Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-04
evils with which our army was afflicted

evils with which our army was afflicted
during the war.
"At the commencement of our conflict a
venerable kind-hearted old philanthropist,
who hated war and everything pertaining to
it, seated in little room on an upper floor
on Spruce street, in New York, issued
peremptory order for q movement against
the enemy at Bull Run. No officer dared
to oppose the edict. 1 was in Washington
at the time commanding nearly 600 young
men from this State. None OF them had
been drilled as soldiers except for a few
days, and not one-half of them had been
taught to load and fire the miserable old
Austrian muskets with which they were
armed. The inevitable result followed.
Over tenth of these boys were left on the
field either killed or wounded, without hav
ing done any real good to the country; but
we had obeyed the orders of good old man
who deeply repented and humbly apologized
for his action.
Valuable Secrets Revealed.
"During the war, correspondents of the
press accompanied all our corps and divis-
ions and most of our brigades In many
cases they were on terms of the utmost
intimacy with the commanding officers. In
a very short time many of these correspond
ents were assigned to staff duty, and kept
up their character as correspondents at the
same time. The result was a daily revela-
tions of secrets which should have been
carefully preserved, the promoting of dis
cord among officers and tof jealousies be-
tween the different commands. Month by
month they became more independent and
more defiant of military authority.
"Finally, in the spring of 1863, a corre-
spondent of one of the leading daily papers
of New York published statements as to the
strength of General Sherman's command,
his contemplated movements, ETC., all of
which it was important to keep secret. AT
last he openly abused Sherman and some of
his officers highest in rank, and his letters
were published, and the papers containing
them were soon distributed through the
camps. Upon being demonstrated with, he
openly defed Sherman, saying to him: We
newspaper men are a fraternity, bound to-
gether by common interest, and we must
and will write down any man who stands In
our way
Sherman's Decided Action.
''Then Sherman replied: And 1 belong to
a fraternity that can put down at least one
newspaper man. and this he proceeded to
do by ordering him to leave camp, and tell
ing him if he caught him within the lines
again he would hang him. The man sub
sequently appealed to President Lincoln to
revoke Sherman's order and permit him to
accompany the army, whose commander he
had defed. But Sherman was sustained by
General Grant and President Lincoln, aud
from that date to the close of the war there
was less yilifcation of the officers, fewer
attempts to destroy the confidence, not only
of the country, but of the army, in our
military leaders.
'The question will be asked, Why allude to
I hos old ba la,, IL
allude to them because hope to see our
country, if it becomes involved in war
again, start with the efficiency and military
skill that it possessed at the close of the |
war; Many of the evils that beset our path |
way were exterminated by experience We |
began the struggle with little better than an |
organized mob; we closed the war with an |
efficient, weli-trained army, suffering from |
as few evils as would usually beset the path |
or the best trained armies of the old world |
An End to FauIt-Finding.
''Now, comrades, 1 have INDUCED so |
much the spirit Of fault-fnding, fear you |
may think L see no bright side to the pic |
ture. But do see very bright side Few |
armies ever had such heavy losses, none |
ever accomplished such grand results. We |
fought to sustain the best Government ever
devised by man, and in accomplishing this |
grand result we conferred more and greater |
blessings upon the South than upon the |
North.
Notwithstanding all that has been said |
to the contrary, the debt due to our veter- |
ans is fully appreciated by the people. If |
you ever had doubt of it, look about you. |
60 through the streets of this beautiful |
city. 1t seems to me that all the people of !
Buffalo, without regard to party or nation |
atty, have been vieing with each other to /
honor you, to testify their gratitude and |
their high appreciation of the services of |
the veterans of the war.
The Question of Pensions.
''But it has been said that in the matter
of pensions our Government has been un-
just and niggardly. Is this true? Our
nation never Will have done enough while
4 single worthy veteran remains an inmate
Of pauper house or is permitted to suffer
from want. 1t has long been the boast of /
our statesmen that we are tht most favored |
people on earth, for the reason that we need
no great standing army to insure our safety.
And yet we are now paying nearly as much
10 support our disbanded army as two of
he most powerful military nations of
Europe expend to support their immense
standing armies.
''In 1867, two years after the close of the
var, the interest on our national debt
to S125, ,oOO, 900, and our pension
'oll to 25,000,0 600. This year the figures
Ire reversed our interest is S25, ,OOO, 900, and
'ur pension roll S12j j,000,OO0 Does this
ook like ingratitude or meanness?
81 take pride in the glory of my country.
take pride in the good name'of the gallant
men who defended her in the hour of peril.
For this reason L earnestly hope that in the
uture, If charges of ingratitude and mean
hess are to be brought against the Govern
nent, the task of bringing them may be left
@ demagogues and pension agents The
ruth is the nation is grateful to its de-
enders, and no people on earth ever before
rave such ample proofs of this gratitude
NOBILITY - Wakeman describes the
lome life of the titled class of England for