The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-10-01
COL. INQUIRIES ;SPEEOH
Delivered at the Confederate Reunion in
Pulaski Last Thursday.

army - L LuduJ vi JOu ~ ID uo'S-
less to say that l am not a man c
words for you know it has not bee
my province to speak but TO act
Yet all through my life there hav
come times when | craved the gil
of eloquence that | might fitting J.
give utteranCe to sentiments whicl
| cherished and do justice to cir
cumstances and surroundings in tn
midst Of which have found my
self situated, and this is certainl,
one of those times.
In the experience of mankind
from the time of Cain and Abe
down to the present, the problem
of government and the adjustmen
of differences between men and ma
tions have occupied the minds, en-
gagged the energies and shed tht
blood of the greatest, hest, ant
most patriotic men of all the ages
Nor is the age in which we live an,
have lived an exception, for there
came a time in the lives of many o
US, when after the efforts of ou
statesmen and Judiciary had failed
to harmonize differences OF opin
ion and adjudicate questions whicL
seemed to affect the interests o
our people, appeal was made to the
arbitrament of war-the court o
last resort, the highest tribunal
known to civilization. And we are
here to-day to commemorate acts
and events of these great qualities
They transpired within your expe
rience, soldiers, and under your oh
servatiOn, and are without parallel
in any of the ages preceding it
Wars have always been and will he,
horrible as they are. and since they
are among the inevit1bles, my idea
is that when they do come the is
sues involved should be clearly
made up and that acton should be
sharp, quick and decisive, reaching
the end as quickly as possible.
Also that whatever the results may
be, it is the duty of all good men,
no matter which side of the cause
they may have espoused, to accept
the results as final, and To lend ev-
cry energy Of their natures to the
healing of the wounds inflicted and
the re-establishment of good gov
nment and fraternal relations with
their former adversaries. This
could be done and would be,
think if lett, to those actively par
ticipating, but unfortun ately for
many people, the affairs of state in
times, of peace are managed too often
by politicians and demagogs, and
not by statesmen and patriots.
Gen. Grant was permitted to live
long enough to give expression to a
sentiment (Which he might have
done more ittingly and more effec-
lively twenty years earlier) which
confirms my views, when he said to
Gen. Buckner only short time be-
fore he died, that all the differences
growing out of the war would have
been amicably adjusted long ago if
the soldiers had been allowed to
settle them.
Politicians and demagogs have
been the curse of this country.
The war in which you took part,
fellow soldiers, has been over now
more than twenty years, and yet
there are those who are Haunting
the bloody shirt and still appealin .
to the passions and prejudices en-
gendered by that great struggle
for the advancement alone of their
own selfish ends, who if they were
able to bring about another war
would promptly take position far
away from the bullets, as they did
before. Show me a man who is
and has been since hostilities ceased
since the war closed-from the
north or south, who is still getting
red in the face on the subject of the
war, who foamed at the mouth and
tears his hair at the mention of the
enemy, who, in other words, is still
dying in the last ditch, and | will
show you a man who was during
the last war on post duty far out Of
harms way-not in the armies at
ALA deserter-a demagogue, a
politician or "hospital rat" 1t is
an honorable thing to be soldier
and especially volunteer, and the
grandest day In your lives, fellow
soldiers, was that in which you vol
unteered and mustered into the ser
vice of your. .country-as a soldier of
the once proud and famous Volun-
teer State. And the next grandest t
day was when, afGer four years of
terrible war, with all its privations,
it's hardships, successes and re-
verses, you surrendered to a mag
unanimous foe, put your paroles in
your pockets and addressed your
selves once more to pursuits of civ
il life. 1t might have been and
doubtless would have been more
agreeable to US, fellow confederates,
to have been the victors, rather than
vanquished, but fate decreed other
wise, and for one would not now
if 1 could reopen the questions
which were adjudicated by that
grim tribunal, and although tn
decree was against us, there is
nothing of which you need to be
ashamed.
The great event was not without
an important lesson to the hlstori-
an. 1t served to give US the char
acters of Lee, jackson, a John
ston, and a Cleburne. Here !
pause, comrades, for while the char
acters | have mentioned are all gone
and we have their brilliant careers
as examples of our fidelity TO prin
ciple, 1 omit other names-names
of many thousands, including off
GERS of lower rank and privates
men who by your sides were firm tC
the death, and whose examples as {
whole should animate afresh, when
ever contemplated, the alteration
Of all men. l Iappeal to the m 9th
ers ypives and children in comm EN-
grafton, to remember. and neve
forget, that this nameless multitude
as well as the survivors, many o
whom are before me now, have {
heritage of which they should eve