The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-08-11

I
outer works of the fort must be taker
by storm. For this desperate service
were detailed the End, 7th, 18th and
l4th Iowa, and the 25th Indiana. The
IND Iowa had never as yet been under
nre. The ground was covered with
sieet and snow. A deep ravine ran be-
tween the opposing forces, beyond
winch at the top Of long hill lay the
tort and outer earth works. These lat
ter were manned by riflemen and de.
Tended also by double crossfire OF
batteries, while the hillside up which
the attack must come, was covered
with abattis The attacking force
formed In line, the End Iowa leading.
Down the hill they came, across the
ravlne and on up the rough hillside,
under CALLING fire. Here many a
youth gave UP his life, 1.-THE last full
measure of devotion" He who bore
the colors Of the End Iowa, Sergeant
Doolittle, fell, then in turn fell each
man who seized the colors, Page
Churchill, until at last Sergeant
Twombly, as he and his comrades
swept over the works, planted the
flag upon the ramparts of the enemy.
Oh. but those were thrilling days-the
days of the charge and the final sur
render, and of the marching into the
fort WITH the End Iowa at the post Of
honor-thrilling days, and yet sad, for
victory was not achieved except at
the price Of lasting sorrow to many an
Iowa fireside. The effect of the sur
render of FIT. Donelson was instant.
The north took courage, the president
was cheered and the Silent Man began
that career of service that was to
bring to his country peace and to his
name immortal renown.
l congratulate you upon your having
cheered the heart and upheld the
hands of that great man whom the
providence OF God placed in control of
the precious destinies of our people
in that bitter crisis-Abraiiam Lin
coin; that you helped to bring into
the realm of actually his dream of
reunited people. There were times
when it seemed impossible, but to that
dream he tenaciously held until it
came to fruition. Let us thus learn
that both unselfish dreams and val
liant deeds are the measure of true
greatness.
The fair triumphs of our civiliza-
ton, those things which are high and
fine in it, exist for US because some.
one has dared to dream unselfish
dreams and to perform deeds of sac
rifice. When selfish interest would
have made our country a multitude
Of petty, warning states, Webster and
Marshall and their compatriots
dreamed of and crystalized for us,
he priceless ideal of national unity. |
When commercial avarice on the one
land and timidity on the other would
nave preserved the stain of slavery,
you veterans dreamed of land dedi- |
MOD fhrnirphnait tn human lihert v |
,elf. When the resources OF the con.
ederacy were at low tide and the
horrors of life at AndersonviHe be-
,ond description, each imprisoned
soldier was offered freedom on condi'
ion of enlistment in the southern
cause. AS each boy in blue. crawled
,ut Of his little shack and looked OIL
INTO the night toward the north,
here came to him as there comes to
every man, this voice: This is a
great contest involving millions OF
men. the result is a part of the broad
plans of human progress, what one
man does is unimportant." Yet Is II
not a beautiful and precious fact
that we have but step to go to learn
his final answer, for as the moon
shines tonight over the cemetery at
each little mound
among the thirteen thousand there
assembled is a mute but imperishabla
witness to the devotion of men to
moral purpose.
And now we are living in another
kind of age, more commercial and
more complex which has nevertheless
it's severe moral tests, and let us not
for moment imagine that we shall
escape It's peculiar responsibilities.
When the voice of easy living and
acquiescence would as,
sure us that not fair play but class
prejudice, not civic and professional
idealism. but individual and corporate
selfishness, must be expected to con-
troll modern society, our duty is to
dream of nobler day and to stand
sanely but independently for it's reali.
cation.
l had the good fortune last Sep
TENDER, when attending the meeting
of the American Bar Association, to
visit the famous battlefields that sur
round Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain
Missionary Ridge, and Chicamauga. 1t
was baptism in patriotism. The hori-
zon line is marked everywhere with
shaft and tablet commemorative the
valor of American youth, the common
heritage now of both North and South.
AS you wander over those fields, ev.
erywhere are reminders of the sacri-
fics made for our institutions. There al
so are thousands Of trees still growing
with tops partly shot off and pierced
by cannon balls, where nature is still
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