Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-10-26
GOVERNOR SHAW. SPEAKS.
Addresses the Iowa soldiers MONDAY
at the PresIdiO

GOVERNOR SHAW SPEAKS.
Addresses the Iowa soldiers Monday
at the Presldio
San Francisco, Oct 24.-Governor
Shaw spoke to the soldiers of the Fifty
first Iowa regiment yesterday after
noon after their arrival at the Preside.
The governor said in part:
Officers and Men of the Fifty-frst
Iowa Volunteers: Iowa extends official
greeting to her brave boys who have
SO nobly upheld the nations honor and
the reputation of the state. Thirty
six hours from the first call for troops
by the president saw the four regi-
ments of the Iowa National guard mo-
bilized at Camp Mckinley, Des NIoines.
From that hour to this not a man has
proved recreant, not regiment has
been asked to be mustered out or to
be released from any duty. Neither Of
ficers nor men ever complained of any
order. In camp at Chickamauga, at
jacksonville, at the Preside; in garri-
son in Cuba or on the firing line in far
LuZon, the Iowa regiments have dis
tinguished themselves by gentlemanly
bearing and heroic conduct, and by so
doing have honored their state and the
nation and have helped to keep the
record of the American citizen soldier
stainless and the envy of the world.
Through no fault of the other Iowa
regiments you alone have been per-
mitted to participate in the active mil
ltary operations of our country's re-
cent history. The services you have
ho ~ ,or,
your state stood every ready TO per-
form. and the hardships which they
so nobly and patiently suffered would
have been as uncomplainingly endured
by you had the fortunes of war re-.
versed your assignments. Each in its
place and in strict obedience to orders
did its duty and did it well.
BY the terms of your enlistment
you were entitled to he mustered out
when the terms of peace between your
country and Spain were mutually
agreed upon and ratified. But let 1t
be known, and let your children be adj
vised. that neither regiment rs such
nor its officers or men, ever asked to
be discharged, but YOU all cheerfully
consented to remain beyond the speci-
fed time of your enlistment and until
congress should provide for new
army to take your place. 1t was not
your fault that you were not the first
to be mustered in, but it is to your
lasting credit that you are next to the
last of the original volunteer army to
be mustered out. And the service you
have more recently rendered has been
as honorable as that for which you
first enrolled your names.
"The sixteen engagements with the
treacherous insurgents will bear COM
parison both as to purpose and justif1-
cation with the more dazzling achieve.
ments in Manila bay, at Santiago and
San Juan. The cause of liberty has
not been made to suffer by any act of
yours. The flag you followed is the
flag that Dewey carried, and it casts no
shade under any sky or upon any PEG,
pie.
1T is not more honorable to eman-
cipate from the tyrannical power OF
Spain than from the barbarous usur.
patton of Aguinaldo. Human freedom
cannot prosper under the flag of either,
nor can it ever suffer under the stars
and stripes. And now you are about
to return to the state that sent you
forth with tears, that for all these
eighteen months has followed you
with her prayers, and that now ex-
tends its glad hand of welcome to her
heroic sons. God bless you, boys. In
camp, on the march and in battle, you
have proved the Fifty-frst Iowa regi-
ment to'be the peer of any in that peer
less army of 100000 men"
Men md Officers Toasted.
As soon as the Iowans had stacked
their guns and posted guards the
Washington men took them in charge
and escorted them to their camp
where a sumptuous feast had beer
prepared for them. Each company
acted as the host of the Iowa company
of the corresponding regiment.
The officers followed the same plan.
There was the best of good feeling be-
tween the members of the two regi
ments, and after the good things haG
been disposed of speeches and song fol
lowed, lasting for more than two hours,
The soldiers parted with cheers at last.
and the Iowa men went back to fix
up camp.
Governor Shaw will leave for home
this afternoon, as he desires to ge,
back to take hand in the state cam.
paign, and he goes direct to Des
Moines.