Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-05-31


yield their cherished institutions. Madly resolved
TO rule ruin, those who controlled the public
opinion of those states determined abruptly ana
violently to dissolve the Union. 1t did not need
any declaration from the president although that
came promptly enough, the loyal heart OF the cOun-
try settled that there was to be war, and war at
once, on the day when the appeal TO arms was
made. 1t was to be settled beyond doubt or qnes-
ton, beyond cavil criticism, that the United
States was nation not be rent asunder by action,
nor to be dragged to its doom by traitors.
How grand was the uprising, how spontaneous
the feeling how readily former differences were gem
orally laid aside that we might all stand together on
the great platform of the preservation of the Aeri-
can Union, With substantial unanimity the whole
people of the free states went through the great
struggle, and generously and nobly men OF all par
ties gave of their blood and their treasure In TINS
hall, whose walls have so often rung with inspiring
appeals to patriotism which have witnessed the 60
ing forth of so many brave men to the bloody scenes
from which so few were to return now tnat we
meet to-day in honor of our noble dead, II Is pleas
ure to remember how cordially we were united in
support of the cause for which they lost their lives
1t credit to this city that while of her four war
mayors, two were of different politics from the other
two, each one did his utmost for the maintenance
of the flag for which our soldiers fought
How small, how trihing were all the differences,
provided we united in that grand system OF politics
which spoke im thunder tones from the mouth OF the
Union cannon. and in cracking yolleys from the
mnzzles of the Union rifles. .
There are many occasions In tie history of ma
lions when wars of such character occur that the
conduct of them may safely be left to the reg llaf
to every nation there also when its safety
and Its deliverante from danger depend upon the
spirit Of the mass Of Its people and their readiness
to sacrifice themselves in its defense. In the great
crisis of nations fate, 1t is for them and them
alone, to take upon themselves the solemn duties of
the hour. However wise or yirtuous princes or
presidents may be, however patriotic parllaments or
congresses may be- In the time when ordinary forces
fail, because they are too poor and weak, people
must bear its own burdens and must fight Its own
battles. They who would be free, and they who
would preserve their freedom alike themselves must
strike the blow.
When initiating the example of our own reYolu-
ton, France threw off the yoke of the corrupt and
proligata race which had so long oppressed her
why II hat with iron hands she held at bay all
Europe which stT,,s 'T subdue her but that her
whole people, moved by CO.. ION IMPULSE, fred by
common patriotism, reused almos - common
fury, hurled defiance against the kings w. bonded
together to subject her again to the will OF he. o.
jected princes. That was the France of 1883. She
had bound her kings in chains and her mobiles with
links of iron, and no one was strong enough to re-
lease them, for her children were true and loved
liberty better than HE, What is France now, and
why is she where she is now, but that In her hour
of need her people have failed her. We have no
time to analyze the which led to this result,
but this is the reason why to-day she groans under
the harsh exactions OF foreign power, and the far
more miserable tortures of her own discussions.
Not thus In her time Of trial conducted the people
Of this Union. 1t was clear that crisis was at
hand which required tile energy Of every citizen,
and nobly and brayely was that energy put forth.
Here to-day we that have been soldiers in the field
Tpdully every 0OnOr 10 L0aL DODle SplrlJ OF
loyalty that prevailed at home, which inspired the
heart and strengthened the hand of every man who
went forth to the fight. 1t was not when regular
armies could have saved us, even if our armies had
been ten times more numerous, and all (which I'M
happily was not the 6ase devoted to the banner of
the country. We were at that point when, if the
country to be rescued from the gulf to which so
many circumstances had eonspired to push it, the
people, with the full consciousness of all they
struggling to preserve and all they were in danger
of losing must do it themselves.
1t in this spirit that the army, whose noble
dead we have met to-day to commemorate, was
formed and no army ever understood more fully all
objects for which it was struggling, or realized
more fully all the consequences of victory or all the
dangers of defeat 1t was because this was so that
it maintained itself resolutely among so many cir
cumstancesloften oppressive and d1sheartening. 1t
is maxim among the friends OF arbitrary power
that it is dangerous thing when bayonets begin to
think, for then men do not readily consent to be
torn from their homes that their lives may be
wasted to aggrandize leader who would crafty his
dreams of power and ambition, but 1t is element
of strength for that government which depends for
its existence upon the love and respect of its ci-
zens. When we consider how little disposed any of
us to obey blindy the orders to submit read-
y to the restraint imposed on us by otherS in one
word, how little the education of an American cti-
zen adapts or would seem to adapt him to that
mute, unquestioning obedience which is the
we cannot honor too highly the men who
voluntarily came forward to fill up our ranks
No army ever more anxiously sought to carry
out the plans of its leaders more generously gave
its confidence to or pardoned the mistakes of those
who commanded, ever more freely yielded its blood
and life in the time of danger 1 cannot but think
that every one who was put in a position of COM
mand must often have wished he could have served
them better and been more worthy of their gener-
Gus devotion. They were not the refuse of towns
and cities, 1.-THE cankers of calm world and along
peace" SO often drawn into the ranksi of regular
armies, but the bone and sinew of nation repre-
senting all that was bravest and noblest and purest
IN Its young llie They were not serfs forced from
their homes to CRAFTY the mad ambition or the in
sane thirst for war that has SO often cursed those
lands wnere despOtism has lorded it over degraded
people, but freemen who came in solemn determine
ton and of their own free will. There was no reck-
less buster, there were no vaporing boasts count
ing all the cost realizing all the dangers, sadly
prayerfully they answered the call that came to
them and were all the better and drawer soldiers be
cause they had fully reflected that duty lay before
them in that way and no other.
