Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-05-28


eral European war.
These things are escaped when a nation
| trusts its arms-bearing citizens for safety-A
quiet, industrial people are not warlike; there
is no monotony to be relieved by the excite
ment of campaigns, there is no thirst for mill
tary glory.
1t is one marked and memorable feature of
the Union soldiers that they were slow, even
reluctant at the outset of the struggle. Our
arsenals were emptied of guns and materials of
war, our forts were captured all over the seced-
ing states. There were the threats of war,
! there were the plans of secession, the continu-
GUS din of preparation, yet the states which
adhered to the Union looked on; the people
wondered what it all would come to. There
was no eager haste, but a calm and thoughtful
view of the the situation and balancing of the
issues at stake.
Our forefathers, before they launched into
the fortunes of the Revolution, pursued like
course They waited, they Piled, they petition
ed, they held the struggle at arms length while
it was possible, and as last remedy, declared
themselves a free and independent nation
| Had the aristocracy of the south been a
laboring and industrial class instead of living
upon the unpaid toll of others, they would have
| been reluctant to take the chances of rebellion
and there had been no civil war.
| Such a soldiery is intelligent. 1t is not made
up of the riff-raff, but of the men who think and
read. This is peculiarly true of our volunteers.
They had heard and read the discussions in the
papers and in congress and in the political
| campaigns. They had been trained in the COM
mon schools and graded schools and colleges of
the land. There was never an army in the field
| with so high an average of intelligence; GER
| tainly none equal to it, unless, perchance, the
German army in the FrancO-Prussian war. If
mechanics, if locomotive engineers, if bridge
builders, if clerks, penmen, telegraphers were
wanted, all there was needed was to go to the
rank and file and a little inquiry discovered the
needed men. If officers were wanted there were
men capable in every company to lay down the
musket and take up the responsibilities of
command.
l think this high average of intelligence ac-
counts for the Stubborn tenacity of so many
battles which lasted two and three days and
sometimes for a full week. European battles
t-have never or rarely been so stubborn or pro-
tracted. The fate of European empires have been
decided in single day or half day. Waterloo
began a little before noon, and at nightfall the
first empire had gone down in blood and dis
aster. Europe never saw a campaign fought
inch by inch like that of Atlanta or from the
Rapidan to Five Forks and Appomattax
The South was the invaded party, and their
soldiers fought for their homes and families las
they verify thought. We fought intelligently
for a common country. The rebels fought
with great courage and fiery dash peculiar to
themselves. The Union troops fought with
less dash but with a calm and steady persist
ence which was marvellous.
Before the close of the war we had learned
the law of battles Defeat to the Union forces
was more liable op the first day. If the GROUND
was held until nightfall, the chances of a Union
victory were greatly increased. If the second
day ended with the army intact, we were sure
of victory. Gen. A. S. johnson said on the
morning of the first day at Shiloh Before
night | shall water my horse in the Tennessee
He relied upon the furious dash of men who
live beneath fiery skies, and whose blood is
hot and thin. But the Union soldier lived be-
meath sterner skies and his blood was thick and
had been mixed with frost and ice and snow,
and his fiber knitted by the storms of North
ern winters. But this is not all. There were
ideas, clear, intelligent, with the men in blue.
When they fell into line the New England
school house fell into line; when the gray
lines charged Ohio troops, they charged upon
our common schools-our grand educational
system. There we're thinking men back of the
poised bayonets, and men who think have STAY
lHS pOhSA' DColOCo, II WILL uOb uO W pass IulS
noticeable fact that many of the good-and |
among the best-in the Union army, were
not native born, but naturalized citizens. |
think we will do we'll to pause and pay slight |
tribute to our naturalized soldiers Men have |
been driven by the hard and despotic govern |
ments of the Old World, by the crowded popu-
lations, by the exactions of military service,
by grinding poverty, to our shores. They have |
come to live among US and be free. They come
to own little land, to ply their. trades and |
profc-si0us. But they loved our Institutions,
our free air and, when the call for troops came,
they signed the muster rolls as if they had
been born among US. Men who came to our
shores to escape conscriptiOn into standing
armies and to save their boys from it, joined
with their sons, the volunteer army. Their
blood and devotion mingle on every field with
native blood to cement forever this sisterhood
of States. Those days were dirk, but virtue
shines in the midst of such surroundings.
Those were days of quickened industries at
home; there were large harvests, large prices,
plenty Of work and plenty of money. There
are men to-day whose vast financial fortunes
were laid in those days. This was while the
soldiers were in the trenches facing almost
hourly the chances of death, and receiving Sl3
per month in deprecated currency. 1t is right /
that united and prosperous Nation should
now show its gratitude in pensions and honOrs
and rewards for hubble and unpaid services.
| have been much impressed with the
services for the unknown dead-the strew-
ing of flowers at some spot in the ceme-
~ for those whose graves cannot be identified.
About II per cent of total enrolment were
killed or died of wounds or by disease; III ,3O2
lie in National cemeteries, and near them
lat ,56S unknown dead, nearly all Of whom are
Union soldiers What a comment on the vcis- ,
studes of fame, that of the men we honor and Y
love, nearly $50, 600 lie in graves which cannot
be identified. But you who remain, preserved !
through all the perils of the camp and march, {
or bearing the honorable scars of wounds re-
ceived in battle, are spared to be citizens of /
rescued country. Those whose graves you $
strew with flowers have finished their work 9
and rest from its toll, but you are spared for !
work yet to be done. /
MANY nation has gone down to its grave
destroyed by the vices and follies which thrive 1
in peace and prosperity, after having been saved
by valOr In times of war. There is work to be d
done in Strengthening the things which remain.
The dangers of the armed overthrow of our a
country has happily passed away, and the same P
experiment will not be tried again. But a ve- l. L
hement spirit still remains in the bitterness h
and party strife of to-day. Men of one party o
see no good in the men of the opposite party. +
There are wild and baseless examinations and a
recriminations. A free people must have party y
organizations, an untrammeled press and forum, v
out these need to be tempered with candor and g
moderation. The lingering animosities of civil b
strife need to be buried and forgotten, and the o
rood will and fraternity of States and citizens 81
need to be cultivated 1t will be a happy day 1
when National campaigns shall be carried on 4
With due measure of discussion, and excite II
nent, and political viruence and defamation h
hall be things of the past. it
1t is the work of soldiers who know the price Il
If our united country, and of all our citizens to
contribute their voice and example to this end,
lasting the day of perfect loyalty and fratern !,
y. Through the awful lessons of war. and by R
the peaceful virtues, and by the