Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1883 — ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. [ARTICLE]

ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

The Annual Reunion at ill Washington. Gen. John M. Newton Elected President for the Ensuing Year. About SCO members of the Society of the Army of the Potomac attended the fifteenth annual reunion of that body in Washington. The parade was a splendid feature of the exercises The veterans, about 300 of them< escorted by the United States troops and the District militia, paraded some of the principal streets, and, passing by the Executive Mansion, were reviewed by President Arthur. The veterans were also given a reception by the President, who was introduced to them in the blue-room. At the business faieeting of the society quite a spirited oontest arose over the election of a President for the ensuing year. Gen. Mann, of North Carolina, nominated Gen. Joan Newton, and Maj. Stone nominated Gen. Grant. The eligibility of the latter for the position was at once questioned, he being only an honorary member of the society. Gen. Newton was elected, receiving 155 votes to 117 for Gen. Grant Brooklyn, NT Y., was selected, by a rising vote, as the next place of meeting. The exercises m the evening at the National Theater consisted of a poem by George Alfred Townsend and an oration by the Hon. Martin Maginnia Every available seat in the theater was occupied. 'Mr. ffownsend’s poem was greeted with much applause, especially those poitions denying Line on, the martyred Commander-in Chief of the armies, the vast audience rising reSeatedly, cheering and waving their hats. [aj. Maginnis, tne orator, was enthusiastically cheered throughout his effort At the conclusion of Mazinnis’ oration, which was cheered at every point, Gen. Sheiman was called for. He came forward and made ope of his characteristic speeches He addressed the gathering as “friends and comrades in a common cause,” and made his first Joke by stating that a ne gbbor on the platform had told him they did not want to hear from bummers to-night He then, in a quiet way, twitted the Potomac fellows for taking too much credit to themselves for the suppression of the rebellion. He thought the great West contributed a little bit toward downing Jeff. Davis apd his followers. “We of the West,” said he, “have a fancy that the Mississippi is considerable of a stream. We believe that its arms, the Ohio and Missouri, embrace a large scope of country. We know that it is densely populated We know that it is peopled by intelligent, industrious and sober classea They think themselves of some importance. When they were cat off from the Gulf of Mexico and the ocean, I assure you that the opening of that river to New Orleans, by the joint efforts of the army and navy ot 1 the United States, substantially achieved the success of the cause for which we fought ” Gen Fitz John Porter’s old corps—the Fifth —adopted a resolution urging his restoration to the army. The second day of the reunion was devoted to an excursion to Mount Vernon during the q,ay, and a banquet in the evening. GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND’S POEMS. The poem of George Alfred Townsend was a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, Commander-in-Chief of all the armies. It was a piece of smoothly-flowing vdrse, and is undoubtedly one of the best productions of the poetjournal st It is as follows: Civil soldiers, reassembled by the river of your fame! Ye who saved the virgin city bathed in Washington’s clear name! Which of all ycur past commanders doth this day your memory haunt? Bcott, McDowell, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, McClellan, Halleck, Grant? There is one too little mentioned when your proud reunions come, And the thoughtful love of country dies upon the sounding drum; Let me call him in your muster! Let me wake him in your grief! Captain by the constitution, Abr’am Lincoln was your chief. Ever nearest to his person, ye were his defense and shield; He alone of your commanders died upon the battle-field: All your Generals were his children, leaning on hfi childish-willed. And they all were filial mourners round the mighty tomb he filled* Tender as the harp of David his soft answers now become, . When amid the cares of kingdoms rose and fell some Absolom; And his humor gilds his memory like a light within a tent, Or the sunken sun that lingers on the lofty monument. Like the slave that saw the sunrise with his face toward the West, As it flashed, while yet ’twas bidden, on a slender steenle’s crest,* So while Victory turned her from him, ere the dawn in welcome came, On his pen Emancipation glittered like an altar flame. Feeling for the doomed deserter, feeling for the drafted sire, For the emnty Northern hearthstone and the Southern home afire, Mercy kept him grim as Moloch, all the future babes to free, And eternal peace to gamer for the millions yet to be. Not a soldier of the classics, he oould see through learned pretense. Master of the greatest science, military com- • mon sense; As he watched your marches, comrades, hither, thither, wayward years, On his map the roads you followed, you can trace them by his tears. In the rear the people clamored, in the front the Generals missed: In his Inner councils harbored critic and antagonist, But he ruled them by an Instinct like the Queen’s among the bees. With a health of soul that honeyed Publicans and Pharisees. • Faint of faith, we looked behind us for a man of higher tone, While tne Voice that drowned the trumpets was the echo of our own; Ever thus, my old companions! Genius has us by the hand. Walking on the tempest with ns, every crisis to command. Like the bugle blown at evening by some homesick son of art, Lincoln’s words, unearthly quiver, in the universal heart. Not an echo left of malice, scarce of triumph in the strain. As when summer thunder murmurs in pathetic showers of rain. Years forever consecrated, here ho lived where duties be, Never crying on the climate or the toil’s monotony; Here his darling boy he buried, and the night in vigil wept, Like his Lord within the garden, when the tired disciples slept. How his call for men went ringing, round the world, a mighty bell! And the races of creation came the proud revolt to quell! - Standing In the last reaction on the rock of human rights, Worn and mournful grew his features In the flash of battle lights. Once, like Moses from the mountain, looked he on the realm he won. When the slaves in burning Richmond knelt and thought him Washington, Then an envious i.-ravo snatched him frem the theater of things, To become a saint of Nature in the Pantheon of Kings. Faded arc the golden chevrons, vanished is the pride of war;

Mild in heaver) his moral gtary ffageas Uketfca morning star. And the freeman’s zone of cotton his white spktk seems to bCy And the insects, m the harvest, beat his army’s reveille. ' - All around him spoiled or greedy, women vain and honor spent, Stfll his faith in human nature lived without 4hcouragement; For his country, which oould raise him barefoot, to the monarch’s hight Could he mock her, or his Mother, though her name she could not write? Deep the wells of humble childhood, coed the springs beside the hut— Millions more as poor as Lincoln see the door he has not shut. Not till wealth has made its canker every poor white cabin through, Shall the great Republic wither or the infidel subdue. Stand around your great Commander I Lay aside your little fears! • Every Lincoln carries Freedom’s car along s hundred years. And when the next call for soldiers rolls along the golden belt. Look to sec a mightier column rise and march, prevail and melt. ♦Note.— The people of a city were commanded by the oracle to assemble on a plala outside of the city, and he Who first saw the sun rise should be made King. A slave turned his back to the sun and looked up the shaft of a high temple where the sun’s earliest rays flame, and he cried: “I see it," He had been told to do so by a wise citizen, who stayed at home. This citizen, revealed by the slave, they made King, and he was the wisest that ever reigned there.