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!-Reunion of the 94th IllinoisInfantry Volunteers.GENERAL M’NULTA’S STIRRING SPEECHVettrani Heroine lothaselt;) by Listening to the Words of Love end Commendation From Thrlt Cheering Leader andGallant Warrior,Joyous as was the pathetic greeting of the dear ones npon their return home after the cruel war, like unto that was the greeting of the gallant members of the 94th Illinois Infantry Volunteers as they met and clasped hands in pure delight at the reunion held in Lexington today.Msny years have passed since the day when that regiment first passed away from the anxious^eye, left pleading and longing for their safe return, but in all the trials so bravely endured kind Providence guarded over and kept from destruction the eighty-five per cent now gathered in the Harness grove to tell anew the beautiful stories of the triumphant battles as they fail to be obliterated by time.Gathered here in a single day is a grand and impressive array of men to the number of one hundred forty-eight, who have taken the same worthy course in this life and can relate stories of blessings and hardships alike equal to each soul.This is the largest number that has ever yet been together annually for the purposeof commemorating the day that dawnedupon happy man as he was released, after his many glorious achievements, from the attle field so worn and unkind to man.The city was gaily decorated in appropriate manner, the day was as fine as if ’twere June, and happiness shone on every faoe. Excursion trains brought great loads of people into the place and the colonies of teams pouring into the town rival any previous event set down upon an historiorecord of transpirations.At 10:15 the column of men formed atsiokness. There was muoh of the borne life and ways, and morals went with them. With the singing societies and ohuroh societies and literary and religious meetings the mind was occupied. There were more fraternal relations between the company officers and the men than if they had come together as strangers and at the end expected to separate again. The result of this was a perfect and cheerful discipline. The men locked after eaoh other’s interests. The officers soon learned to shelter and protect the men and to provide for them. There was systematic yelling and noise making, regimental singing and spontaneous halooing with numeroos droll characters that produoed mirth and jollity that drove off despondency and “nostalgia,” of which so large a per oent of the army died, taken together add to all this a medical staff and a chaplain as good as ever blessed any regiment and you have the reason why so small a per oent of them died, and why so many are here today.I tell these things not alone for the past or the present, but for the future—for these young men and boys—for the young men of the next war. Let every oompany be made np of friendly and oongenial spir-its, from the same neighborhood if possible. If two of you young men go cut as captains of companies bear in mind that when you return the one who oan boast of the number he lost as evidenoe of his trials and heroisms, and the other having done his duty, oan point to the number of men he brought baok, the latter will reoeive the most hearty welcome and he aocorded the greatest praise. It requires skill and the high performance of duty to save men in war, but stupidity, negligence, or blundering, as well as desperate fighting, may lose them.Comrades of the 94th, my heart in the olden time swelled with pride at your soldierly bearing and splendid physique when I saw you in line; but now* to be frank and truthful from a physical standpoint, you are a sorry looking lot. Then you not only looked able for the task, but you actually pressed the best of our cavalry on a foroed maroh of 120 miles and struck the enemy with them, the last two miles made on a double quick. Now—well what now? It may be that you could keep up with a donkey cart for two miles, but you don’t look it—no you don’t. Then I used to look down the line on smooth faced boys and active, athletic young men. Now the beardless youths are all gone, there are no athletes there. Many are round shouldered, knock kneed and rheumatic, with grizzled beards and bald heads everywhere.
Newspaper Details
Bloomington Daily Leader
Bloomington, Illinois, US
Thu, Aug 28, 1890
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 09 Nov 2020
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