Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-05-30

struggle to save the Union, under the lead /
ersrip Of eur great and loyal president
there was a subducl solemnity and con,
scious forebodings of the calamitics and
awful havoc of impending war.
In that war. three hundred and fifteen (
thousand Union soldiers lost their lives in |
the service, while thousands and hundreds
of thousands OF other soldiers came home
to die of wounds or disease contracted In
the army.
We meet today TO pay our tribute of af- |
lection TO these dead comrades. We hon
gave all they had-their lives. for their
country. But we realize that our loving |
tribute can be of no service to them-they !
are past the sting of bullets or hurt OF
cannon.
These services are of mournful pleasure
TO ourselves While we pay merlted TIL
triotism are rckindled and the lessons of
loyalty, love of country and it's flag, are
impressed upon the rising generation as
the story is again told of the sacrihces
made to save our country.
Thirty-six years have passed since the
close of the war. and the mutations
wrought by the intervening years are SO
great as to be almost incoinprehensible,
even to those who took an active part in
the great struggle.
A new generation has come The suryiv-
ors live In the dim shadows of the past.
Terrible Sacrifices.
Upon making some inquiries recently Il
became greatly impressed with the fact
not fully appreciated by those of us who
had attained to years of maturity in 1860
that the vast majority or the present gen
GRAFTON have no adequate conception of the
terrible sacrifices made by our own people
In that war.
more than 600,ooo people of all ages. The
state now has nearly four times as many
people, as then While Of those e., then Living
of the war, the great majority have long
since gone to their long home. Do we real
izc that of the great gatherings of people
who assemble today to participate In me-
norial services-of the busy throrgs who
daily crowd the streets of your fair city,
or whom we may meet In our travels. not
one In ten was living and old enough, when
these comrades marched away TO the war,
to remember the events of the most pain
full period of our national existence.
| torical facts ere the. dim recollection of
! the living witnesses of those stirring times
shall have faded away forever.
than i two and "a half millions of soldiers
entered the Union armies, and at the close
of the war when the last rebellious SOL
northern. army one million and thirty, four
| thousand veteran soldiers. Nearly all of
these mighty armies. were raised from the
northern states which which remained tss true to
+! population equal to only about one-fourth
Of the present population of the United
| States.
| 1t will be remembered that some of the
border states. as Missouri and Kentucky
| furnished about an equal number of SOL
| dicrs for the northern and southern ar
/ mics
These figures give but faint idea of
the magnitude of the contest, or of the
loyal devotion of our people.
/ Let us bring the comparisons nearer
| home. There We're enlisted In that war
4 75,519 soldiers from the state of Iowa, or
one person out Of every nine of the entire
ltN.N1 ,ttIn ttDt,- ND obi fk
old and the young-the feeble and unsOund
could not5lgo. Those who went were the
healthy, strong. and vigorous men in the
very prime of life. or young men just en-
tering. the early years of manhood with
lifes hopes and joys before them.
Who can imagine the condition our state
would be In today were II to be deprived
! of such u percentage of It's most active cit
1 liens.
/ Is Great Nation.
The United States of today is a grea,
nation even among the great powers OF
I the world The world has but recently had
itary strength. In one hundred days one
i of the oldest and proudest nations of Flu
/ rope was overwhelmed and conquered:
4 great army and navy were equipped and or
4 ganized for battle--an army consisting OF
4 two hundred and sixty-fve thousand sol
diers. This was indeed great and power
4 full army, and an army of whose valor ant
/ achievements we take great pride.
4 But when we remember that our OWE
4 Iowa could have raised an army equally a,
creator the whole 265,oo0 soldiers raised
by the United States for the war Will
Spain, and still would have furnished 1
less percentage of its. present population
than Iowa did actually furnish for tbs
i7Union army in the war of the Rebellion
we begin to comprehend the awful sacri
fees made by our people in the war for thu
J. Union.
day called upon to furnish $500 soldiers t.
) be selected from the most vigorous ant
&! healthy men. 1t would send CONSERVATION
. vet the patriotic county of Wapello dit
{ make as great sacrifice and actually sen
: as many men in proportion to population
to the war for the Union.
. Heavy Losses.
i OF the soldiers who went into the arm,
from Iowa 12,36S died in the service, S,s4
were wounded in battle and 1887 were dis
charged on account of disease and dish
l bility
!. Great MS was the sacrifice in men thi
, is hut part of the painful story. TIL
, and regiments We're being raised remail
! vivid In the minds of the veteran soldiers
We remember the sound of the fife an
drum, the war meetings, the fervid. patr
. women as the young men at frst--then tn
, older men We're urged to enlist-the az
! plause which greeted each volunteer MS b
r stepped forward to enlist. Then came til
/ day for departure--the gatherings Of til
: lvolunteers and their friends. The list o
u names is called and for the first time th
: men step into the ranks and count off b.
y twos from right to left
An opportunity is given the friends 7
say goodbye. and they pass along tn
: ranks athers, mothers sisters, wives an
' children with streaming eyes. grasp tn
hand-.Farewell! God bles you.' Th
command is given-"Right face, forwar
march land with faces to the south the
) march away to do and die, If need be, 70
their country. To many 1t was, indeed,
! last farewell.
'sAnd there are partings none may tell,
And faces paled and lips all dumb;
And broken hearts in one farewell
To those who go, but never come"
The literature of the American people
! rich with the tributes which gratitude, pa
, triotism and affection have paid to our hi
Z role dead.
We cannot attempt to describe in deta
| army life. More than three hundred bat
ties. were fought, some Of them compars
Etively small, while others rival in mngn
: tude, in the numbers engaged In the bra,
/ cry and tenacity of the contending armies
! land In the number of killed and wounded
: the famous battle of Waterloo.
: -Four years of war brought complete viz
l tory to the Union army. A victory, tn
, blessings of which are now shared b
: nearly eighty millions of people.
The Victory Was Equal.