Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-01-28

what IS to be considered a fair COM
pensation for being shot at, but human
life is q cheaper commodity than We
have supposed If it may be satisfac-
torily bartered away for daily rations
Of hard tack and SOW belly, rubber
ponehO and thirteen dollars per
month. There are even instances on
record where the highest bounties and /
assurance of the most comfortable I
service were not regarded as an ade-
quate inducement for exchanging home |
and freside for the villainous-saltpetre |
vocation. But in the first stages of the |
war bounties we're not offered, much |
less expected. The public lands, it |
was possibly conceived, might be dis
tributed among the soldiers who sur
vived the struggle, instead of being
pareelled out among wealthy railway
corporations, but of this there was no
certain or definite assurance. As
general rule the soldiers who went in.
to the war at the beginning and re-
mained the longest received the least
bounty and the slowest promotion.
A regulation Of the War Department
which forbade advancement except
when the companies. and regiments
contained certain number of men.
rendered promotion next to impossible
in the old regiments and of course
greatly facilitated it 10 the new ones
whose ranks were full. The more
regiment was thinned out by the easu-
alties of battle the less chance there
was for new commissions. We can
cite examples Of officers who resigned,
went home and remained until the
lighting vas mostly over, then came to
/ the field again with some new regi-
ment far outranking those under
whom they had formerly served and
who had remained all the time at the
post Of duty and of danger. There
was justice as well as force in the OBJ
servation of General Sherman on a
certain occasion that if Washington
was the place of honor he believed he
would about face his army and march on
that city. It was all too true that
political influence" availed far more
. in thousands of eases in the way Of
: securing promotion that did faithful
f service in the field, and the poor feI-
lows who had notinAuential friends OF
lacked the faculty of hitching to
the coat-tail of some prominent
s politician, in nine cases out of ter
: must be content now to forego the
t high-sounding breVets and rest in the
a humble but satisfying consciousness
f of duty done.
7 This is borne patiently. A patriot who
t is patriot for money, promotion ol
b Office deserves not the name. VIZ
I are sure the Union soldiers Will cheer.
e fully forego these things as long al
T they know the general sense of theil
fellow citizens appreciates their servi
: ces. 1t is true the soldiers had some
a reason for great expectations. They
: we're assured over aud over again
d without hint or solicitation on theil
e part, that something more than boun
IS ty or pension shoald be the inevitable
e reward of faithful service. Witbou
e the country there could be no Offices
and even these SO dear to every true
born American, we're to be hberally
shared with those who would gu fortl
! and save the country. These prom
: ses were in the main no doubt seri
: ously intended though among those
tfreest in making them there have mo-
! been wanting some ready to apply the
most finished arts of political intrigue
In eontesting with the soldiers for the
: prize Of civil preferment.
But the great mass of those who
gave time, business. home, health,
limb or life to the country in its hour
Of need were no more instigated there
to by the prospect of office than by
E the love of money. The mighty host
rushed to the field, fred by one i'm
pulse only-the vindication of the
3 flag, the salvation of the country. The
offering was not more prompt and free
than it was unseltsh. For thousands
the only reward has been an unnamed
grave while thousands more are cast
helplessly upon heworld with broken
health or perchance with an empty
sleeve to fight literally single handed
the remnant of life's battle. Such
, self-saorifce for country's sake is nei-
, ther uncommon nor exceptional
aud can no more be be measured than
it was induced by few paltry dollars
! of bounty or pension.