The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-02-09
MARK TWAIN'S ADDRESS
IN NEW YORK CITY.
FEBRUARY II, 1901

Nv NEW AOtA CTT1,
FEBRUARY II, 1901
To tell an American audience who
and what Col. Watterson is, is no,
In any way necessary-the utterance
of his name is enough; a name which
is like one of these electric announce.
ments on the Madison Square tower
the mention Of 1t touches the button
in our memory, and his history
flashes up out of the dark and stands
brilliantly revealed and familiar;
distinguished soldier, journalist
orator, lecturer, statesman, political
leader, rebel, reconstructed rebel: al
ways honest, always honorable, al
ways loyal to his convictions, right
or wrong, and not afraid to speak
them out, and first, last and all the
time-whether rebel or reconstruct
ed, whether on the wrong side or
the right side, patriot in his heart.
It is curious circumstance, that
without collision of any kind, but
merely in obedience to a strange and
pleasant and dramatic freak of des-
tiny, he and I, kinsmen by blood
for we are one and one-time rebels
for we were that-should. be chos-
en- out of million surviving quon-
dam rebels to come here and bare
our heads in reverence and love of
that noble soul, who 40 years ago,
we tried with all our hearts and
all our strength to defeat and dis
possess-Abraham Lincoln! Is not
the Rebellion ended and forgotten?
Are not the Blue and Gray one, to-
day? By authority of this sign we
may answer yes; there was a Re-
bellion-that incident is closed.
was born and reared in a slave
state, my father was slave owner;
and in the Civil War l was a second
lieutenant in the Confederate service
for while. This second cousin Of
mine, Col. Watterson, the orator of
this present occasion, was born and
reared in a slave state, was a colonel
in the Confederate service, and rend-
cred me such assistance as he could
in my se1f-appointed great task of
annihilating the federal armies and
breaking up the Union. I laid my
plans with wisdom and foresight, and
il Col. Watterson had obeyed my
orders should have succeeded in my
giant undertaking. 1t was my inten-
ton to drive General Grant into the
Pacific-if I could get transportation
and I told Col. Watterson to sur
round the eastern armies and wait
till l came, But he was insubordi-
nate, and stood upon a punctillio of
military etiquette; he refused to take
orders from a second lieutenant
and the Union was saved. This is
the first time this secret has been
revealed. Until now, no one outside
the family has known these facts.
But there they stand: Watterson'I
saved the Union. Yet to this day
that man gets no pension.
Those were great days, splendid
days. What an uprising it was! For
the hearts of the whole nation, north
and south, were in the war. We of
the south were not ashamed for, like |
the men of the north, we were fight
ing for what we believed with our
sincere souls to be our rights; on |
both sides were we fighting for our
homes and hearthstones; and for the
honor of the flags we loved when
men fight for these things, and under
these conditions, with nothing sordid
to tarnish their cause, that cause is
holy. the blood spilled in it is sacred,
the life that is laid down for it is
Today we no longer re-
greet the result; today we are glad
1t came out as it did; but we are not
ashamed that we did our endeavor;
we did our bravest and best, against
desperate odds, for the cause which
was precious to us and which our
consciences approved. And we are
you are proud-the
blood in your veins answers
when l say it-you are proud of the
'ecord we made in those mighty COL
isions in the field.
What an uprising it was! We did
lot have to supplicate for soldiers
IN either side. 1--WE are coming,
father Abraham, three hundred
thousand strong" That was the
music, north and south. The very
hottest young blood and brain and
'rawn rose up, from Maine to the
,ulf, and fiocked to the standards :
ust as men always do, when in their =
yes their cause is great and fine and
heir hearts are in it; just as men
locked to the Crusades, sacrificing
ii they possessed to the cause, and I
ntering cheerfully upon hardships |
which we cannot even imagine in I
his age. and upon toilsome and vast I
1g journeys which in our time would q
e the equivalent of circumnavigat-
1g the glode five times over. 4
North and south we put our hearts =
Ito that collosal struggle; and out y
it came the blessed fulfillment of =
ne prophecy of the immortal Gettys-
urg speech, which said, 1--WE here
ighly regard that these dead shall
OF have died in vain; that this ma Ii
on, under God, shall have a new t.
lrth of freedom; and that govern tt
lent of the people, by the people, o
n the people, shall not perish from
lie earth"
We are here to honor the birth :;
~ of the greatest citizen, and the =.
oblest and best, after Washington, =;
lat this land or any other has yet - -
'oduced. The old wounds are heal ~ ~
|, you and we are brothers again; .
III testify it by honoring two of us ~ ~
once soldiers of lost cause and =;
es of your great and good leader -
18th the high privilege of assisting
L II