The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-06-14

material stability and power, it must
be recognized as an indispensable part
of the education of our youth. Patriot
ism is the Alpha and Omega of political
science. A patriot can never be a
slave; because pure patriotism is incom-
patible with oppression, notwithstand-
ing it may exist to some degree, in an
empire or in kingdom.
1t was the inspiration of patriotism,
which, in the late war, brought to the
defense of the Union, nearly two mill
ions seven hundred thousand men.
April 10Th, 1861, President Lincoln
issued his first call for $4,000 vo!un-
teers. May 3rd, 1861, he issued fur
ther call for $4,000 men for the volun-
teer service, $4,000 for the regular
army, and $4,000 for the navy In
July 1861 another call was made for
500, 900 men, and provision made for
an additional 100000. In October,
1868, was issued another call for 300,-
600. February 1864, 100000 men
were called for; and in the latter part
of the year an additional call was made
for 100000 Finally, in January or
February of 1865, was issued the last
call for 100000 men. The total num-
ber called for during the war was two
millions, seven hundred and fifty nine
thousand and forty-nine men, and such
was the patriotic response of the coun-
try, that with very small per cent of
conscription, the exact number fur
nished, accoro.ng to official figures, was
2,666, ,999. In July 1861, Mr.. Lincoln
called Congress together in extra ses-
sion, and asked for 100000 men, and
400, 0,000,0 of dollars A bill was inn
mediately passed giving him 100000
men and 5O0,000,000 OF dollars.
In April, 1868, the Governors of
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Wis
consin offered the President one hun
dred thousand men, for service of
one hundred days. They were imme
diately accepted. The prospect of
uisunion IN 1861, fell, at first, like a
pail upon the nation, but it soon light
ed fires of patriotism, before which
party names and party prejudices me.ted
as frost before the morning sun. From
the Atlantic to the Pacific, the country
trembled with excitement and enthusl-
asm. Speeches were made, bon-fires We're
burned, and songs were sung, all with
but the one common purpose-the
preservation of the Union.
Under the first call for 10000 vol
unteers, the men were paid eleven
dollars month, without promise OF
further reward. With no thought of
pension, or bounty, or monument, but
Inspired alone by love of country, they
stepped to the front at the first tap OF
the drum, donned the federal uniform,
seized the sword and musket, and COM
menced making history; while upon
their ears fell the chorus of voices at
home singing, "Brave boys are they,
gone at tneir countrys call"
The nation christened them, sour
boys in blue, and they went forth to
endure the pangs of separation from
their loved ones; to encounter the rigors
OF the seasons-the heat and cold, the
mud and dust; to perform the fatiguing
march, to suffer the privations of camp
lie, with its sleepless nights and hun
CRY days; to face the dreadful scourge
OF disease; and finally to receive the
awful baptism OF fire, out of which
some came unscathed, and some maim-
ed, but from which others passed to
immortality, and yet others escaped
only to meet with more dreadful death
amid the horrors of the prison pen.
Some vet survive. Some returned to
their families at the close of the war
with the death seal set upon their
foreheads, to live but few days and
then expire in the arms of love. Some
fell in the front o. battle, surrounded
by their comrades, and now repose meath
the simple monument raised by affec-
tons hands. Some-yes, thousands,
were lost beyond recognition in the
great sea of humanity, and fell, no one
knows when or where.
On the first day of July, 1861 the
Union army numbered lS6,75l men
Januray lst 1862, it numbered $751;
9l7 men; january lst, lS63,-9lS,l9l;
january 'lst ls64,-s60,737, January
lst, ls65,-959,640; and May LIST,
1865, it reached the enormous number
of !, 900, SIC men, Out of nearly 2,70O,-
| 600 enlistments during the war. nearly