The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1908-11-25
ADDRESS OF
PRESIDENT
ROOSEVELT
AT UnUeiling of {
Monument to
Gen. Sheridan

WASHINGTON, D. c.. Nov. 25.-At
the unwilling Of a monument to Gen
eral Philip H. Sheridan here to-day
President Roosevelt delivered the fol.
living address:
1t is eminently fitting that the Ma.
tons illustrous men, the men who
loom as heroes before tine eyes of our
people, should be fttingly common.
Grated here at the National Capital
land am glad indeed to take part IN
the unwilling of this statue to General
Sheridan. His name will always stand
Iiigh on the list of American wGrthies.
Not only was he a great general, but
be showed his greatness with that
touch OF originality which we call gen.
ius Indeed this quality of brilTiance
has been in one sense a disadvantage
to his reputation, for 1t has tended to
oyershaGlow his solid ability. We tenl
to think of him Gnly as tae dashing
cavalry leader, whereas he was in real.
lty not eply that, but also great CON.
mander. OF course, the fact in his
career most readily recognized was
his mastery in the necessarily modern
art Of handling masses of modern cav.
airy SO as to give them the fullest pos.
sble effect, not only in the ordinary
operations OF cavalry which prece,l9
and follow a battle but in the battle
itself. But in addition he showed Ia
the civil war that he was a frst-class
army commander, both as a subordi.
nate of Grant and when in independ.
lent command. His record in the Val.
ley campaign. and again from Five
Forks to APPROPRIATION. is one difficult
to parallel in military history. After
the close ct the great war, in a fell
where there was scant glory TO be
won by the general in chief, he rep.
dered a signal service which has gone
almost unnoticed; for in the tedious
weary Indian wars on the Great Plains
was he who developed in thorough.
going fashion the system of campaign.
ing in winter, which. at the cost Of
bitter hardship and peril, finally broke
down the banded strength of those
formidable warriors, the horse Indians.
His career was typically American.
for from plain beginnings he rose to
the highest military position in our
land. We honor his memory itself;
and moreover, as in the case OF the
other great commanders of his day. his
career symbolizes the careers of all
those men who in the years of the ma.
tons direst need sprang to the front
to risk everything, including life Il.
self, and to spend the days of their
strongest young manhood in valorous
conflict for an ideal. Often we Amer.
leans are taunted with having only
a material ideal. The empty folly of
the taunt is sufficiently shown by the
presence here today of you men of
the Grand Army you the comrades
Of the desd general, the men VINO serv
ed with and under him. In all his.
tory we have no greater instance OF
suboTdination Of self, of the exaltIng
OF n hsfty ideal over merely materlsI
well'being among the people OF a great
nation, than was shown by our OWE
people in the civil war.
And you. the men VINO wore the
blue, would be the first to say tina.
this same lofty Indifference to the
things of the body, when compared u
the tnings of the soul, was shown by
your brothers who wore the gray.
Dreadful was the suffering, dreadful
the loss, Of the civil war. Yet ii
stands alone among wars in this, that,
now that the wounds are healed, the
memory of the mighty deeds of yalJr
performed on one side no less than ON
the other has become the common her.
ltage of all our people in every quar-.
ter OF this country. The completeness
with which this is true is shown by
what is occurring here to-day. We
meet together to raise monument
to a great Union general, in the pres.
!ence OF many Of the survivors Of the
Union Army and the Secretary OF
War, the man at the mead of the Army,
who, by virtue of his office, occupies
a special relation to the celebration,
is himself a man who fought In the
Confederate service. Few indeed lava
been the countries where such con.
junction would have been possible, and
blessed indeed are We that in our own
beloved land it is not only possible.
but seems so entirely natural as to
excite no comment whatever.
There is another point in General