Gilpin observer., 1912-05-23
Prose and Poetry of
March and Meeting of
Veteran Legion
TT.T.tt.Ftt!t!T..t.!t..fsl3s
By E. w. LIGHTNER

b m that
war is He'll"
This must not be accepted as mean
Ing that war is always inspired by the
devil, though the wars of history
most of them, have plainly had their
origin in impulses Of hate, rivalry un-
laudable ambition, lust for mere con-
quest.
The Civil war in which these veter-
ans fought, and in which hundreds of
thousands who are not living to march
and meet today played their part of
sacrifice, must be said to have had
Divine inspiration If war ever had
such spiritual impulse.
Even to those who were mere chill
dren in those terrible years the spec.
tacle Of these grizzled ones marching
recalls the period OF intense anti-slav-
cry agitation; sacrifice and bravery of
pioneers in that grand writing and ora
tory which even in the north led to
mobbing Of platform speakers, sack
Ing Of newspaper Offices and assassina-
ton Of editors, such as Elijah Love
Joy, at Alton, ILL.,; the Fugitive Slave
Law and the infamous Dred Scott de-
United States. two justices dissenting.
which declared the negro, virtually. to
be an animal and that he had no rights
which white man was bound to re-
spect; the Kansas-Missouri warfare;
the exploit Of John Brown and his as
sociates at Harper's Ferry to arouse
the negroes to fight for their freedom,
and the hanging Of Brown and others;
these incidents and affairs, and far
more, with the final election of Lin
coin to the presidency. are vividly re-
called by the presence of the veterans
of the war, most of whom volunteered
in answer to the first and second call
for volunteers when declaration of
war followed the secession Of one
southern state after another and when
the south began hostilities by the cap
ture Of Fort Sumter. III
Then came the terror of battle; the
alienation of victory and rout; the
dark days following Bull Run when
the capture of Washington by the
rebels was imminent; the horrible
slaughter of succeeding battles in the
region of Washington, in west and
southwest; the marine and semi-ma-
rine battles on the Mississippi. Gulf
and Atlantic coast; the succession OF
commanding generals as one after an.
other failed; the coming of Grant;
the great march of the troops of Sher>
man from the interior to the Atlantic;
at Savannah and Charleston; Vicks
burg, Fort Donelson, New Orleans.
Antictam, Fredericksburg. Gettysburg,
Winchester, Richmond, Appomattox,
Grant, Sherman, Farragut, Mcclellan.
Halleck, Hooker and the rest Of them;
the brave. grand body Of lesser Off.
GERS, privates, who did the actual fight.
ing, hundreds of thousands Of them
piled dead and wounded on hundreds
Of battle fields; their deadly suffering
in mud and rain and snow; their hun.
ger and thirst and fever; hospitals al.
ways crowded; the agony Of relatives
at home; last act Of all, amid the ac'
claim of victory with the surrender OF
Lee, the assassination Of the captain
Of all the captains, Captain! my Cap
tain!" Great God! What a CHASTITY
and glorious succession of moving
pictures passes before the eye with ev.
cry football Of the gray and wrlnkled
ones who marcht through the streets.
1t has Just been said by some one
that with the passing of the remain.
ing comparatively small group of vet
Grams the grand army will become q
ghostly memory. Not 80. After the
last man has been dead for an age.
and for ages, the army, its privates
and its captains: their forbears who
famed the embers of human freedom
to living flame; the dead OF
the battle fields and the dead who
were fortunate enough to live for
years after the last battle was won.
vividly in the memory Of future peo-
pies as though the patriotic war for
freedom and unity were thing OF
yesterday.
Compared to this Civil war the war
Of the Great Revolution was sordid,
Tor 1t had its inception In rebellion
against the payment Of a money trib-
ltc " a AoiSi6h potShtaNc. lib OhO
was for grander purpose, the restor-
alton and perpetuation of the govern
nent built upon the small foundation
resulting Immediately from the Revo-
luton, and a declaration OF independ-
snce for the individual. that hence
forth and forever no man, woman or
child, no matter
what the color Of
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the skin, should be aaHrmu 49,
held as property S$NAx&9&3N
and sold from the fw ANA
auction block to be wv MNA
debased and prosti- I'M u
tuted lower even sXNZyI~
than the four.foot- NMSe
ed animals.