Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1876 — DECORATION DAY. [ARTICLE]

DECORATION DAY.

Oration of Copt Chaa A. Edmunds, Eulogies hr Borneo E. James and OBAHQ* at OUT. liiwm It has been oar fortune to live fend bear part in the second of the heroic periods of American history. A few years ago thl a nation was clad in the stern armor of war. Mastering squadrons were seen in almoetevery town and hamlet in the land. As we stand in this peaceful shade we recall the toils and privations ol the tented field. We are again in the dust of marching columns, in the rifle-pits, the trenches, on the skirmish line, at the cannon’s South, and on the terrible raid. r e behold again the fated land: as the Garden of Eden before, and behind a desolate wilderness. But It la not mypurpose to discuss the oontost. Tost has passed into history, and today we simply recall the life and death of its glorious aotors. As this morning’s sun beamed upon the bill-tops of faraway Maine, the gentle breezes of heaven, sighing through her pine forests, began the requiem of our fallen braves. The refrain went across the continent, and from the shores ot the Pacific it comes echoing bark, until its spirit is found pervading the hearts of the people I'rom the northern lakes to the sunny vales of the Gulf states. On this memorial day, all over this broad land, aro gathered loving hearts paying their tribute of affection to those who have passed to the happy shore. On other questions, creeds and politics divide our opinions, but in this sacred duty we all join in loving commuuion in bestowing our offerings of 6weet flowers, and many a hand today has decked with wreaths the last resting place of those who w'ere opposed to them in the great struggle. The spirit of forgiveness, though not as universal as it should be, is growing in the breasts of people; and God grant the time may soon come when the citizens through all this land may forget the animosities caused by the war, and again mingle together as the children of oue household.

National gratitude for nation a and patriotic labors and sacrifices, has found expression in the highest forms of human speech' and the noblest creations of art. Poetry and eloquence have combined to do honor to those who died for liberty and country. When the Athenians would honor the dead who fhll in disastrous battle for the republic, they chose Demosthenes, prince ol orators, to pronounce the oration over their sacred afthes. And as we assemble on this occasion to pay tribute to the memory of those who laid down their lives during the peril of ihq nation, it seems that some more eloquent tribute thau mine should solemnize the mournful, yet pleasing, duty we this day render to our honored dead. W e do honor in this sacrsd plaoe to no common dust In the throng of sleepers that inhabit this beautiful grove are some whose memory we shall not willingly lof die. They are the warrior dead. They are the martyrs of anoble cause;, the offerings of a natiou’s love and devotion to the great principle of liberty. Here in the ranks of death sleep a faithful few who, a few years ago, in obedienee to their country’s call, cheered with the hope of some crowning victory, and surrounded by enthusiastic comrades, went forth in all the pride and pomp and circumstance of glorious war, swearing by the God of 1 {attics that that starry iag should waive in all its purity and, majesty over this land of the free and home of tlici, brave. Who fehatt write their history ? To properly portray their glorious achievements would require the giftol tongues. Were

the story ol their heroic deeds ami noble daring fitly told, nations should be the audience: yea, Time himself should sftty hid course and listen to the wondrou# tale. Their eulogy is blazoned as bright as the flashes of their musketry, in the scarred and lagged sides of Mission Ridge and on the frowning battlements of Lookout Mountain. Time will not dim its • lustre, but like a coronet oif gems set above the world, it will be to our children’s children the sacred emblem of national glory. They have chronicled their deeds on the fields of Antietam and Gettysburg, at Shiloh, Stone River. Chattanoo-

ga, Yicksburg, Port Hudson, Appomattox, and an hundred other fields which gave lustre to our arms. Their history is written in the hearts <>f their countrymen, and though marble piles shall rise in commemoration of their deeds, let the story of their life and death descend as national history from generation to generation, and still live in future ages when the marble tablets ahall have crumbled into dost \ ' ° D i a !f' B :« tern * 1 camping gnmnd lag IheSr silent tents are spread, And glory guards, with solemn round. The hrousc of the dead. -'g/- 2 •: r in tbe poor forms feelings ot the facers who stand with us today over i It* lov-cd .

