The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-05-31

men only twenty-five years old, who
| commanded successfully entire brig
AIDES. A large per cent of the army
, was made up of young men-many OF
/, them school boys. The union was
saved by young men. and these young
men were the very flower OF our
J northern manhood.
Our army was also remarkable IN
} the fact that it developed leader
ship and generalship unparalleled IN
} history France, for centuries the
} greatest military nation in the world,
} never produced more than three gen.
erals the equal of Grant and Sherman.
OF course, one of these was Napos
con. England, during the entire
eight hundred years Of her national
history, produced only two or three
generals, one being the Duke OF Wei
lington, who overcame Napoleon at
Waterloo, who could be compared
with Grant and Sherman. And Eng
land, though mistress of the sea, new
er had but one admiral-Lord Nelson
who was the equal OF our Rear Ad-
miral d. D. Porter.
t / have time to speak Of only one
more, characteristic, and that applies
to the loyal women of the north as.
we'll as the men in the army refer
to their matchless heroism, and I
speak of that because 1t reveals, bet
| ter than anything else, the full meas
ure of their devotion to the cause OF
the union
The union army, by reason OF its
matchless heroism, had no equal
among all the armies Of the world.
save one. The one exception was the
confederate army that faced us on
| every battlefield.
Americans as Foes. $50
One Of the things during the war,
that gave us much alarm, was the
constant fear that England and France
would recognize the southern confed-
racy as an established government.
which would have brought victory. In
all probability, to the south. One Of
the noted men of influence whom
President Lincoln sent over to Eng
land to pacify the English people and
persuade them. if, possible, to keep
their hands off. ~as Henry Ward
Beecher When he was addressing
bowling mob in Liverpool, man in
the crowd tauntingly cried out: "Why
don't you put down that rebellion!
Why are you so long about it?'" Beech
er replied that it took us long time
because we we're. fighting Americans.
and Beecher~ was right. The, confed-
crate soldiers were Americans inst as
brave as we were, and Americans
never surrender except to Americans.
The story Of the heroism of the I'M
ion soldiers on the battlefield would
fill many volumes, but I have time to
mention only one example Of heroism
on the battlefield, the heroism OF an
entire regiment. 49,,
AS you know, Tennyson. In that
poem entitled s"The Charge saof the
Light Brigade has immortalized
,, that regiment for the charge it made
at ,Balaklava in the Crimean war,
sixty wears ago Let me refresh your
memory as to the last six lines Of that
poem:
when will their glory fade.
Oh! the Wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade!
Noble Six Hundred"
Now what were the facts concern
ing that charge? What was their &C
tual loss in killed and wounded? 1t
was only thirty-stx. per cent OF their
entire mum ber.a But we had scores OF
regiments, that sustained. a greater
loss than that. in a single engage
ment.
The charge Of the Light Brigade"
was. no doubt, the best example OF
heroism that the English army ever
gave. But, let me give you an eX-
ample of military heroism displayed
by a single regiment in the union
army. At the battle of Gettysburg
General Sickles. who commanded the
Third corps, which formed the left
of our battle line on the afternoon OF
the second day, moved a portion of his
CORPS forward some distance, to Sc
cure what he thought was stronger
position, but he had hardly gotten
his troops placed in line when he was
fercely attacked by the enemy with
superior numbers. After most severe
lighting. his men We're driven back in
great confusion The situation wa.
becoming critical. General Hancock,
who commanded the Second corps
that Joined General Sickles' corps on
his right, saw the impending danger
and was trying to form second line
of battle He had troops coming on
the double-quick, but they were some
distance away and ME must have
few minutes time. Seeing very
small regiment near by, supporting
a battery, Hancock hurriedly rode to
the commanding officer and said:
What regiment is this?" THE First
Minnesota came the reply. Hancock
pointing with his sabre to the advanc-
ing enemy. said, charge those lines
Every man in that small regiment
heard that command, and he knew
that in all probability, it meant for
him death or severe wounds, but
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why.
Theirs but to do and die"
Immediately came the command of
their colonel: Battalion. Attention!
Fix bayonets. Shoulder arms Right
shoulder shift arms! Forward double
quick March! Rapidly they moved
I'd ra,id.St cho4 and. sl,all anil