The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-07-29

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HEADQUARTERS ARnY o5 nm TEnxEssEE, I
LouIsvrlIR, Kr., July 10, 1855. i
oMesrs asd ,Sasdssrs A,-ye f ~ zss.esses.
The profound grati6cation 4 feel in being
authorized to release you from the. orerous
obligations Of the camp, and return you,
laden With lanrels, to homes where warm
hearts welcome You, Is somewhat embittered
BY the painful reflection that / am sundering
the ties that trials have made true, time made
tender, suffering made sacred, perils made
proud, heroism made honorable, and fame
made forever fearless of the future. It is no
common occasion that demands the disband-
ment of a military organization, before the
.resistless power of which mountains bristling
with bayonets have bowed, cities have sur
rendered, and millions of brave men been
conquered. a.
your commander, we are no strangers affec-
tons have sprung up between us during the
long years of doubt, gloom and carnage we
have passed through together nurtured by
common perils, su6erings and sacrifices, and
riveted by the memories Of gallant comrades
whose bones repose beneath the sod of hun
bred battle fields, nor time nor distance will
weaken or efface. The many marches you
have made, the dangers you have despised,
the haughtiness you have humbled, the duties
you have discharged, the glory you have
gained, the destiny you have discovered for
the country in whose cause you have con-
quered, all recur at this moment in all the
vividness that marked the scenes through
which we have just passed.
From the pens of the ablest historians of
the land are daily drifting out upon the cur
rent of time, page upon page, volume upon
volume of your heroic deeds, and floating
down to future generations, will inspire the
student of history with admiration, the patri
otto American with yeneration for his ances-
tors, and the lover of republican liberty with
gratitude for those who, in fresh baptism of
blood, reconstructed the powers and energies
of the Republic to the cause of constitutional
freedom. Long may it be the happy fortune
of each and every one of you to i've in the
full fruition of the boundless blessings you
have secured to the human race. Only he
whose heart has been thrilled with admira.
ton for your impetuous and unyielding valor
in the thiekest of the fight can appreciate with
what pride recount the brilliant achieve
ments which immortalze you and enrich the
pages of our national history
Passing by the earlier, but not less signal
triumphs of the war, in which most of YOU
participated, and inscribed upon you banners
such victories as Donelson and Shiloh re-
cur to campaigns, sieges and victories which
challenge the admiration of the world, and
elicit the unwilling applause of all Europe
Turning your backs upon the blood bathed
heights of Vicksburg, you launched into re-
gion swarming with enemies, fighting your
way, and marching, without adequate supplies,
to answer the cry for succor that came TO YOU
from the noble but beleagured army at Chat
tanooga.
Your steel next flashed among the noun
tains of Tennessee, and your weary limbs
found rest before the embattled heights of
Mission Ridge, and there with dauntless cour-
age, you breasted again the enemy destruc-
tive fire, and shared with your comrades of the
Army of the Cumberland the glories of a VIC
tory, than which no sodiery can boast a
prouder.
In that unexampled campaign of vigilant
and vigorous warfare from Chattanooga to
Atlanta, you freshened your laurels at Kesaca,
graphing with the enemy Behind his works,
hurting him back dismayed and broken Pur-
suing HIM thence, marking your path by
umphed over superior numbers at Dallas.
fighting your way from there to Kenesaw
Mountain, and under the murderous artillery
that frowned from its rugged heights, with a
tenaeity and constancy that finds few parel-
lels, you laDored, fought and suffered through
the broliIng rays of q Southern midsummer
sun, Until at last you planted your colors upon
its topmost heights.
Again, on the 22d of July. 1864, rendered
memorable through all time for the terrible
struggle you SO heroically maintained under
disasters, and that saddest of all reflections.
the loss OF that exemplary soldier and popu-
TAR leader, the lamented Mcpherson, your
maieh1ess courage turned defeat into glorious
victory.
Ezra Chapel and Jonesboro added new las
TIRE TO radiant record, the latter nnbarring to
you the proud Gate City of the South.
he daring of a desperate foe in thrustinp
his legions norhward, exposed the country
IN your front, and though rivers, swamps and
enemies opposed, you boldly surmounted eve
~ obstacle, beat down all opposition. and
marched forward to the sea- Without any
I act to dim the brightness Of your historic
page, the world rang plandits when your la
bors and struggles eliminated at Savannah.
and the old s1Stary Banners waved once
more over the walls of one Of the proudest
cdtS Vi the Se8DOard.
Scarcely breathing spell had passed when
your colors faded from the coast, and your
columns plunged into the swamps of the Car
oinas The sufferings you endured. the
labors you performed and the successes Won
achieved in those morassess, deemed impass-
able, form creditable episode in the history
OF the war. Pocotaligo, Salkahatehie. Eds
to, branchville, Orangeburg, Columbia, Ben
tonyille, Charleston and Raleigh are names
that Will ever be suggestive of the resistless
sweep OF your column through the territory
that Graded and nurtured, and from whence
was sent forth on its mission of crime. The
disturbing and disorganizing spirit of seces.
sion and rebellion.
The work for which you pledged your brave
hearts and brawney arms to the Government
OF your fathers you have noblg performed.
You are seen in the past gathering through
the gloom that enveloped the land, rallsine
as the guardians of mans honest heritage,
forgetting the thread unwoven upon the loom
quitting the anvil and abandoning the work.
shops, TO indicate the supremacy of the laws
ana The authority of the constitution. Four
years nave you struggled in the bloodiest and
most destructive war that ever drepched the
earth with human gore; step by step YOU
have born our standard, until to-day. over
every fortress and arsenal that Rebellion
wrenched from US, and over CITY, town and
hamlet, from the Lakes to the Gulf. and from
ocean to ocean. proutlv foct tho. lst.---..