Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-09-01
GiRFIELD'S GREETING
To his Old Comrades of the 42d
Ohio Regiment,
At their Reunion at Ashland,
Yesterday.
Gen eral Garfield's Regiment.
THE 42D oHIO's REUNION.
HOS REUNION.
CLEVELAND. Al

NNbNA al AClo SAACAE-
THE AID oHIo's REUNION.
CLEVELAND, Ang. 26.
Gen. Garfield left for Mentor today.
His speech at the reunion Of his Old regi-
ment-of which he was The first Colonel
at Ashland, yesterday, is reported as fol-
lows:
FELLOW CITIZENS This is family gathering
In military sense, Tor In war regiment is to the
army what family is to the whole civilized
community. Here portion OF the platform fell.s
military reunion without some excitement and
some accident would be altogether too mOnoto-
nous and tame to be interesting, and in this good
natured audience can have good many acct
dents like that and still keep quiet and be happy.
L sa d this is family reunon-an assembly of
the old Forty-second military family; and it is
well for us to meet here. Nineteen years ago
let crowd of earnest citizens in that court room
above the stairs. Your bell was rurg in the
town; your people came out. The teacher OF
your schools was among them, the boys of the
school were there, and after we had talked tc-
gether little while about our country and It's
imperIlled flag, the teacher of the school offered
himself to his country and twenty of his boys
with him. They never went back into the
school house again, but In the dark days OF No.
vember, 1861, they and enough other Ashland
county boys to make 100
WENT DOWN WITH ME
to Columbus to join another 100 that had gone
before them from Ashland county, and these 80
Of your children stood in the center of mill
tary family and bore these old banners that YOU
see tatLeGe ed before you to-day. one OF them
gwen to our family by the ladies of A HAND, and
Company from Ashland carried 1T well. 1t was
ridded by bullets and torn by underbrush.
Flapped by The winds of rebellion it came back
| tattered as you see it, but with never a stain on
the folds and never touch of dlshonor upon II
anywhere. And the other of these banners was
given US by the special friends of Company A, in
my Cd town OF Hiram-the student company
| from tie heart of the Western Reserve, and 1t
also shared like Its fellows the fate and came
home Covered with the glory of the conflict. We
were family say again and n { did not let par
| tisan politics disturb then, and we do not let
| partlsanship enter our circle here to-day We
did not quarrel about controversies outside of our
| great WORK. We agreed to be
| BRETHREN FOR THE UEItN
under the flag against all It's enemies everywhere,
| and bro hers to all men who stood with US under
| the flag, to fight for the Union, whatever heir
| color of skin, whatever their previous politics,
| whatever their religion. In that spirit we went
| out; in that spirit we returned; and are glad
| to be in Ashland to-day. For it is one of the
| IN the beginning and have always been welcome
| since. We are grateful for this welcome tender
| ed US to day by this great assembly of our old
| neigh bors and friends of Ash and county.
| And, now, fellow citizens, a regiment like s.
family has right to be little clannish and cx-
elusive 1t does not deny the right of any other
| family to the same privileges, but 1t holds the.
| mem bers of it's own family little nearer and
| little dearer than any other family in the world;
and so the Forty second regiment has always been
| a band ~ brothers. | Go not this day know g.
/ Forty second man who hates another Forty
second man. There never was serious quarrel
| inside the regiment. There was never q serious
| d sagreement between its officers. Ths worst
things have heard said against it is that all It's
| three field officers came home alive.
| AND THEY ARE ALL HERE
| on this stand to-day. 1t was. perhaps, little
against Us that no one of us had the honor to get
| killed Or seriously crippled, but hold that il
| was not altogether our fault, and we trnst that
| some day or other you will have forgiven Us, If
not to day, and for being alive and ali here to-.
| geiher.
L want to say another thing about the soldiers
| work / know of nothing in al the circle of hu-
man duty that so unites Us as the common suffer
| eI1ng and danger anG struggle that war brings
| upon q regiment You can't know man SO
thoroughly and so soon as by the tremendous
| tests 10 which the war subjects him. These men
| knew each other by sight long before they knew
| each other by heart; but before they got back
they knew each other, as you sometimes say you
| know song, "by heart;" for they had been test
ed by fire; they had been tested by starvation ::
| they had been tested by the grim presence OF
were Union men-men that In all the hard close
| chances OF lite had the stuff III them that enabled
| them TO stand up IN the very EXTREMIST peril and
| STAND UP READY TO DIE.
| And such men, so true, and acquainted,
| never got over it, and the rest Of the word must
permit them to be just little cannlsh toward
| eao other. The rest OF the world will not think
| that narrow hen we consider this partic-
ular fault of little closer TO than to any
of the rest of the world IN military way
| Now, fellow-c tizens, we are here to look into
| your faces. 10 enjoy your hospitality, to review
] our old memories OF the place; but far more than
anything else TO look into each others faces and
! revive old memories OF great many places less'
| pleasir and homelike than Ashland. We have
| been meeting together in this way nearly fifteen
years, and we have made pledge to each other
as long as the are two OF Us left to shake banda
we viii meet and greet the survivor. Some of rs
felt little hurt about ten years ago when the
papers spoke OF US as the survivors of the Forty
second Regiment. We wSre survivors, 1t was
true, but We thought we were 80 surviving that it
| need mol be put st Us as though
WE WERE ABOUT TO DIEs
| Now. don't know how 1t is with the rest of
you. Most of mankind grow old, and Won can see
IT IN their faces. see here and there BALD head
| like my own, or white one like Capt. Gardeners
| but to me, these men will be boys till thew die
| We call them boys. We meet them and greet
them as boys. even though they become very old
boys; and in that spirit of young hopeful daring
manhood we exp ct TO meet them so long as we
live. Nothing can get us a great way from each
otner Waiie we I'VE. am gid these men here
to-day
Here another portion of the platform
broke down, precipitating General Gar
field and two or three of the reporters to
the ground
Continuing, he said:
was glad also that there was No body hur
when that broke. and nobody made unhappy:
aud will conclude. All wanted to say. more
men went out without one single touch of re.
venge in their hearts. They went out to main
tain this Union and make 1t immortal: to put
their own immortals into it and to make it posi-
BILE thai the people OF Ashland shnud make thu
MONOGRAM OF THE UNITED STATES
as you see it up there (pointing to the monogram
on the building), wreath OF Union inside Of.
very large IA capital N-that stands for Nation
"a nation so large that it includes "U s. A.
all the people CT the republic, ard will include il
forevermore. That is what we meant then, and
is what we mean now.
And now, fellow citizens and soldiers of the
FortY-second reg ment (for l have been talking
mainly to you, and If any of this crowd have
overheard, l am not particularly to blame Tor itl
Il say, fellow citizens and comrades | greet
you o-day with great satisfaction, and bid Won
cordial good bye.
There is mysterious parsonage at
Saratoga who has been named "the dia.
mend Princess" She is young and hand
oopoo and Uoarc 1arro - n