Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-01-12
THE RUTLAND HERALD.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY IL, 1871.
The Vermont soldiers.

There assemblies in our midst to-day,
the representative men, who led the
Green Mountain Boys on many hard
fought field, to victory. Among them
will be seen Stannard, Wells, Henry,
Ripleys, veazey, Pingrey, Thomas, Grout,
Jewett, Tracy, and Proctor, and others
whom our State will ever hold in remem-
brance, for their gallant deeds. They
come together as comrades, amid the
scenes of peace, to greet each other with
cheer, and to recount the stern tolls, pri-
yations and moro than all, the memories
IF happier hours Of life in the camp and
on the march, and to live over again the
scenes of other days. 1t is fitting and
we'll that they should thus gather.
The presence of this band OF men brings
10 remembrance the cause for which
they periled their lives, that the nation
might live and the government be main
tanned. They come not with badges Of
mourning, firing no minute gun, tolling
no funeral bell, but to rejoice. Let US as a
people rejoice with them. Let us rejoice
that our State has given birth to such
,ons, and honor them with the garlands
Of peace, and bid our children to mark
we'll their services; and for ourselves
draw fresh inspiration of love for our
land and for liberty.
Let us sketch the scenes which proceed.
cd the great conflict in which these men
engaged. The young man communing
with himself as to his duty in his coun-
try's peril assemblies of the people
the enlistment-the arming-the move
meut in squad, in companies, in regi.
ments, in armies the camp with its pri-
vations--" battles magnifoently stern
array"-the roar of cannon and musketry
the shout and groan and sabre-stroke--
the hospital and the grave. While we
rejoice in their victory. In their bravery
this generation must see that the labor Of
these men has not been in vain, and all
unite to secure the fruition of that wish
Of their great captain "Let us have
Peace"
Let us remember that when these mer
followed the banner of their country tc
honor and victory, it bore thirty-foui
stars. When the brave followers oil
Sherman. headed by that starry flag,
marched to the sea, and finally flung it's
folds to the breeze in Charleston, the hot
bed of treason, it bore thirty-four stars
and when the gallant old veteran run il
again to its place on the shattered battle
rnents of Sumpter, it bore thirty-foul
stars. When our victorious legion led by
our own gallant Ripley, planted it upor
the dome of the rebel Capitol at Rich
mond, ii bore thirty-four stars.
Would any loyal citizen erase from that
banner single star. No! it could mo-
be done. We may add to that constella
tion, but detract or take from it, never.
This gathering reminds them of the
miasma and death found lurking in the
swamps of Chikehominy and the bayons
Of the Mississippi. 1t reminds them Of
the carnage of Antietam, of the blood
stained fields of dettysburgh. vickburg
and fredericksburg; the death struggle
in the Wilderness the battle above the
clouds at Lookout Mountain; the con.
tineus lines of trenches and graves from
the Potomac to the Appomatox the great
march from the mountains to the sea-
and the many other fields of glory that
are their own.
1t ia to keep alive these feelings and t.
recall such "reminiscences that the
Vermont soldiers re-unite to-day. 1t il
the remnant of an army which gathered
from our mountains and valleys to dc
battle for the Union. This society repre-.
sents the wounds, privations and suffer.
ings endured, and the blood shed in the
defense of the old dag, the emblem of 8
glorious and free Republic. ItrepresentE
the great uprising of a free people, in the
majesty of strength and conscious of right
which in 1851, astounded the nations o.
the world.