Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-12-08
FORMING LEADER
Resteru lteesrre soIdiers.

for arms. Nor was there any other class
Of cur people of whom this was more true,
and scarcely any other of which it was 50
true, ss It was Of stesdy-going dWelleIs
on the Reserve. Our cheese and butter
makers and their town kinsmen had as
little Of the military spirit as it was pOs-
sible for msn to hsve. A volunteer COM
peny had no mere chance for life among
them than the inquisitiOn would have, and
for man to be Captain or General was
for hin TO risk being the laughing stock
Of his neighbOrs.
sItis not surprising therefore, that, when
the war broke out, the Reserve did not
come up to the new BUSINESS with alacrity.
Except among the few military companies
in this city, there was no haste in vOlun-
tsering. The great moral districts looked
on silently and shudderingly.
From this slowness in enlisting, herea-
bouts, inconsiderate people elsewhere in
ferred a lack of spirit on the part of the
people Of the Reserve. Much was the fun
which good fOlks, say in Cincinnati, made
Of the abolition cheese-makers." Quite
frequently it was asked by the press, "can-
not those Yankees In Northern Ohio do
anything but milk their cows, say their
prayers and hold Antl-Slavery cOnven-
lions 2"
By and By, our yeOmen got sense OF
what was needed and how the thing was TO
be dDne. Then they began to wake up
like giant from spell. Soon, their COM
panies and cohorts came pouring into Camp
Taylor in an endless tide, and it was not
long before they had set their full quota In
the field. Nor, so far as numbers are
concerned, have they ever since been be-
hind the best.
But would "cheese makers fight? that
was the question fora time. That little bub-
bic Of a statesman, Sam. Cox, thought they
would not, that they might be mighty in
prayer but would not be so with the sword.
Many other people and some prints agreed
with Sam.
Well, time has gone by and frequent
tests have brought an answer to the ques-
tion. It has been well settled, has it not,
that the New England stock Of the Re.
serve has not degensrated from the old
Bunker Hill standard
Let rs see. The Reserve has furnished
sl the men I'VE write from memory and
may be inaccurate in some particularly for
the following regiments and batteries, the
7th, 2Sd, 29th, 4lst 55th, l0lst 103d, l05th
infantry, the % Cavalry, and Standards,
Edgarion's and Shields batteries, besides
filling nsarly all the companies in the 9Th,
19th, 37th, 9Th, 124th, l25th aRd 129th
infantry and the Sd, 10Th and 18th cav
airy.
All Of these regiments except the 10Th
infantry and 18th cavalry have been in
astive service. Some of them, as for in
stance the 7th, sth, 10th, 4lst, and 55th in-
fAntry, have been in more battles than
almost any other regiment in the country.
And how have they acquitted them
selves. All Of them sOsH. The s7th and
65th we're, for g time, with the rest Of
their corps, under cloud. But
Il was q cloud of cruel sspersion
Hsd the earnest e1postulstiOns Of Colonel
Lee, who commanded the 55th regiment at
Chaneellors7ille, been needed, the corps
would not, in that fight, have beon run out
late thin sir and finally caught in the jaws
Of sn immensely superior force, attacking
Il front, fank and rear. And If many Of
the regiments Of the corps did fail, the 55th
hung to duty and maintsined Its line as
perfectly ss It was possible while rabbls
rout was running over 1t. Besides, sd-
hitting that there was fault at Chencel-
lorsTille, there was perfect redemption at
Gettysburg. The Eleventh instituted the
vietory which was glOriOusly won on that
hard field, and well has the unfortunate
eorps advanced its name in the Southern
sampaign.
And ss to the most Of our regiments we
have no occasion to qualify cur praise Of
them. They have ezoellsd our utmost ex-
pactations. Some of them have made a
record which would do for legion Of
honor. Let no one accuse us Of partislity
II We name some Of them. The Seventh,
asry and swift as meteor at Winchester,
PORT Republic, Cedar Mountain, Ringgold.
The 9Th, solid as oak at Winchester, on
the Peninsula, at Chancellorville and Get
tysburg. The 28d, as eager as hounds in
the bayonet charge up the hill and against
eaLrenched fees at South Mountain, and
as Stsuneh as the old IrOnsides in that
TERRIBLE struggle on the left at Antietam.
The 41st as trim as regulars and IS
true as steel ct Shiloh, Stone River and
Ohicksmsugs, always in desperate fights
Ia which others were running, but never
for an instan. showing its own back to the
Sos. Standards Battery, the first to go
always ready to stay however hard thc
aght. EdgeItOn's, too but we must stop
We say IA a word, that if even Britons, OF
oelts, Or PandOurs, If ever Knights of old
times, or NspOlsOn's iron columns fought
better than these cohorts Of yeomen scarce
two years In the field, we never have seen
the story.
Nay, kindred, who are In the service, ali
Of you, you have written the name Of the
Reserve in such letters and SO high that in
ali the sges men shall see it to admire il