The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-22

1iAAlAf III ~ @'NHNf- '0N '-NE tEI
attended, there being many ladies present. The
Auten Post quartet sang a selection, and Lieu
tenant-governor Hanna made the welcoming
address, in which he said:
GOV. HANNAs WELCOME.
Mr.. Chairman and Members of the Grand Army Of the
It gives me pleasure to extend to you words of
welcome and good cheer to this annual encanp-
ment of your department. The soldiers of the
Union were always received with welcome and a
hearty good will by the citizens OF our capital
city. When your regiments left here IN lS6l-o
with every boy in blue in his place, his step firm
Il proud look on his face, marching to the front
to the music of John Brown, your illustrious
war Governor intrusted to you the good name
ing blessing by the loyal people of Indiana that
God might speed you and keep you in the great
and good work of maintaining the flag and per
petuating the Union. When you returned,
after your enlistment had expired,
your ranks thinned, emaciated and
battle-scarred, always bearing the old flag un-
furled, then the great Morton greeted you with a
royal welcome. You were greeted by all with
words of encouragement and love. though often
mixed with tears of sorrow for those who did
not return. / trust you may have many such
meetings as this. May the day be not far dis
tant when you shall be called here to unveil a
monument to the fallen heroes and the brave
ones that survived the conflict for the life of the
nation. The number of the Union soldlery
grows less from year to year, and may the love
and enthusiasm of the Grand Army of the Re
public increase from day to day. The principles
OF our fraternity are laudable and commendable,
the objects of the order of the Grand Army
of the Republic being:
l. To preserve and strengthen those kind and
fraternal feelings which bind together the sol
diers, sailors and marines who united to suppress
the late rebellion, and to perpetuate the memory
and history Of the dead.
2. To assist such former comrades in arms as
need help and protection; and to extend needful
aid to the widows and orphans of those who
have fallen.
3. To maintain true allegiance to the United
States of America, based upon a paramount
respect for, and fidelity to, the national Consti-
ton and laws; to discountenance whatever tends
to weaken loyalty, incites to insurrection, trea-
son or rebellion, or in any manner impairs the
efficiency and permauency of our free institu-
tons; and to encourage the spread Il of universal
liberty, equal rights, and justice to all men.
On what patriotic and ennobling principles our
order is founded! Are they not worthy of the
support of every surviving Union soldier! Yet
there might be added another principle for our
order, namely, that we will endeavor to have a
true and correct history of the war for the
Union taught to our children. Much is being
said in these days about forgiving and forgetting
the past deeds Of our erring brethren. 1t is said
the mantle Of charity should be thrown over
their acts Of treason; that the past be forgotten,
and that as great honors should be shown those
49, - M oNS ~ ~ w. - go
blue. Those who wore the gray sought to de
stroy the Union you fought to sustain. Com
rades, i'll that struggle they We're
wrong and you were right. Shall
the distinction between the Tories of the
revolution and the father who fought for our
independence be eradicated3 Shall the soldiers
of Packenham be honored by the American PEG
pie equally with the soldiers who battled under
the leadership of the brave and reSOlute Jack
son! Are the memories of the deeds of the con
federate soldiers who engaged in the unholy
cause of the rebellion to be honored and held IN
high esteem as the brave men who gave up
their lives for the Unionl Is there, | want to
ask, to be no difference between the men who
were commanded by jefferson David and the
men who marched to the music of the Union
under the leadership Of Abraham Lincoln? 1t
seems to me, we are not yet ready to eXtOl with
equal hOnors, the conduct and memories Of
those who wore the gray with those
who wore the blue. Those who wore
the gray may have died like
brave men, they may have fallen like heroes. l
have no doubt many of them did, yet they died
for disunion, rebellion and treason. The Union
soldiers dared to die for our flag, our liberties and
our country. They were patriots. I would not
have the teachers of our children shade the
truth. | would make a difference between the
blue and the gray as long as there is a distinc-
ton between loyalty and rebellion, between
union and disunion. between patriotism and
treason, between right and wrong. The future
historian of the late war will place a higher est
AHfttN VI CNL ~ ~ " C0A ObAANA NAAttAA 49,
the historian of our day. 1t will be written that
the soldiers who crossed the Rapidan with Grant
and went with him through the Wilder
ness on to Richmond shall have as
great honor as those who crossed the
Delaware with Washington, and greater honor
than to have been Il Roman soldier and have
crossed the Rubicon with Caesar. Those who
marched with Sherman to the sea, or rode with
Sheridan up the Shenandoah to Winchester,
shall be remembered with the soldiers of the
revolution who fought at Bunker Hill or starved
at Valley Forge.
When the old soldiers are assembled in meet
ings like this. what thoughts are suggested. what
memories are recalled! The march, the camp,
the battle field, the hospital, the prison-pen. the
~roll-call, the missing, the muflied dram. the
dead! What shall we now say of the Union
dead! Perhaps their spirits are here. May VIZ
not say of them;
''On flames eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead"
PRESENTATION TO GENERAL C~ARNAHAN.
Department Chaplain Whitehead, in an APP
p~ropriate speech, presented to General Carna-
han, the retiring commander, an elegant gold
badge, in behalf of the G. A. r. of the State.
In responding, Gen. Carnahan said: Il accept
this gift with heartfelt thanks, from a rem
nant of that grand old army of men who
left their homes and their firesides that their
homes and their fresides might be preserved.
They left with their lives in their hands to do
battle for a great principle, the preservation of
a nation which was founded in the belief that
all men were created free and equal. They
fought for human liberty; and while we may and
should forgive those who fought against us,
there is one great principle that the Grand Army
will uphold and maintain, and that is, that the
Union army was right and the enemy was
wrong, Applause. This principle should be
taught to our children in words that mean Il
half million lives were lost that the
principles of a nation might be
saved. It should be taught
to them at the freside, in the churches and sun
day-schools that the first government established
was for thepeople and by the people. 1t should
be taught in the public schools, and if school
boards had not manhoo and patriotism enough
to have it tanght. they Should be eompelled to