, 1885-11-08

cricaus were fighting to decide whether
our constitution should stand or fall for
ever All, comrades, who were there
Did you oversee anything more beautiful
than our lines Of blue in those autumnal
fields OF gold Did you ever see anything
ripple ont so beautifully in the breeze as
our banners as they moved on, ever on
towards the Potomac have heard
many operas and oratorias sang by tuneful
Dutchmien and Italians, under Thomas
and Arditti. but | have never heard any
thing like the music at Antietam. No
bassos like our batteries, no tenors like
our trumpets, no chorus like the loyal
cheer that shook the solid earth as old
Bull Sumner charged down from the
right upon the Dunkard church. We
must not forget that Little Mac held
the baton.
Here let me say, pa%renthetically, to the
fair women of Wyoming, whom | have
heard so truly believe,
That there Is nothing hairso sweet In lie
As loves young dream.
Yet, nevertheless, | will venture to say
that it was a very pleasant sight to see
the Johnnics running when they ran
away.
1t was, however, as an organizer rather
than as a general that Mcclellan was dis
tinguished. He welded the sword with
which another was to strike down armed
treason to the earth. All honor to him
for his share in the great work.
Verify, this fell sergeant Death has
been swift in his arrests. Within a few
years every commander of the army OF
the Potomac has surrendered to his sum
mons. Hooker, Burnside, Meade, Nc
Clellan have gone. Mcdowell and Grant
have gone. They no longer answer their
names ut the camp fires of the Grand
Army or the assemblies OF the Loyal
Legion.
The bravest have gone before us,
The dullest remain behind.
Friends and comrades. in life we fol
lowed them, but now they have gone
where the living cannot follow, yet while
the stars Of freedom form a constellation
on our banner we can honor the heroes
who followed their guidance to glory and
a grave.
Ex-Governor Hoyt was then called upon
and made a few remarks in his usual vein.
He was followed by Col. Deweese, who
said that he was in the army Of the West
and did not see anything Of Gen. McClel-
Ian personally, but after the battle OF
Chicamauga, in which the western troops
first met confederate soldiers who had been
fighting Mcclellan, it was there that
the army of the West began to appreciate
what the boys in the army Of the Potoma,
had to contend with. He spoke of Me.
Clellan's services as an observer in the
Crimean war, and wound up with an
eulogy of warm terms upon the military
and civil character of Mcclellan. He
said that Mcclellan was a great organizer
and Grant a great fighter, and hat both
kinds of talent were necessary to success
in a great war.
Judge Fisher was the last speaker. He
said that while he had differed with Gen.
Mcclellan politically, he appreciated the
fact that it would be folly for any one to
to say that Little Mac was not a good
soldier. He spoke Of McClellan's origin,
birth and education-civil as well as mill.
tary education; Of his career in the Mexi
can war and his services at Sebastapolt
where he had been sent by our govern.
ment to take military notes. The speaker
said that he had served under Mcclellan
ms long as any other mar
and narrated incidents of the earll
part of the war in West Virginia, and o
the mobilization of the army of the Po
tomac, and said that to Mcclellan be
longcd, exclusively, the credit of making
a grand army ont Of an armed mob. TIT
idea, he said, that Mcclellan was not
fighter. too, was a mistaken one, and re
citing his chief battles, said that in then
Mcclellan fought the flower of the south
ern confederacy, and only a fighting mar
and a great general could have withstooC
the impetuosity and fighting qualities o
the South on the peninsula.
"
All of the speakers agreed that Me
Clellan would have been more successful
if he had been properly sustained by tn,
authorities at W %ashington, and that h,
was removed from the command of tn,
army Of the Potomac Just as success
seemed to be within his grasp. All spok,
of the love of the soldiers for him, of hi.
patriotism and grand private character.
After the speaking the resolutions wer,
unanimously adopted, then the band CAV,
a selection, and after prayer by Chaplain
Brady the meeting adjourned.