The Great Victory—Its Cost and Its Value / Address delivered at Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, July 4th, 1865

An address that opens with an account of ancient Roman victory rituals and proceeds to celebrate the recent national deliverance from a perilous civil war, framing peace as a hard-won triumph of law, union, and liberty. The speaker gives thanksgiving, credits providence and leadership, defends the decision to fight to preserve the nation's authority, and praises the fallen leader whose oath to preserve the government was sealed by his death. The oration then measures the conflict's scale through troop counts and material expenditures, emphasizing the immense human and logistical costs alongside the moral and political gains achieved.