Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-01-01
OUR ARMY CORRESPONDENCE.
Social Re- Union at Ecksburg, of the Sur
ripars Of the Battle of Witsons Greek
Speech Of Major @. E. Compton. .4

Social Re- Union a. Nicksburg, of the Sur
rirors of the Battle of Wilson's Greek
Speech of Major @. E. Compton.
VIcKsBuRa, Mss, Dec. II, 1868.
DEAR JouRNAL:-We soldiers are not
made Of steel any more than you editors are
of iron, though we are schooled in world
peculiar to ourselves, and gradually learn to
be apathatic in regard to the crimes and dis
tress which occur in state of war. We
sometimes in our lives are animated by the
sweet passions and delicate feelings, and feel
as if We were restored back TO our paradise
of peace and friends. One of these occasions
and one of the happiest Of our lives, was the
evening Of the "re.union supper" given by
the officers who were engaged in the battle of
Wilson's Greek, under the lamented General
lyon.
About thirty seven of the survivors Of our
first Western army, with about fifty invited
guests, assembled in the Masonic Hall, Vicks-
burg, Miss, on the evening Of the 9th inst,
and after few moments occupied in selecting
Col. Roberts, of the 1st Kansas, as Chairman,
1t. Col. Abercrombie and Major Purcell, both
formerly Of the lst Iowa, as Vice Presidents,
and Msjor Munce, of the 1st Missouri, and
1t. Sumner, formerly of the Sd Missouri, as
Secretaries, this crowd of warriors-every one
Of whom has seen grim visaged war face to
face, and tasted of all it's actual pri
vations and honors, of its heroism and terrors
proceeded to ths comm dious rooms
under the old Vicksburg theatre and
there partook Of collation. which was oil the
heart could wish or palate suggest. After an
hours work in satisfying the inner man, the
more pleasing labors Of the night were COM
menced, aud until the Court House clock told
US th"t tho antipodes were about retiring
there was no interruption in the " feast Of
reason and the flow of soul with which we
were RECALLED. OF the survivors, there were
present eighteen of the 1st Kansas, sixteen Of
the old lst Iowa. two of the 1st Missouri and
eleven Of the 81 Missouri. who felt that the
chain of friendshio which was welded togeth.
er on the 10th Of August, 1861, was strength
ened by this meeting.
Muscatine county was represented by sew
en- OF her sons who shared the dangers ofthat
trying day, and send you the response TO
the toast, "Our comrades in arms who fell
at the battle Of Wilson's Creek, August 10Th,
1861. Their names and the memory Of their
deeds will ever live in the hearts Of the sur
vivors," in which your young townsman, Maj.
c. E. Compton, paid the following tribute t.
the departed heroes Of that bloody field:
"Mr. P,esident, Officers. Brothers:
TO you, some of the living representa-
tives of that little army Of fifty 1.-TWO hundred
that planted its banner on the hill 'erhang
ing the little stream rendered historic By your
valor-to you let me say. am glad to be
here--glad to be with you and renew my
pledges of friendship and affection to some
Of you for the first time since that bright and
still morning when, on the crest of the Ozark
chain, you and your companions, with the
brave, the noble, the lost LYON for the key
stone, raised an insurmountable wall between
the homes of the West and the foe which
had landed together to destroy them.
"With me, you have but to pronounc, the
talismanic words, 81 ilson's Creek, and you
possess the key to my heart wherever we
may be-whatever change comes Ger u.s.
With you I shall always be ready to double
my blanket and share my last cracker.
"But for those comrades in arms who laid
down their lives as a sacrifice on the altar Of
their country on the 10th day of August
1861 for those who went forth to danger
and to death on that summer morning, fe i
shat the language can command is an mad
equate expression to Their honor and praise.
"Who of Americas patriots does not re-
member LyoNf Who Of US forget the CHIEF
as he stood in our midst early in the mornir G
of that fatal Cay, true, kind, brave, stern,
fearless-fearless almost to rashness! He
obeyed the voice of patriotism, and with a
handful-Imay say-of cit'zen-soldiers, con
fronted on their chosen ground, checked and
swept back again and again, more than five
times his own numbers, and gave US our first
lesson in our new book Of life.
"Who of the survivors Of that little bar
does not feel the blood course warmer and
warmer from his heart as his memory recalls
the names and deeds of Mason, of the LIST
Iowa, Gray of the 1st Missouri, Dyer, Jones,
Pratt and Angeline Of the 1st Kansas, and all
tho others who, under that fearful storm Of
death, quailed not, faltered not?
but all through that Summer day
A wall Of fire they stood,
Aud held the baffisd foe at bay.
nd real ed h0 "