Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-30
SENATOR GALLIy9ER.

single TACT tells the story OF the bravery and
heroic courage of our soldiers more eloquently
than any words of mine can picture it.
Is it asked why our armies were thus deci-
mated? The answer is found in the fact that
the soldiers of the Union fought for a great
principle and not for gain or conquest. Our
armies were made up not from the lower classes
OF society, but from the farm. the workshop,
the school and the college. The soldiers of our
civil war represented the capacity. skill and
moral courage of an intelligent people-not the
bind, unconscious mechanism of ignorant
masses trained to the support of arbitrary
power. They submitted to the discipline Of
war with clear apprehension of its significance
and terrible reality. Theirs was a voluntary
sacrifice for the maintenance in its entirety Of
system of society, labor and government
having its origin, support and end in the peo-
pie. The men whom we honor would never
have accepted the gage of battle for plumber or
dominion; never to support the claims of
family or to elevate a chieftain to imperial
honors. They fought for the dynasty Of the
people. The conflict was inspired solely by the
love of liberty and of country. All prejudices
and passions were consumed in the intenser
heat of popular patriotism. The loyal of all
creeds stood side by side and fell together for
the integrity and glory of the republic.
WHAT THESE SOLDIERS DID.
And how grandly they fought and how glo-
riously they died. These graves decorated to-
day by loving hands are filed by men whose
going out from life brought desolation and sor-
sow to many homes. They were brave men.
Whatever of hardship was endured whatever
OF suffering experienced. whatever of toll and
pain encountered, our soldiers shared in full
measure and endured with fortitude such az
brave men alone can display. Wherever the
fires of desolation burned fiercest, wherever the
line of battle was blodiest, there they were seen
mOving with strong and steadfast courage.
At The call of couL.ry they plunged into the
very abyss OF death and gave up life in defense
of the right. How they fought through the
heat and desOlation of Fredericksburg. At An
tietam they hurried Themselves upon the bridge
with desperate determination, and over the
bodies of fallen comrades passed the stream
that ran red with blood in the face of the foe.
At Nicksburg they crept day by day nearer its
central line until the strong defenses crumbled
and fell. and at Gettysburg. the Waterloo of the
war. they fought with courage the like of
which history does not record and won o victory
greater than any the world has ever known.
Surely loving hands should strew flowers on the
graves of these dead heroes and grateful peo-
pie should recall with pride their sacrifices for
liberty and for country. Their achievements
are enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen
and their valOr will serve an example and an
inspiration TO all the generations of the republic.
THE MOST ENDURING MONUMENTS.
The battles of the old world are commence
rated by columns and arches. The Athenians
achievements of their soldiery. With us CRATE
full hearts will always cherish the deeds of the
nien who fought our battles. Better than mon
uments and arches is the undying gratitude of
nation, and better than mounds built by
human hands are the everlasting hills of Get
tysburg and Lookout and Cemetery Ridge, on
the crest of which the storm of shot and shell
those hills will stand mute and yet eloquent
reminders of dauntless heroism and undying
devotion to duty and to truth. =
For the living soldiers of the civil war every
patriotic heart has nothing but feelings of
gratitude and words of praise. Your breasts
were barred to the storm of lead, your lives ex-
posed to the ylcissitudes Of war. Your COM
rades fell and you were spared. A grateful
country will not forget the part You played in
that terrible drama of death and desolation.
Some may grumble because the soldier is pen
stoned. Heaven pity the man who thus puts
pelf above patriotism and who measures the
blood OF the soldier by the low standard of
dollars and cents. Go with me to the home
where the empty chair awaits the coming of the
boy who will never return; to the home of the
mother, old and poor, whose only dependence
was taken from her on the field of battle. Ask
her which she prefers, her boy or the
paltry pension that perchance she re-
ceives and what answer will be made? Ask
the man whose hands are gone, or the sight
OF whose eyes has been destroyed, which he
prefers. and note the reply. Ask him who con-
tracted disease in the swamps of the SOUTH
or suffered untold agonies in the prison pens of
the enemy, which he prefers, health or q pen
sion. and listen to the response. Do the men
of the present generation forget that high med
ieal authority estimates that every soldier from
the north who served three years shortened his
life by the space of ten years? Tell me that
49, a. IA
government-that they are unworthy of a pit
lance TO enable them TO keep suffering from
themselves and their loved ones-and l reply,
God have mercy on the men who treat un-
kindly those without whose efforts the republic
would have been overthrow and freedom would
have persisted.
Heaven be praised our armies triumphed,
the Union was preserved, the dear old flag was
saved without a star removed and the princi-
pies Of constitutional government were upheld
and perpetuated. Today the flag of the re-
public, with new stars added and greater glory
and strength typitied in its folds, floats over
the entire country. Obedient to national
authority q reunited country is engaged in
friendly rivalry with the other nations Of the
earth Peace prevails, prosperity abounds and
future triumphs await our people. And today
as vel look upon the graves of our dead heroes
let us reverently pray that oppression in all
forms may cease in our land; that the civil and
political rights Of every citizen may be re-
spected; that the heayen-born principles Of the
golden rule may guide our people, and that
forgetting so far they can the bitterness and
desolation Of war, sectional feelings may be
laid aside and this nation become in fact as
well as in name the home Of freedom of JUS
tice and Of equality.
No grander or more eloquent tribute was
ever paid to the dead heroes Of the war than il
contained in William Winters poem, "a Pledge
to the Dead"
The Senator here read the poem referred to,
which closes as follows:
To the clouds and the mountains we breath Il;
To the freedom Of planet and star,
Let the tempests of ocean enwreathn
Let the winds OF the night bear II far
Our oatl. that. till manhood shall perish,
And honor and virtue are sped
We true to the cause that they cherish
And eternAlly true to the dead
s'Yes." he said, 1--WE will be eternally true to
the dead; true to the patriotism that nerved the
heart the courage that leveled the gun, the
heroic and unfaltering heroism displayed on
the bloody field Of strife. Theirs it was to do
and die for country and liberty; theirs to strug-
gle to save the tottering nationality; theirs to
defend the honor Of the flag, the integrity Of
the Union and the interests Of the home and OF
society. Had it not been for their valor the
republic would have perished and the nation
of which We are all so proud would have been
| shattered and destroyed.
Heaven bless our heroic dead, and may Tho
memory of their deeds ever be to us an inspira,
| ton and incentive to the faithful discharge oi
every duty Of life, and especially may the CON
1 temptation Of their achievements lead On to Z
higher and better appreciation of our responsi.