Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-05-31

ftthcrs. a notable feature of the late war
was that its successful termination did
not depend upon any one man. 1t was
not Meade, nor Sheridan, nor Sherman,
nor Thomas, nor Grant, nor any other of
our great commanders who brought the
conflict to a successful close. Among all
our great generals there was no Cesar or
turned for deliverance: no one of them
stood pre- eminently above the others, and
to no one of them belong the honor and
glory of saving the nation no, it was
to their united wisdom, and. under God, to
the patriotism of the people, that the gov
ernment of the people and for the people
was preserved, and none of our command
ers ever forgot that they were the SER
wants and not the masters of the people.
After paying an eloquent and merited
the orator devoted the greater part of his
lecture to sketch of the life and military
services of Gen. Geo. II. Thomas, after
whom the Lancaster post is named, and
under whose command so many of Lancas-
ter's soldiers served. From the nature of
the subject, the orator could not present
much that was new to his hearers, and yet
it was wonderfully entertaining to hear
him recount from the undying pages of
history the important services rendered his
country by Gen Thomas in every grade OF
the army, from cadet at West Point
D.. Il,
the important actions in which he was ell
gagged were graphically sketched-Mill
Spring, Stone River, Chickamuga-where
his troops withstood and repelled the re-
pcated assaults of almost thrice their
number, standing like a rock of adamant
and saving from destruction ROsecrans's S
shattered army. The battles of Lookout
Mountain, Mission Ridge, Dalton, Reseca,
and the four months campaign that re-
suited in the fall of Atlanta, were briefly,
but wildly depicted, as was also the re-
markable and decisive contest at Nash
vile, where Hoods rebel army was not
merely defeated, but annihilated by the
mastery generalship of Thomas. The
orator justly held that Gen. Thomas was
no mere soldier of fortune that none Of
his victories were matters of chance, but
that all of them were military problems
worked out to their logical conclusion.
He formed his plans slowly and deliber-
ately, but when formed neither disapprOval
nor threats on the part of his superior
officers could turn him aside from them.
A incf of fhiS f,oit his
character was his course at Nashville,
where neither Gen. Grant nor the presi-
dent could induce him to move until his
plans were perfected-but when he move d
he moved like thunderbOlt, and the rebel
army that had been sent to crush and
capture him was utterly annihilated.
Another trait in Gen. Thomass charac-
ter was his highSense of honor. He Ie-
fused to accept the command of Buelrs
army. Although he had been more than
once unjustly outranked by the promotion
of his juniors, he served as faithfully under
their command as he did when he COM
manded them. He allowed no personal
grievance to interfere with his public
duty. When, after the close of the war,
he was offered the rank of Lieutenant
General, he declined it, as it had not been
conferred while lie was in the field. He
steadfastly refused to receive any presents
| or other emoluments than his pay as an
army officer, his fine sense of honor impel-
| ling him to refuse to receive any valuable
| consideration for simply doing his duty.
l.; c,,I, nrnnncpn
to testify their sense of his invaluable
services by raising fund for his benefit,
as had been done in the interest of OTHER
leading chieftains, he would have none OF
it. telling his friends lie was amply re-
warded in having their confidence and
esteem, and if they had subscribed any
thing for his benefit, he suggested that
the fund be applied to the purchase OF a
home for disabled soldiers.
After eulogizing Abraham Lincoln as
"the first American" Mr.. Lambert re-
ferred at some length to the late Con-
federates. He hoped the North and
South, all sections and all classes, would
be united in a common brotherhood. lie
respected the sincerity Of the South
ern soldiers, admired their courage,
and devotion to their cause he would not
taunt them with their defeat but he
would insist upon it that they were utterly
wrong and we were right that there
should be no blending o: the Union and
the rebel colors, no blending of the blue
and the gray, no assent to the proposition
that perhaps after all they were right and
we were wrong. He would tolerate none
of these heresies. but would insist that all
classes and sections shall accept the events
of the war as settlement Of the questions
at issue and that we shall know but one
country and one flag forevermore.
Mr.. Lambert's Grafton was closely lis
tened to and frequently applauded. At its
close the choir rendered some more choice
music and the audience was dismissed with
bene diction.
Special Sermon to Post 81.
Last evening the members of George II.
Thomas post, G. A. R., to the number of
about forty, under Com mander McElroy
.pd Iieut R1ack marched in a hnd m