The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1883-11-15

all the long marches, over rough
and smooth roads, through mud
and dust, in rain and in sunshine,
in sleet and in snow, climbed the
same hills and waded tue
same streams, retired by the same
signal at evening, woke by the same
reveille at morning, advanced
with him and retreated with him,
rejoiced with himat victory, were de
pressed with him at defeat. Have
been with him in camps for weeks
at a time when we were resting as
1t we're upon our arms, the time
when the soldiers became FESTIVE,
when they had too much time for re-
Election, and could think TOO much
of home and the loved ones far
away; when they would compare
their conditions with what they
had been and what they might be;
when they were eager To earn who
had last gotten through the lines
and what news WAS brought from
home; when we could sit around
our smokey camp fires and quietly
express our hopes and fears; talk of
the different campaigns, the move
ments of this or that army. Discuss
the merits aud dement's OF officers
and men, ami the prospects OF at
last winning our Indrps nlehce.
These comparatively quiet mo
ments, owing TO the Confidential re-
lations existing between The sol
diers, being engaged in common
cause, and having common dan
gers, privations and trials, served
perhaps better to reveal the inner
life and bring it out more plainly to
view than the more ACTIVE moments
did. Besides there are those here
who were with aim in every battle
in which his command was engaged
from Donelson to Jonesboro, where
the enemies' bullet suddenly put
an end TO his nobie career. So we
knew him in almost every iinagina-
BILE phase of a soldier lite, wheth-
er in camp, on the battlefield or
the lonely bivouac, and we had am
pie opportunities to discover the eff
feet produced by all these various
circuInstanc, and surroundings.
And when we say that amid each
and all of them he exhibited those
exalted qualities Of true manhood
that characterized him as q citizen,
we have only, as we conceive, given
you correct general view of his
life as soldier. Bat to one who is
acquainted with a soldiers life, and
knows what it Is to stand the test
of the various ordeals through
which they passed, these words
have a far deeper and more compre-
hensive significance than to one
who is not. They know what it is
to pass through these ordeals They
know what it is to pass through the
thousands OF petty annOyances and
provoking circumstances that can
only be known to. those who have
become acquainted with them by
experience. He passed through
them with temper unruffled, and
moved quietly on in the even tenor
of his way, and seldom if ever was
betrayed into making a rash or
an unkind expression, but was uni
formly pleasant and agreeable,
kind and considerate for the welfare
of those under him. and disposed
to shield them as far as possible,
consistent with his duty, from the
heavy burdens that had to be
borne, and the fatigue, the cold, the
hunger, the hardships and priva-
lions of every character that
seemed to come with per-
feet deluge at times failed to dis
turb his calm equanimity of temper,
and I dare say he was never heard
to murmur or complain at his lot,
but on the contrary he seemed al
most 10 forget his own, in his SYM
pathy for the suferings of those
around him; and his word of cheer
and:comfort,as well as noble. example
gave courage to many a sinking
heart, and many a faltering one,
footsore and overcome with fatigue,
has felt that he could go no further
though his life depended upon it,
has rallied at his words and moved
on in spite of his fatigue and suffer
ing, and while giving courage to
others he summed no trial himself,
nor avoided any danger that duty
called him to meet, and / thought
his lie was as free from I any
selfish and ambitious promptings
as any ones know. His service
was for his country and what he
believed was his country's good.
We now come to speak of him in
tn e severest ordeal through which a
soldier has to pass, the battlefield;
for after all it is the seyerest. There |
may be those who are insensible to
danger, but We are slow to believe
it, and if there are such they are |
rare, and we fancy that we would |
not prize stheir acquaintance very
highly. But there are those whose
true courage, pride Of character and |
self control may cause them to APP
pear indifferent to danger, and
these are the men that the world ad-
mires for their valor. The battle
field is where the soldier is tried,
for it ia for bis service here that he
is called into the army, and Ii he
fails here his record as soldier Is
darkened, matters not what it may
have been elsewhere, and all the
waters Of the sees cannot wash the
stain away. Thus has the world al
ways spoken, and we suppose it will |
continue TO so speak.
AS to how he passed through this
ordeal, l feel it almost useless to
peak to :.his audience who know
lis record so well. There are those
lere who we're with him in every
,attle in which his command was
ngaged from Donelson to Jonesbo-
o. They have seen him on the {
kirnlish line, and they have seen 8
lso him in the very storm of {
he battle where the missiles of c
cath fell in perfect tempest c
round him, moving down his com h
AIDES on the right and on the left,
nd while he was not the man that
-ished to make a show of courage e
l order to be called brave, or to
eek danger uselessly, yet he had b
ne will to do and the soul to dare 8
hatever duty babe him do, and he d
lwavs stood true to his colors and d
, his cause, aud bore himself as a
ecomes a true soldier in every dan i