News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-06-19
MEMORIAL ADDRESS,
BEFORE THE OLD BRIGADE POST, NO. Al, AT
JOHNSON, FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1871, BY REV
N. C. SAUNDERS.

BEFORE THE OLD BRIGADE POST, NO. Al, AT
JOHNSON, FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1890, BY REV
N. c. SAUNDERS.
COMMANDER, MEMBERS OF THE IL A. H.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:-The Day we ceie-
brate is fast becoming the one great day oil the
nation; celebrated alike by North and South.
The Fourth of July has in these later years
lost the expression of sturdy PATRIOTISM
which was given to its celebration by the
fathers.
Memorial Day has n freshness and force
that is wanting in the older day. 1t means
for us the decoration of the graves OF our
fallen heroes We have this day placed our
tributes of respect upon the sacred spots
where rest our departed patriots, ana nave
woven some chaplets for the graves OF our
brave men who sleep in the sunny Southland
We NAV never drop tear nor plant Hover
on the spot where they rest; but on this day
above all Others they seem to stand before
us, as we saw them leaving the home ana
saying the last good bye.
This day has a deeper meaning to You vet
Grams of the Post, than it can have to us.
You have stood upon the Battle field, you
have seen the carnage of war, you amid the
roar of battle have seen the dead and wound
ed fall at your side you have rushed on TO
victory or fallen back in defeat 1ou formed
a part of these things, and from the nature
of the case it must have deeper meaning to
you.
While you remain, let the principles which
shall move mind and heart in the celebration
of Memorial Day become fixed, and the day
cannot degenerate into a round OF amuse-
ments You who wore the Blue must shape
the celebration of the day now. In twenty
five years and you will all sleep with your
fallen comrades. If through your lead the
day teach us and our children lessons of 10y
atty to the Nation and State we love, the
mission of Memorial Day shall be fulfilled.
In addressing you on this occasion | pro
L thn Of no
of Vermont, in the war for the restoration of
the union, sundered by the passing of the Or
dinance of secession in the closing days of
1860, and the opening days of 81. Not be
ing a participation in this my information,
must of necessity, be borrowed. For my
facts am indebted largely to Benedict's yer
mont in the Civil War, to the Century Maya
zine and various Histories.
The elimination of events that made the
\ war fact in the nations History, found the
/ South fairly well equipped for war, Not per
laps planning for the war which their seces-
sion brought about; though one of the
chief actors in the Secession of North Caro-
lima declared that it had been gathering
Roadway for thirty years. All this time cir
cumstances led them to cherish a military
spirit. Their military organization had been
kept alive, and their Notifications equipped.
Not so had it been i'll the North Here were
few forts few arsenals, no militia no military
spirit, or military knowledge, save that Sc
cured DIV the SCHOOLS IL ne arsenal al SPRING
field, Mass, had been robbed of 13O, 600
stand of arms, and without question they
had been transferred to Southern ports
More than this, in the North firm the
attachment to the union that they would not
believe that any state could break from it.
1t seemed hard to believe that the threats of
the South meant anything very serious. 1t
took some time to learn that the action TAX
en- by the seeding States was not great
practical joke.
Among the New England States Vermont
was the first to move. On the 9TH of Jan.
81, Gov. Fairbanks wrote to Gov. Andrew
of Massachusetts to the state of affairs i'll
the nation, the same evening Gov. Andrew
sent messengers to Vermont and other New
England States on the same subject and
urged immediate preparation to send the
militia to guard the capitol, as the conteder
ates were expecting to take it before March
4th In Congress as well as at home YER
mont took a leading part in preparation for
defence of the union. Jan. Dad Senator Col
amer of Vermont, introduced into the Senate
the only practical measure of resistance thus
far made, viz: that the President be instruct
ed to close the ports and suspend the U. 5.
Mail Service in the Seeding States
March 4th passed. No attempt was openly
made to stay the Inauguration service. The
North was still hopeful. The new President,
the martyred Lincoln, still held out the olive
branch of peace to the belllgerent States.
Many in the South were loyal to the union,
and had the question of Secession been sub
mitted to the people it is exceedingly doubt
full if it had passed. Many in the North were
opposed to the war, some for one reason
some for another.
But when on the 18th of April hostilities
actually begun by the firing upon Fort
Sumpter, both were united, the North to pre-
serve the Union and the South for Secession.
That act was the crossing of the Rubicon
which meant death or success to the secession
movement.
A call to arms on the part of the Union was
the immediate result. Seventy-fve thousand
men for three months were asked for. YER
mont'S quota was $50 men. In few DAYS
the companies to form this regiment were in
active drill. A spirit akin to that which
moved their revolutionary sres now moved
the Sons of Vermont. War meetings were
held throughout the State. The people were
aroused. In the enthusiasm which filed the
public mind party lines were obliterated. The
Union shall be sustained. The wives, mothers
and sisters, were not second in their efforts to
equip the soldier As far as loving, and loyal
hands could do so he should be made com
Portable on march and tented field. A single
purpose moved all classes. All hearts seemed
fused into one. 1t was as if the whole State had
a single heart, but many heads, and many
hands, to plan and minister to the one pur-
pose that moved the hour. Fortune, energy
and time were put under tribute, that success
be won. Money flowed in to equip soldiers
and provide for their families, funds were put
under control of the State and National gov
ernments for such purposes as seemed best
The Legislature, the first twenty -four hours
of its session, voted 81 200, 900 for war pur-
poses. In forty-two hours from its opening
session the Legislature had passed all need
full bills, for the equipment of six additional
regiments, and had added 800 per month
state pay beyond the $1,000 offered by the
government as soldiers wages. Power was
also given to the governor to equip all need
full regiments. Thus | believe, Vermont was
the first state in the union to raise the pay of
the soldier by state tax, and this in State
where the average pay of the laborer is less
than in almost any other state in the Union.
During the war almost SIC, 900, 900 was Civ
en- from Vermont for war purposes.
From the time the first call was made on
April 18th. 1861, till the 18th Regiment was
marched from their peaceful homes among
the green hills to the bloody carnage of the
battle of the wilderness on May 9th, 1864,
the work of recruiting went bravely on. Not
always with the same enthusiasm with which
it began, but with the same determination
that the union be sustained though it called
for the last man. When the glamour and show
of dress parade on the home encampments
were exchanged for the weary march and the
bloody field, when the comforts of home food
and hreside were given up for army fare, and
camp fire and no fire, when the freedom of
home life had been surrendered for the re-
straints of the soldier in the ranks, whose
duty as Tennyson so aptly puts it
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die
When these exchanges had been actually
made, the novelty was gone and the heroism
had become very common. Nothing but pat
riOtism could fill the ranks with men effective
for service.
There were few conscripts in the Vermont
Regiments. The total number of soldiers
from this State was 5.242, which is more
than one-tenth of the total population of the
state and more than half the able bodied
men between the ages of Is and 40 years.
Vermont has the record of having the small
est per cent of able bodied men of age to bear
arms, but she sent 500 more men to the seat
of war than was her quota. fyou take into
the account the native NermOnters who as