Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-10-08
Flag Presentation to the "IF0n Brigade.
Eloquent Speech Of Gel. R0bils0n.

day been brought from Washington by ". 7.
SELLECK, Esq, Military Agent for Wisconsin
who, finding that the brigade had left Rap
pahannoek Station, proceeded to Culpepper.
In the same train was sent out the dinner
which had been prepared for the occasion in
Washington, together with the refreshing and
invigorating liquids which inspire in man "a
feast of reason and flow of soul" Several
wagons were detailed and sent to Culpepper
to bring up the provisions while about two
hundred men went to work and built some rus
tic tables, in beautiful grove, near the en-
campment.
At o'clock p. IN. the ceremony of the pre-
sentation took place. The regiments compos-
ing the brigade-the I'd, 9th and 7th Wis
consin, 10th Indiana and oath Michigan, as
also Battery B 4th {. S. Artillery-were
drawn up in line forming three sides of a
| square, within which stood Major General
NEWTON, commander of the lst Army Corps,
General RICE, commanding lst Division, and
General ROBINSON, commanding I'd Division
of the same Corps, together with a brilliant
array of staff and other officers of the army.
also the fine band of the brigade which dis
coursed sweet music on the occasion.
The flag, in the absence of Hon. 4. W.
RANDALL, who intended to be present and
present it, was presented BY W. Y. SELLEcK,
Esq, Military Agent for the State of Wiscon-
sin with a short and appropriate address.
| Col. W. W. ROBINSON, of the eth. respond
ed in an eloquent speech, from which we sub
join the following:
| This day will be remembered with pride by
| every member of the brigade as long as life
shall last, and in future years the day and the
| gift will be pointrd to by our children as
testimonial of the services rendered by their
fathers, to the country in the hour of its sore
trial not only to US, the fragment of the old
! brigade which you now see before you, but
we feel it to be also testimonial to the gal
liant deeds and faithful services Of our brave
| comrades who have won honorable graves in
| the field and their children also will have
| an equal interest in the memory of this day
and this gift. If it be true-as We trust it is
that the spirits of the departed have cog
nizance of the affairs of this life, then the
| balance of our brigade, the commander we
| miss, whose blood mOstens the SOds of
! Virginia, Maryland aud Pennsylvania, are
now marshalled near u.s. in the brig hit uniform
of tho heavenly corps to which they have been
transferred, witnessing with approving smiles
the ceremonies Of this occasion. This mark
OF YOUR appreciation, Sir, will add new life to
The brigade; the sight of this banner will re-
| call proud memories to cheer the dropping
spirits in the hour of fatigue, and renerve ev-
cry mans arm to deal heavier blows in the
hour of battle. And now, Sir, while we con-
tinue the fight with traitors in arms, whose
power is rapidly crumbling away under the
blows of the army and navy, you, with our
fellow patriots at home, have duty to per-
form, if not so dangerous to life and limb
perhaps no less arduouS-the struggle with,
and final victory over the subtle, lnvidious
and dastardly treaCherous foe in our rear
For our sakes, and for the sake of the memo
~ of the deeds of which you have this day by
this token, signifed your approbation-for
the sake of the memory of the patriots slain
for the sake If our beloved country, the
cause of human freedom and the progress OF
civilization, we admonish you to put down
this foe at the North.
We can now easily crush the rebellion in
the field if you will crush the scoundrels at
home Let not the sophistry and whining
about respect for the Constitution, Of these
treacherous Office seeking, sefappointed
leaders, mislead the unthinking portion of
our people into acts of disloyalty to the gov
eminent and opposition to the highest inter
ests of the nation. Let it not be recorded
by the future historian that in the latter part
of the Nineteenth Century the United States
of America, one Of the most powerful of the
nations, with the best Government ever Or
gained, model for the world a country
most rich, beautiful and salubrous, the hope
and the asylum of the oppressed Of all ma
tions, in the height of prosperity, while every
branch of industry was thriving beyond pre-
cedent and every channel of commerce was
flowing with untold wealth, the government
was shocked by revolt in a certain portion
of its territory, where the system of negro
slavery, relic of the barbarous ages exist
ed, authorized and sustained by the local
laws, instigated by few unprincipled, ambi-
tious politicians, men who had been pamper-
ed by the Government until they had become
so arrogant as to claim as right all the prin-
cipal places Of trust in the gift of the peo-
pie, and who had become so impregnated with
aristocratic notions through the influences of
their domestic system as to become disguised
with democratic institutions and had by in
siduouS arguments for long time been poi
soning the minds of the people, until excited
to madness they rose in armed revolt. In
the first place they find fault with the eman-
cipation proclamation, and say it is unconsti-
tutional and should be revoked; that the
measures was intended to, and would incite
servile Instruction; that it would create a
feeling of hatred against the North that
could never be allayed. l suppose that the
opposition will not dispute the premises of
the old arguments used against the Adolf
tionists, that the slave is as much the proper
ty of his master as his horse or COW. Now /
think it would puzzle these astute politicians
to show US the law--either constitutional or
national-that prohibits the appropriation or
destruction of the property of our enemy, if
by so appropriating or destroying we cripple
him. am confident no one measure has done,
and Is doing, as much to cripple the poorer Of the
rebels as the appropriation Of their SLAVES. Over
eight months have passed since the emanc-
patton order was issued, and we have looked
in vain for the seryile instructions prophe-
sled of.
As to that sweet love feast that these
prophets told US was to be so rudely and I'M
constitutionally interrupted, we were never
much alarmed about; we knew their hatred
could be no greater against the North-we
know that nineteenth entieths of the slave
| holders were rank traitors, and we are salts
fed that there are more loyal Union people
in the seeded States to-day than on the day
the first rebel gun was fired at Fort Sumter,
and we further know, should any loyal citizen
lose slaves through the operation Of this or
der, he would have the same claim against
the Government that he or any other loyal
citizen may have, North or South, for the
loss of horse or other property used or de-
| stroyed by the orders of the Government
We have implicit confidence in the integrity
r~l..o d. L. ~