Daily Kennebec journal., 1880-09-07
Garfield's Speech at Canton.
The SOLDIERS OF THE WAR.-MEANING OF
THEIR REUNIoSs.

At the soldiers reunion in Canton, Ohio
on Wednesday last, Gen. GARFIELD spoke as
follows:
SOLDIERS AND FELLOW CITIZENS: Sew
eral months ago promised to come here to-
day and deliver an address: but lately got
the promise to speak cancelled, and came
here rs soldier and comrade. TO see You
and enjoy this great meeting. Still. | will
say word or two if can have your atren
ton and as much silence as ia possible in
these forests-the forest that God made, and
the forest of men and women that you have
brought here today. l look upon this stand
and this great mass Of people, and ask N.Y.
self what has the war done to us? Why. in
the first place, it has brought these thousands
of men to know each other that never would
have known each other but for the war. The
man that just addressed you, the Chief Ex-
ecutive OF the United States. saw first as
Major of the Twenty-second Regiment in
Camp Chase, going out of his law office,
Just getting ready to do do duty for his coun-
try, in the great struggle. And you know
what he has done. Here turning to Gen.
Sherman sits another man. saw him first
on the field of Shiloh on h,rse Is or lS
hands high, and he seemed to be l6 or IS
feet high himself. Laughter and great ap-
plause. He had u handkerchief wound
about his finger. bloody with his own blood
saw him aud his finger for the first time
in the middle Of that fight, but that finger
of Tecumseh Sherman before very long got
to be heavier than the loins of the whole
rebellion could bear. Loud applause And
here is Stanley Matthews, whom saw also
for the first time in the great struggle for the
Union. And here is Henderson, whom you
all know, that was lifted up into the heroic
proportions of a man of war and did his
duty nobly. And here Is Sam Beatty, of
your own town, who honOred Stark County
and the Republic by his work in the war
1Applause.l Here are these regiments these
thousands these soldiers, who went out un-
known to fame. Those who came back are
enrolled on the tablets of immortal heroism
for their country. Here they are to-day to
meet each other. to greet each other. to re-
joice over the work they accomplished and
the Republic they saved.
Now, fellow-citizens. hear here and there
of a man who speaks OF these reunions and
the spirit that pervades them as sectional. Iu
the name OF every soldier who fought deny
it. There is nothing more national in ali this
Republic than the spirit that saved the Union
TApplanse. Voices. That's so."l Wewent
out believing in that doctrine of geometry
that the whole is greater than any of the parts.
and is equal to all the parts put together. and
that the Union is greater than anv State
voices, ayes. sir" and greater than anv
part of the Union, however large. Applause
and cries of Good We fought for the
whole Union. and the spirit that animated us
was the spirit Of nationality against the spirit
.f sectionalism; and in defending the truths
for which we fought We are national to the
core and sectional in nothing 1t was Sec
tionalism against which we fought and the
spirit of grand, united nationality which we
offended. and will defend while we live.
1Great applause. Now, therefore. in the
presence of soldiers. in the presence of their
leaders. in the presence of these flags and un.
der them. we assert the nationality of our
spirit-the broad, embracing, benefcent ma.
tionality of this whole country.
What is more national as a material thing
than the Mississippi River? We made that
river Of one people from Fort Benton. far up
by the British line. down to the Gulf and
every wave, every drop. from the lakes of the
far North goes singing of the Union all the
wav till it joins the tropical ocean, applause. I
and we made the sOng of the Union ring
along its banks, and made the people that in
habit its shores one people, | trust for ever
more. The great mountain chains that God
made are one; and we made the people and
the government that dwell on these noun
tains. in these valleys, one. like the OCEAN
one like the everlasting hills, and we will he
one with them forever. And now, soldiers
and fellow-citizens, thank you for myself
that we are able to stand together this late
day after our triumph. and rejoice that those
who died did not die in vain; that those who
live did not struggle and suffer in vain. and
that the old flags that have come back torn
with the contest are full of the glory of the
Republic. and the victory it won Good-bve.
1Cheers and applause