Milford chronicle., 1895-01-11
THE OBSCURE HERO.
geAvg MgN OF The BORDER WHO

uhTTt 81 IN IFE CIVIL WAN
champ clark's Spirited EnloEy Of Blue
and Gray clad soldiers VINO Came From
kentucky. West virginia, Missouri, KAN
sas and rsnnessee.
Champ Clark, the eloquent kentuckian
who represents the Ninth Missouri district
in congress, drew upon the history Of ms
native state for the principal part Of his
characteristics speech on The Obscure
Heroes Of the Border delivered IN the
house recently. The speech was made
with the avowed purpose Of killing the
bin for the creation Of a retired list 10 the
revenue marine service, but It was muoh
more entertaining than the usual dull talk
against time. Mr. Clark was born and
reared near Lawrenceburg, in Anderson
county. This fact makes clearer some ref
erences to his youthful experiences as re
lated ia his address. He said in part:
MY theme today Is the heroes Of the
border states during the war, Of both the
blue and the gray. I said on Saturday,
and they laughed and ieered at me for the
assertion, that ] was just about year too
Young to squeeze into the war. They
thought that was funny. They do not
know how a man feels who was born and
has lived all his life in that thin border
land-Kentucky West Virginia Missouri,
/ Kansas and Tennessee. Mr. Chairmans II
the history Of those five states could be
written, it would discount all Of Sir Wal
ter Scott's novels There my people ana
my wife's people lived and died There
my children were born There two Of
ther1 lie buried. love the people Of tnat
/ borderland - the best, the noblest, the
Y H. hoo md 7 hate
the men who ieer at them. ! am going to
/ tell you how a border man feels. He IS
I not q bully, he IS not quarrelsome, but he
/ understands how TO take his own part. IL
happened to me, Mr.. Speaker that was
born and reared IN Kentucky, that lived
] two years In West Virginia, and most peo-
pie in that state believe I was born and
| raised there I am much obliged to them
/ for the kind things they have said about
4 me. lived ! weeks IN Kansas, and !
spent the remainder Of my life in Mis-
! souri, When the war began, I was II
years old ] was a boy. wanted to 60
4 into the army. They laughed the other
day when said I tried to get into both
armies That is the truth. 1t is a matter
of history, and / am going to repeat It to-
day. A boy Of my tender years had no
politics. tried to join Frank Wolford s
cavalry. They would not have me. !
tried to join Morgan's and they would not
have me.
Down there where was living one
company went into Frank Wolford's cav
airy, and another went into John Nor
gan s cavalry Wolford was the very best
/ specimen Of the human race that ever
stood ON this floor He sat IN this congress
twice. He was a rough Kentucky noun
tain lawyer, and when you have said that
you have passed the highest encomium
that can be passed on a lawyer He would
not wear a colonols uniform. He wore
that Of a private. They said that they
never could get enough of that regiment
together to have a dress parade, except on
the eve Of a battle, and then they gathered
in from the four quarters Of the compass.
When the war closed, there were not
enough men left Of that gallant band to
have a roll call on the field Of battle. The
truth Is that the First Kentucky Federal
cavalry died in the field Of battle Silai
Adams, obscure hero, its last colonel, was
the youngest man in the regiment. Some
way he escaped to live, though he was
badly shot and had to be taken to hos
pital
From the very same neighborhood
company went into Morgan's cavalry
They were made up Of the flower of the
Kentucky chiyalry. I am glad to know
that the colonel Of the First Kentucky
Federal cavalry sits over on that side; that
the colonel Of Morgan's crack regiment
Governor MoCreary, sits over here, anc
that Colonel William @. P. Breckinridge
who went in as a private and fought his
way to acolonel's s commission in the fines
Q = lfsaAn "a TO hnf
also sits here. am proud to be Ken
tuckian among such Kentuckians
Il remem Der when / was boy the re
frain went through Kentucky;
I "John Morgan 3 heel is on thy shore,
Kentucky, OH Kentucky
His hand is on thy stable door,
Kentucky, Oh Kentucky
You'll never see your good gray mare anl
more.
He'll ride her till her back is sore
And drop her at some strangers door,
Kentucky, oh, kentucky
"That song has been running through
my head and singing in my heart eve
since
I want to tell you how Morgan TRADED
horses. They say that you can tell wher'
Morgan marched through Ohio and lndi
ana vet by the good breed of horses tina
are through there. He took the good Ken
lucky horses and rode them, you know
J until they got stove up, and then he drop
ped them. Here is the way he swapped
horses: He would come across man II
Kentucky, and he would say, You have
good horse, and want it, If tbs MAI
would say, ] am Union man, he woulI
say, Well, I win oonfsoate it.. If th'
man said I am a rebel, he would say
You ought to contribute the horse to tn
cause of good government. Anyhow h
took the horse.
Obscure heroesl Mr.. Chairman,
want to say now in the face of the Amer
lean people that If the mon who served oi
! the Federal side who came from the Dor
der states during the war had served ol
the Confederate side the result OF the wa
would have been different Take the n
900 Federal soldiers from Kentucky The
odore Roosevelt says they were the ines
men In the army. l believe him on ina
, proposition, although ! do not believe
word he says about civil service reIorm
: Take the Is, GOO or 20, 600 men from Wes
: Virginia. Take the gallant men from
MARYLAND. Take the 50, 600 from east Ten
nessee. Take the 90, 600 that Missouri sen
and nut Frank Blair at the head Of them
and the southern Confederacy would hay
achieved its independence. These peopl
a saved the Union They could have estah
4 lished the Confederacy. Think Of FRAN
. Blair leading that host Of heroes IN tn
! rebel armyl The charge Of the Old Guar
b at Waterloo, the charge of the Light brig
o ade at Balaklaya, the charge Of Ma
Charles at Poltava, all pale into utter IN
! significance compared with what Blai
could have done at the head of those Mary
Y Ianders West Yirginians, Iennesseeans
Kentuckians and Missourians. With ther
' at his back he could have marched to th
s frozen ocean.
l. 'sAnd yet every time that man says
: word about a mans being Union man
q rebel in those border states some fello'
here, who was safely housed during tn
war, gets up here and grins at him al
Q tired Of It, and I am going to vindioat
B the border man today. ltwas very easy
!, be a Union man up In the state Of Main'
The truth is, It was very unhealthy thin
to be anything else 1t was very easy
: be a rebel down In the state of Mississippi