The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-10-28
TIMES CHANGES.
What 2i fea's Have Done for q New Hampshire
COmDany.

What "a Yea's Have Done for a New Hampshire
Company.
At the recent Reunion of the 14th n. III. at
Winchester an interesting address was deliv-
cred by Cept j. w. StuI.evant He said
The II years that havepassed since muster
out have brought great chanees to every regi-
mental organization, but they have come so
silently, the comrades are so widely scattered
so many of them we never hear of, that when
they are summed up they seem greater than we
had thought. As Secretary of my own COM
pany it has been my duty TO note these changes
and to keep record of them, and such has
been the loyalty of the members to their old
company that the duty has been easy and
pleasant.
=" propose to speak briefly Of some of the
changes that have come to n single company in
the 81 years that have passed since their mus
ter into service. In an audience composed of
representatives of so many different Organiza-
tiOnS | should not presume TO Intrude the sta
tistics OF single company as topic of inter
est, did / not believe that company to be a type
OF scores OF similar organiZatiO ns whose num-
bers are here represented; for it was an average
company OF an average regiment, and if each
comrade present will imagine | am speaking of
his own company / think on examination he
will be surprised to find how few changes will
need to be made TO make the statistics apply to
| his own company. Company G. on its muster
/ into service numbered three officers and "a
men. Twenty-one recruits were afterwards
assigned to it, six of whom Immediately de-
serted, leaving the actual membership Of this
company liz.
From Aug. 80, 1862, to Aug. !, 1865, nine
died of disease. four were killed in battle and
40 were discharged for sickness and other
causes, leaving 90 members, exactly one half
the total membership, TO be finally mustered
out. All of the 40 discharged men were liv-
ing at the final discharge, so that the total
living membership of the company was 90 at
the close of the war From Aug. /, 1865, to
Sept. l, l5S6, period of u years, % have
died The deaths during the three years of
service amounted to about per cent. each
I year, and since the war to about l per cent.
| each year. The question often asked,
! What class of men best endured the hard
| ships of army life?' In this company 3S.4 per
cent. were farmers at enlistment, and 55.5
| per cent of the deaths from disease were
| from this class, while of the II per cent. Of
mechanics the per cent. of deaths was but Of.
Among the changes time has made is in the
! occupations and residences of members but %
are employed to-day in the trade or profession
/ they were pursuing at enlistment. OF the IS
I farmers, only 10 are now following that occu-
/ patton. At the time of their enlistment every
| man of the liz was a resident OF Cheshire
/ County. To-day 76 of the 1l2 are living; of
I these rs eight have changed their residence
/ though still living in the County; 10 reside
where they did at enlistment; IL have re-
/ moved from the County but still live in the
State; IS EXACTLY one-haIf) have left the State
and are scattered through IA States and Terri
| tories from Maine to Oregon, and from the
| Province of Quebec to Texas. And vet | think
| l could reach every one of them but two by
| telegraph, and have reply before we break up
| tomorrow.
How common the remark at such Reunions
as this: Why, Bill, you look as young as you
I Inv,ff rSII
| perhaps not all of us do in looks, but the fig
ures tell a different story. The average age of
my company at enlistment was 20 years
six months. FOrty-six were II years or under
/ and IL were over 3d. The average of the living
to-day is 80 years and two months. The five
boys who were II at enlistment are Al now
and are all alive. One, the youngest who was Is
at enlistment, has come 25,0OO miles to attend
this Reunion, and good Deacon Frost still lives
and is the senior OF us all at 81. Fifty-seven
/ of the ll2 were married at enlistment and of
the remaining 90 AZ were married during or
after the war. Seventy-twO of the living 76
are married, two are widowers. and as the
happy result of these unions 1O5 boys and 80
| girls point proudly, | hope, to the head of the
/ family and say My father was q soldier in the
war of the rebellion
| Multiply these figures by 10 and we have
Z the material for another regiment, although
! one company must be composed of bachelors
unless some other regiment has % surplus OF
the fair sex. Seven hundred and twenty
three members of the regiment We're living
when the history was written in 1852 and |
think 200 must be alive to-day. But the per-
centage of deaths must increase as the years
go on, and If the Adjutant could look down
the line now at dress parade, the gray haired
and gray bearded comrades would be most
numerous. These statistics open a wide
and interesting field To one inclined to consider
what changes were wrought in the habits, pur-
suits, abOdes and lives of these men and boys
by their three years of army life; but leave
this for our honored President whose life is spent
among tables of statistics, and whose deduc-
tiOns therefrom are as uneTring as the laws that
govern the universe. And what shall | say OF
the silent changes that were wrought in us all
by our army experience, changes that cannot
be expressed in figures? / leave this for the
consideration of each one of you, hoping that
the changed aims and plans and purposes have
borne frutage in nobler, purer and better lives.