Huntsville gazette., 1881-06-18

ing" They fought that those results might
be forever the inalienable heritage of the
American people.
Oh, those four terrible years! The only
son torn from the loving arms of an ido-
liZing mother; the husband, from the bosom
OF the young wife he had sworn forever to
love and cherish; the precious father from
his helpless little ones to be brought back
a mangled and blackened corpse, or per-
haps with life enough left to breathe his
last breath, surrounded by those dearest to
his heart. All, well may the American
people do honor to men like those. Well
may the poor black men come they do
here to-day by hundreds to offer their trib-
utes of flowers to the memoryof these brave
soldiers, for they were forcible examples of
that sentiment:
when standing midst the storms wreck
Or in the battles van,
The noblest place that man can die
Is where he dies for man.
Every child born on American soil
should be brought up to reverence the
memory of these dead heroes. AS this
country groves in greatness, and increases
in power, as the genius of her civilization
and the lustre of her examples pentrate to
other lands, aud teaches the oppressed of
other climes to look for the dawn of a
mankind owes the Union soldier. He died
that the nation might live home of
liberty the safe haven for the oppressed,
and the feared of the oppressor. 1t may
safely be stated that our great four year 5
war for the preservation of the Union, was
the greatest event of modern times, not
alone in the magnitude of the coEtending
armies and the geographical extent OF
country included in the theatre of opera
tions, but in the political results flowing
from it. It's effect was felt in all lands and
it left its impress on all communities OF
the civilized world. Before the war the
army of the United States was composed of
a handful of trained soldiers, stationed
along our enormously extended frontiers.
Within three years, the country presented
the magnificent spectacle of over two mil
lions of men prefectly trained to arms,
engaged in hostile conflict. From ineufi-
cheney and almost total want of practical
military knowledge, emerged splendid dis
cipline, skill, and achievements unequaied
in military annals. For the first time in
the history OF war, was every soldier gen.
eral; for the first time in the presence of
| great event did the dreamy theorist become
| a practical inventor. The iron-clad ship,
impregnable against the navies OF the world
sought refuge from the American monitor,
and she in turn disappeared in the depths
| of the ocean under the shock of the sub
merged torpedo.
Never before was there SO much individ-
uality in the ranks of an army At the
close of the war, this became SO intense in
the ranks, that at Missionary Ridge, the
common soldier supplemented the genius
and skill of the general by actually seizing
favorable opportunity to win victory
i ,uit ri t1,a
Ion his own motion" So, later i'll the
war, the sense Of self preservation intelli-
gently exercised, moved the soldier to fight
in lnes of battle, behind hastily construc-
ted breastworks and when n column of
infantry deployed in the presence of the
enemy every available instrument was at
once utilized to throw up the little two feet
high parapet and get down into the little
ditch to suoot over. This was the first
time in military engineering when a ditch
dug on the wrong side was entirely proper.
Thus every man became not merely a
soldier but professor of the art Of war.
Battles were keenly criticised around the
camp fire, and campaigns planned on the
color line. Europe, staggered, looked on
In wonder. Men whose hair had grown
white In the service of foreign armies, were
amazed at the accomplishments of the
American soldier.and the despots ofEurope
stood appalled, before the gigantic power
that sprung almost from the earth within
few months
And what is the result to-day? Well, in
deed, may we honor the memory Of the
dead soldier of the Union when we think
| OF it. 1t is that the American name is
honored all over the earth. 1t is that our
country stands without rival among the
nations of the world. 1t is that, no matter
how Indifferent We may tell on the subject
! at home where we class ourselves as nor
thern men, or southern men, or eastern
men, or western men, in foreign lands
there are no Texans. no Pennsylvanians, no
Tennesseeans no Kansians. The traveller
there loses his 'pent up" local identity.
and exclaimes, with heart throbbing in the
ardor of patriotic emotion: ~ am an Amer
ican citizen!' the grandest. the greatest the
proudest distinction ever conferred on
man.
And now, my friends, having done JUS
tice to the gallant men whose graves are
decorated to-day in memory of all this, let
me not conclude without vindicating the
honor and character of our noble dead by
paying tribute of respect to the memory
of the brave men who fell on the other
side. In life, after the battle the wound
en- Confederate soldier shared his canteen
with his disabled Union foe, and the VIC
torions Union soldier his last crust with
his chivalrous Confederate captive. The
springs Of twenty years have heightened
the verdure over their graves, and whilst
we trust that their bright spirits are look
ing down on us IN peace from a higher and
holier sphere, why should not the survivors
regard each other according to that rule
that places honor and love above hate and
envy?
AS type of a fearless. chivalric foe, a
noble self-denying. patient, manly being,
no soldier of modern or ancient days ex-
celled the men who marched with Bragg
from Shiloh to Perryville, or who perished
with Hood in front of the icy ramparts Ut
Nashville. With bleeding feet and ragged
uniforms, subssting often on parched corn
and the treasures of the crystal spring,
without medicines or commissariat, treas
ury or reserve, those battle-scarred legions
detied alike the summer sun and the SHOWS
of winter, and faced DEATH under the very
am mhrasnraS Of destruction