That army has passed away; its bugles have
sounded their last reveille its drums have beaten
their last tattoo its tents struck and its cam
non have Numbered their last notes of defiance and
of victory
In its day and generation it did for this country
work which shall cause it to be remembered with
gratitude as long as the flag which it bore at the
head of its marching columns shall wave over a
free and united people, That it might do this its
dead lie Oh thousand fields made holy and sacred
by the brave who m0ulder beneath.
To-day we cannot rehearse the long history of
that struggle of four years which tested to its ut
most the capacities and resources Of our govern
ment the endurance and patriotism of all Its citi
zens.
How many were the hours of dependency, and
how many were the anxious fears that we had un-
dertaken task beyond our strength. how many
were the noble lives which were swept away, how
many were the breaking hearts crushed by this
fearful calamity, your own hearts but too readily
remind you. Yet resOlutely and firmly through all
we pressed on until the victory was won until baf-
fled and beaten the rebel force recoiled in utter
route, and the rebel flag went down at AppomatOx
never to aitront the light Ofheaven again But how
shall we fifty honor those who gave their lives
willingly rather than to permit single STIR to be
obscured upon the mighty shield on which was en-
hlQZ0Upd m nj fho Int
der by words a just tribute to those whose deeds
are their true eulogy, and whose noblest monument
Is the grand result of their achievement. There is
no occasion which draws us together which with
out them would be but tame and poor by COMPARE
son, that is not elevated and ennobed by the reco
lection of them there is no hour of triumnh but
that we summon them to share it. remember
well on the morning when the rebel city fell, which
had been SO long the centre of their power, while
the army OF tine Potomac and the forces acting i'm
mediately swith It were pressing to utter rout,
its great rival, the army of northern Virginia,
LII was my own duty to aid in reaping what
they had sown, and to enter Richmond with
one of the divisions of the army OF the James.
As we reached the last range of hills it Law
before us in the early morning, the heavy fogs of
the river mingled with dense clouds of smoke hung
over it like pail, and relieved against their vapors
came up the lurid flames from the burning ware
houses which had been set on fire, as they had re-
treated, by some unaccountable madness of the
rebel commanders from the blazing bridges which
had spanned the noble James, from the gunboats
once formidable fleet upon the river Every mo-
ment the earth seemed almost to vibrate with the
explosions of the magazines, of the gunboats and
the arsenals with which the city had been filed 1t
was a magnificent, even if terrific sight, and one
that might well fill the heart ofevery Union soldier
with enthusiasm We knew that our work was
done, fully and completely DONE that the rebellion
thing OF the past, tnat it was the confederacy
itself that was passing away in the fervent heats on
which we gazed Yet to the first outburst of enthu-
sasm there succeeded in the hearts of many an one
who had been an old soldier of that army, ] am
sure there did in my own, feeling of sad remem-
brances for the noble dead who had sacrificed their
lives and yet never to know the joy ofvictorv
Dead upon many field of their countrys honor
and glory were thousands who should have enoyed
the triumph they had aided to win. They
could not know when they fell but that
the ensigns of successful rebellion might
wave over the fields where they died; they
could not know that millions yet to live would
bless them for rescued land for an untarnished
flag, for free and united government for their
dying eyes were to look only on the wretched spec-
tace of states discordant beligerent and drenched
in fraternal blood For Others might be the aural
wreath of victory, for them there was only the
cypress crown.
And yet, my comrades, although our voices falter
and our utterance chokes as the name of some dear
friend, who has shared our mess or our blanket,
rises to our lips we should recall them in honor,
and not in sorrow. So would we remember them
ALL not alone the great chiefs whose names are a
part of the history Of the war; who fell like Rev
nolds or Sedgwick, or MACPHERSON. at the head Of
their army corps, they cheered on the onset of
their mighty battalions, but equally the humblpst