Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-06-29

dIJDed1eu lOI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 10 GSiiSL III
Cobb, commander of the district, but
none were to be had. On the Fourth
OF July General Cobb with several
staff officers visited Andersonville, and
the general made an address to the
troops of the post, who had been
formed into hollow square facing the
center. The Following, taken from the
!; Grand Army Sentinel, is a graphic de-
scription of what followed:
/ Soldiers of the Confederate States
/ began General Cobb, what news is this
| that has been borne to your district COM
mander from the commandant of this
| post? Can it be possible that soldiers
! Of the SOuth-Georgians- been
| guilty of desertion-of abandoning the
| duty assigned them of guarding yonder
! horde of vandals, whom your more val
orous brothers in arms have captured
upon many well-fought field?
| 'At this instant, - o'clock, from the
center of the prison pen was heard the
sound of song. Turning my eyes in
| that direction / saw that several thou
sand men had congregated, while 9TH
! ers we're fastening toward the assem-
blage. Perhaps not more than fifty
voices were wording the first verse of
| the familiar anthem. The speaker
outside was continuing expressions of
establishment at what he had heard,
when the chorus was reached and with
detonations like an explosion 5000
voices pealed:
The Star Spangled banner, o long may
it wave
Ger the land of the free and the home
of the brave!
1.-THE song-burst had startled the
| speaker or drowned his utterance, for
he had suddenly stopped and turned
| his face toward it. When it had ceased
and only a few score voices were sing
ing the second stanza, he commanded
Writ: Go stop that noise' Writ
fastened away, and Howell Cobb re-
sumed:
"Would you see that horde turned
| loose within your state, to pillage and
burn your homes, with your wives, sis
tiers and daughters at their mercy?
"The verse was sung and the chorus
reached again. The congregation num-
| Eered 10000 more than before Heaven!
what a swell of sound The very air
seemed to culver with the conclusion
the stockade wall to tremble. The
guards on mount stumbled with won
derment. Writ, who had reached the
great gate, stood stock still, as If par
alyZed The soldiers forming the
square were all now facing the prison.
1.-THE storm lulled, the speaker
sought to resume, but his manner was
Disconnected Writ was moving ner-
vously about, but essaying nothing
They heard the breeze of song sweep
ing the lines Of the third stanZa, but
knew it only forboded the return of the
tempest. And now it comes:
There are 10000 threats swelling
the call Of the pennaIit under which
they had fought, and 5000 more joined
in the invocation:
% long may it wave
Ger the land of the free and the home
| of the brave.
1.-THE echo of the last word has but
struck the branches Of the pines, when
they began to repeat. Higher, wider,
deeper, stronger, louder, the swell !!
1t peals-it roars-it booms-it thun-
ders! 1t is an artillery of song! The
speaker outside stands trans6xed. He
has heard the anthem before, but never
as now. Perhaps it is reminding him
of the high position he has but lately
held under the flag it defines. The lis
teners appear almost panicked. A
guardsman's gun drops from his hands
without his missing it.
again they repeat, and now the
scene grows wild. Thirty thousand
voices are changing the chorus-3O,OOO
bosoms swelling with thought Of coun-
try and flag and loved ones from whom
they are parted. Men with but one
leg Chamber up, and supported by their
stronger comrades, wave their caps
aloft and join in the chorus:
The star spangled banner, 0 long may it
wave
Ger the land of the free and the home of
brave.
"Once more they repeat, and now all
the prison is in the skyrending peal
| the very walls, the ground. Poor, fe-
ver-wasted frames, within an hour of
| dissolution from their spirits, half up
rise and propping upon one hand raise
! the withered fingers of the other aloft
while they unite their cracked voices
in the refrain they will hear never
more:
| The star spangled banner, 0 long may it
wave
| Der the land of the free and the home Of
brave