The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-05-21
LOYAL LEGION'S BANQUET
II Is Made Notable by Gen. Lew Wal.
lace's ApOthe0sis of the Volunteer.
What lie Had TO Say Of the Indiana Soldiers
Monument-New officers Elected by
the C~ommandery.

The annual meeting and banquet OF TIC
Indiana ~Commandery, Loyal Legion, WIS
held at the Denison House yesterday after
noon and evening. The business meeting
was held at 4 P. NJ. Gen. Lew Wallace
presiding. Lieut.. ii. C.. Long. Indianapolis.
eighth Indiana.
and Lieut.. w. S. Stitt, Wabash. Seventy
fifth Indiana, were elected to membership.
The election of officers for the ensuing
year was taken. and resulted as follows:
Communicative Wallace, Crawfordsyille.
Senior Vice-commonder-W. c. starr, Rich
mond.
Junior Vice-commander-H. g. Adams, Indian
apolis.
RecOrder-B. B. Peck. indianapolis.
Treasurer-Horace Mckay, indianapolis.
Kegi~strar-J0hn f. Vought, Indianapolis.
CnanceIlOr-J. r. Ross, indianapolis.
Chaplain-D. r. Lucas. indianapolis.
Councils J. Young. Terre Hante; G; A. Zol-
Cleland, ID. A. Thompson, indianapolis.
The banquet. which took place at 10 p.
M. was largely attended. the visitors from
without the city being numerous. nearly
half the company being ladies. The ban
quet was one OF the most elegant affairs
this city has ever known, the menu being
choice and handsomely served. After the
banquet Gen. Lew Wallace rose, and gave
the address of welcome.
lie spoke in part, as follows: Nor Is it
difficult, speaking or the historian of the
future, to think of q foot note at the bot
tom of the GEO. C00th page of his work like
this: Many of the originals of the eques-
trian statues are in Washington. They are
all commemorative of officers of the Tegu-
lar army. Surely that regular army
genius could only have been exceeded
by its valor. Rapt in admiration,
/ returned to the Pantheon. and. TAX
ing @ document from a shelf In the
nnNnn alanVa fnnnd fha fighting nn tho
Northern side had been done in fact by
nearly two million volunteers. whom it
was the fashion of the regulars to deride,
despise, dismiss and degrade at pleasure;
yet of these equestrian statues. fine in art,
imperishable in material, possessed of the
most eligible sites for exhibition, not one
is given to the celebration of q volunteer!
And looking further. what was my amaze
ment TO lind that the monuments TO which
| am referring we're erected chiefly.
moneys contributed by those volun-
teers. There is no other people by
inconsistency. if they are shrewd! What
self-abnegatlOn, If they are hoDesti How
much above the motives and passions of
ordinary freemeD, or below the envy and
jealousy of enlightened slayesi How sim
pie or how just. How am / to decided
Heaven help me.
ITO show the danger of trust in monu-
mente for historical purposes, why go away
from homef Not three squares from this
banquet hall the superbest shaft on earth
is risen, waiting only the placement
of the browning figure and some base
nlent hxtures to be finished. Built
from funds of the State, 1t was
designed TO perpetuate the. valor and
glory of the soldiers of Indiana; yet
the Legislature Is advised to plant
four more figures about the pedestal. and
that it would be eminently the right thing
TO select for the honor George Rodgers
Clarke and William Henry Harrison. one q
colonial, the other q territorial hero. AS if
1t were impossible to exc out four soldiers
lndisnian by birth or adoption worthy the
honorl AS il we had not a Candy. q Mil
roy, a JEFF c. Davis. a Hackleman. and
brigadlers and regimental officers. line and
field. and Drivates, ia aggregation many as
the stars. As if the world did not know
that Indiana's glory in arms is now heaped
and pent altogether in what her sons
achieved in the war of the re-
bellion! No, my friends. without
pausing to impugn motives. thi5
is the lesson of the circumstance-seltsh-
ness. partisanship and mistaken taste are
everlastingly schemiDg to mix history into
a compounded opacity, and in no way do
they 80 frequently show their handiwork
as in mum
1.-The difficulty with history as an infu-
ence upon our inheiritOrs. TO get them to
see the triumph of the Union in the civil
war as we see 1t. Is the absolute impossl-
bility of getting at the whole trnth. Ii
AitbCh kChOAOuSiy W CNcIJ buluk VI
Importance life would be too short
to attack il. When you return home
ask your children to bring you the
textbook OF American history now in
use in the public schools; examine
It and you Will have the Justification for
the remark ! make you-that the time will
come when in general history the story of
that s~tupendous struggle Will be reduced
to q paragraph barely sufficient to carry
four names to remote posterity. Lincoln's
and Grants on one side, jeff Davis's and
Robert h. Lees on the 0ther-a para
graph Eot longer than your lit.
commandery going for another reason:
The solid south Is but another name for the
COnideracy. 1t needs watching. We can
not set down over against them in army
corps but we can in loyal ORGANIZATIONS
and the more organizations we have for the
purpose the better. 10 that sense. long life
to the Grand Army, welcome Sons of Vet
Grams. welcome Patriotic Sons of America,
welcome Women's Relief Corps. There can
not be too many of them. And let no man
decry them as impotent. Gentlemen. John
A. Wyeth did not attend the late COM
mencement of the Indiana Medical Col
lege." Great applause.
Other toats were responded to by Capt.
w d. Wallace, of Lafayette; Capt. Lee
Yaryan. of Richmond; Chaplain d. r.
NJ