this I oan say to them: Fathers, yon should be proud arid thankful that God gave you such sonsDeath will soon cotne to us all. A few more years of toil and care and vicissitude, and all this throng of the living staudiug herq above these graves of the dead shall mingle their dust with those who have gone beforo. And is it not a consolation to these friends that, for a few years of common life, these heroic young men were able to write their names on the immortal roll, and share the enduring fame of the defenders of their country and the martyrs of liberty? Nor will tve ever again have to search ancient history for an example of the Spartan mother, who, in presenting her son with his shield as he went forth to battle, told him to return with it victorious, or home by bis oomrades upon it. She has at last found ber equal in heroism in the daughters of America. With the loving hand of wife, mother, or sister, you assisted in the preparation for departure to tho sceuo of battle those near and dear to you as your own life; and though every aution on your part seemed but the knell ol fondest hopes, and the approach of thafl saddest of all words, farewell, still your devotion to country sustained you during the trial. Womanly heroism rosc.to the majesty of martyrdom, and you proved your solves loyal, true and brave. The graves of every hero before us, covered by the green mantle that mother earth folds so lovingly around them, Las a corresponding grave iu some heart, where the flowere of memory bloom, nourished by that fountain of alfoction whose waters spring from eternal hope.

Comrades, a few of us arc here today who have witnessed tho scenes of carnage where onr brothers tell, and though the lapse of time may their deeds from the memory of some people, let us, at least, be trne to the last. Let us mingle our tears with those of the friends ot our fallen companions in arms; and while we decorate the green mounds in this sacred spot, let us not forget the nameless graves scooped from the blood-stained field ol battle, or hollowed by the wayside too hastily to permit a comrade to murk his last resting place, save iu memory. May nature, iu sympathy with her .darling dead, rear sweet flowers over those graves whose blossoms, though born to blush unseea,may not waste their sweetness ou the desert air. W hat though no grassy mound or granite pile beTaised to mark the spot where repose their remains, still it is heroic ground. .. Nor wreck, aor chauge, nor winter s blight, Nor time's remorseless doom, Shall mar one ray of glory’s light That gild. 4 their sacred toatb. Fallen Comrades! are you lrej-o with us today? Then all hail! Full well ye know your labors were not in vain, and you have your reward. Your country lives because you died for it, and you have earned immortal honors. Ye noble heroes! may the laurels ye wou be kept ever green, watered by a nation’s tears. THE DEAD OF TIUJ NINTH REGIMENT INDIANA INFANTRY V.OLUNTEKnS. EULOGY BY HORACE K. JAMES. It is meet upon this beautiful spring day, when the earth is clad in brightest verdure, the air is rodolent with the perfume of flowers, the groves aro vocal with the music of singing birds, and tho eun shiues in the blue firmament above, that we leave for awhile the office, the shop, the store, the schoolroom and all tiro cares of business to gather around these hallowed mounds and pay fitting tribute to the memory of those noblr souls whose dust lies beneath. We come here, pa-

rents, friends, neighbors, comrades and countrymen, to woep tears of sorrow upon the graves of children, the playmates of youth, the sons of neighbors-!- our glorious countrymen who, in the bloom of manhood, offered their liyes without a selfish murmur, upon the holy Alter of patriotism. We come here to decorate their graves with flowers and evergreens, sweet and appropriate olierinsru of love and friendship; to tell the story of their valor, their sufferings, and their triumphant death in the service of the grand cause of human liberty ; and to Commend to the generatiou which shall soon succeed us upou the stage of life as worthy of a place In the most sacred recesses of their memories, and of their emulation if need ho, the example of those whom wc mourn and revere.

