Nebraska advertiser., 1863-05-07

April Y, 1865
We are met once more to perform a
sad and tender duty. And / am inclined
before reading the burial service, toinake
some i%mpromptu remarks, fresh from a
heart in unison with yours. Men and
officers of the lst Nebraska, / am more
than ever proud to be your Chaplain
Again superior officers compliment you;
and friends al home will swell the chorus
of your universal commendation. You
have again been tried in the fire, and
have come out steel" But | must be al
lowed to change that quotation. You
have come out with the value of fine gold,
and the sharpness Of steel. Boys how is
this! At the storming of Donelson you
won your first %laureIs; while upon that
desperately contested battlefield Of Pitts
burg Landing a brighter halo enc5rcled
your )colors, and that best type Of a gal
liant dashing western general, Lew Wal
lace wrote you down in his official report
as the brave and gallant 1st Nebraska;
and declared in the city of Cincinnati
when ar advancing army threatened an
invasion of Ohio, that he could meet and
overwhelm it with the 11th Ind. 1st, Ne
braska and the Sth Mo. And now to-day
your praise is on the tongue Of every 10y
al man and woman of Cape GiraTdeau,
and curses for YOU from every rebel
throat in this community. Ii would be a
consummauon devoutly to tie wished for,
the turning over TO you of all traitors in
this place, in order that you might give to
each his due share of ~retributive Justice.
But boys how is this? That al DOnel-
son, Pittsburg Landing and Cape Girar-
deau, your loss has been so very small
and your gain of military glory so I'M
mense? Perhaps you think you cannot
see a Providence in all this; but / tell you
that the poet never said a truer thing,
than that
"There is a Providence that shapes our e1ds,
Rough heW them as We may
Suppose there shall come a time when a
casting vote in the United States Senate
shall be ~auxiousIy sought for by the friends
of Constitutional Liberty and Christian
Civilization, and the only rational hope
entertained for the glorious consumma-
ton shall be in the speedy admission of
our Territory as a State. The objection,
apparently i~nsurmountable may be the
want of sufficient population; but let some
future Clay or Webster unfold the militia
ry history of the Isl Nebraska as reveal
ed on the battlefelds of her earliest re-
nown, and other triumphs yet to he, and
thrill the national heart, and set aglow the
patriotic blood Of a grateful people, and
I the response may be Not the quantity
but the quality shall rule-she is worthy,
let her pass" And then some z "wise
after the fact may be heard to eIclaim,
''Oh Yes, now | see why the regiment
was so very signaliy protected, in order
that The stock In trade Of her military re-
nown, should secure The triumph of an
eternal principle Gods enduring
truth" But soldiers, The demonstration
of your special protection may yet be far
palmer than that. Then while your tears
descend to consecrate the soil where rests
your dead, let thanks arise to Him who
rules in earth as well as Heaven. How
strange our history! We had soil enough
at home in which 10 place our perishable
bodies. and dear, dear friends to form our
funeral professions, and pious Pastors to
read at our graves,-'I am the resurec-
ten and the life" and yet we have given
"earth to earth and dust to dust" in va
rious States of the Union.
How careful you should be that no
stain should ever rest upon your charaC-
tiers as soldiers or accountable moral
agents, for you are now a marked regi-
ment.
More will be required of you in the fu-
ture than in the past, for no one expects
you to tread a single step backward. And
now l place myself on the record as a
Prophet, by declaring that you, if this in
famous rebellion is not crushed during
your enlistment, you are certain for an
other term. For if you were mustered
out to-day ana sounds of other battles
were waited TO your ears, and other seas
of smoke should float mid Heaven, your
history would be a three years enlist
ment, a short vacation, and another term.
And now l say Of officers and men, one
and all, / know your hearts best efforts
are available till peace returns, and the
national sacrifice of every State smokes
upon a common altar. And then God
grant that ''our children and chIdren's
children shall know war no more, It'll