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

Rio Grande In every one of its armies, in victory
and in defeat, they followed the flag; they fought
and suffered and died. There is no hamlet within
its borders but gave SOLDIER no village, however
small, but holds the sacred dust Of some hero who
came home, battle-scarred and weary, to rest rom
his labors; no community to which has been
borne all the loved forms locked in deaths cold EN-.
brace, to sleepwith kindred dust.
Language and time would utterly fail me did at
tempt to justly enumerate the deeds and merits of
but single soldier of the three hundred and forty
who went out from your midst, and represented the
town of Westborough in the service of the country
They were found ralyng around the colors of thir-
ty-two different regiments of infantry three regi-
ments of cavalry two regiments of artillery and In
the naval and marine service
The names OF thirty-three of your comrades nave
been added TO the glorious list of martyrs to the
cause Of Justice and humanity. OF this NUMBER
thirteen rest with kindred dust and over the green
mounds of these silent sleepers fair hands have iu
to day their floral offerings To the memory OF tne
twenty Of your unreturned dead whose graves art
scattered and whose bones are in Gods Keeping,
you have appropriately oonsecrated . sPO. T wisa
tears and with garands or these, wnS oes ht IN
yet speak to us, eleven died OF wounds, elRht III
prison, eleven by disease, and two Dy accldeht.
OF the personal history Of these persons cannot
ftlv sneak They fell on the field OF battle by the
enemYss bnllet amid the clash of arms and the roar
of cannon They wasted by disease and exposure,
and were committed to the narrow cot Of the silent
tai They were borne bleeding from the field, pa
tient and accomplishing neglected, by the exigen-
clos of the service when sisters care or moth
erSs tender nursing could have saved them In
southern prison pens, upon whose portals was writ
ten, "Let him who enters here leave hope behindp'
they watched In vain for another glimpse of the old
flag; they listened in vain for the tramp, tramp,
tramp" of our advance guard,-and with faith
sublimely high endured living death, rejecting
with scorD every proposal to purchase life at the
cost of honor, they fell victims of those demons,
whose names will be forever borne on the
rolls of infamy, who inhumanly and by starvation
drove out from its clayey tenement the patriot soul
they could not conquer.
1t is indeed fitting that with sincere affection fair
hands should twlne the laurel with the choicest
flowers offspring, in memory of such as these, your
noble dead and interwine the wreath, the flag, the
cross, fit emblems of their valOr their triumph and
their immortality. All honor to the memory of
such as these. Not conspicuous as officers, their
names and deeds were rarely displayed upon the
bulletin board, or published in tine papers, except
under the caption of 'kiled wounded and miss
ing" Weary with the weight of gun and KNAPP
sack and ammunition, they marched and fought and
suffered, confronting danger, disease and death,
and formed part OF that living parapet of bristling
steel that finally hedged in that great army of
traitors. Such as these however, observe, spring
not from ignoble stock. Honor all honor to the
mothers, wives and sisters of such as these, the
women of the country Inspired by heavenly pa
trlotism they laid priceless boon upon its altar.
With benediction more than angelic they gave up
their darngs and followed them with their prayers,
| watching and hoping for the gray dawn, which to
many wives and mothers never came till their dar-
! lings went down to the chambers of death. And
| here, as elsewhere in the holy sanctuary of home
| henceforth made desolate, they whisper:
ooh, for the sound Of a voice that is stilled,
And the touch of a vanished hand"
Gen. Sprague next proceeded to speak of the re-
suits of the war and said have settled the great
question of our capacity for selfgovernment, and
he believed that away down in the dim vista of
years the future historian will point to this period
when the shackles fell from four millions of human
beings.
In the light of the bitter experience of the past
we have learned that treason is no less crime be-
cause traitors go unpublished. We have been
taught that ITO err is human to forgive divine"
but that forgiveness which precedes repentance is
not of divine origin.
To our errng brethren the ignorant and the mis-
guided, extended the olive branch upon the ces-
sation of hostities and bid them seek in the quiet
OF their poverty stricken homes, in the honorable
pursuits of life, a way in which they could make
some reparation to a government to which by their
acts they had forfeited their lives by every princi
pie of equity and justice.
The old spirit of secession still lives. 1t skulks in
the darkness and in the s0tudes of the sunny plan
tations of the south. 1t was apparent almost be-
green grass waved over the unmarked graves Of
those who fell just before the browning victory,
when it was urged that the cannon at West Point
captured from the rebels, should remain without
inscription to their capture, that might pre-
sent nothing of an irritable character to the young
men gathered there from all parts of the country
1t was the same spirit that moved McCreery Of
| Kentucky on the floor Of the senate, to ask for
restoration Of the Arlington estate forfeited by the
treason of the rebel chieftain. Let those who be-
lieye IN universal amnesty" as the panacea for
this existing condition of things, carefully consider
| whether swift and merited punishment would not
| have produced different result.
