Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-06-02

by kind and appreciative friends, the pine
trees are nurmuring perpetual dirge.
Nine years ago, this spring time, the
nation was startled with the intelligence
that Fort Sumter had been bombarded,
the little Spartan band, who had so long
held it in defiance of treason had been
compelled to surrender and our national
ensign, before then honored on every sea
and in every land, which fioated over that
| devoted garrison, had been stricken
down by traitors, and that a rebel nag
was flying in its place.
Never before was nation SO thorough
| ly aroused never was the feeling of 10y
atty and patriotism SO intense, as the
news flashed along the wires from south
to north add from west to east.
Nowhere was this feeling more intense
than in New England. Every hamlet and
town and village and city were ablaze
with excitement and wherever the old
| flag was displayed it was regarded with a
reverence and affection it never had been
| before and stern, strong men shed tears
of joy at the sight of it, and vowed that
every insult it had received should be re-
venged, and that it should again float in
triumph over Sumter's walls, and in the
breeze of every state in the Union, and be
honored and respected.
With patriots prayer each bosom was breath
ing;
With patriots arm our flag was unfrirled
Defend it or die, each lip was repeating;
Twas Iberty's cause and the hope the world ,
Men were ready to join the army by
thousands and go to the front to meet the
enemy. Fathers and mothers babe their
sons go wives, their husbands; sisters
their brothers and lovers--they babe
them adieu with the solemn injunction te
remember Concord, Lexington, Bunker
Hill and Bennington, and to show them
selves, by their valor, worthy descendants
of their Revolutionary ancestors. These
men, when reminded of the dangers Of
the battlefield, like Gen. Warren, wher
cautioned against rushing into danger al
Bunker Hill, felt, at was sweet and be
coming to die for their country" and
were willing to make the saerifce-to sea
their devotion to their country with theil
lives.
New England, ever foremost in the
cause of freedom, was the first in the
field. Those brave boys of the 9th Mas
sachusetts regiment, who We're killed by
the rebel mob at Baltimore, on the mem
orable 10Th of April, while on their way
to defend the national capital, were the
first martyrs to the cause of loyalty anG
freedom, and the first victims of treason
and slavery.
All honor to the old commonwealth o.
Massachusetts, and her patriotic aud brave
sons who first responded to the call o
their country, in the hour of her grea
peril, and especially, to her noble Govern
or, the lamented John A. Andrew, who's
country was so dear to his heart that n,
sacrifice or effort was too great for him Il
make in her behalf
Although New England produced
neither of the four great Generals of tn
war, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan o
Thomas, who stand so pre-eminentl,
above all Others, yet her troops were ex
celled by none; and on all occasions, Of
the march, on picket. and in action the,
always did their duty. In every battl
in which they were engaged, they wer
always in the thickest of the fight, wit
their faces to the foe, ready to meet death
and displayed that courage and valo
which marked them as true scions of tn
old Revolutionary stock.
No one, except by actual experience
gained in the army, can fully appreciat
) the hardships endured by our soldier
during the war, and especially, by thos
in the ranks. Such patience and endul
ance OF fatigue, hunger and cold, sue
indifference to danger, disease and deaf
and such determined perseverance on tn
= march have rarely, if ever, been exhibits
before. Many of our brave boys whel
supplies were inaccessible, as was FIRE
quently the case upon long fatiguini
marches, foot sore and shoeless, and witt
bleeding feet like the heroes of Vale,
| Forge would still press on TO meet TIL
enemy.
Even the incompeteucy and mistaken
and short-sighted policy of the command
, err of the grand old Army Of the Potomac
= in the Peninsular campaign, who wa
equally az DESTROYS to preserve slavery as t
overcome the rebellion, did not democrat
ize that army, in which were so man.
\ ew England soldiers. Though slaught
cred in vain, by thousands and often re
/ pulsed, they were ever ready to renew
the conflict hoping that the tide nigh
turn and they be victorious. What bit
ter disappointment what chagrin wha
= sorrow for fallen comrades, the magl
/, touch of whose elbows, but a short tim
before, the survivors felt imparung t
themselves courage and firmness to d
. their duty Tongue cannot tell nor pc
II describe the feelings of these men owe
j needless defeats aud the loss of so man
Y brave comrades uselessly sacrificed ye
they bore up under all this and consciou
of the reotitade Of their cause We're eve
hopeful of the future.
e Such patriotism and devotion to cour
Q try and principle on the part of the pee
pie of New England, and such Drawer
!, and courage displayed by her soldiers i
1 the field, have forever given the lie
Q the accusation formerly so often fun
t in our faces, that we were a race OF sma
traders and pedlers, devoid alike of homo
and courage Since the war this accuse
ton is rarely heard, and the the teri
"Yankee" is no longer reproach. Will
t the Middle States and the West did thei
t duty nobly and are deserving of all honol
q we have Just cause to be proud of the wa
record of New England-not of her war II
, cord alone, but also of her ante war RECORD
I her principles and her constant struggle
/ in the cause of freedom and human
. ity, and her ever active sympathy for til
= poor enslaved black man.
God willed that the war should be tn
death of slavery, and so long as we wer
:. trying to preserve the Union and SLAYER
= too, our defeats were numerous, our sui
cesses but few and temporary. The fl
ture looked dark and forboding even
the hopeful, but
q "There's Divinity that shapes our ends,
:. Rough hew them how we WILL"
4 And finally wiser counsels prevailed; on
!. honored President, himself since marty
: to freedom, issued the emancipation pre-
n lamation and our army was victorion
g and the nation redeemed and saved.
9 The surrender at Appomattox CouE
r House was the complete triumph and vii
# dication of New England principles; an
;, the sun nowhere to-day in this great Ms
:, ton shines upon single slave
], Instead of slavery and chains, the nj
Q ton now sffers the black man freedom
r the Bible, the ballot and the school hous
Q The Declaration of Independence is n
e longer ga glittering generality" but
: living reality, and has become q well e
a 70 bl;sbad and fxed Dripciple of our n;