Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-21
PALMYRA CENTENNIAL,
Continued from Page One.)


of this great war? They did not do it
all. for patriots from the cities fought
side by side with them and | would not
Gcrogate their worth one jot; but as in
the days of the Revolution so in the
days of the great Rebellion it was the
mighty heart of the country that beat
the strongest for liberty and native
land. and without the country regi-
mentS. such as those that went from
Maine, the war would have been n fail
ure and the Union would have been
rent aSunder.
When the raw recruits suffered all
the bitterness of death under the gall
ing fire on the field of Bull Run, and the
gay Zouaves from the Nations me-
tropols fled in wild dismay, and the
day was lost, twas the gallant old 4th
Maine Regiment that was undismayed
ana, among the last. left in the field in
good order under its own officers.
When at Gettysburg the great red
tide Of the Rebellion had reached its
highest flood, when it threatened to
Summerge the North itself, it was the
I'd Maine Battery that received its first
shock. When it poured into the gorge
at Devils Den, it was the 4th Maine
that breasted its fury. When it roared
about Round Top it was the goth Maine
that beat it back. 1t met the 10th Maine
on the Johannesburg road, the 18th
Maine in the Wheat field the 5th Maine
Battery on Seminary ridge, the Sd
Maine Regiment in the Peach Orchard.
The Sixth regiment, the Seventh. the
Tenth, the First Cavalry, the Sixth bat
terry, We're there to stem the tide; and
when the last fierce, desperate wave of
that awful tide dashed against that
wall, when Pickett's magnificent charge
was made, it was the grand old Nine
tenth Maine that met its force and
helped to hurl it back.
And when this tide reached it's final
ebb at AppOmattoX, it was to the gal
liant son of Maine, Gen. Chamberlain,
commanding a brigade containing two
Maine regiments, that the enemy's
colors and arms We're surrendered.
And in all this great drama Palmyra
had it's immortal share ana acted it's
immortal part; for this little town of
800 population furnished for the war
ISL men, a magnificent tribute paid to
preserve the Union. Proud indeed
Should Palmyra be Of the record of its
soldiers in that great war. and proud
indeed was the record of all the troops
from Maine, the State that never lost
a flag, made up as they We're Of the
country boys who never saw battle
until stern duty called them to the
front. And when their services were no
longer needed they came mOdeStly bach
to their homes, those of them who sur
vived, turned again to peaceful pur-
suits and became obedient subjects of
the government which their valor had
preserved, giving their influence, as
ever, to the uplifting of the credit. the
honor, the power and the prosperity of
the nation.
We have not to fear n foreign inva-
sion today. We are too strorg and our
position. both physically and morally,
is too impregnahle to be aSSalled by the
armies and fleets Of other nations to-
day.
Far moro than q European or Asiatic
invasion or war we have to fear to-
day the growing forces for evil within
purselvcs-the evil of greed and graft
On the one hand, and ignorance and
conoclasm upon the other; the power
llldI seeks DS SUNLESS tDiliblildlHbllS 10
build up stupendous fortunes on the
ruin and misery of all who stand in its
way, and the power that StirS the
masses to riot, rapine and murder; the
element that gorgeS itself with wealth
unlawfully and unjustly wrung from a
long suffering public. and the element
that marches beneath the black banner
Of Anarchy. hatred and passion.
And whom these evil elements clash,
if clash they must, it will be again. as
it always has been in times of peril
to the sound, the sane, the stable, the
sober, the sensible men of the country
side, that the harrassed nation will
turn in its distress. and who will save
it from all dangers that may threaten
Il in the centuries to come.
Men and women of Palmyra. you have
turned aside today from the prosecution
of your usual vocations to spend Il season
in concentrating the birth OF yonr town
100 years ago. Tomorrow you will take
up again your lahors and your duties and
face the obligations and the exigencies of
the future. If those duties sometimes be-
come irksome: if your labors often appear
burdensome: remember that it is you and
such as you who, in the last analysis,
shape the policies and the destiny of the
State and nation. The men from tho
country towns will ever speak ana aCi
and vote in the interests of night ana iI;
tice. of law and order, of good govern
ment and good morals; and remember
too, that upon you and such as Won DC"
pend and ever will depend the rnitv ~
politics. the honesty Of public servants.
the enforcement and dignity of law the
stability of government and the security.
the honor and the glory of the nation and
the State
The Centennial Poem.