The following is a video and transcript of Mayor Michael Nutter’s Speech at the Civil War Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Parade and Review on April 16, 2011. He gave this speech to a group re-enactors and onlookers in front of The Union League building on Broad Street.
I apologize for the shaky camera and poor sound quality of my iPhone.
Here is a transcript of the video.
Good morning.
Frank, thank you very, very much. Frank Giordano.
John Meko, the chair of the Civil War History Consortium; David Eisner, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center; [Joan Hart?], president of the Union League of Philadelphia; Civil War History Consortium and all of its members who are here today; to Joseph [Cercade?]; My fellow Philadelphians and Americans,
Philadelphia is a great city of history. We live and breathe it on our streets and in our communities. Tourists travel to our city each year to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and other national treasures of the Revolutionary War. However, Philadelphia was a key player during the Civil War as well. And that history is still alive and celebrated in our city today.
Before the Civil War, Philadelphia was the cultural, industrial, and financial keystone of the states. The city was a major stop on the Underground Railroad. Manufacturing plants [sic] all up and down the Schuylkill into Manayunk. New roads, canals, and railroads made Philadelphia the first industrial city in the United States. These plants would be instrumental during the war, creating weapons and uniforms and other supplies for the Union troops. Philadelphia was a starch advocate of the Union. Throughout the war, more than 157,000 wounded soldiers and sailors were treated in our city. The city was a major thoroughfare for Union troops to pass through on their way to the South. Philadelphians alone counted for more than 50 infantry and cavalry units who served in the war. And of course, Major General George Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac and one of the most important commanders of the war, was from Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is the city of history and the Civil War history Consortium will continue to highlight the city’s contribution in the Civil War. Memorials of the war can be seen all across our city. The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Memorial on the Ben Franklin Parkway is a reminder of their sacrifice on our city’s greatest promenade. The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors marks the contribution of African American soldiers not only during the Civil War, but in every following war and conflict. And of course, the Union League leaves a lasting monument to our city’s support of Abraham Lincoln and the preservation of the Union. I’m proud to support the Consortium in their efforts to raise awareness and to educate Philadelphians, and I would suggest all Americans, of our city’s great role during the Civil War.
This is a proud moment in our city’s history when we stood with the Union, banding together to ensure that we would remain the United States of America.
Let me lastly say on a personal note to our guests here, our reenactors, to Abraham Lincoln–President Lincoln–Mr. Frederick Douglass, Mr. [sic], to our troops, it is because of what you did 150 years ago that I am able in Philadelphia to be the mayor of this great city, an African American in a city that fought against slavery. That is the beauty of the United States of America. Thank you for what you did then to allow me to do what I do now.
God bless you.
Mayor Nutter’s speech was followed by speeches from re-enactors posing as Lincoln, Douglass, and Meade. Photos of those and other scenes from the event to follow.