The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-07-04


tempt to talk; Standing in the very twilight
OF age, with tne nelds Of more than eighty
ycars gathered around me, can see and feel
my physical infirmity, and that alone Should
be an excuse for my not attempting to speak,
| 1t must be. But there is still better ex
cuse than that. With no train of thought
for the occasion, and no intention of even
uttering single word, l have got a very
and that tells me that 1t would be extremely
| foolish for me to attempt to mar the harmony
OF this occasion by speaking after the elo-
| quent words OF our poet, our orator and our
| gallant general. [Applause.l l am glad to
be with you. 1t warns my heart 1t makes
| the pulses leap and thrOb to be ina scene like
this, and while from age 1 am obliged to ask
| you to excuse me from attempting to talk,
at having been with you, and shall remem-
Der the meeting in the little while that shall
| leave me memory. Applause,
Calls for Gen. Howard were next heard
and the general was the cause of another
ovation. His remarks follow
Gen. o. o. howard's Speech.
Comrades and Companions l do not know
| anything worse for a man than to follow
| such orators and such poet as those that
have preceded me; and as know that you
only want to call ms out and Just take look
| for old times sake, come here. But want
| to tell you one thing that perhaps you do not
know. have so long belonged to the United
States, that perhaps you do not know
| that this Is my state-the state of
| Maine [applausel And do you know that l
| love it almost as much as some Of those COM
| panions of mine used to profess to love South
| Carolina. And after going the world over
| not quite so extensively, however, as Gen.
| Sherman come back to find that the place
where l was born, up in Leeds, on the north
side Of the great hill, where it takes in the
| White Mountains in one direction, and the
| Androscoggin pond in the other, and all the
| town round about, was the handsomest place
In the world [applausel.
listened with great attention to the ora
tor of the day, and think it was a marvel
GUS production Applause. And l began
to get frightened before he got through for
fear l should be left out of the Army of the
Potomac, l did so long to be in there. My
first duty was at the first battle of Bull Run,
and then commanded brigade after brigade,
somehow they assigned me to one and then
to another; but was in that Army of the
Potomac, and | was in that old Second
Corps, and my heart, aside from my own
personality and egotism, rejoiced as he gave
it due praise. And think that Gen. Sher-
man would never have dared TO criticize the
Army Of the Potomac if he had stayed there
little longer. But somehow they sent him
West soon, and after a while they sent some
of the rest Of us. Well, L followed him good
many times, and l am glad to follow him to-
day to any place excepting to his last resting
place. never want to follow him there.
was thinking about coming up here after
my name was called, when heard some Of
my friends calling me- Once was
coming up the very stairs down
there to this room, when this hall was
been burned down and rebuilt since, it seems
to me to be about as big as it was then, but
more joyous. | was coming up the stairs, and
there was an old gentleman from G0rham
coming in. 1t was just after lost my arm
at Fair Oaks. and as was coming along /
heard him say, Il want to see General How
asid." well" said. 81 can show him to
You You am General Howard "Oh. nc" he
said, you ale not" "Yes," l said, Il am"
WELL" he said, y was Is never nI more disap-
took back littlel of it when he said, mo
man ever did come up tony expectafl ION laugh
teri except Daniel Webster" [LOIe~ ap-
| plausel.
Gen. Devens was the next speaker. These
are his words to the veterans:
Gen. Devens's Speech.
Mr.. President and Comrades:
| l am glad to be with you upon this occa.
| sion. Boards are a little more gray; voices
are losing little of their old melody, but
after all, the heart, | am sure, does not
| guished soldier who sits upon our platform
! that. although we would not undertake to-
| day to march with his soldiers, that we
would not undertake to man9uvre so as to
Sdlu Iu0 llduh VI tuC Cu0Luy ny Idplu anu
| quick movements yet, place US behind a
| good stone wall or even stout rail fence
and think i. would -haua To ha-a
strong party, to put US out if we
| going to stay. [Applausel l have enjoyed
myself immensely this afternoon with this
description of the grand review which took
place at Washington. My own duty on that
| day was elsewhere. was in command of
| the troops that day that occupied Rich
mond. A fortunate division my own had
been because we had seen that we could
| take it and avail ourselves of the victory that
| the Army of the Potomac had won without
losing man ourselves. Laughter and ap-
| plause.]
Gen. Devens referred eoquently to the
| grand review at Washington and said that
the great armies of the Union were one.
There is no soldier of the Army of the Poto-
| mac who will not admit that the victories
won in the West were the means by which
that great army of the East was enabled to
sustain itself through its career Of alternate
| victory and defeat until it struck its final
blow and at last put to route its great rival
the Army of Northern Virginia. In closing
Gen. Devens paid graceful tribute TO Gen.
Walker, the orator of the day, who has aided
so much to gild with renewed lustre the battle
Scared standards of the gloriousArmy of the
Potomac. [Applause.
The navy was next represented, Admiral
Gherardi speaking as follows:
Admiral Cherardi's Speech.
Comrades Of the ,Arny Of the Potomac,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
l am very glad to be here with you today
| although when received orders to bring
| the fleet, which have the honor to command,
to Portland to take part in the celebration
/ have listened to the speeches
here with much pleasure. the PHASES Of the
Army of the Potomac by the orator of the
| ID. o,,d Of tbo A of tba VVact hxyi itc
liant commander. 1t seems to me, gentle
men, that General Sherman's criticisms of
the Army of the Potomac were too harsh,
considering the fact that they were so near
Washington. Laughter.l Again, ladies
and gentlemen, thank you for calling upon
| me.
Gen. F1tz John Porter spoke next. He,
like all the other speakers, was warmly re-
ceived, and said:
Cen. Fitz John Porter's Speech.
Friends and Colcrades:
"You can scarce expect one Of my age to
| speak in public on the STAGE" and that for
the first time, and after the noble examples
| that have been set before you by those who
have preceded me, but will do my best and
| say few words to you. 1t was my good for
tune to join you soon after your first leader
| took command Of you 1t was my pleasure
| then to be placed over portion OF the COM
mand of what afterwards became the Army
elements Of which that army was organized.
| In little while that army soon became un-
der the excellent leadership of the best or
ganizer that ever was in or connected with
our armies, one of the best disciplined and
best organized armies that ever saw.
make no comparison at all between the
army of the east and the armies of the west
| knew nothing of the armies Of the west
In little while portion of the Army of the
Potomac became so well disciplined, drilled
and organized that from their commander
came the Recommendation made to the whole
army, that the regulars should take good
care tnat they were not excelled by por-
ton Oh the Army of the Potomac. The re-
putati0n that was then given to that por-
tion spread throughout the Army Of the
Potomac and all became equal. and il he
came such thatour opponents. who were as
good soldiers as ever lived, felt il, and felt
It to their bitter end, but now l think to
their good
AS l look now upon you all from an ele-
waited station, 1t is somewhat in the same
light that did many time from the skies
in balloon, where saw not only the good
armies on our own side but the armies on
the opposite side. have now to say to my
good friends, and to this Army, that then,
as it is now, and as | believe that in case of
any future war it will be. your children will
be the noblest exam Piles of the highest type
of Americans. Applause.