Memorial Day ceremony lands a familiar speaker

By KEVIN YANEY
For The Reporter

Memorial Day will take on a different, but familiar look in Noblesville this year. As in years past, there will be an honor guard and salutes to the fallen veterans on the grounds of the Hamilton County Courthouse. However, since this is the 250th anniversary of our nation, President Abraham Lincoln will deliver the Gettysburg Address during the ceremony.

If you have attended the Veterans Memorial Day ceremony in the past, you know there is a special place on the west side of the Hamilton County Courthouse where the roll of county veterans who have perished in service to our country stands. Each Memorial Day, our community gathers to remember them.

Photo provided

However, with the 250th anniversary of the United States, the Hamilton County Historical Society and VFW Post 6246 Ralph Lehr decided to add a bit more to the hallowed event. An actor portraying President Abraham Lincoln will deliver the Gettysburg Address during the ceremony.

President Lincoln will be escorted by a Civil War soldier. That is appropriate for both Memorial Day and the location of the ceremony. The Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history, with 620,000 soldier deaths in four years, 1861 to 1865.

After the war, there was a concerted effort to honor these fallen veterans. Military cemeteries were set aside for this purpose. As early as one year after the war, people of small communities were gathering to decorate the soldiers’ graves. In 1868, General John Logan, a veteran of the war and the Commander-in-Chief of the veterans’ group, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), designated May 30, 1868, as the first Memorial Day. The original name of this special day was Decoration Day.

But before the war was over, there was another dedication of a soldiers’ cemetery. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered the most famous speech ever spoken by a U.S. president at Gettysburg, Pa. His words were succinct and powerful – so powerful that for years, history students were required to memorize them.

The Hamilton County Memorial Roll lists 277 local men who died during the Civil War. I mentioned that the courthouse square is a very appropriate place for both the memorial roll and the Lincoln speech to be delivered. In the opening days of the Civil War, this plot of ground was the place where the citizens of Hamilton County gathered to hear about the fall of Fort Sumter and the start of the war. This was also where the very first volunteers from Hamilton County were called to arms to help put down the rebellion. They boarded the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad that ran down 8th Street to go to war. This is the same train they would return when their service was over. It is where the GAR veterans would gather for reunions year after year.

For the Hamilton County soldier, this place is special.

I would encourage you to take some time on your Memorial Day to join our community in honoring our fallen veterans and hear that powerful speech from Abraham Lincoln. The VFW will be handing out copies of the Gettysburg Address while supplies last. Mr. Lincoln will be available after the ceremony for photos and some of his humorous stories.