Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1864-07-09

vidious distinction in our favor. We arc
few in number, small band OF comrades
united by peculiar and very binding ties.
For, with many Of US, our friendships we're
| commenced in boyhood, when we rested
beneath the shadow of the granite hills
which look down upon US where we stand
with others the ties Of brotherhood we're
! formed in more maure years while fight
ing amid the rugged mountains and fertile
valleys of Mexico-witbin hearing CT the
eternal waves of the Pacifc--or in the
lonely grandure Of the great plains of
the far West. With all, our love and
confidence has been cemented by common
dangers and suffering,-on the toisome
march, i'll the bivouac, aud amid the clash
of arms and the presence Of death on
scores of battle. fields. West Poiut, with
her large heart, adopted US all--gradu-
ate, and those appointed from civil life
officers and privates. lu her eyes we are
all her children jealous of her fame, eager
to sustain her world wide reputation
Generals aud private soldiers, men who
have checrluly offered their all for our
dear country, we stand here before this
shrine, ever hereafter sacred 10 our dead =,
equa sand brothers in,he presence of theat
common death which awaits us ali-per-
haps in the same field and at the same
hour. Suoh ale the ties which unite us
the most endoaring that exist among men /:
such the relations which bind us together
the closest OF the sacred brotherhood of
arms 1t has therefore seemed and it is
fitting, that we should erect upon this spot,
sacred to US all, an enduring monument 10
; our dear brothers who have preceded US
on the path ot peril and of honor which it
is the destiny oil many of us some day to
tread.
What is this regular army to which we
= belong
Who are the men whose death merit,
such honors from the living!
Our regular or permanent army is the
nucleus which in time Of peace preserves
, the military traditions of the nations, as
, well as the organization, science, aud in
struciion Indispensable to modern armies
o /: may be regarded as cocyal with the ma.
. ton. 1t derives its origin from the old
q Continental aud state lines Of the Revolu
ton, whence with sonc interruptions and
many changes, it has attained its present
. condition. In fact, We may with proprie
: ty 60 even beyond the Revolution to scel
q the roots of our genealogical tree in the
old French wars for the ci' Atlantic cam
f paigns ol the seven yeats, war were no
g confined to the "redmcn scalping eaci
r other by the great lakes Of North Amer
4 ca, and it was in them that our anccs
tors frat participated as Americans in tn,
c large operations Of civilized armies
d American regiments then fought OIL the
4 banks of the St. Lawrence and the Ohio
on the shores of Ontario and Lake George
+ in the islands of the Caribbean, and il
f. South America, Louisburg, Quebec, tht
r Moro and Porto, Bello attest the vulor o
4 the provincial troops and in that schoo
: were educated such soldiers as Washing
y ton. Pullman, Lee, Montgomery and G atrs
= These and men like Greene, Knox, Wayn
o and Steubon were the fathers of our per
mauent army, and under them our troop
acquired that dicipline and stcadines
d which enabled them to meet upon cqua
terms and often 10 defeat the tried vete
e rams OF England. The study of the hstor,
= of the Revolution and perusal Of tn
!. dispatches of Washington, will convinc
the most skeptlcal of tho value Of the per
manent army in achieving our independ
O ens,, and establishing the civil edfc
+. which we are now fighting to preserve
The war of 1912 found the army on
r footing far from adequate to the emergen
IS cy, but it was rapidly increased, and o
n the new generation of soldiers, many wer
o found equal to the requirements of tn
+. occasion Lundy's Lane, Chippewa
4 Queenstown, PIatlSburg, New Orleans, al
bear witness to the galIantry of the regu
r. lars. Then came an interval gilmore lha
,, thirty years oil external peace, marked b.
v many changes in the organization an
# strength Of the regular army. aud broke
y at times by tedious and bloody india
q wars Of these the most remarkable wer
q the Black Hawk war, in which our troop
# met unhinchipgly a foe as relentless an
far more destructive than the Indians =
that terrible scourge, the cholera-and tn
tedious Florida war, where, for so man
a years, the Scminoles eluded in their pest
lental swamps our utmost efforts, and i
"uISu NClC hlePldS w ouCu 'ldl'o VI hOlN
. ism as that commemorAted by yondC
W monument to Dade and his command
y when sail fell save two, without an a
y tempt to retreat" AT last camo the Mes
a ican war to replace Indian contests an
- - the monotony Of frontier service, and 70
~ The first time i'll many years the mass c
- the regular army was concentrated, an
% took the principal part in the battles {
that remarkable and romantic war. Pal
Alto, Resaca, and Fort Brown were tn
70 achievements OF the regulars unaided an
'e as to the battles of Monterey, Beuna Vistr
IL Vera Cruz, Cerra Gordo and the fui
trumphs in the valley, MOLE can truly sa
u, that they could have been won withoI
"a the regulars. When peace crowned ou
! victories in the capital Of the Montezuma
y he army was at once dispersed over tt
u u ong frontier, md engaged in harassin
and dangerous wars with the Indians
III the plains, Thus thirteen long years we,
10 spent, until the present war broke out,a