The Portland daily press., 1897-05-31

memories run back to. the time when
these men whose lives this structure hon
ors, ceremonies like these may be impress
sive, but the deeds of daring and self
sacrifice which some Of you witnessed,
need no marble shaft, or painted canvas
to refresh your recollections.
| Long after those who witnessed the
stirring scenes war and those who saw
their loved ones leave them never to re-
turn shall have passed aw8y, a new
generation will. gather at the 90
of this monument and recount the t
gallant deeds of those whose services it
commentaries.
To me as an individual, this is an &C.
casion of great solemnity. Almost 80 years
ago / marched to the front with the Sew
enteenth Maine Regiment, in which was
Elizabeth men, the largest number of
men contributed by that town to any of
the regiments which saw active service
30 men. The first death among the Off
GERS of the regiment was that of Lieut.
George W. Pickett, who died but few
weeks after the departure from the state.
And l well remember the solemn fu-
beautiful hymn beginning He Died at
his POST being effectively rendered by
quartette of our best singers In com
1nand OF that company marched one OF the
klndest best and bravest officers the
seventeenth Maine ever had, Capt. Ellis
Fl. Sawyer. At the battle of Locust
Grove, Capt. Sawyer was the senior captain
on duty, and in the absence of the major
was temporarily acting as major. Hav-
ing been taken away from his own COM
pany, his place was filled by detailing the
first lieutenant from my own company,
being then captain. In that brief,
but hotly contested fight, Capt. Sawyer
o1 \
Brown, who had been detailed from my
own company, fell dead, a bullet having
pierced his brain. One hour before the
fight [ had seen and conversed with both
these officers-then both in perfect
health-both true stypes of the volunteer
soldier. An hour after the battle I found
myself the senior captain of the regiment,
mounted upon the majors horse and
performing the sad duty of directing the
burial of Lieut.. Brown, with whom /
had marched many mile to both defeat
and victory.
Marching to the front as one of the 39
officers and in regiment composed of
thousand men, 1 marched back as one of
three original officers in a regiment of $50
men. Such memories, revived as they are
by these ceremonies, make me doubt if
the people have forgotten what the war
meant, what it meant to those who went,
what it meant to those who did not re-
turn what it meant, alas, to those who
vainly watched for the return of some
loved one. Should the lapse of time and
the engroSsing events of business have
tendency to efface from the minds of an
over active people, the deeds really done
in the War of the Rebellion, this modest
shaft may be to many passerby re-
minder that from the very soil upon
which it stands, went forth to the war as
noble, as brave and as true men as were
hxYo tcrxyr i,,N Ir,xrr n Ian
Historic as is this vicinity in it's grand
past, it has no nobler page than that
which records the names Of its soldiers
and sailors who volunteered for their
country's defence in the dark days of the
Rebellion.
And now, as we look with reverent
eyes upon this monument reared by low
ing hands in grateful remembrance of
those who fell in their country's cause,
remember that it stands for patriotism
for q love of the Constitution and govern
ment handed down to us by our fathers
after years of trials, sufferings and priva-
tions. Remember that it is promise of
the devotion of future generations of
American citizens. 1t shall remind you
that those who fought in the last war
would not, in cause as sacred as that,
be found wanting If perchance any of
them should still be able in their old age
to draw a sword or sight musket.
Those who by sad experience know what
war means have but little sympathy with
that spirit of unrest which would wan
tonly plunge this nation into war with
a foreign power, even to redress wrongs
which they clearly see and frankly admit,
but which we cannot redress under the
law of nations sanctioned by many years
of precedent and the principle of non-in-
PREVENTION in quarrels which we have
not caused or fomented; but let it once
appear that any foreign power has know
ingly and wantonly disregarded the
rights Of genuine American citizens
abroad-let but a single ahront or injury
be offered to one of our consuls or repre-
senatives in foreign land-let but a,
single insult be offered to our flag
wherever it floats over the head of an
American citizen, and you will find the
old soldiers as ready today to avenge the
insult and avenge the wrong as they did
when the flag Of Sumter fell beneath the
fire of the Charleston guns.
Upon the dead soldiers whose sacred
memories this modest shaft commence
rates, we can bestow no honors which
shall be commensurate with the gallant
acts they themselves performed a
third of a century ago. Their noble
deeds can never perish from the memories
of the American people SO long as patriot-
ism shall have an abiding place within
our borders.
Comrades of the Grand Army of the
Republic and Sons of Veterans: Repre-
senting, as you do, the national troops en-
gagged during the rebellion, you were par
Elephants, or the sons of participants in
the hardest fought battles known in the
history of wars, ancient or modern, and,
when we consider results, you who served
shared in accomplishing greater ends than
were ever achieved before by the sword.
There have been battles as decisive as
Gettysburg and Waterloo, but few COM
bined SO great losses and so great results.
The charge of the "Light Brigade at
Balaklava, made historic by poets pen,
brilliant as it was, was the result Of
blunder, and accomplished nothing for
history or the troops engaged. The loss to
the 'Gallant Six Hundred was less than
forty per cent, while in our war, we ha4
many engagements between small bodies
the loss of which far exceeded these fig
ures. Larger armies were never marshaled
in modern times than in the Franco
Prussian war, and yet the German losses
in killed and wounded were only little
more than three per cent, while the allied
forces loss from the same causes in the
Crimean war were only one per cent more