The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1870-04-21
Gen. Belknap's Remarks.


demonstrating as l did in a
Western army, member of q socie-
ty formed in the field soon aftcr the
failing fortunes OF Johnston's South.
ern army had ended in surrender, it
is with unaffected diffidcnco that I
respond to your call. But am rcas.
sured when recall tho fact that,
though separated by mountains and
rivers and painless woods, the men
Of the armies which fought with
Grant at Vicksburg, and with Meade
ut Gettysbuog; which moved with
Sheridan through the valley; which
stood like rock at Chlckamauga
with Thomas-God bless his memo
ry!-which captured Atlanta and
marched with Sherman to the sea,
were prompted by the same feeling
and impelled by the same desire for
success, that they were stimulated in
triumph and nerved in disaster by
the welcome wavings of the same old
flag, and that though rivals in heroic
deeds, they were ever brothers in
arms.
remember, too, that he who five
years ago received the surren der of
the Army of Northern Virginia, who
sent to the people of the Republic
the tidings of a great Rebellion con.
quered and a country saved, had
commenced his military life at Donel.
son, and had been the first comman.
der Of the Army of the Tennessee;
had attached himself to that army
BY his quiet energy; had commanded
the admiration of the people by en-
forcing his repeated demands tor
unconditional surrender; had won
the hearts of the soldiers of the
Army of the Potomac by that re-
markable military management
which signalized him as leader of
leaders, and now, honored by the
people, as we'll as by his comrades OF
all these great armies, is the Presi.
dent of the United States.
1t is well that you should havo
these reunions, that the soldiers of
your army, cherishing the ondeared
memories of those days, when hard
ship was endured without murmur,
and, revivins the recollections of
field and camp and light, should gath
or together and, beneath the folds of
the same flag under which they
marched, tell Of the scenes which are
in their memories fastened, never to
be forgotten.
The conflicts of the past are re-
placed tonight by scenes of another
character. You tell OF lines of skir-
mishers, where the CLEAN of the gun
was the signal OF death TO many a
gallant spirit, and yet you recall it
as you would q vision Of the night;
you recount the conduct of the
braves who fell on the field of actual
battle, and yet IL seems but a dim
memory; the sound of shot and
musketry and screaming shell comes
back to us again, and while We re-
member, the recollection of all
appears like that of a talo which is
told; the fearful hardships unknown
10 the world, which surrounded a
soldiers life, grow vivid again when
some familisr face returns to remind
you Of army days, but the thought Of
them disappears before the more wei.
come memories of the camp-fire, and
the pleasanter recollcctions of o
camp life.
Well it is tor the soldier that at q
meeting like this the harsher features
OF the realities Of service are softe ned
by the influence of years that have
intervened-that thoughts of war
and carnage are subducd by life
whose paths are those OF peace, and
that the merrier moments of those
days of tent life-the more enjoyable
occurrences-are fresher to the mind
than those days Of gloom and peril
and the terrible havoc OF action -
VOL is it that there cluster around
him now SO many of the thoughts
happier, and hence recalled more
gladly which cause the hands to be
clasped with hearty welcome and
tho eyes to glisten with q greeting
which comes unspoken from a sol.
diers heart made truer by these very
memories.
And though you speak to each 9th
er OF those who are gone; those with
whom you lived and messed, and to
whom you were attached by all those
ties which fasten hearts together !;
whose lives were given Tor the good
Of their country, and upon whose
graves you drop the tribute of SOL
dierly esteem, the sorrow of their
taking off is lost in the recital of
the manly attributes and gallant
deeds Of those who are gone-to be
with you on earth no moro forever
too early dead.
And now that war is over; that
the vast host whose thousands at the
nations bidding sprang to arms has
been dissolved and the men of the
army have gone into the walks of
civil life, they can look back on their
career with pride in the remembrance
OF duty done and in the reflection
that their labors ended in sending to
tho generations Of the future the
boon of true liberty. The soldier
points to the unstained record of his
martial life as containing the prom
Use Of his future course, and with
your companions Of all these armies
you can proudly tell tho people that
the men whose united power could
make the world tremble, gradually,
quietly and gladly have gone to work
like men, and by their conduct have
truly tested the sincerity Of their
patriotism. The button and the blue
have been laid aside till the countrys
assembly is again sounded, and only
here and there the badge of corps,
occasionally seen, carries us back to
the days Of the rebellion.
You and the nation have cause for
grateful pride in the accomplished
fact, that without commotion, the
army, which was tho wonder Of the
world in the character ofits soldiery,
was again as wonderful in its quiet
muster out. To other scenes its men
and officers have moved. and he who
,narshaled its forces to final victory
is the Chief Magistrate of the re-uni-
ted nation. 1t is not the time nor
place, nor am tho person TO SPEAK
nj his adm in ii IN M, L,f I m, .oli