The whole of this interesting group having assembled within the yard and about the monument. The Rev. David Remington pastor of the church to which the deceased belonged, addressed the throne of Grace, in a very solemn and appropriate manner, after which, Colonel Ward^ the orator of the day was conducted to the platform prepared for the occasion, where he delivered the following address. (It was afterwards published at the request of the committee of arrangements.)

Friends ! Fellow citizens !

and Soldiers ! \ ' ' . • ^ ^.

We have assembled on an interesting occasion, a solemn, not a melancholy one. We have come to this spot, to discharge a part of our duty, to one who has paid the debt of nature, to bring with us, as it were, each a stone from our quarries, fitted and prepared to build a monumental pile to a departed patriot, one who fell not in the hour of battle, contending for our liberties, but who lived to see our country prosperous and happy, delivered from all her troubles,

The present General Aaron Ward, of Sing Sing.

238 HISTORY OF THE

and then gathered like a shock of corn ripe for the harvest. It might be asked, if insensible dust and ashes can be benefitted by monumental honors ? No I But it is the duty of the living to make and preserve memorials of the virtuous and distinguished dead ; for these memorials contain lessons of instruction that are constantly before our eyes.