Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-06-18
To looh away, 10 wait and 10 wait,
Till the world 2oes out in he judgn

True men were they in that dark day
To Cause they deemed the truth. God frowned
Displeasure and they passed away,
Pride-crushed and penitent. The ground
Is titled. The high-born son lays bare
A broken sword with bright powshlre-
lie ploughs a sire's leveled mound!
Yea, they have borne defeat like gods
And such defeat. or wrong OF right
II takes a. brave a man To bear
Defeat like that, as win the light.
Grand men, you TOO have donned the grey.
That broader stream rolls dark before;
Your ranks grow thin: the reveille
Beats ever on that farther shore
Dread mufied notes none disobet.
Fill up your wasting ranks with those
You knew as not unworthy foes.
Fill up bout face, and SO prepare
To cross together and To Vie
In valor In that crossing where
Nor blue nor grey shall signify
The poem was followed by n fiue selection
by the Sherman Band.
Next came the address, by Hon. Luther
r. Marsh of New York, who was handsome
" introduced by Gen. Sicklcs. Dir Marsh
spoke as follows
THE GRAFTON.
Mr. President; Soldiers of tbs Army Of the Poto-
mac Ladies' and GsafisHin:
With cordial greeting let US come together!
That the Society Of the Amy OF the Potomac eX-
ends the privilege Of addressing H. at lis yearly as
semblage, not exclusively to soldiers, but some
times to civilians Is proof that since the great dis
bandment, soldiers and citizens mingle again IN inc
common pursuits OF peace But yet this Society
may lose in the presentment. for those who per-
sonally bore the burden-tlose who saw the drama
of the war, and were themselves part thereof
can more feelingy appreciate more graphicail' de-
scribe, more thoroughly rejoice
How shall treat the weighty theme! one can
not crowd into an hour, and within these circlng
walls, the vast opposing armies stretched over
thatr frtu1a n
achey ements more than hint at the principles
established By the victor-ade with good Tor ms
and future generations. You may play with the
riyuet or skim the shining lake. but the ocean Is
100 large and Overwhelming for man TO handle.
Gentlemen you meet here to-day. as soldiers as
citizens as friends. fol%are not assembled IN u
Convention. Your gathering has no political sig
nincancc party spirit stands aloof; nor neeh we
fail trust, to laud or deed or name, through iear
of misinterpretation. - =.
We have rescued from our calendar two days in
every year for national commemoration: one LOT
noise and Jubilee. with bells anu cannon, WIN
shout and bonfire and procession, TO celebrate the
advent of the Nations birth. AT the other in silence
and sadness with dirge AMI monody. We recall the
deeds of our dead heroes: and, spreading their
,,raves with the blossoming beauties of field and
garden invade the sky with fragrant incense anu
invoke the continuing favor OF Heaven MOI long
will il be meeting OF sorrow but rather festival
The pang Is already past, and mourning VIII give
place to exultaton and JOY. We shall with scuip-
lure painting, and adornmenf, preserve me
memory OF their deeds and wherever their ashes
lie in every city, in every lovely village, VIII tne
people assemble on that consecrafed day-its gre1s
| forgotten IT'S gratitude full-to lay homage and
| benedctiop on their tombs-an expression Of feel
ing universal unprecedented,an and wholly American
Tins latter memorial for the present year, Is YET
fresh with u.s. rs the Society Of the Army of the 20
tomac gather, hpre to keep alive its tender reco-
lections and 10 cherish the spirit OF PATRIOTISM
| And If, at this annual reunion, there have come
| hither uny sons Of valOr from the Armies OF Inc
| Ohio the Cumberland, or the Tennessee, any
veterans from the captured bastions OF Fort Don
elson from the held OF shiloh, or the siege OF Tor
l hiatt mr.
