Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-06-08

fighting best the grandest war in all
the history of liberty.
But all who placed the laurels on
Grant county in the nations struggle
for life are not here to-day. Many OF
them, indeed far more than can so sad
ly distinguish any other county in the
State, in proportion to the number of
enlisted men, now rest in peace in grass
covered graves of the South, or in quiet
church yards in every village in the
county, for whose honor they laid down
their lives.
As you to-day grasp the hand of old
comrades-companions in many bat
tie, friends by many camp fire, COM
fortcrs in many trial, allies in many
a danger-you do not forget the dead.
Nor can you forget them, for the hum
blest man who voluntarily surrendering
all the tenderest charities of home and
friends, gives his life for his fellow man.
lives in fadeless memory. Great en-
pires may rise and fade away while the
humblest deed of death or devotion in
the cause of liberty still excites our
gratitude and praise. The matchless
eloquence of Rome has ceased to echo
in the forum, the trophies of her many
conquests are buried in her ruins, but
the world yet listens to the story of
Scevola and of Regulus. The most per-
feet monument of Greek philosophy and
song will have been long forgotten while
men still read of the three hundred at
Thermopolyae. The memory of the
heroes of Valley Forge and Saratoga is
ever fresh. They fell that on their
graves might rest the corner stone of a
new temple of liberty. In honorable
graves they have slept for a century;
yet still mighty nation, sprung from
the seed they in agony planted, returns
to do them reverence. If they grandly
died at Lexington and Concord-died
to plant on this new continent a new
liberty-surely. they no less nobly fell
at GAINESVILLE and Antietam to establish
that same liberty on more enduring
throne on yet graUder and more beau
tiful proportions.
Side by side with the heroes of Bun
ker Hill and Trenton on the page CT
history will stand the martyrs of South
Mountain and the Wilderness. The
same quenchless love of liberty, the
same elevated spirit of self-sacrifice,
the same devotion TO country which
carried the soldier of the infant repub-
lie through the perils of the Re, olution,
cheered his camp fire on The bloody
SHOWS of Valley Forge and inspired his
heart at Saratoga, cheered, sustained
and animated those who,in later wears,
bore the banner of union from Atlanta
to the sea.
On the service and personal history
of your fallen comrades | will not dwell
Their sufferings, hardships and perils,
their deeds of valor, the story of their
accomplishing endurance in fatal camp
and field all come home to you to-day
in memories more eloquent than words.
They live to-day fragrant IN the memo
ry of us all. And so long as patriotism
and valor are loved among men they
will remain to take their high places
among the heroes of the world. They
have joined the illustrious company of
the immortal and are crowned with the
rays of perennial glory. Their country
remembers them; remembers them not
because they were great leaders or re-
formers, but because in the rank and
file of a great army with no am
ambition but to do their duty,
they did what they could, gave
all they had-their hopes, their blood,
their lives, for you and for me. Their
very absence appeals TO you to- day with
a silentJyet irresistible eloquenee, 1t
tells you how priceless boon is liberty
that men die for her without murmur;
it tells of the mournful issues of sectional
conflict and party strife; it tells of the
fatal consequence of any compromise
with principle. 1t tells us that not in
war, nor oppression, nor selfishness, nor
rivalry, but in peace, equality and JUS
tice, shall this nation find its highest
good. 1t is silent yet mighty protest
against selfish politics, false expedients,
social pride; a beautiful, unfading les
son of unseltsh patriotism. Surely,
though silent, your fallen comrades do
yet speak.
While You mourn to-day your depart
ed comrades to whom it was not given,
surrounded by all the blessings of the
peace they conquered, to still maintain
by their vote and the example and in
tiuence of their private lives the pros
perity of their country you do not forget
that this high mission is still reserved for
you. 1t was, after all, the private SOL
dier, not the Major General, that saved
the nation from armed rebellion; and to-
day that nations stronghold is not in
party leaders but in the moral influence,
the intelligent vote of the private citi-
izen.
In a government like ours the best
soldiers are the best citizens. And you,
veterans. can say with pride to-day that
you have realized the prophecy of Gener-
al Sherman in his farewell address TO the
Army of the Tennessee: Your general
now bids you all farewell with the full
belief that, as in war you have been good
soldiers, so in peace you will make good
citizens The patient courage which
sustained the union troops through all
that baptism of fire from Sumpter TO
Fredericksburg was not born of brute
courage, but came of that lofty concep-
ton of duty, that resolute determination
that measures every consequence; that
moral courage and Unborn heroism that
make men martyrs. Few thought of glo-
nv, few dreamed of fame as they advanc-
ed the victorious standard of the Union
cause. They only thought of duty, they
only fought for victory, and to them vic
tory was liberty.
They realized in its fullest import, Pla-
to's ideal of citizen sOldiery. Their
mission of war was by their swords 10
preserve their nation life; their mission
of peace, by their ballots and personal
80 -. x.1i.flI that na+annfs hAnnr
And, as the story of this century goes
down into history-the most important
century of all the ages in its influence on
the cause of human liberty and man s
advancement-who shall say it was q
small thing to have been in the great
struggle for the union, the humblest Of
union soldiers; and who shall say it was
small thing to have been in the great
struggle for the Union, the humblest OF
union soldiers; and who shall say 1t was
| of little moment, in all these crucial
wears, to have been faithful American
citizen and voter. When France was
storming the English bulwark, when
her Marshals were feign to abandon the
struggle on whose issue hung the desti
nv Of the coming nations, there came
| through the failing ranks, the cry Of
the peasant girl of Domremy, strong
as fate. irresistible as the heavens, BY
voice that echoed in the ear of Socra
ties on the battle field of Delium, "BS
NV God the fort is yours! You shall en-
4 ter there.' The tide of decisive bat
tie was turned and nation saved Thu
unknown Maid of Orleans was more
to France that day than all her gallan
generals.