The National tribune., 1883-05-24

Thomas, Rosecrans. Buel, Anderson, Schofield, Me-
Pherson, Logan, Blair Pope, Burnside, Halleck,
Crittenden, Stanley, Slocum, Howard Wood and
hundreds more who commanded in the West. How
faithfully and loyalty they ALL officers and soldiers,
served and fought, and how grandly many thou
sands died! What shall we say of dead? All
uncovered we stand and reverently speak of
nameless graves. Are they really deade do not
believe it. They live; for such nobility of soul
never perish! In the abode of the best; there
they live. for creed can be accepted which does
not teach that whosoeyer freely yields up his life
for the good of mankind, his sins forgiveni
There is soldiers Paradise and wide are its gates
Again j thank you, Mr.. President and gentle
men for this high compliment to the Armies of the
West
McLELLANs SPEECH.
After singing Marching Thro' Georgia.
the next toast was announced as The Army
of the Potomac
When General Mcclellan rose to reply three
times three cheers were given and the widest
enthusiasm prevailed. 1t was some minutes
before he could be heard, but when silence was
restored he said:
1t seems to me too cold and stiff and formal to
address you simply as Mr.. Chairman and gentle
men. Your chairman often brought me inforna-
ton the field which L needed; aye, and he
brought it snatched from the very jaws of death
There can be no formality between him and me.
and as for the rest of you you with in this
very city when took command of the raw, undis-
cprned, inexperienced body of troops which after
ward became the great Army of the Potomac. So
l VIII address you as comrades and soldiers.
lCheersJ Standing here on this occasion my
thoughts naturally revert to the scenes and incl
dents In which we both participated, and the
memories come crowding upon me. remember
when / came from West Virginia and took
mand of you, and as if by magic there came order
and discipline, because you aided and assisted
by your prompt obedience and hearty cooperation.
Then when we threw up those long lines of fortiti
cations for the defense of the capital, how willingly
you worked and toled until they were completed.
And then when we left those lines of defense and
1aIa Irxrrr, t1aD
performed some noble achievements. Think of
the siege of Yorktown, which undertook with
out proper numbers or proper support from the
navy, which had been rendered helpless to
assistance by reason of the action of the Merrac.
Then the march up the Peninsula We We're not
defeated. We kept back the enemy and we con-
fronted him. and when we stood with our right
stretching out at the command from Washington,
expecting re-enforcements, which never came, but
instead of which the enemy came down upon
right flank. Then that seven days fight, when
confronted an enemy as brave went upon
field, and our crowning glory was at Malvern Hill
l remember the sadness felt when left you and
the joy with which you welcomed my return when
led you to Antietam. Many of you have never
since the last sad day when left you shortly
after that great battle.
General Mcclellan then referred in touching
terms to those who had formerly been his corps
commanders, mentioning Meade, Hooker,
Sedgwick, and others, and as each hero's name
fell from his lips cheers were given and re-
peated. He said that during all the long and
tedious trials the forced marches the battles and
skirmishes. there was the greatest confidence
between himself and his men. They stood by
him and he stood by them He referred in
fitting terms to the changes that had taken
place in the national capital since he first took
command of it as an armed camp, and also the
changed circumstances of life. and closed by
saying that the Army of the Potomac was the
grandest that ever took the field, and that the
proudest thing for man to say was that he was
once member of it.
THE g. A. 2
Three cheers were given for the first COM
mander of the Army of the Potomac, and after
brief speeches by Generals III. III. Bingham and
r. c. Schenck-the latter replying to the toast
" The Loyal Legion General W. w. Dudley
Commissioner of Pensions, was called upon TO
respond to the toast The Grand Army of the
Republic" He spoke as follows:
Mr. PRESIDENT AND COMRADES: Such theme
should, it appears to me, have led the committee
to seek out and call upon the most gifted and eo-
quent of our comrades respondent. Among our
numbers many whose powers of oratory would
have enabled them to do justice to the subject But
cannot claim any gift in that direction, fear
shall fall far short of it. However, cannot admit
that have lost the step and touch of elbow with
that grand throng lii whose honor this toast is pro-
posed and if you will bear with me for a few mo-
ments, will obey the call of the president of the
feast as best may.
Once a year we meet as survivors of the Army of
She Potomac to recall the memories and cement the
friendships formed in days of war; to look each
ether in the face to grasp each other by the hand
and note how time Is dealing with those by whose
side death has been looked at amid the storm of
battle; with whom we have shared haversack and
canteen, tramped and slept side by side and arm in
arm returned to the homes and dear ones left be-
hind at the call of duty.
Those only to whom the camps and battlefelds
of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania are fam-
lar, who are identified soldiers with the troops
comprising the Army of the Potomac, and who
mot the Rpll Ant f.attu
and Appomattox eligible.
Of the great army of the Union we therefore ex-
clude from membership by far the greater part, as
having no local history in common with US.
In the same manner the survivors of the armies
of the James, the Tennessee, the Ohioand the Cum
berland banded into societies and annual
Reunions-purey local, however. in character
and while delightfully."- necessary, are incomplete
incomprehensye, and insufficient to satisfy the full
measure of that desire which every true soldier
feels weing up in his heart, and which prompts
him to seek its expression by some closer bond of
union.
But these special assemblies although necessary
and meeting annually. do hot suffice; they do not
reach the great rank and file, they serve
the purpose of bringing together the soldiers of the
various armies into common camp upon q COM
mon footing. Those of US who fortunate enough
to possess the means can enjoy once year re-
union with comrades; but the thousands who have
not been equally fortunate with ourselves in whom
the soldier instinct and feeling is as strong as ever
the brave comrade who fought gallantly many
fields must stay at home Fortune has not been as
kind to him as to you and me, and his necessities
will neither permit him take holiday nor to ex-
pend the amount necessary to travel TO and from
our place of meeting. Nor can we extend the aid
and sympathy due to those in distress through the
medium of societies like this, which necessarily
limited in character and hold short and infre-
quent meetings. There required some oTgani-
zation of soldiers broader in its scope and wider in
its sphere of that would take itseft TO
the home of the veteran unite the survivors of the
IN local camps, and bring within its folds not
alone the fortune favored but the impoverished and
disabled, and afford to them the delights and bene-
fits of mpanionship and fraternity. Some medium
must be established through which the benetcence
and charity natural to and characteristic of soldiers
were left helpless and forlorn-the widows
| and orphans of comrades.
| IT'S OBLIGATIONS.
Such then the field such the mission such the
necessity which called into being the society named
for its great prototype, the Grand Army of the Re-
! public, to whose ranks are welcomed every honor
| ably discharged soldier and sailor of the Union
| army and navy. and for which, an humble mem
| Der, am proud to speak tonight Heaven born,
for to three God-ke virtues fraternity, charity and
loyalty it owes its existencel it will last so long
soldier of the Union army sailor OF the Union
navy survives. Like all the institutions worthy o
life and destined to retain confidence it has reached
| its present proud position slowly and gradually
Its first growth being abnormaly rapid, 1t suffered
naturally resulting check, until the sober second
thought of its founders placed it upon the bed rock
of principles and usages, which insure its per-
maneney; since which 1t has steadily grown III
| numbers and in power. Its members are devoted
| by solemn obligation to the furtherance of three
| propositions
fraternai feelings which bind together the soldiers
| sailors, and marines who united to suppress the
late rebellion, and to perpetuate the memory and
| history of the dead.