The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1902-05-22
THE KEYSTONE BRIGADE.
The Farewell Address OF Gen. Spinola a
Splendid Tribute to Worth and Valor.


Comrade ]. NJ Witt, of Trio. Ohio, who
served in the 15Sth Pa under Col. McKib-
bin. sends the following copy of the fare
well address of his Brigade Commander,
Gen. F. b. Spinola:
Headquarters keystone Brigade,
Washington, y. c., May %. 1868.
15Sth Pa. Col. McKibbin; Hist Pa,
Col. Bierer; 16Sth Pa, Col. Joseph Jack;
10th Pa, Col. Dyer.
ADDRESS.
/ avail myself of this opportunity Of
saying to the officers and men of the Key
stone Brigade that the time has arrived
for me TO take my leave of you, and as
/ your term of service will soon expire
many of you, | presume, will abandon
the scenes and excitement of the battle
| field, again to assume yOur usual pursuits
of industry. In parting, allow me to as
sure you that l entertain an exalted opin-
ion of you both as officers and soldiers,
and in my official character | thank you
for the prompt and cheerful manner in
which you have ever performed your ar
duouS and dangerous duties, and | shall
| always look back upon my ASSOCIATION
| with you as among the pleasantest hours
of my life. You were put under my COM
mand at n time when you were fresh
| from your native State, and with few
exceptions entirely unacquainted with the
| tolls and dangers of war; you were not
| placed in school of instruction" but
marched directly to the front, where you
have remained, performing your duty in
| a manner rejecting great credit on your
| self and great honor upon your State.
| Your march from Suffolk, Va, to New
bern, y. c., has no equal since the war
began except in Gen. Banks's retreat
from Winchester, and that differed from
yours in this important particuar-yOurs
was toward the enemy, his from them.
Your conduct At Mill Creek and White
Oak River was equal to that of veteran
troops; your march to PollOcksvillc, for
the purpose of encompassing the enemy
at the second battle of Newbern developed
your powers of endurance and at once
give you prominent place among the
best troops in the service. While aboard
the transports in front of the rebel bat
tcries on the Pamlico River, you were
both willing and anxious to incur any risk
or to encounter any danger necessary to
relieve the beleaguered city of Washing
ton, \. c., and no troops i'll the army
could have manifested greater Willingness
TO make any necessary sacrifice to rein
force the garrison and to relieve it from
the perils which surrounded it; but au-
thOrity higher than either you or me
duct at Blount's Greek fully developed
your impetuOus desires to encounter the
enemy, and no soldiers ever retired from
the battlefield with greater reluctance, af
Ter it had been demonstrated that the
column could not advance, owing to the
destruction of the bridges which crossed
the streams.
Your reconnaissance to New Hope
School House" was all that could have
been asked of any troops; it was a success
in every particular. Your march to and
occupancy of Swift Creek Village, with its
accompanying sharp diminishing as you
approached the place and drove the rebels
from it in precipitate fight, at the dead
hour of night. were worthy of the "Old
Guards" Of Napoleon.
Your conduct throughout has been Of a
character that has placed the brigade in
an enviable position. Intemperance and
immoral practices, az we'll as vice in its
various forms, have been strangers to the
officers and soldiers of the keystone Bri-
gade. Instead of participating and in
dulging in the practices which are so prev
alent and demoralizing among soldiers,
you have invariably been found on the
Sabbath Day joining with each other in
prayer and uniting your voices in singing
praises to the Great Ruler of all No
cause can fail, my cOuntrymen. when sup
ported by such men as constitute the Key
stone Brigade You have done your whole
duty to your country, to your State and to
your families in q manner that no man
among you need be ashamed TO acknOwl-
edge that he is one Of the keystone Bri-
gade; while the authorities of your State
can with pride point to You as an emula-
ton for others who are to follow you to
the field, We are all called upon to make
some sacrifices in times like the present,
but The American who would not obey the
call of his country in her hour of peril is
unworthy of enjoying the benefits and
blessings of a free Government. which cost
many lives and much treasure to estab-
lish. No army ever suffered like that of
Washington No men ever bore their suffer
ngs with less murmuring than the brave
patriots who pledged their lives, their for
tunes and sacred honoTS, that you and |
might enjoy civil and religious liberty,
You need 90 no further than your own
homes to find the spot that gave shelter
to the FOther Of his Country, together with
the 1000 furnishing patriots who win
tered at Valley Forge, to which place they
were tracked by the blood which OOzed
from their unshod feet! At the expira-
ton Of your term of service it is fair to
presume that many Of yOu. from age and
other causes, will not again enter it; but
III the name of liberty and Il bleeding cOun-
try j not only appeal to the young men of
the brigade 10 enlist again, but | implore
you in the name of the men who suffered
every conceivable hardship and privation
in order TO show to the despots of the
world that man is capable of self govern
ment, that you will prove yourself the
proud representatives, of the patriots Of
'16, and never quit the field until this dia-
bollcal attitude to destroy the Government
which Washington and his associates gave
us has been plowed out by the root.-F.
b. SPINoLA.