The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1912-06-07
THE GRAND ARMY

Address by Col. H. V. A. Fergl
son at Blackfoot on Decoration day
1921
Soldiers of the Grand Army, an,
/ ladies and gentlemen:-I am Away
attracted to the men who participat
ed in and survived one of the world
great conflicts. Aside from the grace
which crowns them when the strug
gle was for liberty, or for the defense
of native land and fireside, such mel
are interesting on general principles
for it is q great thing to have gone
through great war. 1t has always
! seemed to me that the man who
played a soldiers part on fields like
Gettysburg, and Corinth, and Shiloh
and Malvern Hill, and Lookout
Mountain, and came out alive from
the iron hurricane, even though he
might have died within year after
wards, could truthfully say that he
had not lived in vain, but that on the
contrary he had had rich and wide
experience; for, though the time
would be short, it would be crowded
with dramatic incidents and vital ex-
periences, in comparison with which
the lives of most of the human mil
lions would seem poor and barren in
deed.
We all know that impressions
gained in childhood linger longest in
the mind; that they retain their
sharp edges when later Impressions
lose their outlines; that they contin-
ue with us, and often powerfully af-
feet us in our maturer years. And
suppose that the old soldier who
wears on his coat the button made of
the metal of captured Confederate
cannon. claims my regard and COM
mands my interest and sympathy, for
one reason because i saw SO much of
him, and heard SO much about him
when I was child.
From 1861 to 1855 lived with my
parents in the town of Corning, Steu-
ben county, New York. on the line of
the Erie railroad. That was the great
iron highway over which the militant
legions of the West were hurried to
the scene of conflict further south.
During four years I used to watch
the endless trains, and see the thou
sands upon thousands of tall, blue
coated men, until the thing became
mystery, and almost nightmare.
What kind of country was it,"
I used to think, land where was
that strange country, in which all the
men were so tall, where they all
wore blue suits, and where they all
carried muskets on their shoulders,
or wore sabres at their waists?" /
had not then read of those great mi
gratory movements of nations which
make such fascinating page in his
tory; of those skin-clad races that
swarmed forth from the frozen loins
of the north" as Milton phrases it,
swept down across the Danube and
the Rhine. and overran all southern
Europe; nor was there any special
meaning in the words when was
told that they came from the WEST
ern states" which at that time began
with Illinois. To me it all seemed
like some vast magical, but meaning
less procession, in spite of the home
~ human elements that were some
times thrust upon my notice, child
ish though 1t was. remember that
some Of those thousands in blue were
lank, dark-bearded, slab-sided men,
and that they walked with a stride
like that Of an African dromedary. I
that other thousands were
shorter in stature, clean-shaved, with
the possible exception of the upper
lip; that they were round OF figure,
deep-chested. and with cheeks as
fresh and ripe as Ben Davis apple.
I remember too, that all those 18th
century crusaders seemed to be filled
with sort of fierce and terrible Joy.
Every mans jaw was squared, and
his eye was as bright as coal,
though every now and then a regi-
ment, or perhaps four or five regi-
ments would burst into hurricane Of
song, and thunder through all the
verses Of the Battle Cry Of Free
DOM" ] noticed too, that at several
periods the regulation blouse, cap,
pants and blue overcoat we're miss
ing; that every one of the thousands,
who came by train loads, was clad as