Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-05-28
THE DEAD HEROES
Robert @. IngersoIPs Famous speech mt
indianapolis.


Indianapolis
The past, as it were, rises before me
like dream. Again we are in the great
struggle for national life. We hear the
sound of preDaration-the music of
boisterous drums-the silver voices of
heroic bugles. We see thousands OF as
semblages and hear the appeals OF ora
tors; we see the pale cheeks Of women
and the flushed faces of men; and in these
assemblages we see all the dead whose
dust we have covered with flowers. We
lose sight OF them no more We are
with them when they enlist I'm the
S-e~t-s-rssy'- Of frvcNfUun We tfIUm
part with those they love. Some are
walking for the last time I'm quiet woody
places with the maideBs they adore. We
hear she whisperings and the sweet vows
OF eternal love as they liDgeringly part
forever Others are bending over era
dies kissing babes that are asleep Some
are receiving the blessings of old men.
Some are parting with mothers who hold
Them and press them to their hearts
again and again. and say nothing; and
some arr talking with wives and endeav-
orin& with brave words spoken In
bold tones, to drive away the awful fear
We see them parT We see the wife
standing ia the door with the babe i'm
her arms-standing in the sunlight sob
bing- At the turn of the road hand
waves. She answers by holding high I'm
her loving hands the child. He Is gone,
and forever
We see them all as they march proudly
away under the Haunting flags, keeping
time to the grand wild music OF war;
marching down the streets OF the great
citieS through. the towns and across the
prairies: down to the fields OF glory, to
do and to die for the eternal right
We go with them one and all; we are
by their side on all the CORY fields, in all
the hospitals of pain, in all tho. weary
marches. We stand guard with them in
the wild storm and underline quiet stars.
We are with them in the ravnes running
with blood-in the burrows of old fields,
We are with them between, cOntendng
hosts, unable. to- move, wild with thirst,
the life ebbing slowly away among the
withered leaves. We SEQ them pierced
by balls and torn with shells in the
trenches,of the forts, and in the whirl-.
wind of the CHARGE, where men became
iron with. nerves of steel.
We arc with them in the prisons of
hatred and famine, but human speech
can never tell what they endured
We are at.home when the news comes
that they are dead. We see the, maidhn
in the shadow of her sorrow We. see,
the silver head of tho old man bowed
with grief.
The past rises, before. us and we see
1000, 0O0 human, boings, governed by the
lash-we SEQ them bound hand and foot
we hear the strokes. of the. cruel whip
we see the hounds tracking women
through tangled swamps-we see tho
babes sold from tho breasts Of mothers
Cruelty unsDeakabie; outrage infinitei
FounmilliOn bOdiesin chains, 600, 600
souls in. fetters-ali the sacred rela-
tions,of wife; mother, father, and child
trampled beneath the brutal feet oil
all this done under our own
beautiful banner of the free
The past rises before us, We hear
the roar and shrek Of the.bursting shell.
The broken letters fall Their heroes
died! We. look, and instea d of slaves we |
see men, women, and children The |
wand OF progress touches the auction |
block, the slave pen, and the whipping |
post, and we see homes and fresdes, |
schOolhouses and books, and where all |
was want and crime and cruelty and |
fear, we see the faces of the free.
Those heroes are dead. They died for |
liberty; they died for US. They are at |
rest They sleep in the land they made |
free, under the flag they rendered stain
less, under the solemn pines. the sad
hemlock, the fearful willows, the en-
braeing, vines. They sleep beneath the
shadows OF the clouds, careless alike OF
or storm, each I'm the window
less palace of rest. Earth may run red
with other wars-they are at peace. In
the midst of battle, in the roar of con-
fict they found the serenity of death. 1
have one sentiment for the soldiers liv-
Ing and dead-cheers for the living,
tears for the dead.