The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1875-03-04


our tears as the years roll around.
'Tis their deeds, their noble deeds
alone that my lectures extol and
bring back to memory. "What good
is to come to any one from such O
course of lecturing9" he asks.
What good? Let the tens of thou
sands of brave soldiers and patriotic
men and women who have heard
them all over the land, answer him.
''Is there a grown man or woman in
Ohio who does not know more of the
late war than they wish to? Is
there one outsidE%of Kilpatrick's kind
who would not rather forget than
bring up afresh those hideous skele-
tonss" he finally asks. Well, in my
opinion, that depends on the con-
duct of the men and women of Ohio
during the war, and of whom he asks
this question. If they were patriotic,
if they were true to the Union and
the rights of man, rights paramount
to Constitutions and States.) then
they can never hear enough of the
war and of the heroic past, which, in
spite of W. P. Fl. and men like him,
will live forever, and grow brighter
and brighter as civilization and time
advances.
If, upon the contrary, they were of
that class called "Copperheads' dur
ing the war, and of which your cor
respondent. W. P. H., must have
been notable example, then he is
right. "Sherman's March to the
Sea, ""Gettysburg," mission Ridge"
ATLANTA" and the "Willderness" can
not be endearing names to him;
these he would blot from history,
and the graves of our martyred dead
forget, along with their brave deeds,
and his shame and disgrace that
clings to him still.
Mr.. Editor, there is not one word
in any of my military lectures that can
revive the bitter animosity of the
past, or give offense TO any man who
honestly fought for or against the
Union in the war of the rebellion.
Yet, sir, I do not hesitate to say,
that am only willing to forget the
past when unrepentant rebels South
aud men like your correspondent
cease to remind me of it. Attacks
made upon me by him in your paper,
and upon all Union soldiers when
ever an opportunity offers, certainly
have not such tendency.
Sir, there are class of men who
profess to see some political signii-
canoe in every act of men in public
life-of this class is your CORES
pondent. In my lecture be sees an
effort to fire the Northern heart in
the interest of Grant, and that I am
here in Ohio, as part of the programme
designed to lead to third term.
Could anything be more absurd? W.
P. Ell. forgets that I was a Liberal
Republican and spoke on the same
platform with ex rebels and Demo
Gratis for the election of Horace
Greeley in 1872.
But, sir, he makes no mistake
when he says that II am striv-
ing, along with Grant and his
followers, to lead the Northern
masses to cote the aody they shot. "
If my lectures have that tendency, if
they help to call men back to duty,
and induce the loyal masses of the
country to vote for the principles for
which they fought, then, sir, I am
doing better than even I had thought,
for I pray the time may never come
when the people of this country will
forget or neglect to maintain, even
with their lives if need be, the prin-
ciples that the war vitalized and
made possible, nor forget the heroic
men who gave their lives for the
country.
And now, Mr.. Editor, in conclusion
I ask of you why I have been made
the subject of a slanderous attack
through the columns of your paper
I am not politician hold no po
litical office; for years 1 have helc
myself free from all partisanship
and am to-day the ally of neither o
the two great parties.
I come to Ohio at the invitation o
some thirty Lecture Committees o
the principal towns OF your State
and I am at once attacked and de
nounced through your paper. Agail
1 ask why?
Is it because I was soldier of tn
Union armya Is it true that th
Democratic press and party hate tn
; Union soldier? I can not, do nc
! wish to believe it. For the satisfat
ton of myself and of many anothe
soldier will you answer this question
} J. FITZPATRICK.
5 NAMELESS GRAVE.
BY HENRY W. LoNGFELLow.
"a Soldier of the Union mustered out"
Ia. NIB,