Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-05-31

he dIIHy VI tie OHitcu
States on April 1. 1861, numbered 49,
900 officers and men. In three months.
$4,000 had sprung to her defence and
nine months saw that number in
creased to over half a million, one
third more than Napoleon gathered
from all his provinces for his campaign
into Russia.
In the fourth place the youth Of the
Northern Army is amazing. The VIC
tory was won in fact and in no poetic
sence by the boys in blue. School boys
of thirteen to seventeen donned the
uniform. Thirty per cent were TWEEN
ty-one or under, fifty-nine per cent
were twenty-five or under and seventy
six per cent. were 80 or under, while
of our total force more than half mil
lion were too young to cast ballot
but old enough to cast a bullet. This
was equally true of the officers. Sheri-
dan was thirty-three when he con-
Quoted his brilliant campaign in the
valley of the Shenandoah. Howard
was thirty-two when made corps
commander and our distinguished fell
low citizen, Governor Conner won the
stars of a brigadier general when only
twenty-six.
The editor of the Kennebec Journal
uttered no idle prophecy when on the
Sd of May, 1861, he wrote: 1.-The heroes
of history are today the young men in
the shops and on the ia, ms.
Again the magnitude Of the four
years conflict was appalling. We were
then a nation Of thirty-twO millions, in
Guiding women and children, and yet
- v-nic
put under arms, two and three quarter
millions in the North and one and one
quarter millions in the South. More
tnan $4,000 were killed on our side
alone and the number of wounded was
much larger. There were nearly two
thousand engagements OF all kinds ana
the field of battle extended 1000 miles
from North to South and 1900 miles
from East to West. 4 larger territory
than was traversed by the legions of
Caesar. Comparisons may aid you. AT
Bunker Hill the British had 5000 troops,
the Americans 1860, while the effective
force of the Union Army alone at the
battle of the Wilderness was $4,000,
CORVALLIS at Yorktown surrendered
1000, Lee at AppOmatox between $4,000
and $4,000. On such gigantic scale were
the battles of the Rebellion fought.
Let us make this a bit more personal
and local. Place yourselves if you will.
you to whom the work c: these men
here is a tradition and rot memory
hack forty years at that April day in
1861, when that fatal shO: was fired at
the old flag on Fort SuE1ter. What was
the response Of this State and of this
city when it's echoes reg ched US? We
o: the younger generation cannot be re-
minded too often of the record Of those
days.
On Monday, the 18th of April, Presi-
dent Lincoln called for $4,000 volun-
teers, Names quota being 1000. The
very next day Governor Washburn
issued a proclamation foe Il meeting OF
the Legislature on the following Nom
day. the 22d. 1t met on that day, but
instead of providing for the one thou
sand asked for by the President it lu-
thOrized the raising of ten thousand
men and q war loan of one million dol
lars.
So much at the outsrt for the STATE
What OF this city? Tic first man au-
thoriZed by The Governor to recruit g
company IN this State vas Col. Henry
G. Staples. and he has the proud dis
tinctiOn Of being the first to enlist il,
this city. You young mer of the Sons
OF Veterans hCnOred yourselves as wei,
AS him when you gave to your camp the
name Of one who responded so PROMPT
ly to his countrys call. and who was
afterward colonel Of the regiment he
helped to organize. whose record as a
brave soldier stands un.arnished, and
who has lOtr r..
still fighting The foe of an incurable
disease with all a soldiers fortitude and
patience.
Within week that company, Com
pany s. of the Sd Maine. was filled and
Moses j. Lakeman. afterwards the be-
loved colonel of the regiment COM
menced recruiting the second company,
and in two days time that too was
filled.
The Sd Maine has a tender place in
was the first Offering of the valley of
the Kcnnebec, and was the first regi-
ment to assemble and encamp in this
city. When it left for the front in the
early morning of June 5th, hidden God
Speed by the Governor as he stood on
the steps of the Augusta House, at it's
head rode that fine type of the Chris
tian soldier, the hero of the EMPTY
Sleeve" Oliver Otis Howard. Then it
was that Governor Washburn tele-
graphed the Secretary of War that
zone thousand of Luther Severance's
boys had started for Washington"
The response of the Presidents call
was no exception. Maine met every
demand. furnishing her full quota to
the Union forces and Augusta her full
quota to the State. At the end of fif-
teen months after the war broke out |
more than one-fourth of her able-bod- |
led men had left their homes. !
Follow these regiments to the front. |
The three salient points Of the war |
were Bull Run, Gettysburg and Apo
matox. Bull Run, fought on July q, |
1861. was the first great battle to try |
the metal of the two armies, and |
though the Union forces were routed |
1t was a victory in disguise because |
the North was made to realize the |
stubborn strength of the Rebellion and |
to redouble her efforts. Was Maine |
there? Yes, with the I'd. Sd, 4th and 5th |
Regiments, every regiment that had |
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