Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1887 — FAREWELL TO LOGAN. [ARTICLE]

FAREWELL TO LOGAN.

— Impressive Services Over the Dead Statesman in the Senate Chamber. His Civil and Military Career Eloquently Eulogized by Rev. Dr. Newman. The Remains Escorted to Rock Creek Cemetery by a Long Procession. Solemn and impressive funeral services over the remains of Senator Logan were held in the Senate Chamber at Washington ou the last day of the year. There was a great throng of people present. The Rev. Dr. Newman preached the funeral sermon. The President was not able to attend, but Mrs. Cleveland was present, as well as the members of the Cabinet and their wives. All the branches of the Government were represented. Among the pall-bearers were General Sherman, Roscoe Conkling. Postmaster General Vilas, Fred D. Grant, and Senator Stanford. To tlie bugler s suit good-night strain, just as darkness was gathering, the remains of the civilinn soldjer were consigned to the vault, under a guard of army comrades, by the family of Gen. Logan. It was a soldier s burial, but without the pageantry of war. The cemetery which had been chosen for temporary interment lies under tho shadow of the Soldiers’ Rome. Thither the casket was borne, under military escort, fr( m the Capitol down tho broad avenue through which cue summer’s day more than twenty years ngo Gen. Logan hod led 60,003 men. fresh from the field of war, to their final disbandment. After the honors due General Logan's public career hod been rendered in the chamber where he sat for fourteen years as a Senator from Illinois, about the vault in Hock Creek Cemotory gathered the official representatives of that State, Governor Oglesby and staff. With thgse mingled Congressional representatives—not alone from Illinois but from every part of the Union—as well as thoso from other branches of the Government, the Cabinet, the judiciary; the army, and- the uav v. There, too, gathered brothers in Masonic ties and those in whoso presence was reflected tho sorrow of the great mass of tho private citi;ams of Gen. Logan's city and State. More impressive than all was the mingling of tho tears of the old soldier comrades w ith the tears of the bereaved family. As the fnneral cortege wound its way through the snow-covered mounds of the beautiful cemetery the air was filled with sleet, and rain, and snow. About tho white marble vault in which were to be placed the remains had been banked countless flower emblems. Standing near the head of the casket, Department Chaplain Swallow began to read the burial service of the Grand Army of the Republic. The scene was very impressive. Surrounding the casket stood members of the Cabinet, Senators, Representatives, army officers of high rank, and gr.iy-b aired veterans of the war, with uncovered Leads, while in a low but distinct voice the chaplain road the simple but solemn service. When he had finished, Rev. Dr. Newman stepped forward and. in an impressive manner, delivered the Lord's prayer, and concluded with tho benediction. Ihe band began to play softly as the pall-bearers stepped forward and bore the casket into the vault. Sounds of lamentation wero heard from the mourners’ carriage. A trumpeter standing at the entrance of the tomb raised the instrument to his lips anil broke tho d< ad silence with “taps" (lights out). The casket was then uncovered. and somq of tho dead Senator s , relatives and friends passed through the entrance and took a lust look at his features. After a few moments the cover was replaced, and the case inclosing the casket fastened with thumb-screws Meanwhile many military organizations had taken up their homeward march, the carriages following rapidly, with the exception of that occupied by Mrs. Logan and her son, w hich remained long enough to enable her to give some directions to’ Deputy Sergeant-at-arms Christie regarding tho disposition of some of the flowers. ' The remainder of the floral decorations were then conveyed to the tomb, completely covering the casket, the key grated in the iron door, and the illustrious dead was left in solitude. After tho ceremonies at tho tomb were over Deputy Sorgeant-ata-rms Christie called upon Gen. Hunt, governor of the Soldiers' Home, and suggested the propriety of bavfng a guard es honor over the remains. Gon. Hunt at once called for volunteers from the residents of the home, and iu short time a number of the veterans responded to the invitation. The volunterr guard day and night in twb-Kour watches until a force of regular soldiers is detailed for guard duty by the Secretary of War. On the day of the funeral solemn memorial meetings wero held by citizens and Grand Army posts at various places throughout the country. Logan’s Character Eulogized. [Extract from Ilev. Dr. Newman's