Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1864-09-15
Heroes Fallen in a Useless War.


promise with the South" 1t is the most
eloquent and the most powerful picture that
has been suggested by the war. We have
been requested to describe it. 1t deserves
description that we are not competent to
give. The pencil is mightier than the
pen. ~
To do our best, then. In the right hand
upper corner of the picture floats defiantly
the flag with the eight stars Among the
stars are the words "slavery, Treason
Some of the suggestive words on the folds
of the flag are, Lawrence and Fort Pill
low" On the left hand upper corner of
the picture droops the United States flag,
upside down, and on its folds may be read
the names of many bloody contested and
gloriously won national battlefield In the
foreground of the picture are three human
figures and a grave. No person can look
upon these objects without emotion, bitter
ness, melancholy without feeling bis head
ireel with sickness. and his eyes fill with
tears. We have never seen a more moving
and pathetic sketch. 4 female Il cure, pei.
sonating the Goddess Of Liberty, has
fallen upon one knee at the side Of the
grave, bends over It, buries her face in one
hand, and with the other efnbf&ces this
maidstone. The figure standing t3 The
right Of The grave anc with one foot Qpon
/
it, booted and spulrsd, has features easily
recognized as those Of J4ferson Davis. lie
| personates the South" lie wears & bit
with pistol in it, and &C. S. A. on II. 4
sword bangles at his side. lie holds in his
left hand a whip with many lashes. His
right hand is extended, and grasps another
hand, timber and impressive, that comes to
him from the left of the grave, and meets
his over the tombstone This is the hand
of common soldier, who personates the
| ''North." has but onesleg, is propped by
; crutches, while sling contains his left
arm, and his left hand his hat. His head
hangs low. His face is hidden, working
/ upon the imagination more by it's conceal
ment than it could by the exhibition of the
sadness with which it is evidently wet and
worn. The South stands erect, and his
hat on conceitedly awry, and with coun-
tenance conspicuous with insolent compla-
cency, haughtiness ard defiance, sneering
contempt and supercillious scorn, and it is
also frigid, designing, willy and tyrannical.
! The foot that he has upon the grave has
broken in sunder sword Inscribed with the
words, Northern power" The epitapn
upon the tombstone, under these claspea
hands, reads:
''IN MEMORY OF OUR HEROES, VINO FELL IN /
USELESS WAR"
This is the climax of the picture and is
. thrilling in the extreme. To the right of
the insolent and naughty "South,' y crouches
a man, his wife and chld-5lack. They
are chained together. The man wears the
United States uniform, and the letters ssU.
5. are on his belt He looks out into the
heavens with a countcnance Of importunate
prayer, while the woman presses the child
to her breast and turns face of wild and
fierce despair upon the figure with his
foot on the grave and the lash in his
/ hand
A town in flames desolate fields, strewn
with the dead, and the wounded writing
! in torture; gallows with it's victin-a
martyr to the Union; these fill up the per-
j spective Of the picture and contribute to
its pathos, eloquence and extraordinary
effect upon the feelings of its behodcr
We have no hesitation in giving this
much space and prominence to this work
Of art, because it is work of truth. As a
work of art, it deserves commentator as
| Z work Of truth, it deserve circulation
fYherc is as much power in its effect, as
/ there is genius in its concoit It's elabora-
ton is as sllilfQl as its Invention is orig
ina II illustrates. the most melancholy
and momentous possibility mot probability
Heaven forbid , Of the present crisis-viz
3 useless war;
| Tell ~, good countryln4n, you that have
the hearts Of men and the spiHis Of Ameri-
cans, you that nave in reverence The Gag
and the cause fof whiehwe aaeeffc= and
t ii, for which we have openeo fitted and
covered over these hundred Thousand tal-
lowed martyr graves, tell US, viii you con
sent that the epitaphs, on all Of these graves,
shall read, IN memory Of our Union he
roes, who fell in useless war;"
For ourselves, we can conceive Of nothing
so distressing to a sensitive, patriotic mind,
and so appalling to the Imagination of a just
and upright man, as the conclusion of this
war without the attainment of its object.
It would be spectacle to wiring tears from
the most obdurate, and to amaze into ST.
lence the very noises of the evil spirits 10
perdition, if this war comes to the end so
| thrillingly delineated in the picture b fo'e
| us-an end which will be the end of the
peoples power on the earth for long and
end rh will hp tho