The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-05-30


gender. In the balance was the des-
my OF nation. When the fortunes
or war and the superiority of force
had reduced the south to helplessness.
tney succumbed to the inevitable,
and acquiesced in the inexorable de-
cree OF fate. There remained but one
tning more to forever heal the wound
ed pride of the Anglo-Saxon, and that
was the terms of peace. For the
charity OF its spirit and the benevo-
renee OF Its terms, the peace Of Apo
matox stands unique in history. 1t
gave to the south new hope. and
assuaged the venom that four years
OF war had slowed away in the south
ern heart
we OF younger and newer genera
ton, Immersed in our various pur-
suits, and gorging ourselves upon the
fruits OF sacrifice, can scarcely con-
template the awful reality Of war. To
us, that grim and grewsome specter
that stalked across this continent a
half century ago, leaving In its wake
waste and distress. can be no more
than a lugubrious apparition-a dole
ful fancy which we can better spec
ulate upon than understand
The events that immediately pre-
ceded and followed the election in
the fall of 1860 We're pregnant with
interest and excitement, calculated to
terrorize the tinid and faint of heart.
For decade or more dark and omi-
nous cloud had been forming on the
horizon, threatening at any moment
to burst and precipitate deluge Of
unprecedented terror. War in what
ever form or guise repulses the
senses, but civil war is a bedlam of
fury where brother faces brother. and
son raises his hand in the name of
principle, against he father Family
ties are desecrated, and the sacred
lmplses are deluged in an avalanche
of passion. When arbitration was no
longer possible and concession meant
humiliation. war was inevitable.
Let us reflect with what concern
both north and south must have ap-
preached the final struggle. Neither
was unmindful of the awful conse-
quences that must ensue or of the
vital principle involved. In that awful
moment of a nations travail, when
The surly drums beat terri
BILE afar,
with all the dreadful music
of the war;,
can but liken the condition of both
north and south to that of our savior
as ne stood in the garden of Geth-
semani, his hands raised to heaven
above, imploring his heavenly Father,
Father, if it is possible, let this chal-
ice pass from me- But the die had
been cast, and the guns that silenced
} Sumpter sounded the death knell of
the old regime.
And what a struggle. Ransack the
pages of history and it's equal cannot
be found; legend goes beggaring to
produce its rival The history Of those
four years robs fiction of its romance
and legend of its charm. The valor
of Sparta's sons has been surpassed
by that of the AmCan volunteer. and
Rthe genius of Alexander and Napoleon
fdWindles at the mention of Grant and
Lee. The call for troops brought forth
from field and workshop an uncouth
host, unframed and untried, learned
not in the art of war, but in the ways
of peace: yet their resolute courage
and valorous exploits for the prec-
ious heritage of all Americans, and
pride.
Those of us who are indebted to his
tory of our knowledge of this match
less struggle cannot appreciate the
constant passions and emotion that
surged in the breasts of those who
lived through it. The province OF his
tory is to record facts. The romance
and tragedy in which every loyal
heart shared through those years lives
only as a memory to those who sur
vived. Not one of those mute slabs
in yonder cemetery but tells silent
tale of human tragedy. Not many
months ago had occasion to drive
through the beautiful government ar
senal at Rock Island, Ill. To my right,
on graceful slope looking out upon
the father of waters, | beheld long,
even row of white slabs. Beneath
these simple marble headstones rest
the immortal dust of three hundred
and fifty brave boys. Many of the
stones are unmarked and those that
sleep beneath them are thousands of
miles away from the homes they left
In '61. A grateful nation has kept the
grass green on their graves, and the
we'll kept mounds bear witness that
the country has not forgotten them
One of the most impressive sights
that the Mississippi river affords trav-
elers is that at Jefferson Barracks
Mo-, On a majestic hillside, high
up from the waters edge below st.
Louis, you can get a glimpse Of the
National cemetery, where more than
twelve thousand martyred soldiers lie
peacefully in death. The marble slabs
which mark the final bivouac of nearly
three thousand brave hearts in this