Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-06-03
MEMORIAL EXERCISES.
Continued from first page

an nCampment or the u A IL. ;
Just now four distinguished looking
individuals with military bearing were
seen standing in a group punching
hands. No observing man could pass
such a group without noticing their
noble bearing, their benign, clearcut.
thoughtful faces. AS we look, another
striking fact comes into view. The
four hands extended in the greeting
are the only hands in the group.
Four empty sleeves hung limp from
the shoulders of these men, intensity
ing the picture, Many a comrade
stood with bowed head and moistened
eye as this distinguished group dis
persed, not seeming to have noticed
the interest their accidental grouping
had awakened. These all are Wiscon-
sin men who fought their battle. The
soil of the rebellous South was en-
riched by the blood of these heroes,
who hewed their way through treason's
rank, making pathway wherein the
feet of freedom may walk, unvexed,
forevermOre.
Fairchild, Jones, Timme,
| Odh0lSy, I1dll!
Through all the fatigue and suffer-
ing and pain aud deprivatiOns, and the
horrors of Southern prisons the brave
boys in blue never at any time doubt
ed the business of their cause. There
were those in the North who had re-
peatedly and loudly declared the war
to be failure, who maligned the great
| Of
| Abraham Lincoln, as The Greatest
Widow Maker of the Nineteenth Cen
tury,n and to their shame be it said,
there were those in our own midst who
would cheer Justify at the news of the
defeat of the Northern armies. But
the patriotism and devotion Of the men
of the North was so sublime that in
spite of all this, in spite of the loss of
all that is valued in life, they grimly
| proceeded in the course they had
started, and at no time was there the
slightest intimation from the army
that they agreed in any particular
with the classes before mentioned. We
have, perhaps, all heard of that
memorable instance in AndersOnville
prison in November, 1864. The boys
had received word from beyond the
lines that Abraham Lincoln HAD been
renominated upon platform, which
declared for the prosecution Of the
war to the bitter end. They had also
heard that George B. Mcclellan had
been nominated for president upon a
| platform which declared the war a
| failure. and called for the cessation of
hostilities. The men in Anderson
vile prison knew that McClellan's
election would result in a speedy ex-
| change of prisoners and d return home.
How much that meant to a man
penned up there God alone knows. To
walk once more the shady lanes, to
see the expectant faces of love in the
open door, to raise in yearning arms
the sturdy boy who was a baby when
his father marched away. 1t meant
all this, and meant more. 1t meant
life, and hope and home and love and
peace for the soldiers; but 1t meant for
the flag, dishonor, and for the Union
dissolution.
The reelection of Abraham Lincoln
meant the indefinite continuance Of
the war, prolonged captivity. suffering
and death amid the horrors of Ander-
sOnyille. They knew the issue and
they solemnly prepared to meet it on
the election morning in 1864. A mock
election say you? Yes mock election!
Its results would never be returned to
swell the grand total of votes in
liberty's land, but in the Book of Life
that mock election is recorded in let
tiers of eternal splendor They took
for their ballot-box an old tin coffee
pot; their ballots were army beans. a
black bean was for Lincoln, the flag
and the union, but the man who cast
it could never expect to see home, wife
and babies any more. A white bean
was for Mcclellan, the union sacrificed,
it's flag in the dust; it also was a pro-
mise to those despairing men of all
most dear to human hearts. Some
walked to the polls. some crawled
there, and some were borne in tender
arms of LOVING comrades, and with the
last expiring breath of life dropped in
the bean that registered a free man. s
will. And when the sun had set, and
the glory of evening filled the sky, eager
hands tore off thelid, and streaming eyes
looking therein saw that the inside of
the coffee pot was as black as tt e
f zee of the blacklist contraband with
votes for Abraham Lincoln.
On this day, too, let US remember
that other class of soldiers, who, be-
cause of their sex were prevented from
enlisting, yet who bore all the burdens
OF war. yea the greater burdens, and
whose influence was one of the strong
est factors toward the successful issue
OF the conflict. [ am speaking now of
the loyal American women. God alone
can know how they suffered Oh, the
anguish of that last good-bye! What
soldiers ever matched the herOism of
the woman who could bravely cheer
her loved companion, as she held up
the baby for fare veil kiss, perhaps
his last. How she carried on the bat