The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-03-28
SOLDIERS OF the SPANISH WAR.
Organization Formed Of the Survivors
Of the Recent COnAIct al Arms.

IL is understood that in short time
An effort will be made 20 establish in
Washington city branch ef an order
recently founded, and which will be
known as THE Service Men OF the
Spanish War -
The founders Of the society made
choice Of the designation Service
Men" as equally distinctive Of the men
who waited in vain for orders to the
front. and the more favored ones who
experienced the exciting scenes OF ac-
tual conflict The boys in their teens,
of whom there were thousands in the
service. can scarcely be classed as
veterans, but were fairly service
men, and doing duty wherever orders
demanded it. There were thousands
who endured with impatience the dull
routine of the camp through weari
some months, who were certainly
Service men, but would hesitate to
wear the designation Of VETERANS. ~
THE Service Men Of the Spanish
War;" conceived by Captain Wilson |.
Davenny, commissary on the staff Of
Brigadier- General John p. Wiley, was
organized at Camp Hamilton Ky. Nov
ember g. 1898 The organization was
incorporated uuder the laws Of Ken
tucky, and constitution was subse
quently formulated and adopted
The plans and purposes OF 1.-THE Ser
ice Men" are fully set forth in cir.
cular issued by Captain Dayenny.
which is in part as follows
lit is Just cause for national re
joicing that the intelligence and valor
OF American soldiery 50 speedily and
splendidly overmatched the arms Of
Spain on both land and sea that Porto
Rioo and Hawaii have been brought
under the flag Of American freedom,
and that the arrogant rule OF Spain in
the far.away Philippines is broken.
These achievements make for the ex-
pansi0n Of our national life, the wild.
ening Of American influence and the
uplifting Of humanity
sECTIoNAL LINES OBLITERATgD.
Peace has come and with 1t the op-
portunity Of retrospecting the blessings
that have attended the call to arms and
its response. Chief among them and
better even than territorial expansion,
was the complete effacement Of all Sec
tional lines-the baptism Of the whole
people with the purest fame OF patriot
ism-that made the men who wore the
blue and the gray kindred in the face
of a common foe comrades all beneath
their country's flag
Nothing can make more certain
the perpetuity Of our free institutions
than the complete and perfect cohesion
Of our own people, and out Of the cru
cible of armed conflict and the COM
radeship that is born around the camp
fire may come the very element most
essential to the best development Of our
incompatible country.
The Grand Army Of the Republic
for more than a century has kept alive
the love Of the flag, and the music of
the Union has been playing ever since
the men we're marching in 1865. The
/ Confederate veterans, too, have kept the
campfire burning and in memory have
lived the hardships Of their campaigns
but the latitude of birth is now forgot
ton. and the soldiers Of the north and
Of the south, as fellow comrades Of
camp and field, are joined in COM
mon song of triumph over tyranny.
1T is therefore fitting and proper
that the feeling Of fraternity 30 hap
PLY born should be given substantial
expression and nodded into permanent
form and it is to this end that the
society to be known as ''The service
Men of the Spanish War" is organized
It's purpose is purely social and patriot
ic to cement the friendships formed
in the war with Spain and to foster
fealty to our free institutions to weld
into a new brotherhood the young men
as we'll as the older ones who stood TO-
Qether for human liberty under the
stars and stripes in the dawn Of new
century -
PLANS PROPOSED.
The plan Of organization provides fol