Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1885-08-28
THE UNION SOLDIER.

lew FemafhS we may MAKE III JuS0sCe
to ourselves we will treat him as
soldier of the Union and not as some
politician stealing that honored titla
How grand thing it mnst be TO
have been a soldier Of the Union.
When the trying hour of the Unions
existence came, when reason had fled,
passions aroused and the decision left
to the God of blttles, when Lincoln
with his great faith in the people and
as the guardian of his country, calle.i
for troops, how noble the man who
left the plow in its unfinished furrow,
received the blessings of his wife,
stopped for an instant to pat the curly
head of the little boy he might never
see again, dashed back the tears, and
pledged his life, his fortune and his
sacred honor, in defence of his country.
The drum beats it sad tattoo as we fol-
low him as he marches with the ever
victorious Graut onward and onward
as he moves amidst death and carnage
until the stars and stripes float in
triumph over Richmond, and the Con-
federacy has fallen. Perhaps with
Sherman he marches from Atlanta to
the sea; or with Meade and Hancock
suffered the terrific onslaughts at the
heights of Gettysburg. Through shot
and shell, through dismal and death
dealing swamps he moved that his
country might live! The ,confederacy
is crushed, 1T has fallen. Fallen though
upheld by the generalship of Lee and
jackson; fallen though inspired by the
magic eloquence of Yancey; fallen
though based on the principles of the
great logician-Calboun. 1t had fallen
beneath the shot and shell of the peer
less Grant, overcome by the patriotism
Of the north, overcome by the quiet
faith of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln
who filled so completely his niche in
this world as to be compared only to
the d-given prophet of old who led
his people into the land of day.
The last poor soldier who wore the
gray has returned amid wreck and
ruin to his home, slavery has been
abolished from the face of the civilized
world, Grant had SAID to Lee "Takt
your horses home to do the plowing.
The wild dream of the confederate
is over and the victors with the grand
est charity the world ever saw turn
round to rehabitulate the vanquisheo
with all the rights and privileges o
American citizenship. What victory
was this! We are afraid that ou
friend built more wisely than he knew
The Union has been saved or rather il
the baptism of fire it received new
birth. However much we revere tn,
memory OF our fore-fatheas still w,
must admit that union between slave
and free states was cause of perpet-
ual strife and led to the arbitrament O
arms to the inevitable conflict foreseel
by w ebster and predicted by Seward
In the settlement of the contest shaver,
the great cause was abolished and tn
y Mon now founded on the pillars o
freedom is as perpetual as the stars o
Heaven.
Bury forever the dead past-th
now putrid corpse of human slavery
Let us get away flom its stencil int
the open light Of to-day. But the pas
has living. The exalted patriotism
the firm trust, the true goodness o
Lincoln must ever fill every America
heart ith pride; the wreaths of lau
rel that surround the brow of Gran
will never fade as long as liberty has
defender In the magnanimity o
these great patriots let US look acros
the bloody chasm-a chasm now n
longer, thank God-and place s1ra,
of evergreens upon the graves of LIE
and Jackson. For they too wer
Americans. And those who Tough
under their banner are our brother
now. Around the grave of Grant W
see John ston with Sherman, Buckne
with Sheridan: Oh, "Union Soldier
how proud you should be of this victory
Your country was saved, the righ
was victorious, and from ocean t
ocean, from the lofty pines of Maine t.
the orange groves of Florida the stal
and stripes float serene IN happ.
grandeur--the emblem of great, law
abiding, od-bought reunited countr.
AN indi, isable and indissolubl
Union destined forever and ever to b
the cherished home of Freedom!
Rev. Sam Jones should be brough