funeral oration.] Some men have tho flower of language; Logan had the flower of thought. Ho hud the eloquence of logic, and could raise metaphor into argument He resembled not so much the beautiful river whose broad stream winds through rich and varied scenery, but that which cuts a deep ami rapid channel through rugged rocks . and frowning wilds, leaving the impress of its power on the land„ through which it passes, which but for it would remain desolate and barren. His was not the music of the organ, with its varied stops and mingling harmonies, but rather the sound of the trumpet, waxing louder and le uder, piercing the caverns of tho e. rth and re9ouu ting through the encircling heavens. It is a venerabla.6aying of Scripture that the “day of a man's death is better than the day of his birth '' When, iu tho stillness of the holy Sabbath, his noble soul left our presence, Logan was the foremost statesman of the mighty West, and hereaiter, and forever, Illinois will have her illustrious trinity of national greatness: Lincoln, greatest of stilt-smen; Grant, greatest of professional soldiers ; Logan, greatest of volunteer Generals produced by this country. But wherein consists that strange charm of his personality that falls upon our spirits to-day like a holy enchantment ? Whence the magic spell of liis presence? Whence the secret of the power of that one life upon 50,00 ,000 of people? Is it sufficient to say that his parentage was honorable; that his intellect was rich in its acquired treasures ; that he was the foremost of the West? Is it sufficient to say that he- was a great soldier, who proved himself equal to every command; that he was never defeated; that he defeated defeat and achieved victory when all seemed lost; that from Belmont to Atlanta, and from Savannah to when, at the head of the victorious Army of the Tennessee, he marched through the avenues of the capital of a redeemed country, he gave evidences of his martial prowCss? We must look deeper and search with keener insight for the secret of his immense power over his country. His was a changeless sincerity. He was neverln masquerade. He was transparent to a fault. He had a window in his heart. He was never in disguise. He was as you saw him. Never did geometrician bring proposition and demonstration in closer proximity than was the correspondence between Logan’s character anil his appearance. He was Logon every time. His.was the soul of honor. He bad an innate coutempt'for everything low, mean, intriguing. He was an open and an honorable foe. He had a triple courage, which imparted to him immense strength. His physical bravery knew no fear. His moral heroism was sublime. But above these was the courage of his intellect. Some men have brave souls in cowardly bodies. The cheek of others is never blanched by physical danger, but few rise to the highest form of courage. Logan never committed treason against his intellect. He thought for himself and spoke what he thought. He was loyal to his own conclusion. Friendship could not deter him ; enemies could not make him afraid. A great name could not dahhthim. He had more caution than was accorded to him. but it was the caution of intellectual courage. He was the soul of honesty. He lived in times of great corruption, when the strongest men of both parties fell, either blasted by public exposure or by ignorant denunciation. But Logan was untouched. He was above suspicion. The smeii of fire was not on his garments. Others made fortunes out of the blood of their country, but after five years in war and twenty-five years in Congressional life Logan was poor in purse but rich in a good name. To his only son, who bears the image and name of'his honored father, he could have left ill-gotten fortune, but he left him that which is far above rubies. Like Aristides, Logan can’say: “These hands are clean.* He had a self-abnegation which asked no other reward than the consciousness of duty done. Lovalty to duty was his standard of manhood. When another was appointed to the command which his merits and victories entitled hhn to have he did not sulk in his tent of disapointment, bnt fought on for the canse which was dearer than promotion. When duty demanded the exposure of corruption in his own party he preferred his country to partisan ties. When he was convinced that a distinguished officer wm unworthy

