Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1889-06-07

way into the future. Why does such n
conflict appear in our history? In no
other country would 1t have been pos
sible, because no other country present.
ed the necessary conditions. In ours,
IL was a necessity, as inevitable as the
fiat of the Almighty. One great qncs-
ton demanded solution. All other
questions were subordinate. All results
of the conflict, other than the solution
of this question, great and important
Ms they are, are only incidental. The
question, to determine which, half n
million men Of the North and IN ,qial
number of the South laid down their
lives, was, "aro we u nation or only q
ConfederacyW
The question had been dpbnted in
Congress in one way AMI another for
more than quarter of n century. 1t
had long been favorite theory of
Southern statesmen, led Ivy Calhoun,
that the United States is not n nation {;
that 1t has no inherent cohesive power !;
that il is but partnership of States {;
that the Constitution is merely the
articles of copartnership; and that the
partnership may he dissolved at the
pleasure of any one of the states which
are its members.
The statesmen of the North, led by
Webster, contended for an indissoluble
Union, an indestructible nationality, n
Constitution which no citizen could
assail without the guilt of treason.
1t was to settle this question that the
men, whose graves we decorate, laid
down their lives. The doctrine which
| have stated as contended for by the
South was called the doctrine of Estates
rights" The doctrine Of Secession was
its legitimate offspring. The men who
advocated this doctrine were able men.
In a certain sense they were far seeing
men. They foresaw that the Nation
could not continue to exist half free,
and half slave. They perceived the ir-
| rcconcilable antagonism between free
labor and slave labor. They had long
directed the policy of the Government
in the interest of their favorite institu-
ton but they foresaw that the newt
able growth of the North in population
and wealth, would deprive them of
their power, They therefore determined
to establish an independent nationality
with slavery as its corner stone The
election of 1860, of a president believed
to be hostile to the institution of slavery,
furnished the excuse and MS they
thought, the opportunity to subvert the
Constitution and dissolve the Union.
To preserve the Union and maintain the
Constitution was the only object of the
myriads of the North who left the farm,
the workshop and the counting room
for the camp and the battlefield
| Many of the results of the conflict
were unforeseen at Its beginning. No
one foresaw the abolition of slavery,
the changes in the constitution, the
Acknowledgement of the negro or the
enactment of the civil rights law,
But am DEPRESSING, me speak
of the army itself - the mighty instru-
ment by which these changes were
wrought.
1t was remarkable organization.
Probably in no other country and under
no other government would its like be
possible.
We read of the innumerable hosts of
| Alexander, of Xerxes, of Cyrus, of
Caesar and of Napoleon. The army of
the Union was the equal of these in
numbers and far surpassed them In all
that makes an army truly heroic. The
hordes who composed the armies of
Alexander and Xerxes and Cyrus and
Caesar and Napoleon, were men who
entered the army as u means OF subsist-
ance, or because they dared not disre-
gard the demands of despotic sover-
eign. They were but little removed
from slavery. They were not actuated
by patriotism. Patriotism is the child
of Liberty. They knew nothing of
liberty, and were therefore strangers to
the emotions of patriotism. To them,
war meant only bloodshed, conquest,
rapIne aud plunder. Not SO with the
rank and file of the Union Army. 1t
consisted of men who had been nursed
at the breast of liberty and fed upon
the bread of Independence. They came
from the farm, the workshop and the
store; from the college, the pulpit and
the bar. From every station in life,
equipped for the conflict, they sprang
forth almost as suddenly as the warriors
of Roderlc Dhu sprang from the heather
clad side of Ben Ledi. Not for conquest,
or glory or renown did they come, but
to preserve the Union from destruction
and the flag oil their country from dis
honor.
Prompted by lofty patriotism, and
filled with the energy begotten of in
telllgence and independence, they
formed an army, the like whereof had
never been known since warfare began.
To them war was the performance of n
stern and periious duty. That duty
they discharged with vigor an per-
sistency heretofore unknown in mil
itary history. For four years they
knew no roof but the open sky. One
thousand miles of latitude and fifteen
hundred OF longitude measure the axes
: OF their evolutions. The,area measures
a million and half square miles.
III you Will combine Great Britain,
France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Den
mark, Norway, Sweden Span and
! Portugal into single Empire and place
it on our map, it will not cover the field
of their operations. Not only was their
, field of operations extensive; their
, fighting was incessant.
/ In the Vicksburg campaign they
, fought twenty-five battles in twenty
three successive days and each day
} scored Il victory for the Union. Through.
, oul, the war, they fought two hundred
; and sixty-five engagements, or an
, average of eleven week. The engage
, ments, in which the loss on one side
, exceeded one hundred in killed and
wounded and missing, averaged one
for every four and half days.
, The Army was no less remarkable fol
the manner of its warfare and the dis.
) cipline it maintained, than for its mum
} bers and the scope of its operations.
+ Time honOred military theories aud
! traditional rules for conducting cam
) paigns were abandoned. Grants siege
, of Vicksburg and Sherman's march Ia
/ the sea astonishcd the military cOmman-
ders of the old world, and revolutioniztd
the theories which formerly bound an
army to its base of supplies. What was
the secret of it all? Was il the superior
: geneialship of the Union commanders
! Not this alone. 1t was the intelligence
and vigor and virtue of the rank and
file. In point of intelligence and self
respect, the private soldier of the Union
) was often the peer of the officer whose
command he obeyed. Had he been less
intelligent, less self-rcspcctihg, less self
sacrificing, such campaigns would have
, been impossible, even under such leaders
as Grant, and Sherman and Sheridan
I We honor ourselves in doing honor u
the memory oi the rank and file who
Q fought in such an army and yielded
. their lives in such cause. Their lives
rnn,inl mo that