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HON. M. Ta. ESSrCK'S ABB HESS OFWELCOME.Soldiers op 26tii Indiana Volunteers : The members of your regiment residing here, and the. citizens of this county, bid me welcome youto our midst and to this reunion. You, . ' • . -need no word-greeting: the thousands of my people who hare gathered around you here at your coming, with outsfcreehed hand, beaming eyes and gladsome voice, flowing spontaneous from great, joyous hearts, attest their reverence, their love andtheir welcome for the defenders of• , *their liberties. If one word from me should mar this happy meeting, I would be sad. But let ine say that we cannot invite yon to feast like that which we had in the army. We cannot give you the ; hard-taekstamped B. C.—interpreted beforeChrist, nor can we give you that meat vulgarly called “sow-belly,” nor do we welcome you as you were wel-* * * * ^ . ■ * i * *comed.eighteen years ago to-day at that terrible conflict and capture at Morganza Bend. That was a feast of carnage, blood, and furious vengeance. We invite you to tables ladenwith good things, better and iplentierthan ever was served at royal feast, gathered from the fruitful gardens of a liberty-loving people, whose prosi parity has been made cerrain by you*heroism in the hour of our peril, placed upon these tables and arranged for you by ladies and maidens,whoso devotion to their country and' - •to all that is good and pure in reality, outvies the fabled stories of the virgins sitting in the evergreen gardens of a 2£ohameden paradise, encircled by the refulgent rays of love, these hospitalities to-day are yours—eat,drink and be merry.• *Indiana is justly proud of her soldiers in the late civil war. Three of her regiments took part in the first battle, and fought the last battle of the war near the Rio Grande. She sent forth thirteen regiments of cavalry, twenty-six batteries and one hundred and• lt;* *fifty-six regiments of infantry.. The name of Indiana is written upon every battle monument, and upon that long roll of honor is inscribed in full view the 26th regiment of Indiana volunteers. To my neighbors I can vouch for. your conduct and bravery at the battle of Prairie Grove. I beheld your ranks whenthey were thinned with shot and; •shell. I saw your dead comrades when they were lain in the trenches in that bloody orchard. My comrades were laid away in the trenches beside your comrades. Yours were as dear to you because of the hard* ships you had shared together, as mine were dear to me. No, Roman sentinel ever stood ground so faithfully at the gates of Pompeii, as did they between the enemies and the liberties of this people. We were then young and bouyant, filled with hopes and ambitions. Nineteen years have gone by and we are passing the meridian in life’s great struggle. O ur ranks have since been thinned by details made from the best who have marched to the front and stormed at the last Appomattox, waiting the trumpet sound and roll call. Let. us so conduct ourselves that we may teach the lesson to be true in factthat“The bravest are the tendcrest;The loving are the daring.”While it is true a pall hangs over this nation and this people, and all the civilized world is draped in mourning because that good man, the greatest of our comrades, has been called to the front, and earth no longer can claim a Garfield. Yet, after you have partaken of your feast, you can in this good reunion recite to each other and talk over marches, your battles,your prison life, your camp life, your Victories and your defeats, and rejoice and be happy because yon areconscious of duty done, and that by your efforts this nation still lives. I thank you for coming among us, and bid you remember my people.
Newspaper Details
Rochester Republican
Rochester, Indiana, US
Thu, Oct 06, 1881
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 26 Jul 2019
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