of a nation's confidence he did not hesitate to incur the displeasure of friends and the denunciation of enemies. When in 1862 his friends in Illinois urged him to leave the army and reenter Congress he made this reply ; “No; I am a soldier of this republic, so to remain changeless and immutable until her last and weakest enemy shall have expired anil passed away. I have entered the field, to die if need be for this Government, and never expect to return to peaceful pursuits until the object of this war of preservation has become a fact established. Should fate so ordain it I will esteem it as the highest privilege a just dispenser can award to shed the last drop of blood in my veins for the honor of that flag whose emblems are justice, liberty, and truth, and which has been, and, as I humbly trust in God, ever will be for the right.” Thero were times when his ardent temperament mastered his setf-contrel. Ho was a sensitive, high-spirited, chivalric sopl. He had pr.de of character, and power of passion. Ho knew his power, but he was a stranger to vanity. His passionate uaturo was intense. His emotional being resembled the ocean. The passions of love, joy, hope, desire, grief, hatred, and anger were strong to him. He could love liko a woman, sport like a child, hopo liko a saint His grief was inteuse, his hatred inveterate. His anger burned like a mountain on fire. Ho alternated between profound calms and furious storms. His calms were like embowered lakes, their placid bosoms mirroring the overhanging' foliage of the grassy banks. His agitutions were liko mountain torrents, leaping, dashing, thundering down their rugged courses, s.ieeping all before thtlu. When composed the ocean < f his emotions was so placid that a little child might sail hia boat thereon, but when agitated tho great il ep voa troubled.this heavens growled, thunder answered thunder.. Tho itliercal fires gleamed and burned, wave mounted wave, and w hole armaments wero scattered before the fury of the storm. This is the key to the warmth of hia friendship and tho bitterness of his enmity. Logan's Courtship anil Marriage. [Murphysboro (Ill.) Cor. Chicago Tribune.] Mrs, Logan is a woman of national not?, and this not only because of her being the wife of tho distinguished General, but morn because of het own wonderful talents in shaping nnd forwarding the aims of her husband. Mrs. Mary Simmerson Logan, the oldest, child of Capt. John M. Cunningham, was born in 1838. Her parents moved from Boone County, Mis- . souri, to Williamson County, Illinois, whim she was but fifteen months . old, aud settled in Marion. Here other children were born to Capt. Cuuulngham. Next to Mary waß Hannah. When Hannih grow up sho married M. C. Campbell, one of a prominent family of early settlers. Hannah died early in the '6o’s, and Mr. Campbell subsequently married Cyrone, a younger sister, who is his present wife. Mr. Campbell owns a flourishing store in Marion, 111, and has a comfortable dwell ng-houso a few doors off. The present Mrs. Campbell is ten years younger than her sister, Mrs. Logan, a«n<l iB a slight and graceful little woman. Mr. Campbell is sturdy and intelligent, a successful business man and farmer, and au active Democratic politician. “When John—General Logan, I mean—first met sister Mary,” said Mrs. Cumpbell, in the course of a chat, “John was about 10, and sister a little tiling of 7 or 8. . It was at the time John was going with father to the Mexican war. You see, father had been Sheriff of this county several years, and was Representative in the Legislature in 1.844 and 1845, or thereabouts. He was well acquainted witn Alexander M. Jenkins, who had been in the Legislature, also, and who was a very prominent lawyer. Mr. Jenkins was young Logan's uncle. John had tried to enlist for the Moxican war in hiß own county—Jackson County—but tlie company was made up without him. Then he raised some men himself and got a letter from his uncle, Mr. Jenkins, to my father, Capt. Cunniuglmni. who wai raising a company here in Williamson County. Father hail served in the Black Hawk war, and when ti:e call came for troops for Mexico he at once set to work. Capt. Hampton, who hail also fought in the Black Hawk war, was also raising a company inr-tbfts countv, Williamson Countv having promised two cottifianiee. Father had his company filli d when Johu got here, but Capt. Hampton had only forty-three men. In the letter John had Mr. Jenkins uski d father to get John a Captaincy if possible, and in any ease to do vvhat he could for him. John had thirtyseven men with him—all young follows like himself whom he had gathered in Jackson Cqunty. Father said it would not look well to give John the post of Captain—John was a stripling of 19, and quite slender and young-looking—-because he was too young, and thut Captain Hampton, who was an old soldier, should have the post. It was theu agreed that John's thirtyseven men should go into Capt. Hampton's company and John be mode First Lieutenant. Bister -Mary, who, I say, waß then a little tiling of 7 or 8, was w. uderfully bright, and father was terribly proud of iior. She was the smartest girl at the school. While the companies were getting ready to march John stopped sometimes at father's ana somet nu s at Mr, Campbell’s. One day father had Mary ou his knee when John came in,and father says, in th* joking way he had: 'John, if you distinguish “yfinrseirifTtlte war,T don't,,know dul wnat i'll let you marry Mary here.’ Some jokes passed about Mary being John Logan s sweetheart, and some months later, when father and John were with their regiment in Mexico, and father got a letter fyom Mary, he gave it to John to read, saying; ‘Here’s a letter from your sweetheart, John.’ “Father and John were mustered out together in 1817,” continued Mrs Campbell. “John went to studying law, and father, who had been made very poor by the war. soon afterword went to California to dig for gold—that was the time of the gold fever. While father was gone Mary was a great help to mother, helping her to support tho family. Mary din the household work and helped the neighbors, and sewerd at night and attended school daytime—and though only nine or ten years old, was tho best worker ever was. Father’ came back from California no better off than when he went away, hut soon afterward was appointed Registrar of the Land Office at Sliawnoetown. We moved there in 1852. Meantime John had been made Prosecuting Attorney, and moved to Benton about tho same time we went to Shawneetown. An o’d friend of John's, Samuel K. Casey, lived at Benton, and induced John to go thero so as to be near the" eenttet of his judicial district. John used to come to Shawneetown in his regular court circuit, and I guess always had his eye ou Mary, though she was only 14 or 15. Father was Clerk of the Court and some other things beside Land Office Registrar, and Mary helped him in his writing. In 1953 Mary was sent to St. Vincent Convent in Kentucky—we were all Protestants, but this was the only place in tiie country where girls could get advanced education—and she staid at tlie convent. I think two years, or nearly that. She might have staid longer if she hadn't got lovesick. - I saw in some paper that Mary graduated at this convent- well, sho didn't. She didn’t stay long enough. She could have graduated if she had waited, but she was in a hurry to marry—John Logan. John saw her during vacations and holidays—he had a good deal of business in Shawneetown those times. Probably ho was as much in Shawneetown as he was at home in Benton. Mary was Only 18 wheu John said to iather ono day : ‘Captain, you promised to five me Mary, ana I expect you will be a man of your word*. I want to marry her.’ Of course, Mary was the apple of father's eye, and was rather young for marriage anyhow; but as Mary wanted to marry John, and as John wanted to marry Mary, the wedding came off within three months. “They wore married at father’s house in Shawneetown. W. J. Allen, known ns ‘Josh’ Allen, and now as Judge Alien, who moved to Springfield a couple of years ago, and who was John's partner In the law basiness for a while, was best man, and Miss Ann Hall, now Mrs. Dobbß of Mount Vernon, was bridemaid. Mavy. I remember, wore a beautiful lavender silk dress, and looked as pretty as a picture She looked very young—looked even less than she was, and that was only about 16. She was ninety-six pounds’ weight—l guess she's 196 now. There was a big crowd there. There was more fun and less formality at weddings in. those days." ~ ': ■ The Cause of Gen. LoganV Death. JfFrom the Medical Record.] The case of the late Gen. Logan appears to be one of thoße rare.ones in which aente rheumatism causes a rapid an > fatal issue. On Deo. 12 Dr. J. H. Baxter of Washington, D. C., was called to see him, and found him Buffering from acute rheumatism, involving ‘the right wrist. He improved until tfio 17th, when he had a relapse, the hips; ankles, feet, and both wrists becoming involved. Brain symp-. toms also appeared at this time. Athough there was some temporary improvement on the 21st and22d.'the symptoms on the whole became gradually more severe, the intervals of full consciousness shorter, until early on the morning of Dec. 26, when he became comatose. H* died twelve hours later. The cerebral symptoms were those of congestion of the brain. Acute rheumatism is so rarelYJX «MO-fli—-death that some complication is expected and almost always found in fatal eases. When death, dpes occur it is, as a rule, with cerebral symptoms, as was the case with Senator Logan. Such symptoms are most liable to develop in persons whose nervous system baa been subjected to tremendous strains or to the toxic effects of narcotics and stimulants. Ho doubt the exhausting political and literary labors of the deceased had mado it possible for the rhenmatio poison to attack and paralyze hia nervous centers, thus bringing to a fatal issue a disease that in 97 per cent, of cases is perfectly free Own danger to lif*.