Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1861-07-17

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jump, or run.
He drilled these young men about q
year at short intervals. His discipline
was very severe and rigid. Added to
the punctiio of the martinez was the rig
or of the moralist. The slightest exhibi-
ton Of intemperanae or RIGHTEOUSNESS
was punished by instant degradation and
expulsion. He struck from the rolls at
one time twelve of his best men for
breaking the rule of total abstinence. His
moral power over them was perfect and
absolute. believe any one of them
would have died for him.
In two or three principal towns of Ill-
nois and Wisconsin he drilled other COM
panies: in Springfield, where he made
the friends who best appreciated what
was best in him; and in Rockford, where
he formed an attachment which impaired
coloring of tender romance to all the
days of his busy life that remained. This
tragedy would not have been perfect
without the plain i've minor strains of
Love in Death. ... .-s.
His company took the Premium Col
ors at The United States Agricultural
Fair, and Ellsworth thought il was time
to show to the people some fruit of his
drill. They issued their soldierly def
and started on their 4Marche de sIriom-
phe. tits useless to recall to those who
read newspapers the clustering glories of
that bloodless campaign. Hardly had
they left the suburbs of Chicago when
the murmur of applause began. New
York, secure in the championship of half
a century, listened with quiet me;ropoli-
tan scorn to the noise of the shouting
provinces; but when the crimson plant
asms marched out of the Park. on the
evening of the 18th of July, New York.
with metropolitan magnanimity. confess
ed herself utterly vanquished by The
good thing that had come out of Nazar
eth. There was no resisting the Zou-
ayes. AS the erring Night of the Round
Table said
"men went down before his spear at
touch,
But knowing he was Lancelot his great
name conquered"
There were one or two Southern CON-
panies that issued insulting detiances,b but,
after little expenditure of epistolary
valor, pru lently, though ingloriousIy,
stayed afar,-as is usual in New Gas
cony. With these exceptions, the heart
of the nation went warmly out TO these
young men. Their endurance, their dis
ciplne, their alertGess, their elan, sur
prised the sleepy drill-masters out of
their proprcty, and walked up the people
to intense and cordial admiration. Chica-
60 welcomed them home proudly. cover
ed with tan and dust and glory.
Ellsworth 70 und himself for his brief
hour the most talked-of man in the coun-
try. His pictures sold ike widfre in
every city of the land. Schoolgirls
dreamed over the graceful wave Of his
curls, and shop-boys tEel to reproduce
the Grand .Seigneur air of his attitude
Zouaves corps, brilliant in crimson and
gold, sprang up, phesphoresceutly, in bis
wake, making bright the track of his
journey. The leading journals spoke
editorially of him, and the comic papers
caricatured bis drill.
So one thing was accomplished. He
had gained name that would enttle
him hereafter to respectful attention, and
had demonstrated the efficiency of his
syst m of drill. The public did not, OF
course, comprehend the resistless moral
power which he exercised, -imperiously
moulding every mind as he wilhelm
spring every soul with bis own unrest
ING energy. But the public recognized
success, and that for the present was
enough.
He quietly formed regiment in the
upper counties of Illinois, and made his
best men the officers Of it. He rendered
its serv ces to Governor Yates Immediate
ly on his Inauguration, "for any service
consistent with honor" This was the
first positive tender made of an organized
force in defence of the Constitution. He
seemed to recognize more clearly than
others the certainty of the coming strug-
ole. 1t was the soldierlv instinct that
heard "the battle afar off, the thunder
vi tuC auo IuO
Still intent upon the great plan of mi
litia REFORM, he came to Sprinfield. He
hoped, in case of the success Of Mr.. Lin
coin in the canvass then pending, to be
able to establish in the War Department
Bureau of Militia, which would prove a
most valuable auxiliary to his work. His
ideas were never vague or indefinite
Means always presented themselves to
him, when he contemplated ends.
Nominally, he was student Of law
in the office of Lincoln and Herndon, but
in effect he passed his time in completing
his plans of militia reform. He made in
October many stirring and earnest
speeches for the Republican candidates.
He was very popular among the country
people. His voice was magnificent in
melody and volume, his command of Ian
guage wonderful in view of the deficien-
cies of his early education, his manner
deliberate and impressive, reminding his
audiences in Central Illinois of the ear
liest and best days Of Senator Douglas.