Cleveland tri-weekly leader. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1854-1885, 1861-08-03


Words are poWerless 10 convey the thanks
we owe to the gallant Grays. For more
than twenty years you have been the pride
and boast Of our city. During all those
years Of peace, while witnessing your mil
itsry spirit and proficiency in eli the du-
ties Of o soldiers life, we have felt that
come war or civil strife, you would do honor
to the city and the State, and would sus-
tain, ct whatever hazard, the flag and the
government Of our fathers.
Nor have we been disappointed. Rebel
lion came, foul. wicked, hellish, to blast
the prosperity Of eighty years, to uprOOt
our government and to destroy the last
hope Of the world in the perpetuity of free
Institutions. Encouraged by the fall of
SumpLer, the rebels we're moving in force
ON our National Capital To protect Il, the
President, on the l4th Of April, issued his
call for troops. On the 10Th, the call
reached Ohio, and on tho next day, the
6rays we're ordered to report at Columbus.
So deservedly high was the reputation of
your corps, that on the 18th its ranks were
filled to the number of one hundred and |
four men, and on the 18th, leaving bust
ness, friends, and families, you arrived in |
Columbus. No company in Ohio, no com
pany in Massachusetts, surpassed, in alac-
rity Of obedience, the Cleveland Grays. |
Entering Pennsylvania on the 10th Of
April, you were detained in that State un-
ill the 20th Of May, apparently to give con-
tractors time to rob both you and the Gov
ernment, and TO fix upon the soldiers Of
great and wealthy State the sobriquet Of
HOhiO Paupers" That and all other
wrongs done you, shall be settled when the
war is ended.
From the moment Of your encampment
on the south Of the Potomac to your return
to Washington, you have fulfilled the high
est expectations Of your Wsrmest friends
Whether thrust beneath the unexpected FIRE
Of masked battery, or moving in the open
field under the FIRE Of superior numbers,
YOU exhibited the courage Of brave men
and the discipline of we'll drilled soldier.
At Vienna, when suddenly assaulted under
circumstances that might we'll have caused
g panic among veteran troops, you formed
company under FIRE, cOOlly and quickly and
moved back To Balls Cross Roads, the rear
guard Of your detachment. Thank God,
there was but one civilian and no Congress
men in that fight. In the movement on
Manassas, your brigade led the advance Of
as brave an army as ever fought. On that
disastrous Sunday, having the right Of
YOUR regiment and moving right in 'front.'
YOU we're the first in the field Of battle,
and there, during long hours, sometimes
exposed to, and sometimes sheltered from,
Ere. YOU patiently aWsited the result Of the
attack on theenemy's flank.
When ordered to retreat your brigade
formed the rear guard Of the army, your
regiment formed the rear guard Of the bri-
eade, and the Cleveland Grays the rear
J 0usre of your regiment "First on the
field and last to leave it" tells the story of
your manhood. Slowly and in good order,
YOU thus moved from that field rendered
forever memorable by the daring brsv,ry
os the men, and forever disgraced by the
, Incompetence and coWsrdiee of many of
the leaders When moving in the order !
have described on the road to Centreville,
and when threatened with a cavalry at
tack, you received from Col. McCoOk the
! highest compliment which could be given
volunteers. "Place," said he to an officer,
HPlace that Cleveland company across the
road. and don't care g damn for all the
cavalry Of Virginia and South Carolina.
! That no paIic pervaded the Grsys, is
[ abundantly evidenced by the fact, that the
a / Iull NuC oHsSSsfA WI 49,
received from the Government, less three,
the number of men lost on the field, were
returned by you to the arsenal IN Wash
D ington. .
Most truly does this brief history Of your
services show that you have not disap-
pointed our high expectations and al
4 though you have returned smarting under
a defeat, aud other Ohio troops from sue
!, cessful campaign, yet shall Col. MoCooE
! and his gallant regiment ever be ranked
side by side with Coils. Barnett, Steedmsnr
Beatty, and their brave commands. a
I word more and have done. Amid this
ioyous and triumphant welcome, where
] parents and wives are gazing with pride
on your sun burned faces, and children
are tugginE at your skirts for smile Oi
recognition, we do not We cannot forget
: your dead and missing comrades. When
a these ceremonies are ended, no impatient
step will enter, no warm embrace be given
> in the homes of Wheeler, Wise, Proctor OF
: Mclaughlin. The two latter may return
: the former two are gone forever In the
\ flush Of youth, with loving friends around
them, they gave their lives to their coun'
try. Wheeler, the youngest son of his
. father, the Benjamin of his old sge, follow
: ed to the grave by weeping relatives and
r mourning thousands, rests peacefully in
yonder Cemetery. The bones Of Wise
slain in battle, lie bleaching on the fields
= Of Virginia, and shrinking from contact
Il with rebel soil Must they, with the bones
. | of our other gallant dead, remain in rebe
= soil forever? Shall one defeat, or twenty
: defeats, make twenty millions Of loyal mer
2 recreant to the duties they owe the Govern
J. ment OF their choice? Shall the howl Of
). party hush the dying groans now ringing
!! in our ears from that once sacred but
now infamous soil No, NO, thousand
times noll When our government shall
Il learn that il has war with eleven REBEL
ious States, and not a mere Temporary
insurrection to crush out; when it shall
learn that war is a profession acquired
only BY study and experience, then, under
: better auspices and under able leaders
+ will millions of brave men rally to its sup
port. When our American AuIie Council
whether found in the Cabinet, in Congress
: or in the Press, is abolished, We shall sec
8 the Hgreatest Captain of the age" hurling
8 his irresistible columns under McClellaE
> and Fremont, through the Atlantic States
!. and the Valley Of the Mississippi and OF
the waters Of the Gulf end his last and
! greatest campaign by giving US again
: Zone Country, one Constitution, one des
Q tiny"
n After the conclusion of his address Mr.
Q WHIrR read the following letter which he
had received in response to one addressed to
f Col. McCoOk, asking for an honest opinion
= concerning the conduct of the Grays during
b their absence;
It Head Quarters lst Reg't. 0. V. /
= Columbus, Ohio, Aug. I'd, 1861. !
=, -, - IN i c,t..lu-7 Ohio