The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-06-04

d not OF this State I am TO speak to-day,
nor Of her $1,000 brave boys. State lines
were obliterated in the last war, the Iowa |
soldier was an American soldier, he be-
longed to the whole country, he fought |
for the whole country, and laid down |
his arms only when its unity and auton- |
omy had been guaranteed. The accident
OF birth or place OF residence or OF en-
listment is nothing, but the atcakened
impulse, the aroused principle of pa-
triotism which impelled these brave men
to give themselves to their country, is
everything.
Ours was q wonderful army, both as to
its magnitude and it's make up. It was
eminently heterogeneous; there were
whole regiments OF Germans in it, whole
regiments OF Irishmen, men of Norman
antecedents and men Of Anglo-Saxon
blood, men born amid the mountain
peaks and the SHOWS OF north Europe,
and men from the lands OF the sunny
skies, men Of black skins but white hearts
whose forefathers were brought in slave.
ships from the sands OF Africa by the
fathers Of men who enslaved them. They
came from the great cities Of the East
and from the broad prairies Of the West,
from the pine forests Of Maine, down
from the mountains of Vermont, from
the place where the Pilgrim Fathers land
ed, from all New England; they turned
out sooty AMI black from the coal mines
Ut Pennsylvania; they came from all the
central States, from the banks OF the
Ohio, from the valley ct the Mississippi,
and from the shores Of the Great Lakes,
they came tramping over the broad prai-
ries of Illinois and Wisconsin, from
bleeding Kansas, and from all the States
on the border: the Golden Gate was
thrown open and California came on,
men afoot and men on horseback, from
all the length and breadth of the land.
They came in troops to save the nation
and honor the flag. Here were men of
all religious creeds, and men of no creed,
fighting side by side. Republicans and
War Democrats drinking from the same
canteen. They came from the field and
from the store, from workshop and Office
and school; the noblest army of citizen
soldiery the world has ever seen. Differ
ences of all sorts melted away like dew
before the summers sun under the burn
ing impulse of love for their country and
for the glorious old flag. / hold in my
memory long list of names, honored
names. Those that bore them fell asleep.
l stand with uncovered head and reyer-
entail mien IN the presence of my
thoughts of these men. They were patri-
OTIS. They died. Died that we and our
children might enjoy unbroken the in.
heritance which has come to us by our
fathers. They died that the great Prnci-
pie formulated by Thomas Jefferson and
gwen to the world by the founders of
this Republic, the Principle of Human
Rights, might become something more
than race wide, something more than
mere theory, that it might become liv-
ing fact, world wide in recognition and
in application. It was for this the "Boys
in Blue" scaled the heights at Donelson,
fought at Shiloh, Corinth and Chickama.
uga, drove PembertOn out of Vicksburg,
and opened up once more yonder great
highway of commerce which rolls its sill
very lengths along, "glittering like path
of diamonds in the sum-" bearing upon
it's bosom share of the vast products of
the woods OF Wisconsin and Minnesota
and of the grain growing areas, the corn,
the cattle and the cotton, from its north
ernmost navigable points on down till it
loses itself in the Gulf of Mexico. It was
for this they marched and fought with
Hooker "above the Clouds" with Sher-
man to the sea, with Grant through the
Wilderness. It was for this they shook
out to the pure breeze of heaven the star
ry folds Of freedoms flag upon thousand
hill tops and rode and ran like the i'm
mortal six hundred into the valleys of
death. It was for this these Winkelrieds
''Scaled the tempest crowned brow,
Raised again the inspiring cry,
Make way for Liberty and high
Upon tn uprising shaft Of fame
Record once more their deathleSs names."
And we are here to-day, my friends, to
do them honor, to spread upon their
graves the emblems of our finest feelings,
to crown them with garlands of flowers
and wreaths of love, to drop affections
tears, to pay affections tributs. to cherish
their memory and to teach our children to
revere these brave men who saved the
nations life. There are few, / wean, in
this great audience who We're unrepre-
scented III the war for the Union, either
by blood relations or personal friends,
though not many Of you, perhaps, have rel
atlves buried IN yonder graveyard. But
what of that? These men diedfor you. they
belong to You, they belong to us all. the
humblest private and the highest officer,
and we all join in doing them reverence
But there are others who sleep not here,
they must not be forgotten. They sleep
on the fields they helped to win; some
by the side of southern streams where
the willows grow and the waters go rip
ping and gurgling by; some rest III the
swamps among the cypress roots where
the deadly moccasin Misses aud crawls;
some went down with the ship and are
buried beneath old oceans blue wave,
and some are resting upon its shores
where the signing and moaning and Sob
hing of It's waters is their lonely dirge
Some lie under the palm and the magno-
liza, and some where orange blossoms, di-
rected by Him who loves and owns the
brave and the true, fall upon their graves,
and the hooking bird sings his sweetest
songs.
"Those who have craven their story,
High in the temple Of fame:
And those who have died without glory
And left us not even q name
But we will not forget them. No flowers
may be laid upon their graves, no sweet
woman's tears may ever bedew their last
resting place; no brave man may ever
read the names comrade cut on hum
BILE slabs of wood which eloquently tell
the story of their heroism. But ace riH
not forget them. To-day their memories
live in our hearts green as the grass that
grows DER their graves, fragrant as these
garland tokens Of our love, and sweeter
than the songs of the birds that make
music where they marched and fought
and fell. To-day our hearts turn in
grateful recollection to the noble men
who went forth at their country's call
from every part of our land and offered
themselves up living, dying sacrifice,
upon their country's altar, with a heroism
that rivalled the Wanted deeds of the
Spartan band at ThermopyIe or the Old
Guard at Waterloo. These men went
up to God from southern fields and forts
and prison pens. Twill make no attempt
to recall the names of your buried heroes,
true and loyal as ever wore the blue or
carried musket.
"Their swords are covered Ger with rust,
Their souls are with the saints, we trust"