Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1911-02-23
ASKS MONUMENT
TO GEN. SMYTH
Civil War Vet Wants LegiS-
Iature to Help in the
Patriotic Work

The following letter explains itself.
To the Delaware Legislature.
Gentlemen: Permit me with due
respect to address you and from a
wholly disinterested standpoint in be-
half Of a bill TO appropriate money to
erect a monument to General Thomas
II. Smyth
| address you as a citizen of Della
ware, TO the manner born. and one who
gave the three best years Of his life
that this nation might endure.
Il is historical fact that Delaware
furnished to suppress the Civil War
more soldiers per capita than any
other State of the Union, with Indiana
a close second.
l am ashamed to say that my native
State has comparatively done nothing
to honor its citizen soldiery. She
has erected no costly mausoleum on
our battle fields; no monuments rear
their heads skyward, nothing but a
few humble markers at Gettysburg. II.
G. Buckingham, my brother, a long
term soldier, who for forty-six years
has carried a Confederate bullet in his
body. has introduced a bill endorsed
by the Grand Army of the Republic,
appropriating S10,000-make it $780,
000--to erect a monument to the mem
DRY Of that gallant Irishman, General
Thomas II. Smyth, who fell with his
face to the foe at High Bridge, Vir-
ginia, in April. 1865.
Go where you will throughout the
North and you find monuments erect
ed by q grateful patriotic people to the
memory Of their soldier dead. Last
winter I saw at Vicksburg, Mississip-
pi, the white marble semi-circular
buildings erected by Iowa and llli-
nois, each costing nearly Sl,0OO,00O.
The walls are covered with brass
tablets on which are inscribed the
names of their soldiers who served In
that campaign, and these were per-
sonal names, put there by personal
legislation. Go where you will in the
Southland, where I recently spent
four years, every town, yea, every
village. bristles with monuments TO
the lost cause" am impelled TO
write this letter from the fact that
you have already killed two soldier
bills, on the paltry plea that the
soldier was already drawing sufficient
pension and that it was individual
legislation. full we'll remember a
day in July. 1863. year. two days. yea,
three days, when on the hills of Get
tysburg the fate of the nation hung in
the balance, when $4,000 Delaware
soldiers stood with Springfield rife
muskets, Spencer Carbines, and riled
brazen mouth cannon to turn back
the Confederate hordes. II success
during those July days had crowned
their efforts they would have swept
our State as the locusts swept Egypt
They would have laid a contribution
of S1000.000 on penalty Of burning
your cities. War is hell; all this Is
war.
The Delaware soldier and his
comrades saved you from all this ard
he has never been half paid. II you
doubt this 90 stand where 7 have
stood; go charge whore they have
charged, aud you will learn a lesson
In patriotism and love Of the flag, you
little thought o.
Some man rises up among you and
says it is individual legislation; yes,
Il is individual legislation. and the
Congress of the United States last
month passed three thousand indi-
vidual bills to increase pensions. In
almost every Northern State and In
every Southern State the pension
voucher of the soldier is by law exc
cuted by the clerk Of the peace Of
each county without cost This is
individual legislation, and the soldier
is entitled to It all, and you gentle
men are the prosperous beneficiary of
our service. Il might be we'll for
you TO read Edward Everett Hale's "A
Man Without a Country
In conclusion ] will say that the
record Of the Delaware soldier from
the days Of the Blue Hens Chickens
down to the Spanish American War
has no superior in history, modern or
ancient.
A State that fails to honor it's de-
tenders in battle does not deserve "a
have defenders and may not have al
some future war.
d. e. Buckingham, Late Captain
4th Del Vol Inf. Brew. Captain L. S
Volunteers, and Medal Of Honor Mar
, by Act of Congress. ("lndividuar).
Washington, d. C.. Feb. %.