The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-10-08
KANSAS VETERANS.

Ad0TeSG
John A. Martin at the Soldiers and
Sailors Reunion, Topeka, September 20,
1855.
Cospndnder StslrdTt, Comrades Of the Grand
AT1ny and Soldiers Of the Union:
To me has been assigned the delightful
duty of welcoming to the capital this great
multitude Of patriot heroes. Yet II seems %
me that words of welcome are unnecessary.
There - 40 pOwn or city within the boun-
diaries of KaITsGs where the soldiers OF the
Union would not be greeted as 1riends OF
comrades, and honored as guests; ana L
know that the loyal people of the capital,
one and all will welcome you with hand
clasp far more eloquent than speech.
They will welcome YOU as men who Drought
from the gloom Of the past the lights OF the
present and the hopes OF the future They
viii welcome you IS soldiers who rescued
the Republic from anarchy: as heroes VINE
zyrOt}y ~ union, liberty and peace out Of the
smoke and flames of civil war They viii
welcome you as felow-citizens whose
energy enterprise and industry are building
up here in the heart of the continent, the
greatest and most prosperous State IN the
Union One a0@ all, they will welcome and
salute you.
You are survivors of the greatest wAr the
world has ever known. YOu were prominent
actors in the grandest epoch of history. You
fought for the noblest cause that ever
warmed the hearts and nerved the arms OF
heroes. You have liz ed to witness the grand
eeur of youc triumph, and the growth ana
prosperity has brought in Its train. You
are here to meet old comrades; to revive
recollections of scenes and events that
should never be forgotten; TO sing old songs;
10 touch elbows again in the steadily OWN
ding line that once reached from the ROCKY
Mountains to the Atlantic And i am GLAD
and proud to say to you: ''All hail, and WEI
come. thrice welcome to the capital.
know that dyspeptic. envious and small
souled people regard the fact that sold ers'
reunions are steadily increasing in interest
with ill-conccaled distruSC Some years ago.
following meeting similar 20 TINS, gen
tieman said TO me: THE SOys have had u
pleasant me, no doubt. But Of what prac-
teal benefit are these great gather. ngs OF
soldiers? They keep alive it seems TO me,
recOllections of a period of strife and blood
shed, and what good does that do:"
replied: My friend, did you evero bject
10 the celebration of the Fourth OF July!
That keeps alive memories of period of
strife and blOodshed. Yet we have been cell
cbrat ng the Glorious Fourth for over a
hundred years, and nobody has ever objected
that il did no good to celebrate it
Similar objections are sonnet mes made to
the Grand Army of the Republic" II is
SAID that such an organization not only keeps
alive the memories of war but perpetuates
the feelings and prejudices OF period when
the land was afiame with passion; and that
there is something of egotlsm in these asso-
Citations and assemblages of men to celebrate
events in which they were actors.
For one, acknowledging that soldiers re
unions and the Grand Army organization do
all this and are all this. I make no apol gies
for them. On the contrary, rejoice that the
Grand Army is growing more popular
that soldiers reunions and camp fires are
held with more and more frequency. When
the people cease TO remember That there
have been times whem men cheerfully per-
fled health and life for a good cause, they
cease TO believe in sucn thing as patriot
ism. There is something IN example. and
these organizations of old soldiers, these re-
unions of OLD soldiers, reYlYlng recOllecuOns
of the old days, when nearly three million
Inen stepped out of the mOnotOny of COM
monplace lives and gloritied a cause by pa
Fh III ions
and the hcrOism of death-this example
can not he without its uses in teaching the
younger generations of Americans, enjoy
ing the birthright won at yorktown and
preserved at ApDomattOX, that love of coun-
try, courage, and devotion TO duty should
endure forever.
late war be kept alive? Was there ever,
since the morning stars sang together, a
more patriotic. a hOlier, i greater war than
that wage~i for the Union! We have been
celebrating the Declaration of Independence,
as have said, for over century. Yet the
total free population of the Amer can Col
ones ut the outbreak of the Revolutionary
war. was, in round numbers, $4,000 less than
the number of Union soldiers mustered into
service during the late civil war The Cont
mental army, during the Revolutionary war,
never exceeded 5000 men. present and abb
sent; our army, during the war of 1872,
aggregated only IS, 1S6; and the total force of
the United States during the war with Mexico
was only ll6.32l. During the war OF the
Rebellion 2,772, 40S men enlisted in the Union
army, and from January LIST, 1863. 70 May lst,
1866. our ermy numbered, at all times, nearly
l.OOl000 trained sold ers. Kansas alone fur
nshed nearly half as many men for the
Union army as wege present for duty during
any year of the Revolutionary struggle,
under Washington.
