The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-23
WELCOME.
The Reception Address to TayIOr's Army, at
New Orleans, June IL, 1S45.

The Reception Address to TaylOr's Army, at
New Orleans, June IL, 1S45.
The welcome extended to Taylor's army on its
arrival at New Orleans from Mexico, on the 18th
day of June, 1847, by Sergeant S, Prentiss, is
now, for the first time, given to the public in
full. During his lifetime Prentiss refused to
give the speech to the press; but a short time
ago Mr.. Hanna was fortunate enough to obtain
the manuscript from a member of the family of
the illustrious author. 1t is as follows:
''Brave Volunteers-The people of New Or
leans, filed with admiration for the patriotic
and heroic achievements of our citizen-soldiers,
are DESTROYS of expressing the sentiments of joy,
pride and affection with which they hail their re-
turn to the arms of a grateful country. l am
their honored organ on the occasion, and most
warmly do | sympathize with their feelings and
participate in their wishes. Welcome, then, We
brave volunteers; we war-worn soldiers, welcome
home! The heart of Louisiana warns towald
you; welcome, thrice welcome, from your
glorious battlefields! In the name of the citi-
zens of New Orleans, l greet and embrace you
all! No longer do you tread upon a hostile
shore, or gaze upon a foreign sky: useless now
are your tried swords and rifles. No lurking foe
waylayS you in the impenetrable chapparal, or
among the gloomy gorges of the mountains.
Henceforth your path will be ambushed only by
friends. You viii find them more difficult than
the enemy to quell. They will pour upon you
49, lN-0 1C 6A&HN
whose iron clusters were so familiar on the hill
sides of Monterey, or along the ravines of Buena
Vista, whose juice was the red blood of patriotic
sacrifice, but the grape which comes from the
battery of the banquet. A year has not elapsed
since L saw most of you bivouacked on the old
Inspiration from its mighty memories,
and dreaming, perchance, of those great
achievements which you were SO soon to
accomplish. Since then you have passed
through the vicissitudes of a soldiers life the
camp the march, the battle and the victory.
You have played your parts nobly. You have
gone TAR beyond your own promises or the coun
try's expectations. You have borne without a
murmur the hardships of military life. How
ever fatigued and exposed, you blanched not
when death came in the shape of disease and
struck down your comrades around you. You
submitted cheerfully to discipline. and converted
the raw material of individual bravery into the
terrible, irresistible power of combined courage.
But it was upon legitimate fields Of battle you
gathered those unfading laurels, upon which your
countrymen will ever gaze, as they do now, with
grateful pride.
'Our little army of regulars, as they we'll dc
served to do, had already plucked the first fruits
of the wal. On the victorious fields of Palo Alto
and Resaca de la Palma they sustained their
own high character, and nobly illustrated Ameri
can skill and valor. They scourged the enemy
from the Rio GTande, and then, reinforced by the
volunteers who iocked to their country's stand