Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-06-03
From the Mobile LAlaJ REGISTER.
The Grand Army OF the Republic What
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Major A. r. Calhoun, editor Of the Columbus
(Ga.) Enquirer" halls from Philadelphia, the
headquarters Of the "dead beats" that now pre-
tend to be the Grand Army of the Republic.. He
was an officer IN the Federal army during the
WaT, and knows all about the q. A. r. He tells
what be knows in the following pigalante style
We hope II is true, for it would greatly relieve us
to know that the real men who fought on the side
OF the u Mon are not the mean and cowaTdly ours
who refuse 10 allow the wives and daughters OF
their dead foes TO decorate their graves ten years
after the war in which they fell
The Grand Army OF the Republic was organiz-
ed seven years ago in Illinois, and the intention Of
its founders was to make 1t charitable assocla-
ton, te which soldiers of both parties could belong
and mutually aid in the care Of those LETT desti-
tute by the war II worked well enough for n
few years, and then old soldiers began to fight
shy of il, for they found that it was made the
machine to elevate political soldiers into Office
and during the last four years its ranks have
been depleted by good mcI, and now it is control
led completely by these soldier politicians, who
are principally distinguished by their ignorance of
war and their familiarity with the strategy of
politics and the counting of election returns. The
whole "Grand Army" does not n0mber through
out the entire nioa twenty thousand men, though
fifteen hundred thousand soldiers were mustered
outof the mon service at the close of the war
We know whereof we speak, know the mea their
ritual oft changed, their individual names and re-
cords, and In the name of true men and brave,
who fought for what they deemed ri Qht, we here.
by denouncs the organization known as trIhe
Grand Army" as a POLITICAL fraud an aggregate Of
bummers who, fearing the rebels living, now, like
hyennas, gather to snarl above the dead. II we
had been Confederates this would seem harsh to
Northern ears, but we fought for the Union,
starved for 1t, and our duty as God gave US the
light Nay, more, we commanded, IN its purity,
the largest department OF this grand army, and
feel authorized in saying that the dregs that now
constitute 1t are the towards and poltroons of
war, and the repeaters, snobs and little politicians
OF peace. They fear trouble, Il the friends of
Confederate dead gather on the 30th OF May to
decorate the graves OF the fallen! The poor
fools, they may have women and children 70 OPP
pose them there would be trouble if Inen
stood in their front
II is lie 10 callthis ghOul-ike resolution an ex-
POnent Of Northern feeling, 1t would be to call
those towards representative of the civilization
OF our age. 1t mlsrepresents both; and knowing
this IN our hearts, We take this means 70 denOuncs
II. The dead Of both armies sleep side by side on
scores of battle fields, where they laid down their
lives for what they deemed duty; and the fallen
warriors were only foes when they had WeApons in
their hands. They are tlesping BY the white
chores Of the Gulf and nature, in her ample
charity, at the bidding OF the Great FAther for
gsts the strife Of the past, and binds the graves in
lowering vine and yerdant sod, where mistaken
brothers sleep side by side. The skeleton forms
Of daring men rock ever in harmony 70 the cease
less pulsations of the ocean, along that shore
which each deemed to be his countrys sacred
strand. Along the banks of the Father Of Waters.
under cottonwood and cypress, the past foes sleep,
lqlled by his requiem, and there they will rest
tall the assembly of the mystic angel calls them to
the presence Of the Great Captain of all, where
each must give an account, not OF what he did,
but what he deemed his duty.
Through the bulls Of Georgia, where Johnston
fortified and Sherman Aanked, the flowers to-day
grow 10 common on their graves, and none can
judge whether the form below wore the blue or
0ha 1raE Hion0 fha Teaneaaaa and Cumberland.
and noFth By the waters Of the historic James and
classic Potomac, nature Is now decking their
graves, and the spring birds sing their songs Of
peace above the dead. By streamlst and in janRle
they are lying-meq who made ths greatest aacri-
feS Tor principle; and the mountains Wher0on
thsy sloep viii have crumblea 10 the plain, and
the nvOrs by which they fell viii have dried, ere