The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1864-07-13

hearing of the eternal waves OF the Pa
cife-or in the lonely grandeur of tn
great plains of the far West. With all
our love and confidence has been cement
ed by common dangers and sufferings
the toilsome march, in the dreary bivouac
and amid the clash of arms and the pres
once of death on scores of battle fields
West Point, with her large heart, adopt
us all-graduatcs, and those appointed
from civil life-oficers. and privates. Ii
her eyes we are all her children, jealous
of her fame, eager TO. sustain her worlc
wide repution. Generals and private sol
diers. men who have eheerfully offered
our all for dear country, we stand here
before this shrine, eyer. hereafter sacred
to our dead, equals and brothers in the
common death which awaits US all-per
haps in the same field and at the same
hour. Such ars the ties which unite us
the most endearing that exist among mem
such the relations which bind US together
the closest Of the sacred brotherhood
of arms. 1t has therefore seemed, and il
is, fitting that we should erect upon this
spot, sacred to us all, an enduring menu-
ment to our dear brothers who have pre-
ceded US on the path OF peril and of honor
which it is the destiny of many of us
some day to tread.
What is the reg. liar army to which we
belong?
Who are the men whose death merits
such honors from the living?
What is the cause for which they have
laid down their lives?
Our regular or PET aanent army is the
nucleus which in tinis OF peace preserves
the military traditions of the nation, as
we'll as the organization, science, and in
struction indispensable to modern armies.
Ii may be regarded as coeyal with the ma
taiun. 1t derives its origin from the old
and state lines of the Revo-
luton, whence, with some Interruptions
and many changes, it has attained its
present condition. In fact, we may with
propriety 60 even beyond the Revolution
TO seek the roots of our genealogical tree
IN the old French wars; for the cisat,antie
Of the seven years war were
not confined to the ssred men scalping
zach other by the great lakes of North
America;" and it was in them that our
ancestors first participated as Americans
n the large operations of civilized armies.
American regiments then fought on the
banks of the st. Lawrence and the Ohio,
IN the shores Of Ontario and Lake George,
n the islands of the Caribbean and in
South America Louis sburg, Quebec,
Duauesne, the Moro and Porto Bello at
est the valor of the provincial troops, and
n that school were educated such soldiers
Is Washington, Putnam, Lee, Mont
yomery and Gates. These and men like
Greene, Knox, WayEe and Steubsn were
,he fathers of our permanent army, and
1nder them our troops acquired that dis
,ipline and steadiness which ena bled them
@ meet upon equal terms and often to- de-
eat the tried veterans of England. The
'tudy of the history of the Revolution
ind a perusal of the dispatches of Wash
ngton, will convince the most skeptieal of
he value of the permanent army in achiev-
ng our independence, and establishing
;he civil edifce which we are now fighting
@ preserve. The war of 1872 found the
army on footing far from adequate to the
but it was rapidly increased,
md of the new generation of soldiers,
many were found equal to the require
nents of the occasion. 'Lundys Lane,
Chippewa, Queenstown, Plattsburg, New
Orleans, all bear witness to the gallantry
IF the regulars. Then came an interval
# more than thirty years of external
peace, marked by many changes in the
and strength of the regular
army, and broken at times by tedious and
bloody Indian wars. Of these the most
,emarkable were the Black Hawk war, in
which our troops met unfinchingly foe
is relentless and far more destructive than
he Indians-that terrible scourge, the
the tedious Florida war;
where, for SO. many years, the seminoles
sluded IN their pestilential swamps our
almost efforts, and in which were display
I'd such traits of heroism as that commem-
,rated by yonder monument to Dade and
,is command, when sail fell save two;
without an attempt to retreat" At last
,ame the Mexican war to replace Indian
contests and the lmonotony of frontier ser
rice, and for the FIRST time in many years
he mass of the regular army was con
,entrated, and took the principal part in
he battles ofthatremarkable and romantic
var. Palo Alto, Resaca, and Fort Brown
we're the achievements of the regulars un-
lidei; and as to the battles of Monterey,
Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo
md the final triumphs in the valley, none
;an truly say that they could have been,
Won without the regulars. When peace
,rowued our victories in the capital of the
NJ Montezumas, the army was at once disper-
led over the long frontier, and engaged
n harassing and dangerous wars with the
Indians of the plains. Thus thirteen
ong years were spent, until the present
var broke out, and the mass of the army
drawn in to be employed against a
domestic foe.
| can not proceed to the events of the
recent past and present without adverting
10 the gallant men who were so long Of
our number, but have gone to their last
home; for no small portion of the glory
on which we boast was expected from
,uch men as Taylor, Worth, Brady,
Br, oks, Totten and Duncan.
There is a sad story of Venetian histo-
ry that has moved many heart, and Of
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