MAY 2025 | 65 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL families who have been touched by the loss of loved ones in military service. I hope these comments will help all of us to keep foremost in our minds the true meaning of Memorial Day this year. In closing, please visualize the women of Columbia, Mississippi, who came out in the spring of 1867 to decorate the graves of the Southern soldiers who had fallen during the Civil War. Those women were moved by compassion to decorate the graves of not just the Southern soldiers but also the graves of the Northern soldiers. These acts of compassion had a healing effect on a suffering nation still recovering from the Civil War that far exceeded the simple acts themselves. I leave you with a few stanzas of the 1867 poem “The Blue and the Gray,” which was authored by New York state Judge Francis Miles Finch, inspired by the women of Columbia, Mississippi: By the flow of the inland river, Whence the fleets of iron have fled, Where the blades of the gravegrass quiver, Asleep are the ranks of the dead: Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment-day; Under the one, the Blue, Under the other, the Gray. From the silence of sorrowful hours The desolate mourners go, Lovingly laden with flowers Alike for the friend and the foe: Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment-day, Under the roses, the Blue, Under the lilies, the Gray. Sadly, but not with upbraiding, The generous deed was done, In the storm of the years that are fading No braver battle was won: Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment-day, Under the blossoms, the Blue, Under the garlands, the Gray. No more shall the war cry sever, Or the winding rivers be red; They banish our anger forever When they laurel the graves of our dead! Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment-day, Love and tears for the Blue, Tears and love for the Gray. Thank you for your service! Editor’s Note: This article was adapted from content originally published in the May 2015 issue of the Tulsa Lawyer.
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