The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-09-21
so loud that he was brought out, and
delivered the following address:

Governor McKinley's Speech
''MR. PRESIDENT, COMRADES OF THE
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, LADIES
AND GENTLEMEN-I have no purpose to
interfere with the program of the night;
that program has already been made
and published, and the presiding officer
of this Campfire finds it his duty to
execute it to the letter, and I only rise
now for the purpose of expressing to
you, to ell of you, my pleasure and sat
isfaction to be able to join with my old
comrades of the war in the enjoyment
OF this twenty-seventh annual Encamp-
ment of the Grand Army of the Repub-
lie. (Applause.) l have nothing but
love, tenderness and affection for the
old army comrades with whom served,
and can not but observe that 1t each
annual Encampment of the old soldiers
the ranks are getting thinner, the hair
is getting greyer and the boys are get
ting older, but the older we get the
closer we get together. (Applause.) I
can not attend an annual reunion of the
Grand Army without observing what
every one of yon has observed, that the
great captains in that mighty struggle,
the men who led us and the men we
love have almost all gone.
Grant Is Gone.
Grant is no longer with us; Sherman,
Sheridan, Hancock, Mcpherson, Logan
and Old Pap Thomas (applause) and a
long list besides, rich with precious
memories, are encamping tonight on
that other shore where a majority of
that matchless volunteer army are tent
ing and sleeping in their low, green
tents, whose curtains never outward
swing. Comrades, the army on the
other side is greater than the army
here. The army there is forever re-
cruiting from the living, for read to-
day from our Commanders report that
$4,000 of our old comrades had gone
last year to join their old commanders;
and while they can recruit from the
living. we have no reserve from which
to fill our ranks. But | can not out
think, my comrades, that the older we
get the prouder we should become Of
the magnificent service we rendered in
the noblest cause for which mankind
ever engaged. (Applause.) No better
army was ever mustered; no grander
line of soldiers ever fought for any flag
than the volunteer army of the United
States, made of the best young men
from every State and Territory of the
North, made from the American home;
the American home that is the founda-
tion of our citizenship and the hope of
the future the American home over
which father and mother preside and
where the open Bible is read From
such homes came that magnificent
army.
So nigh to grandeur is our dust,
So near to God is man,
When duty whispered,
$50, thou must"
The sole reply, 81 can"
A Matchless Army.
"But what heroism there was in that
matchless army! / remember to have
read of Color Sergeant in one of our
regiments, when the Colonel called him
to receive from his hands the colors of
his regiment, in the presence of thou.
sand men, the Colonel presented to the
Color Sergeant the flag and said to him:
/ Sergeant, take this flag. fight for it,
aye, die for it, but never surrender it
into the hands of the enemy. ZAP
plause.) The Color Sergeant, taking
the colors from the hands of his Com
mander, said: Colonel, l will bring
that flag back to you in honor or will
report to God the reason why ZAP
plause.) In one OF the fierce battles soon
after that Color Sergeant went down
/ with the flag under him. He did not sur
render it, nor did he bring it back, but
| God Almighty knew the reason why. He
gave the best he had, his own life's
blood, to preserve it." (Applause.)
Come to Andersonville.
"Come with me for moment to An.
dersonville; look upon the old palisade
with its enclosure, with 10000 Union
soldiers there under scorching July
sun, sick and weary. suffering and
starving. A rebel Commissioner ell.
tered that palisade and announced in
the presence and hearing of those 10000
prisoners that they could have their
liberty at once if they would disclaim
allegience to the Government of the
! United States and enlist under the ban.
ner of the Confederacy. One old sol.
der lying sick unto death heard the
word "liberty" and propping himself
up ON his feeble arms he said: "What il
that" For the suggestion of freedom
suggested home and family and wife
and children and mother; but when
they repeated the conditions to him he
laid himself back and said to comrade
to take from his pocket small package
The comrade did so, and opened it al
the request of the old soldier, and there
was little Union flag, and the dying
veteran taking that flag in his hand and
! kissing it, said: 81 can die for that flag
but I can never fight against it." Zap
plause) My comrades, that was the
sort of mettle of which the Grand
Volunteer Army of the Republic wa:
made"
Looting the Treasury.
81 hear that that magnificent army i!