, How sleep tbo brave who sink to rest, By all their country’s wishes blest 1 When sj riag, with dewy fingers will, -t--Returns to dock their hallowed-mould, She there shall dr.*ss a sweeter sod, Thau fancy’s feet haws ever trod. By fairy hands their knell « rung. By forms nnoeet) (heir dirge is sung, Here honor comes, a pilgrim grey, To bless the turf that wraps their clay, g And freedom shall awhile repair, To d well « weeping hermit there. i : The story ol the organization of the Ninth Regiment Indiaba Volunteer Infantry is too long to be told-tm this occasion. Participating in the three mouths campaign

c.t the commenccm’ent ofthe rebellion, reorganizing for the three years service, veteranizing— she was engaged in battle with the Confederate forces in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississipi, Alabama and Georgia. The track of her operations against (lie rebel armies may be traced many hundred miles, over hills and mountains, across rivers and swamps, through valleys and rocky fields, by tho dripping blood and whitening bones of her gallan t raembert*. Laurel II ill, Carrack’s Ford,Gre6nbriar, Buffalo Mouutain, Shiloh, Stone River, Chicamauga, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Rcsacca, Lost Mountain, Atlanta, Lovejoy Station, Nashville, are laid in letters of gold upon her shot-riddled colors while her men breathed the sulphurous breath of powder and heard the death-Bong of bullets in a hundred less uoted engagements. Company G of tho Ninth Regiment was credited to Jasper oounty, and called the Rensselaer company. She gave to the army as commissioned officers Major General Milroy; Colonels Moody, Healey and Hammond; Majors Cravens and R. B. Janies ; Captains Garrett, Chilcote, Brinton and Pillars; Lieutenants Rhoades, Farris, Paul, Watson, Burnham and Ogden. Her dead bivouac at Laurel Hill, Cheat Mouutain, Buffalo Mountain, Klkwater and Fettcrman iu West Virginia; at Louisville, Kentucky; at Nashville, Readyville, Tullahoma, Chicamauga and Mission Ridge in Tehnessec;at Ilesacea, Kenesaw, Atlanta and horrid Andersonvijle in Georgia; at Galveston, Bridgeport and Huntsville in Alabama; at Victoria, Texas. They rest On fame's eternal camping ground. Those who sleep beneath the sods at onr feet are Charles Rhoades, a musician, who was shot ou the I:2th day of December, ISC 1, at Greenbriar, West Virginia, by a party of the enemy in ambush. Jonah G. Porter, a private soldier, killed at the same time and place. Asa G. Porter, regimental color guard, died at home May Oth, 1862, ot wounds received on the 7th day of April, 1882, at Shiloh, Mississippi. Daniel M. Howard, private soldier, died at St. Louis, Missouri, May Bth, 1562, ofdisease contracted l»v exposure in the array. Daniel Phillips, private soldier, died at home May 28th, 1862, of disease from exposure in the army. George S. Weathers, private ot Company K, same regiment, killed at Stone River, Tennessee, December 31st, 1862.

Givo m# the death of those Who for their country die; And oh ! be mine liko thoir repose. When cold ahd low they lie. Their lovliest mother earth Enshriuee the fallen brave ; In her sweet lap who gave them birth They find their tranquil grave. Of the dead in whose honor the beautiful ceremonies of Decoration Day are yearly observed throughout our country, this epitaph—which is at once a truthful epitaph and a glowing eulogy—may be written : They diedin tho discharge of duty, iu the service ot their country, for the cause ot humanity ! THE DEAD OF THE EIGHTY SEVENTH INDIANA VOLUNTEERS. —EULOGY BY M. L. SPITLEB. The summer and fall of sixteen years ago witnessed a political struggle, which, though at the time harmless and possessing no other characteristics than those incident to a republican torm of government, was fraught with interests the most vita] tc the perpetuity of our civil institutions. I allude to the election of Abraham Lincoln as the President of the United States. It was truly a new era in American politics. It was the day-dawn of human independence; the victory of health over disease, ot ..life over death, of freedom over slavery! It was the openitig of the sixth era in the history of the political development of man, which was to

