Year: 1864

the roots of our genealogical tree in the
old French wars I; for the els Atlantic cam
paigns of the seven years, war were not
confined to the s'redmen scalping each
other by the great lakes of North Ameri-
ca" and it was in them that our ances-
tors first participated as Americans In the
large operations of civilized armies
American regiments then fought on the,
banks of the ST. Lawrence and the Ohio.
on the shores Of Ontario and Lake George
in the islands of the Caribbean, and in
South America, Leuisburg, Quebec, the
Moro and Porto, Bello attest the valor of
the provincial troops and in thar school
were educated such soldiers as Washing
ton. Putnam, Lee, Montgomery and Gates,
These and men like Greene, Knox, Wayne
and Steubon were the fathers of our per-
manent army, and under them our troops
acquired that dicipline and steadiness
which enabled them to meet upon equal
terms and often to defeat the tried vete-
rams of England The study of the history
of the Revolution and perusal of the
dispatches of Washington, will convince
the most skeptical of the value of the per-
manent army in achieving our indepeud-
enee, and establishing the civil edifce
which we are now fighting to preserve
The war of 1912 found the army on q
footing far from adequate to the emergen-
cy, but it was rapidly increased, and of
the new generation of soldiers, many were
found equal to the requirements of the
occasion. Lundy's Lane, Chippewa,
Queenstown, Plattsburg, New Orleans, all
bear witness to the gallantry of the regu-
lars. Then came an interval gilmore than
thirty years of external peace, marked by
many changes in the organization and
strength of the regular army, aud broken
at times by tedious and bloody indian
wars. OF these the most remarkable were
the Black Hawk war, in which our troops
met unfinchingly foe as relentless and
far more destructive than the Indians -
that terrible scourge, the cholera-and the
tedious Florida war, where, for so many
years, the Seminoles eluded in their pesti-
leDtial swamps our utmost efforts, and in
which were displayed such traits of hero
ism as that commemorated by yonder
monument to Dade and his command, /,
when sail fell save two, without an at
tempt to retreat" At last came the Mex
ican war to replace Indian contests and
the monotony of frontier service, and for
the first time in many years the mass of
the regular army was concentrated, and
took the principal part in the battles of
that remarkable and romantic war. Palo
Alto, Resaca, and Fort Brown were the
achievements of the regulars unaided and
as to the battles of Monterey, Beuna Vista,
Vera Cruz, Cerra Gordo and the final
triumphs in the valley, none can truly say
that they could have been won without
the regulars When peace crowned our
victories in the capital of the Montezumas,
the army was at once dispersed over the
long frontier, and engaged in harassing
and dangerous wars with the Indians of
the plains. Thus thirteen long years were
spent, until the present war broke out,and
the mass of the army was drawn in to be
employed against domestic foe.


l cannot proceed to the events of the re-
cent past and the present without advert
ing to the gallant men who were so long
of our number, but have gone to their last
home for no small portion OF the glory
of which we boast was expected from such
men as Taylor, Worth, Brady, Brooks,
Totten and Duncan.


There is sad story of Venetian histo
ry that has moved many heart, and Of
ten employed the poets pen and painter s
pencil 1T is of an old man whose long
life was gloriously spent in the service OF
the state as a warrior and statesm an,
and who, when his hair was white and his
feeble limbs could scarce carry his bent
form to ward the grave, attained the high
est honor that Venetian citizen could
reach.


He was Doge of Venice. Convicted of
treason against the State, he not only lost
his life but suffered besides penalty which
will endure as long as the name of Venice
is remembered. The spot where his por-
trait should have hung in the great hall of
the Doge's palace was yelled with black
and there the frame remains with its black
mass of canvass /; and this vacant frame is
the most conspicous in the long line of ef-
fgies of illustrions Doges On, that such
pail as that which replaces the portrait
of Maurino Faliero could conceal from
history the names of those, once our COM
rades, who are now 10 arms against the
flag under which we fought side by side in
years gone by. But no veil, however thick,
can cover the anguish that fills our hearts
when we look back upon the sad memory
of the past, and recall the affection and
respect We entertained toward men against
whom it is now our duty to act in mortal
combat. Would that the courage, ability,
and steadfastness they display had been
employed in the defense of the Stars and
Stripes against foreigR foe, rather than
in this fatuitous and unjusti6able rebellion
which could not have been so long main
tanned but for the skill and energy of these
our former comrades.


GENERAL SCOTT.


But we have reason to rejoice that upon
this day, 80 sacred and eventful for US, one
GRAND old mortal monument of the Dast