The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1889-05-31

] vf lie. Those who began with ihe be-
/ ginning and remained until the end of IN
I contest b al seen more actual warfare thar
the grizzlrd veterans % foreign armies: bu
| what was this 20 their advantage now
/ The manned and disasled had pensions
I but the vast mass had - make their way a
best they could, with but little practica
/ sympathy and very few allowances for the
years which they had lost from the rank.
l of industry. That. under the circum.
/ stances. 50 many m ade their way 10 the
front ranks OF life is most complimentary
/ 10 the metal OF the citizen soldier and the
| general character of the volunteer army.
The graves ana cemeteries Of the war
contain the dust Of but moity of the sol
dirr dead Times deadly valleys OF hours
sud years have swept on the survivors.
For long time they held their ranks well:
but after the passage of a score OF years
they began To fall as they did during the
eventful ears OF service. Tie calling of
the names Of the absent and gone az each
annual meeting OF the Grand Army sounds
like the roll call after q battle. except that
the dead are far more scattered. The re-
spouse comes back from places that never
knew the sound OF conflict. From distant
continents, from foreign lands, from the
Is lands of the sea. from the sea itself. come
back the names OF those who can no
longer answer for themselves In
the explorations of the Arctic, in the
tangled thickets of the African continent
in many an Indian hight upon the plains, in
wherever action and duty called them, the
survivors of the war have given their lives
az freely as did those tfey left upon the
fields OF battle. And in justice TO most of
them. be il said that wherever they met
their final summons, they died in the line
Of duty. Wherever men do that they die
on the field of honor. Wherever our com
radeS lie they are entitled 20 a soldiers OBJ
s.qu'rs and the memories of this day. In
sil the sleepy old villages of the east you
cannot find quiet graveyard over which
flags may not be waved and flowers strewn
Ia honor OF some soldiers dust; and in
these new graves, dug out here in the
lands Unknown at the uule of the war, We
ind that there arr soldiers graves and
comrades gathered here 20 honor them
During ali the war. as for ages before,
this great river dashed over It's rucks and
falls IN its own battle of waters, the sound
of its own dashings alone ecnOing in the
solItudes, unvrXed by the sound OF battle
that rolled along the Potomac, the Cumber-
land and the Mississippi Soon. under the
wall that you have newly raised, we Will
hud the graves OF comrades who fought
beside those distant rivers, that you might
found here city and a state which should
be part and parcel of the one great and I'M
divided union Of American states, over
which should float, without one star lost,
The nag that waved above the cradles of
your infancy. And so. you gather beside
this beautiful stream, tnat We may say
these feeble words of prEse, and that your
drums and honOrs InAy add the notes of
soldiers requiem TO the niurmur of waters
and the dashing OF the waves.
In the last few years, nearly all the great
chiefs of the armies have crossed over the
river To the shsdowy camps of the hosts
who had gone before. Grant, the general
in chief of all our armies, fighting in his
last DAYS for time to 6nish the book which
after all his labOrs was to be the only heri-
tage OF his wife and children, his body
slowly wasting by disease. his mind calm
-. a a..
AcGregOr and his Will uDshaken as its
rocky base, passed away with words of
love and cOuusels of smity for all his cOuu-
trymen. Mcclellan, the s st great organ
izer OF our armies, who took the rough
metals out of the untailiLg mines of pat
riOtism and forged it between thu hammer
and anvil of discipline into a weapon tilted
for the mighty arm of freedom, my per
sOnal chief, the most knightly and chival-
ric figure of the war. the leader of the sec.
superb in action. honest and true in admin |
stration. leaving behind him as an estate |
lnly name crowned with glory and ex-
ample OF duty, patriotism and honor more |
10 mis- eountrymeu than all /
he aceumulatiOns of all the money /
yetters. That gallant volunteer, Gen. /
John A. Logan, the especial delight OF the \
frand Army, has left the august place /
given to him by his state to join his great /
Ii is common IN the Grand i
Army 10 dwell upon the names of those /
hat we have lost since the last annual mus
ier on Memorial Day. 1 s,eak to a new /
post, which has yet had none mustered out /
ly death, but which has taken the name of /
he last geDeral-in chief of the army of the /
United States, a name that Will stand upon |
he pages of the world as that of one of the /
Sreat soldiers of the age, name of incarnate /
mercy, courage and warlike genius. the
lame of Philip II. sheridan. You could |
lot have come down here To the waters
,dge to be baptized with a name more fit
ing for a company of soldiers, for ii car
les in it every martial excellence and ev-
,ry soldierly qualification. BY the author
" of the department commander, | here
iellver 20 your keeping the charter for
Sheridan Post of the Grand Army of the
Iepubic:" and 1 can give you no higher
than to do such honor to the
lame as the name does honor 10 you
Mai. Maginnls then traced in rapid re-
Jew the career of Gen. sheridan during
ne war. lie spoke of his heroic deeds at
Missionary Ridge. in the Shenandoah val
ep and In the final campaign, of which he
vas the inspiring genius. He described in
athletic terms The death and burial of his
elOvsd commander. and concluded with
ribute to the pioneers of Montana, who as
veil as Custer, Gibbons and other heroes
ad made this hallowed ground.