Decoration Day: The National Cemetery

The decoration of the federal graves at the national cemetery in this city, was well attended, considering the inauspicious weather, and the rain that was falling here at the time of the starting for that quiet home of the dead. The opening ceremonies were conducted by L. H. Mayer, post adjutant of the Grand Army of the Republic, post No. 4. Prayer was offered by an eloquent divine, who uttered words of symphathy and affection for the whole people. Owing to the absence of the orator selected for the occasion, W. W. D. Turner delivered an appropriate though brief address.

The officers of the military command at the barracks were presented with floral offerings by the ladies of the Lee Memorial Association, which were placed on the mound beneath the flagstaff.

The Magnolia Guards and Washington Blues turned out in full rank and fired a salute over the graves of the federal dead.

The music was furnished by the Creole band.

The unusually large attendance of people whose sympathies were actively enlisted in favor of the confederate cause during the war, was a happy augury as indicating that sectional animosities have ceased to exist.

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