There were more Union soldiers killed in
battle during the war of the Rebel or. and
more died of wounds received in battle, than
were present for duty during any previous
war in which tho United States has been en-
gagged. In the National Cemeteries, 3lS,S70
soldiers of the Union are bured-more than
four times as mary were enlisted during
the Revolutionary war. The latest and most
accurate statements show that 4i..r3S Union
soldiers were killed in battle; 92i5 died of
wounds received in battle; 90jS were
drowned or accidentally killed; lA were
executed b. the enemy; 81, $40 died of dis
ease, and l4,la5 of causes not stated-making
Il total of 4l,Il9.
There were forty1Iline engagements, large
and small, during Jthe eight years of the
Revolution. There were 2,26l during the
four years of the Rebellion. And in each OF
these the Union loss exceeded 500 men killed
and wounded; in esich'Of lightweight it was
over l,GN; in fifty-twO. over 700; in twenty
three over 5000; in fourteen, over l0,00O; and
in each of four, over 2O,0OO.
The engagements of the wRr of 1872 num-
hcred only 50. and the casualties aggregated
I.S1T killed and 3,1Si' Mounded-a total of
5.6l4
In the Mexican war there were only twenty
one engagements, in which the Americans
lost l,O49 killed and ). 40 w0unded-a total of
rs
American loss N killed and wounded Gggre-
gated only IA; at Monterey, As: at Buena
Vista. 72.i; at Cerro G;OrdO, 80, and at Moline
The aggregated casuaitiosof the American
troops in all previous wars were less than
those of the Union Army at each of the
great battles of charlottesville. Gettys-
burg. Chicamauga .SpOttsylvania. and
hardly reached one-half the casualties OF
Grants campa On through the wilderness,
or sherman ; campaign against Atlanta
81 m these
the Importance of previous wars. and GER
tainly would be the hast perSon'to heprecl-
ate the patriOTiSm and Waller of the soldiers
who took part in them. lrovorenoe the
memory of the ''embAttled farmers who, on
the village green at Lexington, fired the
shot heard round 51he world: L honor
the soldiers who from beh nd the cot
ton bales at New Orleans, taught the trained
soldiers of Great Britais a new lesson or war;
and glory IN the fame our little army won
on the red fields of Mexico. But want TO
make plain and clear the fact that the war
for the Union was immeRSurabiy greater
than any struggle of modern times. not only
i'm the vast arm, eS it called into being but in
the heroiSm and patriotism il inspired. and
the mOmentous results depending on its
issue.
WHY. too, should not the sentiments and
fPreiudices of the late civil N1Rr be .perpetu-
Fted. The war saved the Union and eman-
cipated a race. And in that single sentence
what vOlumee of precious history. what
glorious records of heroisas, SACRIFICES and
patriotism ART condensed What "a noble
HtIlng OF all LEal Is III nulnsEl ma
ture, what splendid record of devotion to
duty. what self-forgetfulneSE and magnfi-
cent courage does il stand for What centu-
rice of human Erogress does It typify! 1t
WIS q war for fNaedom and usf .0nal 'nEdtv.
Ii was not wage1 FOR conquest. nor for glory,
norSmbit on. U-was a war to preserve for
all the generatiEns of men. the priceless
heritage of Self-government. " was e WAR
to vis.dcate the asjeSty of outraged law. Ii
was war to maintain this Republic as a
beac0E- ght for 81 the world II was a war,
- rod
THAT a government, of the people. by the
people, for the peoFie- should not psr -sh from