The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1891-04-22

to your tortures and destroying by gradual
and sure process, your health and your life
But. as said, what an experience was there
had to knit in brotherly compact the hearts
of men.
Do you wonder then, that Surgeon Benja
mine Franklin stevenson, of the l4th Illinois
and w. j. Rutledge, chaplain of the same
regiment, as they were marching under Sher-
man in Mississippi in "a, should have hat
these suggestions in mind and conceived o.
the pleasures, the benefits and the duties 81
that organization whose quarter century We
celebrate tO-day. Or, that after those scenes
| were all over, and the white rObed angel Of
peace had poised with gentle wing over oul
bleeding country, those men, Stevenson and
Rutledge met at Springfield, Illinois, in March
1866, and on the 9th day of April. of that year
organized at Decatur, Illinois, the first pos,
of the Grand Army of the Republic. Long
may 1t live, May its principles never die
though its ranks grow thin and fade gradu.
ally away.
The first department encampment was al
Springfield in 1866, and first National encamp-
ment Nov. Goth of same year. The first Com
mander was 5. A. Hurlbert; then that match.
Burnside and Devens and Hartranft and
others, and some of the more conspicuous
leaders. like gallant Phil Sheridan, and the
old hero of Atlanta whom we have SO re-
Gently mOurned-Wm. Tecumseh Sherman
have attended many Of your state and nation
| al encampments. have enjoyed your greeting
and lave recOunted with you the incidents OF
camp and field. But in mentioning the init
mate and trying relations of camp and march
of bivOuac, battle and prison. and the perpet-
uatiOn of their memories, have We suggested
all the reasons for, and lessons of your organ
iZation: No indeed, only one, and great as 1t
is, is perhaps the least of all reasons for your
organic existence. The other reasons may
all be grouped under one plain word, Patriot
ism. This. finding expression in care for the
graves of the dead the needs of the living,
physical and political, and the perpetuatiOn
into the future of that love of country which
has made the fame of our soldiers SO great.
Let us go back moment to the cOnsidera-
tons which set apart the Both day of May for
hOnors to the dead. Yes, 20 back to those
days of advance and retreat, of victory and
defeat, of fierce and terrible carnage, from
Bull Run the first TO Bull Run the second, and
=
Richmond. Amid all this who is to count the
cost: Who is undertaking to value the lOyel
and free will gift of lives and suffering? For
some who had left our very presence were
dying amid those scenes of combat and dis
aster on the field of glory in the solid rank
that drove back the enemy's lines, grasping
the gun or saber or bearing the flag to the
front. Some were gasping for breath and
dying from wounds, disease and pain. Think
you, that in those days it was merely boys
play or children'S pastime to kiss n mother,
wife, or sister good bye, shoulder the musket
and knapsack, and go where fire and smoke
were only breath, and bullets fell like hail?
All, No, If there were patriotism, no
heroes there, then to these the world is yet
a stranger. For when those who had re
manned surrounded by physical comforts,
put in suspense at home, together with the
loyal millions of the land, turned out to wei
come back the surviving veterans, there were
sad hearts and fearful eyes, for many came
not, who were waited for. Yes four hundred
thousand were sleeping with the dead, on
the field their blood had made holy; others
in beautiful cities of the dead, under the Ma
tiOnal flag they had borne on to triumph,
south, many in quiet home church yards, I'M
der the willow and the pine, some unburried
and over many graves the little board bears
that dreary word "unknOwn;" some beneath
the waves which chant their requiem, where
the surges wall their dirge.
Soldiers of the republic, yet living, in view
of these things; in view of their monuments,
a saved and united country, in memory of
and by the sacred VOWS you gave them as the
red current of life fleeting breath failed
them; yea, as they trusted you, and by the
memory of wounds and scars you love with
them. What more proper thing, yes, what
less can You do than honor their graves at
the opening of each returning summer. And
on each decoration day, set apart for the peO-
pie in all the homes from which our gallant
soldiers went forth, to repair to our quiet
cemeteries with our gathered garlands of
bright and living flowers, and scatter them
upon the graves of our martyrs. We cannot
add TO the honor of their achievements, they
are beyond the reach of all we would bestOw.
But we can go stand beside their sleeping
dust in token of respect to their memories,
we can chant our sweetest songs over their
cOnsecrated resting place, and for the love
We bore to them as friends and soldiers in life
and in death, and in gratitude for their great
deeds, We can perform that beautiful cere
mOny of strewing above them springs choic.
est blossoms. Worthy are they of these kind.
ly Offices. Nobly did they do and dare, for
us, for God and native land.
Citizens! they fought our battles, they pre-
served our rights, they won our victories.
Then as each memorial day shall come, let
us join heartily in these duties-and this is
day for the founder Of our order.
And these things We have just suggested are
reason and excuse enough. If We had said and
shall say no more, for the existence of every
Grand Army Post on the continent. and how
many clustering thoughts surround these
just expressed.
As We soberly look facts in the face, and see,
that in 81 years from the founding of our gov
were again struggling for its life,
what suggestion comes so strongly to US as
the need and importance of patriotism. A
moments DEPRESSION. Consider the ignorance
Of many thousands of our foreign born pop
ulation, and the incident of the Last few weeks
aye of last week in Pennsylvania and else
where, and think you the lessons of patriot.
ism can be too well or often repeated? And
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