The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-06
PINGREE AND MASSACHUSETTS,
VETERANS.

No one who has heard of Governor Pin
gree, of Michigan will be surprised to hear
that he has declared that he will organize
the troops for which the President has
called and that the latter may take them
as he has organized them or not have any.
Governor Pingree would not be himself if he
did not buster, threaten and swagger. OF
course the law is against him, but the Gov
ernor of Michigan, in his own estimation,
is superior to law.
But while Governor Pingree is talking
defiance it is worth while to note that one
hundred of the best-known officers and
soldiers of the late war residing in Massa-
chusetts have sent memorial to the Gov
ernor of that State urging him, for the good
of the service and of the men Massachusetts
sends to the war, to fill up and keep filled
up to the maximum the regiments which
have been sent forward. The reasons given
by the Massachusetts veterans are drawn
from their experience in the war for the
Union They begin by declaring that ''of all
the mistakes of the last war. the most cost
ly in blood and treasure, the most democrat
izng in it's influence upon the troops, was
the failure to recruit and maintain the
strength of the fighting regiments in the
field" They go on to say:
AS the regiments in which the first mill
lion of volunteers were organized dWlndled
away from the inevitable losses OF battle
and disease and the armies had to be rein
forced, new regiments were generally raised
composed of raw men, too often under raw
officers and hurriedly sent to the front, ana
on many occasions into battle. utterly with
ont training or experience, while the vet
eran regiments with few or no recruits were
daily growing smaller, until at last the
extraordinary spectacle was seen OF vet
eran regiments so reduced in numbers that
they had to be consolidated together, ana
many of the experienced ana War-testeu o.
ficers mustered out and sent nome, at the
very time that thousands of new men IN
new regiments were joining the army Thus
the experience and example OF the veterans
were Systematically debarred from the new
troops, the services of ofhcers tried ana
trained in war were discarded when most
needed, and the esprit de corps or the VET
Grams in their old regiments and regimenta!
flags which they had fought under ana
rendered glorious. by their valor, was al AZ
fronted and impaired They felt that after
all their bravery and sacrifices they were
cast aside like wornout animal, ana DIT
terly they resented such unworthy treat
ment although braveIy and periodically
they continued to do their duty. the IN
justice and injury to the new IeVles was
even greater AS recruits in the old regi-
ments side by side with the veterans, and
under competent officers, they would nave
learned at once how to take care OF tnem-
selves on the march. in bivouac and IN
battle and would soon have become vet
Grams themselves in all but the name
rT'housands of lives would have been saved
which were unnecessarily sacrificed to the
inexperience of officers and men. The old
regiments maintained in full strength would
not have been kept brooding over their
losses. but would have preserved their
pride. hope and confidence and felt them
selves duly appreciated and cared Tor by
the government and people at nome
Some of these reasons for filling up regi-
ments now in the field and keeping them
filled have been given in the Journal not
so much as its opinions as the opinions e%-
pressed by men who served Indiana with
credit in the late war. These reasons are
so conclusive that when the good of the
service and the welfare of the rank and
file is considered they cannot be answered
effectively.