River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-05-31
genLLemea d the Grana Armg-

I -
| address delivered by Rev. Father Connolly. Of
St Bridgets Church, before the Grand Army
Post Of River Falls, ON Sunday, May o. lsSs.i
/ Gentlemen Of the Grand Army
/ thank you very cordially for the
| honor YOU bestow on me this day: The
honor of the privilege of addressing
You on Decoration sunday" accOrds
exactly with the principles which L
am supposed to represent; the princi-
| pies of Peace and BrOtherly Love. In
| bonoring me then, you honor not the
| individual so much as the principles
he advocates and which should be the
characteristic elements in the life of
every true Soldier of the Christian Re-
| ligiOn. Priests and laymen alike are
| soldiers upon whose banners should be
/ Inscribed Fidelity to Gods Word,
| Obedience TO Superiors, and unbound
/ ed charity to all--which is Christ
| like. The attainment of these ends as
| means to eternal happiness is your
main Object, / have no doubt. We
shall see in the sequel how you labor
| ed and strOve for their accomplish
| ment. You Obeyed Gods word faith
| fully in battling Tor your country; you
| offered your very lives upon your
country's altar. You shed your blood
To wash out the stigma of dissensiOD;
and you put the seal of UNITY fOTeUer
| upon The Magma Charta of American
| Independence. The all bit inspired
'Deci0rdtiOR" and which is cherished
and preserved as the grandest and
/ most appreciated among the innumer-
able offerings of the Jubilee of the
Holy Father Leo xiii. now happily
| reigning. Thanks to our worthy Pres
ident for this most appropriate gift.
"Dulce ct decOrum est pro patria
mort The love of country is akin
| to, and next to the love of God. You
| Obeyed your superior officers right
manfully and Loyalty as the results
prove. your great Generals testify,
and we enjoy the fruitiOn of your la
Dor in the unity which is godlike in
| this our great Republic. And now,
my braves of the Grand Army, on this
| anniversary decoration" day you
will tread with even step and strong
| will to extend to your brother soldier
of either side the hand of Charity
which becomes You. Thus you be-
come Christ like and fulfill the three
essential elements of the Christian
/ Soldier-fidelity, obedience and broth
erly love. Decorate therefore the
green sod which envelopes the mortal
remains of the dead patriots. Heroes
of both sides are to be honored and
| let us in charity say, that all were
| patriots according TO their lights.
/ De nlOrtuis nil RiSi bOHuHt. When it
was noised abroad that secession flung
| its Unholv banner to the breeze, when
1 D. fFarnlsYR in laai IT Convened
| decreed Dec. 20, 1860, that 1.-The union
now subsisting between South Caro-
lima and other states, under the name
of the United States of America. is
! hereby dissolved, you buckled Oh
sword and helmet, and swOre, that the
God of battles, the God of Justice, the
God of humanity would not permit it,
| for humanity was at stake. Slavery
in its grOsSest aspect disgraced our
virgin soil, aud SLdUery should be lgiped
out for the honor Of humanity. You
marched to the music of the clang
and click of sword aid rifle, to the
rattle of the drum and musket; you
faced the whiZzing bullet, the belch-
ing cannon; you held aP the flag OF
Union" and right IObly did you sue
ceed-for not even the smallest of the
| stars in the armament of that noble
flag was allowed to drop out from the
| grand cluster Illuminating the great
est and grandest country upon Gods
footstoOl.
You fought for your country, You
achieved the grandest victory on the
| worlds record, and to-day you reap
the harvest. the richest and sweetest,
because Of the seasoning, liberty and
| freedom which we enjoy in This holy
| federation of states known the world
over as the .'home and refuge" of the
oppressed and downtrOdden of every
other land. Your success is all the
more surprising and glorious when we
| consider the attitude of European ma
tions toward you, then as nor. | had
rare opportunity at that time, of
| knowing the sentiments and feelings
of ''our' beloved English troopers and
statesmen. In college in old Ireland
preparing in the elementaries of
Greek and Latin classics, in view of
my aspiration to the Priesthood. We
students had the extreme felicity of
being Strengthened ont every Monday
morning, of having chests expanded,
heads erected, toes turned out, heels
turned in, by "A Sergent Major of a
band of red coated militia. then and
now bToOding like frogs spawn in
that little town on the banks of the
Rhea-LOnghrea, the most peaceful
and the most religious little burg or
villa in the world. Poor students
YOU know cannot do much. but you
may talk of White-hedt-GHger. and of
blood boiling for the chance of a le-
gally waged war directed against
those imperioLs red coated warriors.
and lordly captains, you may imagine
our feelings when our ears listened to
the chuckle. and eyes beheld the sneer
of these men. at the impudence of
those raw recruits. and undisciplined
officers out in the wilds of America
foOlishly trying TO bring order out of
chaos. unity out of such a variety of
discordant elements One "Heng-
hsh'' general would drive the ''blarst-
ed set to IL. Many of us nearly
pinned away with grief at such eX-
pressiOns. and such hatred for the
people beyond the sea. among whom
our lot was to be some day cast, and
in whose armies our brothers were
lighting, for the common gOOd--the
| preservation of the Home aud Ref
uge. " / had letters now and then fIom
my brother JOhnswho was one OF
Sherman's '.Bumm -" who went
through from beginn. 4, to end of the
war. To this day l can repeat many
of his war pen pictures, and the
names of the kennesaw mountain, the
Lookout mountains, Chattanooga,
GOldsboro, North Carolina, Savannah,
Georgia. Atlanta, etc, are deeply en-
craven on the tablets of my memory,
Just from the reading of his letters.
He is now a farmer in Swift Co.,
MINI. European governments looked
forward to almost the complete ami
hilation of this Republic, LIST because
of the various elements which COM
posed our national life. and the varie-
ty of races which made up the rank
and file of our vast armies, and ID be-
cause of the intriguing and plotting
nay, the ''undisguised favor of the
British government toward the Con-
federacy; not to mention the Alabama
affair and the many vessels built ey-
pressly for the Confederates in Brit.
, fish ship-yaTds il is an historical fact.
that Immediately on che news of the
, attack upon Fort Sumpteg, the Queen
& - ssraf fftr