The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-08-12
PAW PAW. MICH, AUG. ~, 1891.


The silver anniversary of the Grand
Army of the Republic is the thrtieth
anniversary of the real beginning of
the civil war in the United States.
There were engagements in June and
July, 1861, before the battle of Bull Run,
July 81, but up To that time there had
been less than 100 men killed on the
Union side in all the engagements AT
the battle of Bull Run the Union loss
was 4S1 killed and / oil wounded. The
Confederate loss was 900 killed and
1,4S3 wounded. The next considerable
battle of the war was at Wilson's Creek,
Missouri, Aug. 10, where 223 men were
killed and 721 wounded Between that
time and Dec. 81, 1861, there were
twenty battles OF engagements, the
heaviest loss coming in the engagement
at Balls Bluff, Va, October 81 During
the year 1862 eighty-siX battles or en-
gagements were fought, many of them
with heavy losses. War had then be-
gun in earnest. Over one hundred bat
ties were fought in 1868, fifty in 1864,
and twenty four in the first three
months of 1865.
Many of the most desperately wound
ed still survive. Thousands of those
whose wounds at the time were re-
garded as not serious died from their
effects in few years. Thousands who
counted exposure and privation as
nothing, carried through years of suf-
fering heavy burdens of disease that
originated in exposure and ended only
at the grave. Thousands of men who
came out of the army hoping for only
few more years of life, are still living
active and energetic in business pur-
suits. Some of the strongest and most
long life, have fallen by the wayside.
Thousands are now receiving pensions
who twenty-five years ago would have
scorned the idea of asking assistance
from any one. Their army life had in
culcated sublime faith in the Nation
and in themselves. Three or four hun
dred thousand men who in 1865 and
1866 were ready and willing to march
into Mexico under Grant had the spirit
of conquering legions. They were so
strong then that the opponents of the
war and the enemies of the Union stood
in awe of them, and very little was said
against the soldiers or the cause they
fought for. The time was when blow
from a soldiers hand followed quick on
any rebellious or disloyal utterance.
But the hundreds of thousands of sol
ders trained and disciplined to fight, to
strike, to shoot, were melted into the
legions of peace. No people were less
self-assertive than the old soldiers-not
because they cared less for the princi-
pies for which they fought, but because
their work as soldiers was done and
their careers as citizens were to be
made. Some of the humblest private
soldiers in the ranks have attained hon
orable positions at the bar and on the
bench, in legislative halls and on the
busy marts of trade. Some of the hard
est fighters in the storm of battle have
been almost helpless in the drifting
times of peace. But, whether success
full or otherwise, they are willing to
stand on the record of their service in
the army.
The silver anniversary of the Grand
Army of the Republic marks the close
g ho - ,Nf In,.
peace secured by four years of war
The survivors among the men who
fought the battles of the war have had
twenty-five years of peaceful life. They
have seen the country grow from one
torn by dissension and in part devas-
tated by war to one of the most pow
erful, most prosperous nations of the
earth. 1t was meet that they should
celebrate such an anniversary as they
did at Detroit last week.
There are now on the rolls Of the e.
A. r. 444, 900 names. This does not in
clude many thousands of old soldiers
who have never joined the organiza-
ton, but who retain as much of the
spirit of comradeship as though they
were charter members of the order
The G. A. r., as General Veazey said
in his address last Wednesday, has
reached high.water mark. Nearly six
thousand members of the order died
during the year, and there are now no
recruiting grounds. OF course the per
centage of mortality in the member
ship grows greater with each succeed
ing year, and a few more years and to
the last roll-call on earth the veterans
of '61-'65 will have responded.