The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-11
stream Of time slowly moves on. Byron. ad-
dressing the ocean, says:

Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow;
Such as creations dawn beheld, thou rollest now
1.-THE twenty-frst year is drawing to a close
since the war of the Rebellion was ended by the
final victory of che Union arms In no other
year have the great conflicts and its principles
gained so much in the estimation of their coun-
trymen. Never since the grand review so fifty
celebrating our triumph has the triumph been
understood and valued as it is to day. Under
the allotment of Providence the final judgment
is now pronounced in behalf of the living, but
the most fortunate of men must wait for death
to afix the seal and to award the crown.
1T was Lincoln who watched with mistaken
faith. His sad, prophetic and anxious eyes
swept over the North and the South. over this
continent and over all continents; for the dan
gers that threatened were in every mind under
the whole heavens. 1t Jared with Lincoln, as
long as he lived, as it always fares with those
who bear the burdens of their fellow-men. But
heaven was gracious; heaven came, and in the
sight OF the world. by the conserving judgment
or mankind. Abraham Lincoln took his place,
to hold 1t forever by the side of Washington.
For more than twenty years a~fterward the
leader or our armies. our comrade of the Grand
Army of the Republic, our companion of the
Loyal Legion, remained and shared with us the
good and i'll that waits the living. He too, like
Lincoln. In spite of his splendid and I'M
matched service, was misunderstood. underval-
ued and tortured while life lasted. But. more
fortunate than Lincoln, Grant lived long enough
to see the mists which had gathered. round him
melt away In the presence of his patience, his
heroic fortitude and his boundless forgiveness.
His long weeks OF suffering were signalized and
gloriied by labors of such rare quality that they
all but proved the pen of our illustrious soldier
was mightier than his sword. Instead Of oppo-
sition and enmity, his last days were cheered by
honor, love, troops of friends, and by admiration
and gratitude among all classes and sections, and
absolutely without limit. 1t was given to Grant
more fully. perhaps, than to any other man in
all history to see and enjoy the place he was to
hold during ages to come in the esteem and affec-
ton of mankind. When he passed to his re-
ward the trinity of American heroes was COM
plete-Washington, Lincoln, Grant.
I'VE need not pause to inquire why the he
roes OF our war, when dead, find their high place
in history so promptly and with such infallible
certainty. With faculty and character given,
the occasion, the opportunity, was in the great
ness and goodness Of their cause. The strange
thing is that we do not think of this while the
hero is living.
The address was listened to with growing in
terest. and when, at the close, the lame of Sher-
man was announced an ovation followed. When
the applause had subsidized General Sherman be-
gan his address upon the illustrious commander
in-chief of the order, General Hancock. He said:
Ladies and Companions in the glorious cause
General Grant records on the front fly leaf of
his book that man proposes and God disposes.
We feel that here tonight. Yesterday we hoped
to have q jolly good time, and yet the telegraph
waited over the wire the sad intelligence that
that glorious man, your former commanderin-
chief, who has done more to sustain the Loyal
Legion than any other man on earth, lies dead.
and waits but a few hours until he will be buried
at his old home in Pennsylvania. It is right and
ut, ladies and gentlemen, that we should pause
ard do this glorious subject national honor.
Without record and without notes / must speak,
and will be as brief as possible. I knew Han
cock we'll, for my memory goes back to the time
when he came to West Point, a tall, slender
boy, with fair hair and blue eyes, and a cheek
with the down of the freshly ripened peach. I
have seen him from that time until a few months
ago. He made a good name in the Mexican war.
When L got to st. Louis, a captain
in the commissary department, l found Hancock
there, developed in manly beauty. strength and
character, a regimental quartermaster still, with
the rank Of first lieutenant, a young groom of a
beautiful bride. And here permit me. ladies, to
speak of that good woman, who now is a widow,
for l know her well. She was the child, herself,
of an Ohio lady. Her parents came from
Bennett, two young men living in GAINESVILLE
as buys, eiesks in a store. found
in two beautiful creole girls their wives. These
two young men took their young girl brides to
to great eminence as merchants. When 1 went
there the house of Russell Bennett, of which
Mrs. Hancock then was the ornament and the
pride, and Hancock a handsome and
CIcSdut Eoubl6udu, Was 6uVl6O ny
all, and that house was the very
abode of happiness and hospitality such as I
have never seen surpassed, even if equaled.
From that time on General Hancock rose stead
lily in the estimation of his fellows, and when the
war broke out there was no hesitation there-not
a bit. He was a Union man-he was a soldier.
There was not one culver of the eyelid, not one
tremble of the hand. Hancock was a
soldier, a man, and a very splen-
did man, too, as you who have seen
him can bear testimony. He went into the war
with his whole heart and soul, and carried with
it experience and the teachings of West Point
the teachings of the army, the teachings of the
field. He knew the soldier from the heel up to
the top of his head. and be sympathized with
the soldier, and was himself a soldier in every
walk of life. Now, when the time came for bat
ties to be fought, here was a man who was quail
fed and capable, sustained by friends at
b ONE, encouraged by admiring companions.
When the battle of Gettysburg came Hancock
was the impersonation of the defense. l have
stood upon that very spot, behind the very
stone wall, not during the battle, but after.
wards, and there was pointed out to me the
place where Pickett's division came up and
where Hancock stood and fell; and if there ever
should be a monument erected on earth to him
that is the spot.
He had the confidence Of General Grant, of
every man who ever had Hancock on his COM
mand. myself included. He was the most loyal,
the most o%bedient, the most completely salts
factory of soldiers, never questioning an order,
loyal to the backbone, generous to a fault. and
willing to execute any order, whether he
approved it or not. l will go further,
and say that I knew Hancock on the
plains, where there was no chance for glory, no
hope of fame, nothing but abuse and hardships,
and he was the same conscientious man. anxious
to do right, anxious to fulfill the orders of his gov
eminent. anxious to complete a job upon which
he had been dispatched, snd he was generally
successful.
Now, General Hancock is dead. The big,
strong nervous man lies dead in his
house on Governors Island, and we, his
companions, may well shed a tear here tonight.
1t was a sad piece of news which came to us yes
terday. Oh. my friends. when that woman sat
at the gates of paradise, disconsolate, and ap-
pealed to the heavens what she should bring to
and forth, and finally returned with
the expired spirit of a soldier patriot,
and the gates of heaven were opened to
her. If the gates of heaven will be opened for
-