 Prominent attendees included President William Howard Taft and Senator William Warner.Following the invocation, GAR commander-in-chief Colonel Henry M. Nevius gave an impassioned speech about the sacrifices made by Union forces during the Civil War.He said by the shedding of their blood "the flag of the United States has been raised from the dust and mire, smoke begrimed, powder stained and bullet ridden and thrown to the breeze to float forever over our broad land of the free."