Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1847-06-04
From the N. o. Delta, oath ult.
T1r HEROES OF MONTEREY.

Just one year ago there marched through
our streets as noble and splendid body OF
men rs ever went forth to battle. They were
about nine hundred strong. The men were
in the vigor of youthful manhood, and as, In
perfect order and with military precision, they
paraded through our city, the admiration OF
our people broke forth in loud applause OF
the gallant array. This was the first Tennes-
see regiment. under the heroic veteran Col.
Campbell. They left our city, fresh from
their own happy homes in the mountains and
by the river sides in healthful Tennessee, full
of hope, ambition and patriotism they de-
parted in cheerful spirits. and with impatient
ardor, for the scene of war Arrived IN the
hostile country, they were soon involved IN
all the sufferings, deprivations. ennuI' ana
sickness, incident to camp life. Disease maze
fearful havoc in their ranks. Scores returned
to their homes, broken down IN heaItn ana
spirits, ere they had seen hostile face: When
the duness and misery OF camp lie were
changed into the stir and excitement OF the
march and the battlefield, this regiment was
the foremost in the storm, and the hrst IN the
havoc and destruction which the enemy pour
ed into our ranks in the bloody charge at
Monterey One-third OF them lay gasping in
death, or under severe wounds, on the plains.
and nobly sustained their ground amid the iron
tempest hurled upon them from the eneny,s
covered works. They came not TO be con-
quered die they might, and would if it were
the alternative to surrender, but to give way
or yield to an enemy, whom they had travel
led two thousand miles to conquer, never en-
tered theirminds or hearts. Monterey yielded
to the irresistible vaIor Of such men. Then
droodfnI n tho
soldier than the bloodiest battles. Then came
long toilsome marches, terminating in no glo-
rioUs or aninating results. Then they en-
barked in SCOTS proud army, i0r the grand
affair at Vera Cruz. For weeks they lay on
the bare sand, under tropical sun, and expo
sed 10 thousand annoyances, around that
doomed city. They participate In It's glorious
conquest, and witness it's humiliatng surren-
der and the proud entry of our own gallant
army. Next we find them in the charge on
the formidable batteries of the enemy at Cerro
Gordo Again they join their hurras with
those of our whole army over the triumph OF
our arms. But their service approaches
close Having faithfully served their country,
thew desire to give way to others, and return
10 the bosoms of their families, where anx-
ious hearts have so long pined their perllous
absence.
On Friday last the whole OF this gallant
regiment, whose history we have thus bnefiy
sketched arrived in our city. ltnumbers just
three hundred and fifty, about one-thlrd the
force with which it left. And this loss it has
sustained in a twelve-months' campaign. 1t
has averaged a loss of fifty men month.
Truly does the history Of this regiment dis
play, in strong light, the sturdy spirit. firm
resolve, and uncomfortable va lor OF the Anne
rican people The history of no nation can
present similar instances of volunteer soldiers
embarklng in such hazardous and destructive
enterprises, and encountering so willingly the
severest trials, perils and sufferings incident
to military operations. And these sacrifices
are made, not in defence of their homes and
firesides, but they are made in war OF inva.
sion-a war into which the country is forced
by considerations of national right, dignity
and honor No better illustration of the ele
waiting influences of our republican institutions
could be produced, than the history of the vo
Iunteers, who have achieved so much for oul
national glory in the eyentful year which has
just concluded.