the triumph al Jackson or the taking OF NlcksbuiH
| the "Gibraltar Of the Mississippi or any ma
riner from the deck or the forecaste they VIII re-
ceive am sure, comrades welcome anu a SOL
| Where better than-where else Sd well as In the
Green Mountain State can the victorious armies OF
| The Republic come froIn,hor homes of peace-homes
earned by their toll and fsrressel by their valor-
| from East from West from North from south
and meet for rejoicing and cOngratuation TO bur
nsh the chain OF friendship; TO recall the assocs-
| tons OF hardship and combat 10 renew the bonds
of amity, and 10 swear eternal featy on the AFFAIRS
| of freedom:
"Vernont," said graduate OF yondcr University
| the late ALvAN STEWART OF New iork-when
pleading for human rights before II joint committee
of YOUR Legislature, in 1885, twenty three years
before the portentous. back-looming cloud OF war
burst on the cOuntry-''Nermont was the hrst-born
child after the Revolution. Although she came
into the Confederacy amidst storms and teinpcsts,
which lowered upon her BIRTH yet she was born
perfect in all her limbs. Her moral faculties SHOW
ed that the Declaration of Independence was her
noble sire. Her mountains would have held their
breath Ut the masters horn and refused an echo 10
that hated sound. The dark unbroken wilderness
which covered this beautiful land, was not remoy-
ed by n generation of unpaid slaves. The sturdy
birch, the majestic elm the solid beech, the low
erng maple, the hated, massive hemlock, the
cloud-proppng pine-the Anakim OF the vegetable
kingdom-have fallen before the freeman OF Yer
mont and made the earth tremble in their dying
groans And when the valleys and hills al MIL
night were Illuminated by the funeral pyre5 OF
these forest giants. who was high priest, who pre-
sided at the sacrifice The Sun-burnt and hard
knucLed freeman Of Vermont stood In his sonlnre
linen frock-his sacerdotal rObe-and performed
the duty"
Here then we come to this fastness Of liberty, TO
breathe its pure moral and physical air. in this June
season OF leaf and flower. In the productivity OF
creation there but few places OF equal health
funess and beauty. Beyond Champaign, In the
Empire State. you see the Adlrondacks hit their
wilderness of submits 10 the sky, and paint their
forms, In the respondent depths beneath Each
lofty peak rises above the region OF the inst mo
the clear ether:
.Whle round Its base the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on lis head
Behind us, the Green Ranges uphold their forest
banners, which have never waved but over Inc
free. Here roll the waters which heard ''Sara-
togas" guns. Above u.s. al the foot OF Horizon that
miricle OF beauiy-the ruins OF Iiconderoga where
oheTs 1904 iisao, and here, on this ground, the
der, .in the name of the Great Jehovah and the
Continental Congress-"
And then, not far to the South. the Heights OF
Remington whose clarion voice has summoned
this imposing assembly. The prodigious conse-
guences following tho conflict of Bennington
which even Historians have not sufficiently regar
ded-when looked al through the Developments OF
time, prove that TO have been, pre-eminently, the
victory of the Revolution.
We have reached 4 periodof severe historical III
vestigaton. when the glazing ostentation of events
must give way to the study Of their lasting signi-
ncance. Battles, like other events, must pass
through the trying crucible OF purgng analysis IL
has only been within our own times thai the ulti-
mate consequences OF even the battle OF Waterloo
have begun to be comprshended. They were little
understood by the actors on that neld. II dd IT,
deed, suddenly arrest the military career OF the
greatest Of modern European captains but II an mol
stay the progress OF the ideas OF the French Revo-
luton OF 1853, which was the child Of our own
Declaration OF Independence perpetual char
ter of the rights OF mankind.
