The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-02-17
THE VETERANS APPEAL.
The ancient Greek said.

| 81 appeal from fhllIp drunk 10 fnlilp
sober"
He gained his suit.
The veterans to-day appeal from the
American people stated with the mis-
representations and lies of a horde of We
nal and reckless scribblers to the Ameri-
can people proud of glorious past, and
sensible of the measureless cost of MAIN
tanning this Government.
They appeal from a people surfeited
with the systematic and organized calum-
NATION of the best manhood our schools,
churches, and free institutions could
produce, to people who have faith that
American soil is prolific of high minded
men, ready and willing to fight and die
for principle.
They appeal from the selfish brutal
itv of the mercenary mob to the men of
thought and reflection, who know that
their own fathers who fought the battles
of the Union were not towards and
shirks, not hirelings or malingerers.
They point to the history and achieve
ments of the Union armies in every
part of the thousands of miles Of battle
line which they maintained to sustain
this appeal. Where was there an army, a
corps, division, brigade or a regiment
that failed to do its whole duty, and rise
to the highest level of expectation? Is
there one which it is not high honor to
have belonged?
They point to the Army of the Poto-
mae, which for four long years was every
day in the presence of a powerful, auda
cious and aggressive enemy, whose rifles
and cannon were scarcely silent for an
hour during all that time, and which
lost 100000 men in deadly grapples
with him on the Peninsula, the plains
of Manassas, at Antietam, Fredericks-
burg, Charlottesville, Gettysburg, in
the Wilderness, on the Chickahominy,
and around Petersburg. Could such an
army have been made up OF shirks and
towards?
They point to the Army of the Cum
berland, which has more of its heroic
dead buried at Mill Springs, Perryville,
Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission
Ridge, from Chattanooga to Atlanta,
and upon q hundred less noted bat
tlefelds than it ever had at any one time
in its ranks. Was there place under
its glorious, tattered banners for pol
troons and mercenaries?
They point to the Army of the Ten
nessee, which began its career of un-
broken victory at Fort Donelson, which
| lost q third of its number at Shiloh,
which encountered the deadly fever
breath of the Mississippi swamps as
resolutely as it did the hosts of the enemy,
which forced the opposing army to sur
render in a body at Vicksburg, which
followed and fought the rebels through
every State in the South but two. Where
were the bounty.jumpers, the deserters,
the malingerers in that gallant host?
They point to the Army Of the From
tier, which fought superior numbers for
four long years, and finally redeemed
from their grasp the great States OF
Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana,
and Texas, country greater in eXten.
than any two European Empires except
Russia. Was that the work of spiritless
mercenaries?
They appeal from the heartless calum
MES of to-day to the fiery record o.
1865.
They appeal from the subsidized vitu
peration of the New York ,Sun, the de
cadent malice of Harper's Weekly, the
, shoddy Pharisaism Of the New Yorl
Evening Post, the pestilent spleen of thei
g servile imitators and followers to tn,
official reports of 1920 battles, in ever,
one of which men fought CALAMITY ant
died heroically for the salvation of tn
Union and the welfare and prosperity O
those who live to-day.
They appeal from the present greco
+ Of Gold to the glories of Gettysburg
:, from the sordid selfshness Of Wall stree
, to the godlike selfsacrifce of tn