Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-06-23
sg1SsPTER'S GUN.
colonel Robert G.. ingersOli on the
First Gun OF the War.


For about three-quartcrs of a cen
tury the statesmen, that is to say, the
politicians of the North and South,
had been busy making compromises,
adopting constitutions and enactng
laws; busy in making speeches, franz
ing platforms and political pretsnses
to the end that liberty and slavery
might dwell in peace and friendship
under the same flag.
Arrogance on one side, hypocrisy |
on the other.
Right apologized to Wrong for
the sake Of the Union.
The sources of justice we're pois-
oned and patriotism became the de-
fender Of piracy.
In the name Of humanity mothers
were robbed of their babes.
Thirty years ago to. day shot was
fred, and in a moment all the prom
ises, all the laws, all the constitutional
amendments and all the idiotic and
heartless decisions OF courts, and all
tho speeches of orators inspired by
the hope of place and power, were
blown into rags and rawlings, pieces
and patches.
The North and South had been
masquerading as friends, and in a mo-
ment, while the sound of the shot was
ringing in their ears, they faced each
other as enemies.
The roar Of that cannon announced
the birth of a new epoch. The echoes
of that shot went ont not only over
the bay of Charleston, but over the
hills, the prares and forests Of the
continent.
These echoes said marvellous things
and uttered prophecies that none
were wise enough to understand.
Who at that time had the slightest
conception Of the immediate future?
Who then was great enough to see
the end? Who then was wise enough
to know that the echoes would be
kept alive and repeated for years by
thousands and thousands of canon, by
millions Of muskets, on the fields of
ruthless war?
At that time Abraham Lincoln, an
Illinois lawyer, was barely a month
in the Presidents chair, and that shot
made him the most commanding and
majestic figure OF the nineteenth cen
tury-a figure that stands alone.
Who could have guessed the names
of the heroes to be repeated by count
less lips before the echoes Of that shot
should have died away?
There was at that time a young
man at Galena, silent, unohtrusive,
unknown; and yet, the moment that
shot was fred he was destined to lead
the greatest host ever marshalled on
field Of war, destined to receive the
final sword of the rebellion.
There was another in the Southwest
who heard one of the echoes of the
shot, and who afterward marched
from Atlanta to the sea; and another,
far away by the Pacific, who also
heard one Of the echoes, and who be-
came one of the immortal three.
But, above all, the echoes were
heard by millions of men and women
in the fields Of unpaid toll, and they
knew not the meaning, but felt that
they had heard prophecy Of free,
dom. Aud the echoes told Of death
and glory for many thousands--of
the agouies of women-the sobs Of
orphans-the signs of the imprisoned
and the glad shouts Of the delivered,
the enfrauchised, the redeemed.
They who fred that gun did not
dream that they We're giving liberty
to millions Of people, including them
selves; white, as we'll as black, North
as well as South, and that before the
echoes should die away all the shack
les would be broken, all the constitu-
tiOns and statutes of slavery repealed
and all the compromises merged and
lost in a great compact made to pre-
serve the liberties of all,