The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-23

scenes or childhood. Mayhap, TOO, ne
thought of future, overcast and cloudeu,
of shattered hopes and plans that never
could be realized. Then came the test.
Logan cut the knot, rs brave men DO.
He went into the war before he had
legal right, and fought at Bull Run under
no appointment but that of his own UNI
daunted heart. on that illstarred day grave
statesmen were pondering at the Capitol
as they had never pondered before. Doubt
less the record of Congress shows that
Logan was absent without leave. But out
beyond the Potomac he was fighting, mus
ket in hand, in the ranks of the fated
army of the Union. He had deserted the
House 10 be a volunteer for the war. They
tell of him yet, as he pressed forward
through the smoke, in the silk hat he had
forgotten to change. but which never be
came him so much as when it lowered that
day over his swarthy face and those eyes.
which were, indeed, the windows of his
soul.
A TRUE PATRIOT
After Bull Run he went back to his home
in Southern Illinois. facing friend and foe
alike, with the defiant note which told
them-what they already knew-that come
what might, he was for the Union and the
war. That day he conquered Egypt Every
where he sowed the words that Douglas
had uttered, There can be but two parties
patriots and traitors Then came the
regiment he raised, and after that in
brave, orderly sequence Belmont Doneison,
Shiloh, Vicksburg, Atlanta and-peace. 10
chronicers of the future Will write OF him
Froissart did of the knights and heroes
of medieval times. 1t is and will always be
a glorious story.
Later when the war was almost over
and the inevitable triumph was plainly
visible, there came to him an opportunity
which would have been trial and temp
tation to most men. But 1t was not TO MIN.
Grant sent him to relieve Thomas and In
doing SO gave notice to an the World t ina
one of the most picturesque situations OF
the war. The Army of the Potomac was
holding the Confederacy oy the throat
cutting all its veins and arteries. Mean
while Thomas, with beleagueFed Nashville
at his back, was making ready, slowly but
surely, for the blow that should kill Grant,
the mperturbable, seeing the whole t1eld
was for once impatient and could wait no
longer He called for his thunderbolt and
sent Logan, whom no one had ever thought
slow, to make the fight. l could name men
with stars on their shoulders who would
the brave Nirginian whose lineage ran
from Mill Spring through Corinth, Muir
like Logan, had become type. lie was
the synonym for that enduring courage
which stays forever in its place.
But Logan, fastening to the field where
Thomas and Hood were preparing for their
last grapple, stopped at LouisvilIe; not be-
cause it was best for his own fortunes, but
because it was right He who would have
flown to any place where danger lay,
halted at that supreme moment, He ruled
a great light when we read in Sherman's
memoirs that less than six months before
Thomas, after the battle of Atlanta-con-
scientiously, no doubt-remonstrated warm
ly against giving the command of the Army
of the Tennessee to Logan. The day Lo-
gan halted on his way to Nashville brought
him the nobleSt revenge that ever one
brave man had over another. 1t reads like
some story of old romance. In his pocket
was the order which gave him the right
to supersede the general who had said he
ought not to command the Army OF the
Tennessee. Both now are gone. Their
armies Will never camp again, but the Ma
ton loves and honors the two men who
were thus drawn together in those last
great days. The world will never forget
Louisville and left Thomas to go forward
in his own way to victory which was like
Cromwelfs browning mercy.
STATESMAN AS WELL AS SOLDIER.
This day is dedicated to Logan, as
soldier. He won it from the calendar, and
made it his own But, in the midst of all
its pageantry. we must not forget that he
was statesman in the most trying times
of our history. 1t is not for me- at such a
moment, to discuss any question Of party
opinion. Logan was a man of positive
views; plain, direct and uncompromising.
For what he believed to be right be would
fight in the Senate as undauntedly as he
fought OF the field. He was for freedom;
and for all those great amen1m1lts of the
Constitution that made freedom organic
in this Nation; he was for equality before
the law; he was for the common soldier
who had felt the wound, which is the
soldiers best decoration; he was for the
army and navy, and for force, If need be,
to defend every right which ought to be
recognized without force.
1t was he who gave us the sweet OBJ
servance of Memorial day. Only a poet
could have thought it; only a poet could
have made it come true. 1t isl beyond all
n hnI focf ixroI
of memory, love and beauty We shall keep
it forever, with ali the flowers that grow
tain SIDES; And there will be tears.
If we listen; we shall hear an echo of
all we do to-day The people, everywhere,
are thinking of him, because he always
a good lesson. We never needed it more
than now. If he were alive, what voice
would ring like his for civic honor? What
form would lead like. his the Nation, the
State and the city? Nothing was too great
nothing too small, if only it were right,
for him to espouse. To all the duties of
peace, he brought the same brave de-
termination that made him great in war
rs it not something to remember, some
thing to be pround of forever, that in this
great ceremony, those who followed an
other flag than his have come to pay their
tribute to the great citizen-solder? Men of
the South, the Grand Army welcomes you;
the Loyal Legion welcomes YOU Illinois
welcomes you, and all the North greets YOU
with an open hand. Brave men cannot
LAS you come to mingle your love with
ours for the hero who fought you so brave
ly thirty-three years ago this very hour
every Union soldier is thankful that he
has lived to such omens of the future
Side by side we march to-day and all the
land beholds how well blue and gray be-
come each other when together they bear
the flag of union. liberty and peace
Here we make a sacred place. Here
we consecrate a name already consecrated
in our bravest annals We give the statue
to the world. in the presence of the wife
he loved and honored. and whom we love
and honor No friend was ever so true
and devoted as this wife of his youth,
who became the wife of his fame. She lives
in the proud and tender memory Of DAYS
that cannot return. This is to be their
everlasting resting place. and here genera
tons will bow reVerently by the dust of
those whom God Joined together. Their
children and their children's children learn
in all these majestic rites how great a name
they bear
the noble image she has carried in her heart
so long. 1t is worthy of her, worthy of
him who wrought it. and worthy of him
whose features it embodies. He is not ours
alone. but yet we claim him first In com
ing years the throngs that crowd the av-
enue will see a silent figure, always on
duty They will know-all the world will
know-it is Logan. Illinois has kept her
trust"
PARADE AND REVIEW.