Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-06-01
The American Soldier
is A
Hero in War and in Peace.

They are not out for dress parade for
the sullen view is the earnest of blood |
shed and death. The cavalry wheel |
and in an instant the charge is made. |
We waver but the firm voice of the |
dashing Hancock inspires us to the |
dreadful conflict. They charge again, |
and are again driven back, and now the !
field before beautiful with natures
green is marred with patriot blood.
But not so sad is the marring of nat
ure's beauty as the broken heart and
the settling gloom which cover with
sickening pail the Northern hamlet and
the Southern home. There inevitable
retribution rises to counterbalance
with tears, the blood of war, the price
of victory.
The indomitable energy which grows
into the renown of the soldier is shown
best by the achievements of Grant
The military authorities of the world
denounced him and defied him to work
out his plans. To the astonishment of
all he took the strongholds of Henry
| and Donelson. Amid a shower of
slanderous epithets, hurled from
thousand presses of the North, he aban-
doned his base of supplies and swung
his troops about the flaming guns of
! Vicksburg and the Gibraltar of the
South knelt in surrender before him.
Patriotism was revived and despair
was cheered to ecstasy by aman of val.
or surprising the demigods of ancient
times.
Let us come to more recent years.
Is American bravery a thing of the
past? Has courage become bluster and
bravery blunder? Witness the late
war with Spain. No wave has ever
rolled bearing upon it's heaving breast
braver sailors than fought against
the Spaniard Neither the death
which slumbered in the mine beneath
them. nor the iron hail which rained
upon them from the forts barred them
from Manila Bay, and the wild roal
: which beat against the island hill;
when the Maine went down, re-echoet
in the annihiiation of Cervera's fleet.
But it was on the land that tn,
brunt of battle came The stead,
; march which began at the ocean Dor
der and led to victory on the hill o
San Juan; the vicious assault of tn,
np hn ct, oft ~
Riders are without superior in tn
! History of War.
The soldiers were not regulars, bu
d college men, doctors, lawyers, COW
u boys, desperadoes athletes and scion
Of proud families from the realm O
: naughty cities. In a common caus
they encountered death as equals
e When the smoke of battle had joine
= the clouds and the dead were given t
e the light, the sacrifice of America t
e the cause of human lii
1 erty was open to tn
= world. On this day of memory, tn
70 wreaths entwined by grateful hand
are brought across the intervenin
e seas to deck the graves of Fish an
Capron and the remnant dead.
S The humanity of our soldery is
n noble trait. 1t is the calmness of tn
= highest minds inspired by bravery an
Il love of peace.
/ In time of war they force surrender
+ in time of peace thev follow peacefl
i arts. The spirit of the American a.
T my in action is well expressed by
! captured Spaniard, when asked if IL
e Americans fought we'll, he said, "Ye
It they tried to catch us with the
IL hands"
IS In every period of prolonged peat
y there are. those who raise the cry
e weakened men and coward hearts. l.
l. not despair possess us The marti
= spirit lives and awaits the hour of ba
Ie tie. The problem is not to increa
L. but to restrain it. When came the ca
l. to arms for the Spanish War, sew
N hundred thousand men offered the
'e fortunes and their lives.
% No generation can claim all braver
/ When the veil of the future shall
S lifted there will be wars as well
" peace, and, in behalf of his country,
ll assured that no battle can come t.
II SOON or last too long, or be too fierc
Of Iy waged for the american soldier.