The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1864-03-03
ADDRESS OF WIN. P. CREED, ESQ,

Soldiers of the Republic, of the 17th:
This vast assembly Of the people of
Fairfield, your fathers and mothers,
your sisters and brothers, your neigh
bors and friends, those who love you,
and have deep interest in your well
fare, have gathered together on this
occasion, to say to you farewell, on
your return TO the Army of the
Cumberland. Ff
Having cndHred all the privations'
and suferings, diseases and dangers
incident to a soldiers life, you were.
permitted, for a brief season, to return
10 your families and friends. How
many homes were made glad by your
returnl and yet, oh, how many are
desolate because of the loved ones fall
len, your brave comrades, who, but
a little more than two years since, on
this very spot, stood by your side,
when you turned your faces to the foe.
No more will they gathcraround the
family hearth stone, and their voices
sweet music to those who loved
them, will be heard on this earth no
more, forever. Green be the spots
which mark their final resting-place,
and may the sweetest and .loveliest
flowers of the mountain, and valley,
forever bloom over the graves where
they sleep!
Soldiers Of the Republic, at the call
of your country you nobly responded
to the call. You know your duty to
your Government, and did not hest
4 tate 10 discharge it. In the hour ofits
greatest peril, and within few days
of the call of the President, you hast
ened to its defense. You doubtless
felt, as we all did, that tue moment was
critical, but if sustained by the strong
arms and stout hearts Of its people
this atrocous and wicked rebellion
would be crushed, the Union preserv.
ed, the integrity Of the Constitution
vindicatcd, and the supremacy of The
laws Of The land upheld and main
| tained
When you left, by your labors, by
your sacrifices, by your suflerings, anC
with your blood and lives was this, ir
part, to be done. You were ready
, for the sacrifice, and your thinned anc
+ broken ranks show, but too well, how
nob!y you did your duty.
, Many Of your brave comrades have
;. made their graves with the stranger
s and the familiar places of earth, th'
s old loved homes, the dearly beloved
$ friends, the orphan children, the wild
owed mothers, the bcreayed wives
Q shall see and know them no more
c Melancholy thought! Would to Got
|. this bitter cup Of afilicton had passe'
II from them. But the. e.stricken, bruises
n and almost broken hearts they hav
: left in their desolation, are comforte
4 with the reflection that they fell in dc
fence Of the noblest, most parental an
It bencfcent Government ever voucll
& saied to man.
Jf On some of the Lloodiest battle
}, fields Of which history makes recorC
n you, soldiers of the Republic, standin
d up side by side, and shoulder TO should
er, with your brethren in arms frol
t. the great North, and mighty Wos
J. met cruel and rcmorseless foe, one
your friends, now your most bitter an
determined enemy, and though figh
ing against the most fearful and tr'
mendous odds right valiantly an
= manfully, sustained the old flag, On
blem Of Liberty. around which, in otl
er days, your fathers rallied, and b
meath whose bright and ample folC
they fought, struggling for freedom
n until their bones whitened, and the
re blood watercd almost eyory mounta
and valley Of the great land we liN
m in. ,
Of In the language Of your gallant Nj
0. jor, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mi
'r sion Ridge, attest your valor, an
prove your devotion to your countr,
r On those bloody fields you met tho
to seeking its subvcrsion and overthrow
le and Notwithstanding you were Owe
TX whelmcd and driven back on one, {
nc the others you hurlod back the hos
sc of treason, and won for yourselves ;
no immortality Of rcnown.
th Men of the Seventeenth, you ha
done your duty, and we are not inso
It. sible OF the great and important Sc
tn vice you have done your country, m
70 in that.country's struggle for life, VIII,
IT, she calls her people TO her aid, "
" have given us additional cause for II
s. miration and regard by cnlsting
n her service, Your patriotism and V,
IN or have been fully tested, and not '
n. only, your ncighbors and friends, b
- the whole loyal Union owe you dc
On of gratitude.
to When you took up arms in dolen
US of your country, many, perhaps all
tn you, left those who are dcarer to y
nd than lite. A fond parent, devot
N wife, an aifectionatc sister, poor lit
to dependent, dcfenccless children---th,
or were the ties you were called upon
nd sundcr, these the cords OF affection
", bo loosencd, And these tics were bl
nd ken, these dear ones separated fro
'el that you might heed the call Of yo
country You loved them much, me
Ia than tongue can tell, but you lov
IS your country more, and the dear
las and tenderest relations of lite W,
u.s. severed that you might save her fr,
Ter the danger and ruin which threaten
lat her.