The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-05-30
HOCH AS ORATOR.
Governor Delivers the Address
at Fort Scott.
Beautiful New Soldiers MOnu-
ment Is Unveiled.
AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS
Tells of GlOries Won by the
Veterans.
Did Not Enlist Himself Because
Too Young.
AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS


e w Hoch delivered the Memorial
Day address here this afternoon before
several thousand people, in connection
with the unveiling of the new soldiers
monument.
The monument is a stately shaft. sur
mounted by a veteran figure of heroic
proportions 1t was erected at cost
of over $1,000, mostly raised by popular
subscriptions under the direction of
William Lytle Post No. 80, and stands
in the court house square.
The unveiling was done by As young
girls, gowned in white. At a given sig
nal they removed the draperies by
pulling ribbons.
A great crowd was present. By invi-
tation hundreds of comrades from other
cities were here as the guests of the
local G. A. R
Governor Hoch's address follows in
When the tocsfn Of that great civil
war was sounded your speaker had not
yet entered his teens. 1t was not his
privilege therefore to share with you
old veterans the thrilling experiences
of camp, of march, of bivouac, and OF
battle, and always on occasions OF this
kind he feels that silence on his part
would be golden, and that the platforms
should be occupied by those who could
bring a message to their comrades from
their own experience But if the mem
Ories of that great struggle are to be
perpetuated, if the principles for which
you fought are to be preserved and
! revered by generations to come, then
these platforms must be occupied more
and more by those who cannot bring
to the discharge of this duty creden-
tials from bivouac or battle field, and
this fact suggests to me one or the most
pathetic thoughts IN my realm Of
thinking. The fact, full of pathOs, that
I -T,1T rr-11I
soon be but memory. Members of the
Masonic order may meet upon the level
and part upon the square as long as
time shall last; the mystic links OF
Odd Fellowship may bind its fellows
together as long as the world shall
stand; the church will go on from con-
quest to conquest until the angel stand
ing with one foot upon the land and
one foot upon the sea shall declare that
time shall be no more; but the Grand
Army of the Republic must soon sur
render it's last charter and sound its
last reveille- Forty thousand of its
members respond every year to the roll
call across the river The pontoon OF
death Is heavy with the tread of these
departing veterans marching, marching
to the eternal camping ground. The
SHOWS which melt not away crown the
heads Of those who remain with us to-
day. God bless these surviving vet
Grams and tighten their knapsacks and
fill their canteens from purest foun-
tdlISs dHu SllOOt1A Tic AOch0 AOA 144C
mainder of the march, and may their
last day be their best day.
Let the procession of memories pro
ceed. Y Ou remember today most vivid
" the earlier incidents of soldier life
The nisfit of your new uniform, trousers
several inches too long or too short;
blouse too large or too small. You re-
member the curiosity of the first camp,
the aWkwar rdness Of the initial drill; the
difficulty of keeping step with your
on &C
foot" experience. You remember your
first forced march, but especially do
you remember your first battle. A few
hours before it began you were awfully
eager for the fray. You were afraid
some body else would put down the re-
bellion before you got a chance to do it;
but when the cannon on yonder hills be-
gan to boom, when the shells began to
burst above your head. when the mus
ket balls began to Whiz around yOu
when the twigs were falling from the
trees above you. when you had your
first battle experience. you were not
quite so anxious to put down the re-
bellion as you had been a few hours
before. I believe II Is no reflection
upon the courage of men to say that
no man ever went into his first battle
without a sensation of fear l have
heard my brother say, who enlisted at
the age Of II years and saw over four
years of hard service, that in his first
watched his colonel. who was a veteran
of the Mexican war. hoping that he
would run so that he himself might
have a chance to do likewise Many
of you doubtless felt as did the brave
boy at Gettysburg. When two miles of
cannon frOWned upon him, when the
two great armies were nerving for the
struggle when the silence almost of
death pervaded; just then a rabbit was
frightened from its hiding place and as
- IL IL
Goodbye. bunny; If l had no more self
respect than you 1 would do the same
thing" There was a time when you
could voice the prayer of the Irish
chaplain. A battle was about to be
fought The colonel commanded the
chaplain to pray that the Lord would
strengthen our arms and give US the
victory and in obedience to this com
mand the chaplain fervently prayed
that the Lord would strengthen our
arms and give US the victory, and then
added. "Oh. Lord while strengthening
our arms, please strengthen our legs
also for we may need them pretty
SOON" But the battle once on. you lost
that feeling Of fear and marched into
the very jaws of death without a tre-
NOR
And so the march of memories car
ries you from camp to camp, from skfr
mish to skirmish, from bivouac to
bivouac, from battle to battle. from
victory to victory You hear the COM
mand made for an unconditional sur
render at Donelson and witness its
compliance; YOU see Lees serried hosts
hurled in vain against a Gibraltar of
blue at Gettysburg. You march again
through the bloody Wilderness and
fight over and over again its seven
days battle you ride with the gallant
Sheridan's through the valleys of Vtr-
ginia: you see Bragg fleeing from Ken
lucky after his defeat at Perryville:
you see Mcpherson fall at Atlanta.