culminate in the complete elimination of all that yvas necessary to make our government the exponput and exemplification of the ideas -promulgated in tlie American Declaration ol Independence, uttered eighty-five years before. Sometime previous to his elevation to jibe presidential chair Mr. Lincohvmady spoken a doctrine, which, tbouglrra complete hafinony with our theory of government, struck terror and dismay to its. opponents. It was not less than this grand, glorious, and truthful proposition, dear to every American’s heart: A free government cannot maintain slavery —that this our government cannot exist half" slave and half free. Tbe. idea of a ffec government supporting slavery, keeping one-sixth of its population in abject servitude, was an anomaly which his mind could not admit; and that keen foresight which was always manifest in all he undertook told him that on some day not far in the future this foul blot upon our constitution and laws should be effaced. Of quiet habits and a peaceful turn of mind, always desigLing that wropg should work its own right through ordinary stages of progress, he was led to believe that the native justice of the American mind would brtug all the udvooaies of liberty to view '• . a.- • ; ■' ' ’

tho subject as lie did, and thus accomplish the desired result without disturbing any of tho political elements which opposed so generous and so truthful a proposition. But like the Mighty Mind whieh framed tho universe, created man, and pronounced His work “very good,” he was doomed to bitter disappointment. Scarcely was it known at the seat of the general government that Abraham Lincoln was elected 1 President when the hoarse mntterings of malcontents were heard throughout a certain section of our laud ; and so tierce and hellish did that spirit become that a few~lEort months afterwards the life of onr President was menaced as he passed on his way to the capitol to take his oath of office; and on the 12th day of April following tho Confederate government resorted to the last argument of kings and tyrants by opening fire on an impoverished and half-starved garrison in Charleston harbor; and more than fifty cannon belched forth their leaden rain and iron bail until Fort Sumpter seemed one blaze of fire, rivaling in splendor and grandeur the magnificent pyroteenics of Mount Vesuvius in times of its most frightful eruptions. Thus nothing was left for our government but to abandon principles which two hundred and forty years before caused our forefathers to leave the land of their birth and seek homes in a far distant wilderness, and which ohe hundred and fifty years later impelled them to band together, as one common brotherhood, iu order to resist the encroachments of the mother country, and thus build up a country and a government for themselves and those who ahould come after them which would also be a safe asylum for the oppressed of whatever land, or else, re-utter through the same channels the declaration forced upon the heroes of 1776, that “all men are created free and equal, “and endowed by their Creator “with certain inalienable lights.” The heroes of’6l had an advtuitage over those of ’76 in this: Their opponents wore the agressors; they declared war; they struck the first blow ; they shed the innocent blood of unoffending citizens who were faithfully discharging their sworn and proper duties. In addition to this they had that other immortal example of Him whq. made all things, to justify them in their suppression of the rebellious malcontents: The infernal serpent, he it was, whose guile, Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind I lie trusted to have equalled the Most IlighEaised impious war in heaven:— Him th’ Almighty Power hurled Headlong from tho etherial sky! And now “the song of the turtle is heard in tho land” no more until this winter is past, but the screeching of the eagle alarms by day and by night as in murderous assaults it tears the flesh from the bones of our loved ones bleaching on southern sands! Serried hosts aro seen on either side dealing death blows thick and fast to %ach opposing force. For four long weary years this unnatural, fratricidal, paricidal, war is carried on, dealing death and bringing penury to thousands upon thousands.

And this brings us to the saddest part of this horrible tragedy. Many of our dearest ones—sons and brothers and fathers —were called by the love which they bore to their country and a righteous indignation at the villainous outrages that were perpetrated upon our country and people by the South to take part on the side of the government at Washington. The true and the noble, the good and the brave, the wise and the virtuous each time answered “the call of the government for more troops, and out of the thousands that multiplied into millions whioh went into this glorious struggle how many never came out alive! Some were killed on the field of battle lib the faithful discharge of

duty; many*died in hospitals of disease contracted ip the service; many perished in rebel prisons of iffhumau treatment and starvation; Virile an army came home to die in the arms of friends, who Mbd been mangled by rebel bullets. This, my friends, is the cause of our being here today. But we come with warm hearts and generous Impulses. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, we are here to shed with you the sad tear to the memory of those you love, and over the graves of those whom we honor. Those of ns who survived this terrible struggle can in no better way manifest our regard for those who fell in the defense of their alters and our homes than to repair annually at their last rcstiug place in this vale of tears, and spread these flowers emblematical of brotherly affection over their graves. But I must not he too general in my remarks. My duty calls me to speak more specially of those of the Nighty-f-eventh Regiment Indiana Infantry Volunteers who lie buried here. Of that regimeut as of all others, many noble and valiant ones fell ln the line of active duty, but of

