The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-17


Bulls Bluff. suppose there are some
gentlemen here who heard that adj
dress. ] recognize veterans of the old
Fifteenth on my right and on my left
After the terrible and disastrous bat
tie of Balls Bluff, after that terrible
baptism Of fire which those boys then
unused to the dangers of battle had
gone through, some of their comrades
under the waves of the Potomac,
others on the way to rebel prisons,
| others wounded and mangled in the
hospitals, others lying dead on the field
and that regiment of Worcester county
boys all trained in civil strife, many of
them who had come there children,
some of them from mothers knees,
many of them who had never seen a
scene or act of violence in their lives,
| he asked them, with those terrible
| gaps in their ranks, whether they were
willing to go into battle again. Would
you go next month? Would you go
| Would you go now?" And there came
from those brave soldiers the answer
| signifying their readiness to go again
into the terrible storm of bullets when
their country called. The report is i'm
| perfect, made only from memory long
after by men who heard it. But If
what the great orator said be true,
that eloquence is in the man, the sub
| ject and the OCCASION then that adj
dress to the Fifteenth regiment was
never surpassed by any utterances
from human lips.
"Charles Devens, If he had died be-
| fore the war, would have been remem
bered by those of us who knew him,
as one of the brightest and most beau-
| tiful and most lovable characters in
our community. But he soon showed
something Of another quality, He
| showed himself a great lawyer
81, myself, was broken down with
hard work in 1857, having succeeded
! quite early to the business of Emory
| Washburn, then the largest in Worces-
| ter County, the other leading members
| of the bar, many of them having de-
| parted. So l was glad and proud to
recognize this quality In my friend,
| Gen. Devens, and we made a legal
partnership. ] do not think there ever
was anything more delightful than the
| trying of cases in court with Charles
| Devens for an associate. He left me
| to take my part of the work and he
| attended to his. There never was any
| doubt that what Devens undertook to
| do would be done at the proper time,
and If there was anything in the way
| of attack or defence needed, his quick
| eye and his unerring Judgment would
be on hand
But soon after he came back from
the war, he was called to higher duties
in the national arena. When Ruther
ford B. Hayes, than whom there never
was drawer soldier or a wiser states
man, came to the presidency, it so hap
pened that there were but three men in.
the Senate who were his loyal support
ers. l was one of them. My colleague,
Mr. Dawes and Stanley Matthews of
Ohio were the others. On the evening
| of the Inauguration, although 1 had
not called on him after he took the
oath, he sent message to me, desiring
to know If there were any ann in Mas
sachusetts whom / should like to rec
ommend for a seat in his cabinet. 1
replied that there were two men who
would make excellent cabinet officers,
! Governor Alexander H. Rice, who had
then just completed his services as Gov
ernor, and Governor William b. Wash
burn, who had been governor a few
years before. But l said both of them
represented divisions of factions among
the Republicans, rather than the whole
of the party / thought there was one
man whose appointment would give
satisfaction to everybody. That was
| General Devens, who was universally
beloved by the whole people. The next
morning, President Hayes asked me to
| telegraph to Gen. Devens, inviting him
to accept the office of Secretary of War.
I did so. Devens came at once to Wash
ington. But before he got there, there
was a great disturbance, because the
| President had announced his purpose
to offer the office of Attorney General
to Mr.. McCrary of Iowa. 1t was dis
covered that Mr.. McCrary had given
| an opinion in the McGarrahan claim
| This affected vast mining interests in
! California, and was generally believed
to be fraudulent The President asked
| if thought General Devens would take
the place of Attorney General for a
short time, until that claim could be
disposed of, and then exchange the Of
flee of Attorney General which Mr.
McCrary very much wanted, for that
of Secretary of War / told him
thought he would
When Devens got to Washington,
met him at the station and told him
what had taken place. He said he
should be willing to accept the office of
Secretary of War in the beginning, but
he should not be willing to take the
place of Attorney General with the un-
Outstanding that he was to give it up
afterward. He thought it might be
supposed that he had failed to perform
the duties of the office properly, and
that it might seriously affect his repu-
tation. His decision was made known
to President Hayes, who determined to
ask him to take the office of Attorney
General, which he accepted and kept
through the entire administration.
There was nothing lacking in Gen
eral Devens to the complete soldierly
character. He had a passionate love
of his country; he was absolutely
fearless; he never fiinched before dan
ger sickness, suffering or death. He
was prompt, resolute and cool in the
face of danger. He had a warm and
rades, especially the youth who were
under his command. He had that gem
tie and placable nature which so often
accompanies great courage. He was
incapable of permanent anger. He was
still less capable Of revenge or of will
lingness to inhict injury or pain.
But 1t is as a soldier-after all 1t is
as a soldier that his comrades and his
countrymen will remember Charles
Devens. Orator and citizen and law
yer and statesman-these are high tt
ties to human respect, and they are
lofty claims to human memory. But.
above them all, is the title of soldier.
when the soldier has loved and the
soldier has saved his country. Gap
plause).
ut is after all the monument of a
great soldier that we are to place by
yonder courthouse. when he left to
hurry up the street when the news of
the attack on Fort Sumter came over
the wire It is as a soldier that he is
to appear on that monument, on his
horse as he went into battle, and as Il
soldier that a monument is erected to
him in the hearts of his countrymen.
to abide when bronze and granite and
marble shall crumble. Greater love
hath no man than this. that a man
mill 10 doxur his life for his friends