Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-10-12
A REBEL, AND THE G. A. B.

In view of the meeting of the G. A. R.
at Indianapolis, of which ex-President
Harrison has been the leading figure,
the following from the Welcome re-
porter's scrapbook is especially timely.
1t is an address delivered by Colonel
P. Donan, the Southern chevalier, at
the reunion of the Northwestern Grand
Army of the Republic at Moorehead,
had sauntered across the big bridge
that spans the Red River of the North
the bridge connecting Fargo with
Moorehead- no sooner was his
familiar face seen among the battle
SCARED veterans than he was called
upon for a speech. And he responded
in his usual happy vein, adding the new
and sensible idea to G. A. R. oratory
that without secession there could have
been no Grants, no Shermans, no
Sheridans, no Logans, Hancocks or
other honored heroes, and-but let the
Colonel tell it. He said:
FELLOW SOLDIERS AND COUNTRY
MEN: l came over to your encamp-
ment this morning with no thought of
taking any part in your proceedings
except that of quiet lookeron. have
no extemporaneous speech in manu-
sept up my sleeve. had no idea of
being called upon to say word. But.
prepared or unprepared, when called
upon in such cause and on such an
own feelings, violence to my own
American manhood riff did not rise
and at least assure you that my heart
and soul are with you in every meeting.
move and measure that tends to perpet-
uate the glorious memories of your
soldier days. 1t may seem strange to
some of you that Southerner, for.
mer Confederate, should participate in
your exercises. 1t is not strange; it
should not seem so. No man can so
fully appreciate the valor and knightli-
ness of the soldiers of the Union as
Confederate who fought against them.
l salute in you the representatives of
the warrior legions that conquered the
grandest army of modern ages-except
your own.
am the only Confederate who ever
spoke, or was invited to speak, at a
banquet of the Society of the Army of
the Tennessee, of which your grand
old hero, Tecumseh Sherman, was
president. AT the banquet in Chicago
in 1855 1 responded to the toast, sour
Reunited Country" It was. with a
single exception-the one on Grants
return from his tour around the world
the grandest assemblage of famous
soldiers in the history of the society.
Sheridan, Hancock, Logan and many
others of your illustrious chieftains,
who have since ''spread their silent
tents upon Fames eternal camping
ground" were then living. Of the
and Sherman presided.
began my speech by saying that,
as one who in the Confederacy had
fought four years trying to get out
of the Union at the southern end, and
who, as citizen of Dakota, had fought
five years trying to get into it at the
northern end, certainly knew as much
about the Union as any of the men
who fought for it, and felt myself quail
fed and entitled to speak for it every
where and at all times and under all
circums tances.
There are special and potent reasons
why Confederate should feel that he
has right to share in all your celebra
tons and commemorations, your con-
vivial, triumphal and mourning cere-
monials. Think moment. But for
US where would you have been? If
there had been no Confederates, where
would have been your battles and who
would have been your heroes? If there
had been no Confederates, Grant
would probably have been, to the end
of his days, tanner at Galena; Sher-
man school teacher in Louisiana,
and Phil Sheridan at most a Major or
Lieutenant Colonel of cavalry at some
rude frontier outpost.
But for us-the Confederates-you
and the world whould never have
known what heroes you had, and the
imperishable records of American
patriotism and courage and devotion
would never have been written in the
fire and blood of our four years war.
But for us-the CONFERENCE.-The
coins emancipation proclamation would
never have been written and all the
millions of negroes would still be in
slavery. But for us-the Confeder-
ates-there would have been no bat
tie of Manassas or Shiloh, Vicksburg,
Gettysburg. Chickamauga or of the
Wilderness; you could have won no