them I will not speak—that duty has been assigned to other and abler tongues. Of tho four who lie buried here I will say I am sorry that my task was not assigned me sooner. It would have been a pleasant duty, and one which I would have gladly performed, to have learned more and recited more before you ot their earlier private history. As it is lam only ablo to placo before yon a very few general facts, known perhaps to all of you. Robert Williams was a sergeant in Company A. He was mustered into the company at Rensselaer, on tho Oth day of August, 1862. He first enlisted in Company G of the Ninth Regiment for tho three months’ service; under the gallant Milroy ; he served out the term of this enlistment with credit and honor, and was mustered out with his regiment July 20th, 1861. Hedied in hospital at Nashville, Tennessee," April 3d, 1863. He was born in Jasper county in the year 1839, and grew up in our midst. I knew him all his life. He was ever a kind and dutifnl son. In his praise too much cannot be said. Both as a citizen and as a soldier he performed his duty well. He was brave in the fullest sense of the word, and this is the proudest enconinm that may be spoken of a soldier. Conrad F. Gilmore was a private in Company B. He enlisted at Winatnac, on the 6th day of August, 1862, was discharged January 16th, 1863, and died eight days afterwards aged 44 years. I was not personally acquainted with him, and have been unable to gather any facts in regard to his early life.

Isaiah Dwiggius was a private iu Company D. Enlisted at Rochester August 19th, 1862, and was discharged January 14th, 1863, on account of disease contracted in the service. lie lived but a short time after returning home, dying March 10th, 1863. He was born near Mariou, Grant county, June 17th, 1837. He was a man of much promise, cut off in the vigor of youth when life is sweet and man look# forward with fond hope to a career of pleasure, usefulness and renown. James G. Kessler was a private in Company K. Enlisted at Rensselaer August 18th, 1862, and died at Indianapolis July 17th ? 1863, at the age of 25 years and 6 months. IJ.e was born in Tippecanoe county. He imbibed his first lesson in the cause of freedom in Kansas, during the perilous times which delivered her from her early fiery ordeal against slavery. He witnessed the base machinations of the Sou.th to make slave territory of free Kansas, and his mind was schooled to resist allthe aggressions of tyranny, and as at that time he brought his rifle and fortune to the aid of freedom, so a few years afterwards he gave his life to vindicate his principles and defend his country from the evil designs of her enemies. lie was enthusiastic in all he undertook and acted up to his highest conceptions of right and duty. He was a soldier, not from novelty or vindictiveness, but from an honest conviction of duty to his country. And now, my friends, my task is nearly done, but may I not ask you —in the cause of humanity-—on behalf of the sorrowing hearts here today—and in behalf of the many thousands throughout the Fandwho have been made so bitterly to feel the curse of this unholy war—to pledge anew those solemn vows made to the soldiers at the commencement of the war—vows to love, cherish and respect the friends of the soldier and his family—that as each annual revolution of the sun marks the 30th day of May you will repair to the graves of our dear soldiers and strew those garlands with which you so profusely enshroud their graves today—that you will sing anew the requiem- of "the departed dead -—that yon will teaoh your children and your children’s children to revere their memory and patriotism? And then you will have partially discharged your duty to mankind, your country and your selves, and rendered your lives beautiful and death glorious.

A bushel of corn is known to have produced nine pounds of live weight of poultry. A single kernel has produced throe ears that gave 2,000 kernels. When corn brings but ten cents a bushel, as has beeu the case in this and other states, it is a cheap fuel. A single ear has been known to give a quart of shelled corn. A single grain produced for a farmer in Caynga county, N.Y., last year 43£ ounoes. The juice of a single crop has made many thousand drunkards, giviug-a-uew significance to the word “crooked,” produced an army of “squealers,” and, if justice does its work, greatly swelled the population of many state penitentiaries. In its natural and innocent state it gives giant strength to this great nation, but manipulated by depraved man "it staggers it, Great is King Corn. —Prairie Farmer.