 The Civil War
Veterans memorial erected by the Daughters of
Veterans, was unveiled Monday afternoon in the
presence of a large crowd of interested citizens.
The memorial is located in the City Hall park and
is an imposing shaft of grey granite.
Monday's services opened with
a parade of the Boy Scouts drum corps, followed
by the Daughters of Veterans, and the remaining
old soldiers.
 They gathered around
the monument, and the Caseyville choir sang
"Soldier Boy." After the benediction by
Reverend Poole, Miss Florette McCugh made the
presentation address, and gave the memorial to
the citizens of Collinsville as a lasting tribute
in memory of the old soldiers of the Civil War.
She gave a brief outline of the campaign carried
on by the Daughters of Veterans for several years
to make the monument a reality and to keep it
always before the rising generation, lest they
forget their wonderful work for the veterans.
 Mayor A. C. Gauen, in
answering Miss McCugh's presentation speech,
accepted the monument in behalf of the city and
tendered thanks to the Daughters. He commemorated
their selection of Flag Day for the unveiling of
the monument, and spoke briefly of the service of
the Civil War veterans. He stated the council
would spread a record of the day's program on
it's minutes.
John F.
Miller of East St. Louis, former resident of
Collinsville, was the speaker of the afternoon.
He told of being reared just beyond Collinsville,
and gave a review of the conditions of this
portion of the United States, for the past
several hundred years, of how this country was
populated by the mound builders, how it was a
coveted spot of the Indians, then of the Spanish
and French, and how today it is the American
Workshop, and cannot be equaled anywhere in the
country.
He told of
how the Civil War was bound to come, of efforts
made by Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and other
noted men to avert it. He spoke of Lincoln, who
was a product of the Civil War, of Ulysses S.
Grant, and of John A. Logan, and told how father
had fought son, how brother had fought brother,
during the Civil War, and of the feeling
gradually becoming softened until now the North
and South are again one nation.
He touched
briefly on the Spanish American war, and spoke of
the noble women who play just as large a part in
any war as do the soldiers. He commemorated the
Daughters of Veterans on their saving of years to
present Collinsville the beautiful monument as a
lasting tribute to the old soldiers and a
remembrance to the younger generation.The service
closed with the song "America" by the
audience, and the benediction by Reverend Breeze.
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