The philosophy Of history seeks 10 discover The
primal causes Of those events which have shaped
the deslinies Of nations. II took many thousands
of yesterdays 10 make to-day. The mouths OF Inc
Mississippi, the Amazon, the Ganges, the Living
stone and the Nile, were all voiceess and Lnys-
FERROUS waters, until explorers traced them 10 the
tiny rivuets which came trucking from the breasts
OF un-traversed mountains.
lam fully persuaded that hereafter the fierce con-
iict 4, Bennington will be ranked among the de
cisipe battles u the r0rld The future Is the only
commentator on the past. The high services OF
STARK and Warner met indeed with instant recoznl-
ton for the moment Congress received The news,
vote OF thanks was passed TO tho Green Noun,
tain Boys, and tho New Hampshire militia, anu
Stark was made Brigadier-Genera IN the Regu-
lar Army. But he and his comrades could Afford
10 wait for grander reward since they were build
was TO hold the gaze OF ages TO come.
In the private closet OF George III. Lord Ger
main. General Burgoyne and the King, planned and
settled the INVASION OF the Northern colonies nom
Canada This long-disputed point was settled by
the publication OF Germain's letter 10 Sir Guy Car
Teton, OF March 26th, III He says: AFTER con-
serlnr every Information that could he furnished,
the King gave particular directions for every part
OF the disposition of the forces in Canada :-es-
pecally The plan OF the employ ment Of savages
the work OF the sovereign.
The plan was well conceived. and IFS execution
committed 10 the abest General that England had
ever sent has since sent, 10 the western world.
She had swept two continents. and emptlcd her
treasury, 10 gather that host which Burgoyne now
commanded. lie lacked nothing but meat and
Dread and in his extremlty,-as he was on his
march down the valley OF the Hudson to JOIN Lord
Howe, commanding the army OF the South,-he
attempted to seize the stores which had been col
lected at Bennington. He sent strong dctach-
ment of Canadians. Tories. Indians and llessinns
under Colonel Baum,-a desperate commander.
Nor did they dream that such force would DO
resisted On march Of forty miles. nor was II; but
they knew little OF Stark, or the patriot bands they
would encounter.
II has been said that ''men who had been spoiled
by civilization one side and savages who had No
conception of civllZa alton on the other, were no
match Tor those hardy settlers who owned The Soil
they cultivated. unwilling though II was TO have
even scanty subsistence wrung from 1t hy honest
labor. -Four days after III. Clar'a retreat. STARK
had marched out into the village OF Hoosck, i've
miles from Bennington, where, by one OF those
Irresistible assaults which neither Hessiafs. nor
Tories. Indians ever wlihs.ood, the narauders
were swept from the Eeld-seAtlereu ana pursueu
IN all directions Towards sunset, however.
Colonel Breyman, with another strong German
party suddenly appeared to renew the attempt to
capture the stores but every step they took was
disputed by Colonel Seth Warmers Green Noun
tain BOYS whs with their stalwart courage, deadly
aim and GREATNESS activity repealed the attack 50
successfully and followed il up with such DIES
perution, That of the two large bodies who had
Joined IN the days conflict, not man but TELL
dead, or wounded, or prisoner. except those who
escaped by precipliats hight"
Burgoyne's testimony IL worth quoting:
Speaking of Stark,-that man "wholI nature had
made Jude and yet 50 great, he AFTERWARDS
said .Stark's was the only name that ever raised
any dread IN my army" And III speaking OF me
fatal Held Of Saratoga. which Immediately followed,
he SAYS: The greatest curse Of tho whole thing
WAS that | was placed where | could neither AL
vance, nor retreat, nor hold my ground there was
nothing left but for 10 hight, and win OF lose the
day Us the Fates would have IT," Stark put him
there.
The loss of the British IN this northern campaign
In killed. disabled and prisoners, was feckoncu al
len thousand men. The trophies OF war were ~
brass cannon, ,0e0 muskcts and small arms, WIN
large munitions Of Wharf.-The ordnance ANA arms
being the best then known, and probably exceed
ing in number all others Of equal value III 'he Fed
eral army
The victory Of Saratoga was the child oil STARK
JJer. tho lion re,stypd his fatal although,