the “last full measure of devotion” for their country. Photo courtesyofCarolTruesdale