We have laid aside the musket and the sword, but
our work is not done. Let us year by year, gather
around the conseerated ground and perform the
beautiful and touching ceremony in which we have
engaged to-day while survivor of the war ~.
mains to honor the memory of his departed som.
rades, and while the tender loving ls,ssI ~ ~ M
kindred remember the dark az The rebeIlioD
the sacrlces they w called upon to bear And
sha nA e to those who in few brief years,
our places, the memory and the sacred
dust of those gallant ones, who thought that to
fight in freedoms was something gained, and
nothing lost to fall.'
| WhiIinsviIIe.
Col. Titus delivered the following address at
Whitinsville:
The celebration oithis memorial day is not in the
interest of party or sect deyisng measures for the
| propagation of class or sectarian tenets
We are the people of the land who, with our fell
| low countrymen, have assembled to mingle our
hearts and voices in common act of national wor-
| ship. The same national heart thrObs to-day
| which beat so violently ten years ago, when you
| surrendered your fathers and sons, your husbands
| and brothers to the service of country. and be-
| slowing your blessings upon them, you sent them
| forth to battle for truth and Justice. What was
most dear TO us be country, patriotism, cOnsecra-
ton to our fathers ideas of perfect national de-
velopment are the objects of our emotions at this
hour as we reconsecrate with fearful devotion the
lives spent so freely in the maintenance of these
Our national birth was the natural result of
/ many revolutions among men, and the shedding of
precious blood, in hopeful expectation and belief
would be established on the same general princi-
Piles of equity by which each separate life shall be
| judged in the day Of final accounts; when they
'who do not rule in righteousness shall perish from
| the earth"
| We, as people, are not ashamed to own our de-
| They proclaimed Hbertv for all men and framed 4
government which foreshadowed the suspicious
day which now beams upon us, their children. OuI
people from the first, have been pledged to thecaust
of human progress. The spirit of our fathers
transpanted on our virgin soil had been purified in
the furnace of the intolerance of the old world, and
| endowed with vitality which has survived all
temptations to apostacy and still bears the fruit SC
earnestly desired by its early advocates.
| To us has fallen the flal duty of reasserting
their noble spirit and pr0caiming anew the strength
| of their devotion. Long, desperate and costly was
the struggle to discharge this duty Like those who
have gone before us, we commended not so much for
| what we might live to enjoy, for what all men
OF right entitled to enjoy; and for what it was
our purpose should be perpetuated at whatever cost
Guided and sustained by this motive, our vision of
the future made clearer, our hearts sterner and
| our deeds more glorious and successful
Some have asserted that this day belongs only to
those who bore the heat and brunt of the day. But
| in my judgment this ground is far too narrow on
which to rest the vast interests which press upon
| our attention.
Comrades, what shall we say to those who this
day stand with the last resting place OF our
deadg Are they not the same patriots who poured
the material wealth of the land into the treasury Of
the government wherewith to support us in the
tieldg Are they not the same who watched over us
and provided for our wantsg Who devised and fur
1
| both in health and sickness, which the world has
ever knowni Are they not the same tender, suffer.
ing women, who lab0red at home and in the field
and hospital and watched our every necessity
Whose loving hearts went with us to the tented
field and the loathsome prison yard, and followed us
through all ycisstudes with prayers and tears
Not one who had not his or her responsibility
duty, sacrifice or suffering in the common cause.
No! Our memorial day belongs to all, in the
name of the past, present and future. 1t is sci
apart, not as day OF amentatiOn for the dead, but
a season Of rejoicing over that noble heroism and
devotion, most conspicuously illustrated in the ser
vices and martyrdom of those who persisted for the
nations cause.
With spectral hands uplifted, they adjure us ant
all succeeding generations to attest heartfelt allie
glance to truth by a devotion like their own Thii
is the lesson of their life and death. For death
comes to all sooner or later, it confer no honol
on its victims, save when life is renowned by
choice Of what is better than life.
Prompted by this sentiment, our countrymer
have erected costly monuments, and on them they
have inscribed in letters of gold the names of thost
happy souls who devoted themselves to DEATH Blu
over them all, more conspicuous because more sug
gestiye Of the gem of divine truth we read /" II ii
delightful and honorable TO die for ones country
Then let these enduring granite monuments from
shore to shore rise to the blue vault Of heaven Le
them be to us perpetual reminders of the cost o