Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1876-05-20

IL seems but yesterday, that nearly eight
hundred young men.met at a spot not far
distant from where we are now standing,
and pledged their allegiance to a cause,
| which they conseientiously believed that
! God, from his great white throne in the
heavens, looked down and smiled upon.
A few days afterwards the regiment was
organized which performed so important
| a part in that great drama, which illumi-
mated some of the brightest pages in the
worlds history. On the 26th Of May,
1861, these young men, in all the pride
and strength Of their young manly beau
ty, received the benediction of their loved
ones, and with the love kiss fresh upon
their lips, left the home Of their child
hood, to encounter the uncertain future
of war-many of them, very many of
! them, never to return again. When j
look around me, among the faces of their
! comrades, how few of them are present.
/ scarcely hundred are here-nearly all
/ gone II the roll. which see suspended
/ on the cenOtaph there, were called to-
! day, the answer of their surviving COM
rades would, in nearly every instance,
De -ucslG upon the menu VI uSuOIs NdpA-
/ Jos. B. Freeman? the answer would be
that this brave and gallant soldier, In
/ every impulse a soldier and gentleman,
( while leading his heroic comrades in the
very thickest Of the fray, amid the Shrek
/ ing shell and booming cannon, crossed
/ the silent river, to join her who had pre-
ceeded him but few days, and who TO
him was the very sun of his idolatry.-
Peace to his ashesi Honor to his memo
ryl Lieutenant Isaac NJ. jackson? On
the same field this knightly gentlemen,
whose escutcheon. as soldier was as
bright as the sheen Of the sword which
he flashed deiiantly in the face of the en-
envy, just as the hurting shaft Of death
found one of the brightest marks upon
the bloody fieldo Shiloh. Private Robt
Stark? His comrades carried him of on
their shields and gave him burial upon
the stricken field of Chicamauga, where
he fell, with his back to the ground and
his feet to the foe, looking proudly to
heaven, from his death bed of e."-
Private Eddy Childs? This boy hero and
soldier, far from his native New England
home, like violet taken from the rift of
Alpine SHOWS, and transplanted in a sun
nier cline, found a soldiers grave among
the orange groves and palms Of that
beautiful southland, in defence of which
he gave his life Every young maiden
here should weave a wreath Of insn,ortelles,
in memory of him; fer in his grave sleeps
the darling of all who know him. Pri-
vate James Hadaway, another boy sol |
der? Scarcely had he received his bap- |
tisHl of fire, before he fell, fighting as
bravely as the veteran of hundred bat |
ties, to be numbered among the bleeding |
martyrs Of the lost cause
There are many others whose names |
and faces hang upon the walls of our !
memory, as brave and gallant as these, |
and to whom, if time permitted, 1 would |
be glad TO pay a tribute, but no eulogy of
mine could add TO the aheetionate recOl- |
lection of their comrades and friends, or
TO the grateful remembrance in which |
they will ever be held by their country. |
Their heroic deeds will live in history, |
long after those of Us, who are here to- |
day, shall have passed the last bivouac |
of life, and reached the eternal camping |
ground.
But while we will never forget those |
grand old days, and the memories of our
comrades still cluster around us, let us /
not forget that the 'Eold order changes and |
yields to the new.'' That the causes |
which led us to submit to the arbitra- /
ment of the sword, the issues which di- /
vided the sections in the late war, now
belong to the past, and in no human
probability win ever be revived again.
The institutions OF slsvrrg sleeps the
sleeps that knows no waking. The doc
trine of secession has been adjudged by
the God of battles against US. The dream
of an independent government has been
broken by the rude shock Of war; and
all history teaches US, that the angel of
resurrection has never yet taken its stand
beside the tomb of lost nationality.
And when we think of the past, it should
be lovingly and not longingly." And
of the future. it should be to determine
what is our duty as citizens of the great
republic, TO which we have renewed our
VOWS of allegiance; and how we shall
best perpetuate those institutions, which
we received as n common heritage from
the ancestors of those who wore the blue,
as we'll as those who wore the gray. When
we think of Manassas, Shiloh, FFeder-
ieksburg, Chickamansa and the Wilder
ness, let us at the same time remember
Concord, Lexington, Bridgewater and
Yorktown. When we reflect upon the
privatiOns which We suffered and the
dangers through which we passed, let us
also remember the trials of those who
passed that cold and dreary winter at
Valley Forge, and those who followed
the brave Montgomery to Quebec. II the
armies of the North did produce SHEER
man, a COrnine, Turehin, Butler and
a Mcneil, they had Mcclellan, Buell.,
a Hancock and a Blair. If we find among
the civilians who urged war upon US,
Stevens, a Morton, a Chandler and
Stanton, we also find Lincoln, Tram
bull, SchuTz and q Banks. While we
may never cease to regret the vindictive
spirit of the former, we will always
remember the generous forbearanee of
the latter.
There is no reason why the people of
the two sections may not establish fra
ternal relations with each other. They
are descendants of the same race. Speak
the same language. The history of one
is the history of the other Both were
educated in the same great school of in
stitutiOnal liberty. The great principles
of Magma Charta, and the Petition of
Right, are the inalienable and indefeasi-
Bile birthright Of each. The irritating
questions which once alienated them, are
now all cOmpOsed-leaYing nothing but
the asperities of war to be remembered
by them. These, If they have not al
ready, will sOOR be forgotten. War in
wolves not personal hates or private quar-
rels. War is impersOnal. 1t is one of :
the conditions of organized society
There is no individualism about it. 1t is
one of the seourges of mankind. Like the
storm and the tempest, like famine and
disease, all nations in all the ages, have
suffered from its visitations. While we
have been sOrely afflicted, others have
suffered rs much, and many more than
we. History teaches that the animOsi-
lies which grow out Of a state of war,
when the causes that led TO il have ceas-
ed to exist, soon pass away and are for