Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-10-04
BOYS IN BLUE.
The Grand Reunion of Veterans at
indianapolis.
Speeches by Senator Morton, Gen. Dix. Gen.
Logan, Gov. Moves, and Others.

Speeches by Senator Morton, Gen. Dix, Gen.
Logan Gov. Moves, and others.
INDIANAPOLIS, September 20.-At 3
o'clock the veterans assembled in Circle
Park, and were called to order by Gen.
Spooner. After prayer by Chaplain A.
@. Allen. and music by the Lombard
Glee Club, Senator Morton made the
address of welcome as follows:
SENATOR MOTIONS ADDNEss
SoIDrERs OF THE UNIoN-To me has been
assigned the grateful duty of bidding you vel
come to the STATE of Indians, and to her capt.
tOa. Every Indiana soldier bids you welcome {;
every true heart bids you welcome; to the men
who saved the nation by their valor upon the
field of battle, we owe debt of love and graft.
tnde which we can never repay. TO refuse to
manifest this love because it might be offensive
10 our enemies would be alike unwise, unpat-
riotic and unjust. It would indeed be poor
encouragement to patriotism IN our future
national troubles II you should now ignore
the defenders of the nation for the purpose
of conciliating those who have been its ene-
mics. I know we are told that the time has
come when we ought to forget which army s
man served in that we ought to forget
#u6tU6T ne WOfo INC Que OT Uuo gray; LQaC
We ought to ignore all distinctions between
loyalty and disoyalty, to put all upon the sam
platform, to blot out all differences between
the two, whether In law or politics. To do
This we should be required not only to display
the grossest ingratitude of which free PEG
pie could be guilty. but to strike the word
loyalty from the pension laws, from all laws
for the payment OF claims; to put all upon al
absolute equality, whatever may have been
their merits or their crimes in the past.
Fer US to forgive thoss who haye lately been
IN rebellion ls one thing, but TO place them in
positions OF trust and power is another thing.
We have forgiven those who were in rebellion.
sha erring men Of the South; but it does not
follow in reason, in justice, i'll wisdom that
we should place III their hands the control Of
this government, and give 20 them d distnc-
ton and consideration Whcbf should belong
TO its defenders IN 80
hope, my friends. that this reunion will be
30 you season Of rel oc!ng. / hope that you
VIII go away from here feeling tlat it was
good TO have been here; that the cham of
friendship which was linked together in the
camp, on the march, in the field OF battle will
be frightened, Many of your comrades are
lying In Southern graves; many are falling by
the wayside from year to year, and in q few
years none VIII be left. But as you pass down
the decliyltysof time, hand in hand, to find
honored graves, may the love and gratitude of
the nation may the choicest blessings of
heaven and earth attend you. - - 1@0E1I3j
4 am surrounded to day by disting uished SOL
diers who have written their names, high up
on the roll of fame. Their voices will come
back to you like familiar echoes from the far
off fields in the South, where you first heard
them amid the crash of battle as they cheered
you ON to victory. .sasts&~s -
My friends, grateful for the opportunity OF
welcoming you to the State of Indiana; joic-
ing a my heart to be in your presence, now
+Iat hold
Your old comrades in arms. [Great and long
continued applause.] | have the honor to pre-
sent to you Gen. Garfield, distinguished SOL
der, and a distinguished statesman.
SPEECH OF GEN. GARFIELD.
Comrades, you have heard the welcome ex-
seniled to you by the late Governor of Indiana.
III WAS fitting that he should welcome you. who
commissioned and sent SO many Of you out to
the field in days of our great war. 1t was
hthng that you should come here and meet him.
as you left him to go out and save the flag and
nation from destruction, and you have asked
me to reply to his address CT welcome, and to
tell him that we have come here as members
OF great organization, called together first for
social purposes, and second TO express our
opinion as citizen soldiery. We meet to recall
the old memories and friendships formed in
the days of battle; memories green forever
with the glory OF war and the victories which
the war brought. In that capacity we meet to
others faces: TO remember the struggles
ahJongh which we have passed, and to express
eur love for each other In the life we are yet
10 live. But our second purpose Is not less
marked. When We were soldiers We never
ceased to be citizens; it was as citizens that we
went forth TO act as soldiers, until citizenship
became honored throughout the Republic.
ECheers We fought to make citizenship
universal. ICries Of right, right. Wefought
80 make citizenship equal lcres OF right,
xight,l wherever the flag flies. and when we
had made it both equal and Uni versal, we
returned to share it and enjoy it, [cries of
good. good and III doing that we have lost no
rights Of citizenship because We had
been soldiers; and coming back into
ow old homes, the duty Of old citi-
xens requires us TO help to choose our rulers
We have met here to-day On special call IF
the National Committee. to express our opin-
ions in regard to the great choice that ls to be
made Of our rulers in this centennial year 1t
ia the second object OF our great gathering in
shis CITY, and to thss object we shall devote
ourselves to day and tomorrow. It is right.
We shall talk TO each other and to our fellow
citizens with the utmost freedom about the
policy thai ought to govern Us, and the men
who ought to b3 appointed as the embodiment
OF mat policy. ECheers. The nation has hon.
ored you all by Offering for 8 candidate to its
highest Office your old comrade and friend
Ruthford B. Hayes. [Great cheers We
nave come LORSGQeT To sSuQ MIN our Sf6ot1Hg
and our cheer, and to assure him that the old
confidence We felt In him in the days of peril is
no less than that we feel for him in our hearts
to-day. [Cheers and that's it, and now sol
eiers, let me say a single word more
IA this direction. You are every
day met with the word, spoken at all the street
corners by class Of men, that in this republic
We ought to let by-gones be by-gones; La
voice. Never that We ought never to revive or
remember the great events of the war through
which we nave passed. A yoice-'Never'']
liz that was mere war Of brute force, and
nothing else, then agree We ought to forget
tte war. Prize fighters go cut into the ring
90 fight to see who can pound the hardest ano
which can stand the most pounding, and When
one has given it up there is ne reason why
they should not shake hands, for they iievel
had any principle al the bottom Of their fight.
ing [Laughter.] But our war was not s
prize fight of buliies; it was not a brutal
struggle to see who was the strongest. Ideas
SIGHT more thar men, and every one OF yoI
who went out into battle went under the in
SEPARATION of an idea, sacred, deep, high, far
reaching; an idea that must triumph al
hearts feel, and We never know unit
long after a war is over which ides
has trIumphed. The battle may MOI
always be with the conquering flag; the