The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-31

| Judge HOwe's Address.
Above all the noise rose the sound of a
band playing a funeral march, and the
crowd pushed toward the driveway which
led into the roped square. The procession
passed through the scant space allowed it
by the crowd and passed into the square.
A Gordon of police. led by Captain Dawson
and Sergeants Hyland, Corrigan and Boy
| Ian, formed themselves just inside the rope,
| and the veterans passed inside. No sooner
| had the procession formed around the plat
| of graves than the crowd followed the lead
| ers under the ropes, and in many places
| forced its way in front of the old soldiers.
| The more retiring spectators, however, kept
| outside of the boundary. Four buglers lined
| up in front of the awning which sheltered
! the choir and those who had charge of the
| services and blew the assembly. After the
order of the day had been read the CONF
mander fl. c. Adams, gave short address,
and then the choir sang and the chaplain
Rev. Samuel Sawyer offered prayer. Daniel
Waite Howe, the orator of the day, was
then introduced and began his address.
His words could be heard only by those
who were near to him, and his remarks
therefore received little applause. His
voice was strong and his enunciation good,
but beyond the Grand Army men not many
seemed interested enough in what he was
saying to break off entirely from personal
| conversation to make the quiet which would
allow his voice to be carried the further
Judge Howe spoke as follows:
Comrades and Fellow citizens-To-day we
halt for moment in our forward march
and look back through the msts of years
and see the beginning of the great conflict
and hear the echo of the firing upon Fort
Sumter. War was then inevitable. There
can be no lasting compromise between free
dom and slavery. 1t was inevitable that this
Nation should be either all free or all slave
But, whether war could have been averted
or not, 1T was upon us. The question was a
momentous one 1t was no longer question
solely of freedom or slavery, of North or
South; the question was whether this gov
eminent should live or not. For, If the South
should succeed, the Nation would be split
into two. and, if split in two, it was fore
seen that it would not be long until it was
split into many fragments. This would have
been the undoing of all that our forefathers
labored for, the squandering of the fruits of
a century, the turning back of the hands
upon the dial of the Republic a hundred
years. The danger was great and imminent.
Our navy, what little there was of it, had
been scattered over the four quarters of the
With 9nf be south aT Ths marta
| spirit had been kept alive in the South from
the time OF the revolution; in the North 1t
had smoldered and, apparently, died out.
providence raises up great men for great
emergencies. We were fortunate in Indiana.
This was a border State 1t was especially
important that this State should act prompt
| ~ and energetically. else 1t would be the
battle-ground of opposing armies, marked by
| ravaged fields, desoate homes and black
| ened ruins. Then there appeared among us
| man. towering like mighty genius above
| all his fellows. who seemed as if he welded
! some magic wand to be able to command
| obedience to his will, to carry on the state
| government, to raise and equip armies, to
| be present whenever and wherever needed,
| 10 90 all that was necessary TO be done-and
| all men saw in Oliver P. Morton the great
| est war Governor of the time.
LINCOLN AND GRANT.
"A man was at the head of the Nation
| who had raised himself to the exalted posi-
| ton of President from that of ral-split-
| ter in a Western backwoods. large and
| influential portion of his party had opposed
| his nomination. There were some even who
| ridiculed him as a coarse buffoon. The peo-
| pie did not fully know or appreciate him.
| His best friends were apprehensive of his
| ability to comprehend and master the grav-
| ity of the impending crisis. But he grew
| in the esteem and confidence of the people.
| Speedily it was seen that what he lacked in
culture he made up in strong common sense.
| he was pure man-nO faint of corruption
| or dishonor in either public or private life
| ever hung about his garments. He was a
| plain man; emphatically man of the peo-
pie. He was a kind man; his heart was as
tender as WomanS After while he stood
! independence in his hand and said: This
shall no longer be called "glittering gen.
crafty: :. a "self-evident lie " but now and
will abolish slavery and emancipate the
slaves, and henceforth all men who breathe
| the air of this land shall be free Then we
knew that he was the man for the hour.
And henceforth through all time, wherever
men talk or dream of freedom the name of
Abraham Lincoln will be loved and honored.
| The great general who was destined to
succeed where others had failed did not APP
pear to the eyes of the Nation in the begin
ming Of the conflict. We waited long and
anxiously for him. Now. when all the sad
and all the glorious memories of the bloody
| conflict rise up before us like phantoms we
look back and see the Nation in the agonies
of civil war; we see the armies in battle
array; we see many gallant chieftains. but
| in all the splendid host of heroes. in all the
waving of banners, the smoke of battle. the
| din of conflict we see one who wore no
gorgeous .epaulets: no waving plume. no
| glittering badge; plain, modest. silent. brave
and firm, who never lost his presence of
mind, who was always victorious always
magnanimous to the vanquished. That is
| Grant. Grant was victory.
| I'VE love his memory. not merely because
| ne was a great general. for so was Alex
ander, who sighed for more worlds to con-
| quer; so was Tamerlane, who marked his
| victories by monuments made of the skulls
| of his enemies; so was Napoleon. who del
| uged Europe in blood to crafty his am
| bltlon; so We're hosts of bloody conquerors
who fought merely for conquest whose only
idea of peace, was to make solitude and
4
| self, but for his country. We love him as
| the chief representative of the brave SOL
| Giers who upheld the flag of our country in
| time of its greatest peril; we love him be-
| cause he was an American through and
| through, plain and unassuming, man who
| loved his country, who loved his wife and
| children, who loved his friends. We love
| him for the patient fortitude with which
| he bore his sufferings in the long days at
| Mount McGregOr, when he was waiting to
| hear death sound the last call of lights
| out. We almost love his faults his unsus-
| pecting confidence that often made him
| trust men who were unworthy of it, and
/ the tenacity that made him cling to them
| after all but him knew that his trust had
| been betrayed.
| OTHER HEROES.
| '"There were other heroes. The men whose
graves you have decorated to-day, and their
comrades who marched with them down
! into the valley of death, gave the most
| precious offering man can make for his
| country. They gave their lives. They did
not die, many of them, as men commonly
die at home surrounded by those nearest and
| dearest to them, and comforted by all that
| can comfort man in his last hour. These
men, many of them, died amidst the roar
| of cannon and the yells of their enemies.
| Some expired upon the battlefield all man
! gled and torn; some fingered in hospitals
! longing to live long enough to send a mess
| age of goodbye to the dear wife and little
| ones sthey were never to see again; some
| wasted away in prison pens, starved with
| hunger, pinched with cold. emaciated with
| disease, until death came to their relief.
There were others too, who suffered.
| There were many fathrs who sorrowed
| over the loss of those who bore. their names