The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-15

9th standard parallel. snuggled against
the low rolling hill and undulating
plateau on the north, and wavy grass
coated sand hills on the south In the
heart of the short grass land 1t is
as beautiful and healthful location
as can be found in the Sunf1ower state.
Fort Dodge's military history is re-
plete with events that make fiction pale
with facts. Here is where the famous
Seventh cavalry. under Custer QUILTED
| in 1858 to do Black Kettle and his
band OF Cheyennes to death on the
Washita.
at was here in 1874 that general, then
Lieutenant Colonel Miles, of the Nine
teenth U. S. infantry QUILTED his ex
petition against the Cheyenne. Arapo-
hoe. Kiowa and Comanche alliance and
forever broke the former of the most
cruel, barbarous and treacherous wild
Indians OF the southwest tribes. and
drove them out on the staked plains
Here it was that General Sheridan
said that the only good wild Indians
that he had seen were the dead ones.
Time ran on. Fort Dodge was aban-
doned. The irresistible march of civ1li-
cation came and Fort Dodge with all
of its military pomp and parade gave
way.
The Cottage Home Created.
when the legislature of Kansas
created state soldiers home. the
United States government gave the
state Fort Dodge and here today re-
side citizenship unique unto itself.
On the lintels of whose doors are
marked what? And who are the in
mates of this home? They are the
men that were boys when the immor-
tai Lincoln called for physical help to
save the union of states created by
the heroes of Bunker Hill and suf-
ferers of Valley Forge.
1.-THE present inmates of this home
for old soldiers represent nearly every
ST n
and then from magnolia land is seen
a veteran who fought with Thomas at
Nashville when Hoods armv was
pounded to pieces Here are old de-
Sherman from Atlanta to the sea and
north through the Caro1inas."
There are men here from the bat
tlefields of Bull Run. Antietam Stone
River. Gettysburg. Shiloh. Cold Har-
Dor, Petersburg. the Wilderness. and
coming closer to Kansas, are to be met
here veterans of the old southwest
army who fought at Wilson Creek,
Cain Hill. Cross Hollows. Prairie
Grove. West Fort. Mine Creek and in
wackers from the SnihillS of Missouri
to Texas.
From Many Battlefields.
To-day at Fort Dodge soldiers
home can be seen a small fraction
less than 265-of that once mighty
host that threw themselves bodily in
the break to check and forever stop
the tide of rebellion. Forty-four years
have elapsed since the close of the re-
bellion. The average age of the pres
ent inmates of this home is 50 years
and months.
eff a student of oratory should lack
inspiration for a decoration day ad-
dress, let him come to Fort Dodge
and visit the veteran in the quiet and
comfort Of this home, provided and
maintained by a generous and appre-
ciative people. who, like Ex-Governor
Hoch, says that it is what the people
of Kansas owe to them for services
rendered.
sfLet the student come and he will
see the wooden leg instead of the nat
ural one its owner left on a Virginia
battlefield; the empty sleeve for the
arm that was torn off. on the battle
field of Prairie Grove: strip some of
them down to the belt line and see the
running sores from the Embedded bull
lets the body carried off the field of
carnage where men and boys had
pulled down the visors of their caps,
shut their teeth hard against the gums
and with slight bending forward,
waded through hell; visit them as they
sit in the shade or sunshine on the
porch Of their cottages that historic
Kansas has built for the men that
helped to save the Union, but who
have lost out in the battle for bread
and the comforts of life in old age.
Grateful to Kansas.
watch them on fair days as they
hobble along the cement walks with
crutch or cane, bent in form, bowed
with age and aching joints, and go in
side and listen to the story of his COM
panion he married in girlhood. and
hear her recount the tolls and cares,
vicissitudes and pleasures of home
building on the prairies of Kansas;
the struggle. the final physical break
down; then the soldiers home, and
when he and she tell you with tears
streaming down their cheeks how
thankful they feel that grateful peo-
pie have not forgotten them, the stu
dent has not only his inspiration, but a
new hold on patriotism.
''Is it to be wondered at that Kan
sas takes the pride she does in her SOL
diers'- home? Well may the people of
this state rejoice when they read the
report of the national inspector for
soldiers homes where he says the state
Of Kansas has the most complete and
orderly soldiers home in the United