Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-05-27

Oue-udlI OF me heroes OF
the armies of 1861-65 have gone to their
long homes. The youngest of those
who remain have gray in their hair
and beard, and springiness no longer
is In their step. Each year shows
diminishing numbers, and before a
generation more shall go by not a
score will remain of the more than
z,OoOOOO who enlisted under the union
nag during the civil war.
1t is sad indeed to witness the
steady aging of the many, the steady
railing from the ranks of those touched
by death. 1t is difficult to identify the
bent forms and unsteady step of these
veterans with the gallant youths. full
OF the fire of living and impulsed by
patriotic fervor, who charged the pre-
c1pitous wall of Lookout mountain
and passed through the seething hell
of the Wilderness.
All! brave soldiers were these, who
met In saber charge, or with bayonet
thrust, men equally brave. What a
pity they might not have continued
ever young, the ensemble of sturdy
manhood, in whom hope runs high,
and the promise of the future is as
gold for richness.
Yet after all, theirs is the lot of all
humanity; to gradually grow older and
finally to be lost to sight forever.
But though man be mortal, the deeds
of man are immortal. And though
these men show age and decay, their
deeds are fresh as if performed but
yesterday, and they will continue
green in mans memory SO long as
heroism is a supreme virtue and pa
triotism remains loftiest of sentiments.
The nation sets apart day of each
year in which to recite 10 a generation
that has come after, the deeds done by
these heroes and the principles for
which all risked their lives and for
which so many gave up their lives The
graves of the dead are decorated with
flowers. Those who are living hear
each returning Decoration day the
nations estimate of their services pro-
longed through four years of almost
ceaseless carnage.
The conflict was irrepressible and
unpreyentable. The wisdom of Wash
ington, Hamilton, the Adamses, Jeffer-
son and Madison could do no more
than put off the evil day. Whether
this is nation or mere confederacy
OF states could not be settled by any
argument, or debate, or compromise.
1t was one of those terrible knots that
might be cut only by the sword. These
soldiers of 1866 were called upon
to settle what the fathers of the coun-
try and the mighty statesmen who fol-
lowed after were unable to arbitrate.
Manassas, Antietam, Gettysburg,
Shiloh, Chickamauga and Appomat-
tox were inevitable. 1t required long
wars and a. Thousand battles" to
prove that this is nation and not a
compact Of states.
Ii Washington and his associates
gave us free country, then soldiers of
Spottsylvania and Petersburg gave us
nation that shall not perish from the
face of the earth. 1t is in no spirit of
the bitterness that marked other days
that these words are written. Those
who fought with the south fought hon
estly, as they fought fairly and brave
~. They had the teachings of Henry
and Jefferson and Madison and Burr
to confirm and establish their faith.
The conflict had to come, and peace
and kindly feeling also for those
fought against the union. The facts
OF history, though, are incontrovert-
tble, that upon the endurance, tho
courage, the daring and the patriotism