The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-08-06

DucllOIdllFb OL our OWL anu uSdu SOI4l- panions' loyalty, We few boys in blue assemble once more on the old camp ground, and send out our thoughts to the distant southland where are at rest aur tentmates. Here are the rem nants of the old Ninth with their hearts ns true to the old flag as when they marched behind it's starry fold"
 REV. W. J. sLoCUMs GRAFTON.
 T am very glad to notice to-day particular part of these exercises which carry back the veterans to forty-two years ago, when school children sang on wonder green arousing men to go to the front. Among these children was one who is on this platform to-day, Professor Jepson, and I call for three cheers for him. In a few words it is fitting ta pay a tribute to the chaplain of the Ninth, Rev. Daniel Mullen of Norwich (dead. and Father Leo of Win sted. 55 s,5
 t.When the war broke out Connecticut had that grand old man, Governor Buckingham for its governor. The me moirs of Connecticut in the war will never be complete until Connecticut erects monument to him in this state When Governor Buckingham called upon the Irish citizens in Connecticut to raise a regiment the men who went out were men who had not long since come from the old country. They were men who had gone through the famine of '46 and AT, who had seen food more than sufficient to feed them go out in export to the profit of the land-owning class. They came here to land of liberty. When they came here things were dif- ferent than they are now. They were looked upon as menace to the people here and right here in this state the governor disbanded company of Irish militia because he thought they were a danger to this state But when the war broke out they rallied. In 1861 when the issue was made this state of Con- hecticut in the time of the civil war was not so unanimous as 1t would seem at a distance.
 Peace meetings were held in many hamlets and white flags were raised in opposition to the war. All over the state there was hesitation, but when the issue was defined, then this hesitan- cy ceased.
 It was under these circumstances that Governor Buckingham appealed to the Irishmen and in every town were found men among our Catholic clergy men, men who made no hesitation in deciding the question of our fidelity or treason.
 Then it was that Irishmen hastened to show thei loyalty to the state that had given them a refuge and home. Then 1t was that Colonel Cahill began the formation of this Ninth regiment on the spot where this monument was ded- icated to-day.
 .The Ninth Connecticut regiment went out under more painful circum- stances than others. Most others were cared for, but on the contrary the Ninth was the victim of a nisunde It lay in that camp for two long months unrecognized by the United States gov ernment. It was unknown. It had no uniforms, but drilling and waiting for some one to call them to go and fight for the Union.
 aStill to their honor let it be said, they were still loyal to the sentiment that brought them together as soldiers. They hoped against hope. At times al most on the verge of starvation until finally on Thanksgiving day, 1861, they were shipped to Lowell, Mass, to join General Butler on the expedition to the Gulf-ragged and some of them naked, until they were started on the ship Con- stitution for the Gulf. The men who are here to-day remember it well.
 "At Louisiana conditions were no better. It would perhaps be better to pass over some of these things, but cannot. Who is to blame I cannot say. When they were called to meet the reb- els they went with joy and all these privations did not discourage them.
 When they were at New Orleans they were held up by General Butler as a model of soldierly virtue. They never forgot their duty to their country. At Baton Rouge and Vicksburg instead of being sent to the, front they were held in reserve, and there in the swamp far from home and friends, doomed as mar E IyrS, snOUtllIlS IU uO oul llC u0Wi, 5liiolC than two hundred gave their lives, vic tins of swamp fever. It is recorded in the state history that no other regiment suffered more than the Ninth Connecti- cut Irish volunteers.
 The world is amazed as it looks back and thinks of it. No wonder men were lost and frenzied. Who died the braver death, the one on the charging lines or those of the martyr? Well may we say that the Ninth was the martyr regi- ment
 Tt was not only in the Ninth the Irishmen showed their patriotism, Long before that Irishmen came down from Norwich and joined the First New York artillery. Long before that Irish- men had died at Antietam in the Eighth Sixteenth and Fourteenth Connecticut. They died with Chatfeld at Cold Harbor. They died at Spotsyl- yarlia. There was not battlefield in the south that an sIrishrnan from Con- necticut did not waste his blood and lies there buried under the magnolia wait ing for the grand review.
 .'What is the lesson we learn from this dedication? When reason falls to anarchy we call upon the militia to de- fend the rights of the state Not only has the state, a right to call upon the militia, but every citizen has right tc respond. The question of the right is the only one of the duty of every citizen { : %ba e,fo Sa,,o