New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-05-31


We were not nation of soldiers and
were unprepared for war. At first we met
with some reverses, but these only served
to show us the magnitudeof the work be-
fore us and to nerve us to the bitter end.
Our first substantial success was at Don
elsOn, in the West. and from that time for
ward we pushed our victorious columns into
the heart of the insurgent territory in the
West, while the army of the East was en-
gagged in the no less important duty of
guarding our capital.
Then the enemy sought to divert the de-
yastating tide of war to the fertile fields of
Pennsylvania. We all remember how the
rebel horde was hurled back at Gettys-
burg and made ignOminious fight to the
cover of its defensive works in Virginia
On the same day that Meade drove the
enemy across the Potomac the most
glorious celebration of the fourth of July
took place at Vicksburg, which surrendered
to our victorious arms.
Then followed Port Hudson, and our
mighty river was free. But need not fur
ther recall the events of the contest, they
are fresh in your memories, and the result
was the triumph of the principles of Union
and Liberty throughout our fair land. Peace
has again spread its mantle over us. Our
soil no longer echoes to the tread of hostile
armies. "The shrill trump, the spirit-stirring g
drum, the ear-piercing fife" are hushed.
We have turned, as it were, our swords into
ploughshares, and our spears into pruning
hooks. The arts of war are abandoned for
the arts Of peace.
1t has been left to our own times and as
an American | am proud of the tact that it
has been left to our own country, to gather
up the bones of those who fell fighting in
her cause upon her hundreds of battle
fields, scattered far and wide, and given
them decent interment under the watchful
care of the government itself. Other
nations have gathered up their heroes, but
it has been left TO ours to gather up all who
fell in her cause. No matter how humble
his sphere of duty or how unknown to fame
he fell, the nation has gathered him up and
placed him beside his comrades in its great
cities of the dead. In passing through
these grounds how often repeated do We
see the inscription unknown And |
repeat, that as an American am proud of
this evidence that our country has given its
care to all.
While grateful to a Divine Providence
which brought us safely through the con-
tiict, we can not refrain from dropping a
tear upon the sod which covers our braves.
Our reJoicings in success are saddened by
remen brance of these, our comrades,
fallen.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave
Await alike the inevitable hour
The paths of glory lead but to the grave"
In our sorrow at their sad fate we are
cOmforted by the recollection that they died
not in vain. The great principles of liberty
and Union, which they fought aad died to
uphold, are now triumphant everywhere
within our borders, and | trust the perpe-
tuity of that Union may attest their sacri-
fee TO the end OF time
What if no monument pile towers above
them They need no monument. The
memory of their deeds shall be a perpetual
monument in the hearts of the American
people. Here, as they sleep. upon thy
banks, oh mighty river, let thy murmuring
waves chant their solemn requiem, thy roll
ing flood sing their sad dirge. Far to the
northward, where thou gatherest thy forces,
little children shall cast flowers upon thy
bosom, that thou mayest bear them past
their fathers graves, and widows shall min
gle their tears with thy waters that they
may wash the shores where their lost ones
sleep forever. Bear with thee their memory
to the sea, and while thy floods mingle with
the waters OF the great deep, they shall not
be forgotten.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Rouse's address,
which was loudly applauded, Mr.. Pitkin
made the closing speech of the day 1t was
entirely extempore, and we greatly regret
that we could not, therefore, obtain copy,
for more brilliant effort of poetical elo-
quence We never heard. We will not
attempt to quote any detached frag-
ment for we could not do it justice. At the
close of Mr.. Pitkin's address, the ceremony
Of decorating the soldiers graves with
lowers took place.
Hundreds of those who owed freedom
and undisputed rights to the quiet sleepers
below walked about and rendered their
.ribute of tear bedewed flowers to the
graves of the heroic dead. 1t is sad, very
'ad, TO think that fourteen thousand of the
1one and sinew of the land lie in eternal
Iuiescence below. Most of them were in
he prime of early manhood, and
n the course of nature might have
ived TO a ripe old age. But their
ives were the price of the nations redemp-
the national life; and theirs were
in the cOuntry's cause with self |
bnegatiOn that has no rival even in Their !
nOpyle, that transcends the legend of |
abraham or that of Jeptha.
Many a bread-winner lies unconscious in
hat silent city of the dead; the parents
My stay, the looked up to of many youth
III family; the long looked for of many an
xpectant heart lie there, unconscious that
ven some long expectant bosom has not
ven yet given up hope. The deadly
acrifice for liberty was heavy, but was not
le boon worthy the price! Shall we mourn
le honored dead with vain regrets? for
fter all theirs was glorious fate "Dulce
decorum est, pro patria mort"
The following appropriate hymn, COM
Dsed for and respectfully dedicated to the
merican Union Club by Colonel Charles
ase, ex-presideHt, was distributed and
ing as a closing ceremony:
HO! sleepers meath this hallOwed ground
Give ear No foe disturbs your rest
But groups of friends now gather round,
Responsive to their hearts behest