The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1911-06-01

sat this time it is suicide, murder,
and will lose US every friend at the
North It is unnecessary;
it puts US in the wrong; it is fatal"
The South misjudged the agricul-
tural, manufacturing and commercial
people of the North. She thought
them to be a timid class; that they
we're "mudsills" who would not and
who could not fight. But Toombs
was right. The excitement, wrath,
grief and indignation of the North
under Sumpter's bombardment we're
indescribable. Northern pulpits rang
with appeals for the governments
support; banks poured forth their
millions; legislatures appropriated
unheard Of sums: states opened their
arsenals; militia companies hurried
to their armories; colleges we're
broken up by loss of students; the
flower of American youth burst forth
eager for enlistment. The presidents
old enemy, Douglas, impetuously
offered any service he could give; and
Artemus Ward even offered Ito send
all his wife's male relatives to the
war;
The sixth Massachusetts, raised
among the farmers and townspeople,
was the first full regiment to report.
It's reception in the cites, on it's way
to Washington, was typical of the
popular feeling in the North.
"We saw the heads of armed men,
the CLEAN of their weapons, the regi-
mental colors, all moving on,
pageant-ilke; but naught could We
hear save that hoarse heavy surge
one general acclaim, one wild shout
of JOY and hope, one endless cheer,
rolling up and down from side to
side, above, below, to right to left. :"
Yes, the "mudsills'' we're in action.
Although the North was not con-
sidered to be a military people, near
~ hunderd thousand "citizen SOL
diers" answered the first call for
seventy-fve thousand men. During
1861 nearly million responded to the
call, and before the war was over, it
was answered by we'll MI oh three
million fighting men.
The North was not alone in the
support that she received. She did
not and could not monopolize the
heroism of the nation. Our Southern
brothers were Of our same ancestry
and descent. Throughout the South
there was the same passionate devo-
ton to their cause as in the North.
Their strongest and best, their youth
and age enlisted with the same fervor
and enthusiasm as our own. Each
undoubtedly believed they were in the
right. Each joined in fervent prayer
to Almighty God to confound their
enemies, to bless, support and aid
themselves, and to render unto each
the victory. Each looked for early
answer to that prayer. Neither could
anticipate the long-drawn misery of
those years of war. Yet, after two
years of fighting, the war was but
just begun. We had met with seeming
disaster in the East. In the West with
more success; and on the sea our
blockade grew more and more effec-
tive. In another year the tide of war
had distinctly turned and set in
strongly toward our success. An
other year and the last great struggle
had been brought to a close. The
war hosts of the North and South lay
down their arms, are mustered out,
and enlist again in the cause of peace.
But near hundred times ten
thousand men, of the bravest and best
of North and South, had gone to their
eternal rest. Slain in battle, died OF
wounds, conquered by disease, per-
ished from other causes, a vast sacri-
fee they we're lain upon the affairs of
the Gods of War by the passions of
mankind. With empty sleeves, with
wooden legs or none at all, with
wracked and ruined frames, a great
multitude returned as living, suffering
monuments to the terrors of the strife.
The broken hearth, the vacant chair,
testified to the heartbreaking grief and
misery of the women of our land. The
material loss was tremendous. Riv-
ers of treasure poured forth into great
seas of waste. Thousands of homes
were reduced to ashes. The business
Of cities was for months suspended.
States we're devastated by the battles
and the marching and counter-march-
ing of the armies in the field.
When the war was closed the nation
was perplexed and COMPOUNDED by the
delicate and difficult problems of the
reconstruction period. Never had we
greater need for the kind, considerate
and sympathetic heart and the logical