The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-11-15

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 neeticut We must express our profound
 gratitude and appreciation; the pride
 we have in our native state Is greatly
 enhanced by this generous act. To the
 national governfnent. not only the sur yiving comrades, but the friends and
 relatives of the dead, owe their grati-
 tude, for the extraordinary care which
 has been taken to collect from the
 numerous battlenclds the remains of
 the dead soldiers. and inter them in
 these beautiful national cemeteries, and
 for the magnificent care and attention
 which is given to these cemeteries.
 Our comrades lie within these en- closures in peace and quiet, where
 there can be nothing to disturb their
 remains, and where they will remain
 undisturbed until that morning, when
 the angels bugle shall sound the resur- rection march,.
 Comrades, our work Is done. the de- sire of our hearts has been consum-
 mated, this monument of enduring granite. now marks the place where our comrades of thirty years ago sleep that,sleep. which sooner or later comes upon all men. You and I are still spared, ,Ebut as the years 50 by, one after another will fall by the way. Let us then, while we have life. so live that our example may be profitable to those about us. Let US so live, that when finally we are mustered out of the ranks of the living, 1t may be said of us, as 1t has been said of our comrades, whom We leave behind us In this peace ful cemetery:
 "Well done, good and faithful ser want"
 SENATOR PLATES ADDRESS.
 Survivors of the Fifteenth Regiment:
 This occasion has a meaning for you
 to which only one who has a right to speak the sacred word "comrade" can give fitting utterance, and it were bet ter, l think, that I should testify my interest in what is passing here by my silence. But two companies of your regiment were recruited in the city of my home, from among my friends and companions. l know them intimately. I knew their worth their courage, their sense of duty, their patriotism. their devotion. saw them when they en- listed, in camp, and when they marched away to the front. I can tes- tify to their nobility Of character, to their love of country, to their patrio- tism, to their self-abnegation, and though 1t was not your fate to be en- gagged in as many battles as some of our. Connecticut regiments, from my knowledge of those who went from homes that stood near my own, I am prepared to say that no braver body of men, no men of higher character, no nobler citizens left the state of Con- necticut to defend the Union than those who marched with the Fifteenth regiment upon it's organization. I would not single out for special praise an individual, but I may be permitted to say that I think that the man who first enlisted as a member of your regi- ment was type of all and the re- cruiting of company A comes back to my mind at this hour as clearly and distinctly as if it, were but yesterday A, meeting had been called in Meriden from which two full companies had al- ready gone,. not counting men scat tered through different regiments and companies, The poster, "a. copy \ of which you havs preserved in the writ ten history of'your regiment, breathes the spirit of the hour. Tn the after noon which preceded that meeting, my associate and friend. Julius Bassett, came to see me and talk with. me of what he felt was his. duty to enlist. I shall never forget that conversation. He was a man, who had nd ambition, no desire for distinction, no thought of self. The life of the soldier had no al- lurement, but he was a patriot in eve ry fibre. of his being. The ties which bound him to home were strong. His domestic obligations might well have been his excuse for remaining at home. lie was calm, passionless and thought full, but he felt that the ealf.was to him, that 8 country in peril needed his help. He talked it all over, the dan gers, the hardships, the probabilities that he might not return, and I well re- member his concluding remark: 'If men must give their lives for their country, l may as well give mine as any one. I shall enlist to-nightn When the call for volunteers came that evening, he walked to the table where the roll was to be signed without hesi- tation, without remark, without visi- l ble excitement, simply wrote his name and retired to his seat. You knew him as a comrade, you kiiow what a ster- ling man he was, and yet he was but one of noble band, a type of the regi- ment. First. to enlist in the regiment, almost first to meet his fate by the bull let of the enemy. think we may hon. or. him to-day with special mention, and if in that other land where he has gone he can be permitted to know what !, passes here, I am glad to send him greeting and an assurance that what he did is not forgotten, but is honored | in the hearts of the friends and com rades he has left behind.
 The reputation and fame which came to corps, divisions, brigades and regi- ments, the glory of being vfctors on hard fought fields, was often accident al. The most heroic resistance at times was only rewarded by capture and prison. Conspicuous success was tune as by determined bravery. And, Though other regiments participated in more battles and rejoiced in more triumphs, yet all who knew the con- position and character of the Fifteenth regiment will measure its worth and sound it's praises, equally at least. with l