USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > The Norwich memorial; the annals of Norwich, New London County, Connecticut, in the great rebellion of 1861-65 > Part 22
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As at the first view of the Falls of Niagara our conception is at fault, so with the great event we celebrate to-day, - the future alone can discern its full significance. These three Sundays of April will be connected in history. They reach far onward into the future, and far back into the past. We must gradually rise to the conception of the mighty events that have just transpired. Our first thought on hearing the news was of the feelings of our brave boys in the Army of the Potomac, those who followed Mc- Clellan, Burnside, Hooker ; our second, of the joy of the fathers and mothers of those soldiers ; then the joy of the emancipated race looking forward to the liberty of doing the best they know how, of standing up as men ; then, of the feelings of the aristo- crats of Europe. Rather even than look upon our soldiers in the Army of the Potomac in the flush of victory, we would be in the English House of Parliament when the news of the surrender of Lee's army first reaches there. There was a lesson to he learned from this struggle by men in politics and of business. From this hour let us be a God-fearing nation, in our Senate houses and in our Executive mansions. Then will the Republic rise and grow, magnificent in outline, and beautiful in proportions."
" Victory at last," was then sung, the solo by H. V. Ed- mond, the choir and audience joining in the chorus.
Hon. L. F. S. Foster was next introduced. He com- menced by saying : -
" It is difficult to give utterance to feelings on such an occasion. The natural language of the heart at such a time was - Thank God! Thank God ! What a sublime spectacle. From the At- lantic to the Pacific there is the ringing of bells and the glad shouts of the people. The Nation is delivered, and never before in the history of the world was there such manifestation of joy. The shore of the Pacific at this hour joins in celebration with the States along the Lakes, upon the Gulf, and in the valley of the Mississippi. Not a single individual lives throughout our whole land who does not hear to-day the roar of cannon. When before was there an event so mighty ? The lessons, moral, polit-
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ical, and religious to be learned from it are too vast for our com- prehension. We are overpowered by the magnitude of the occur- rence. The human mind is not great enough to compass it.
" As one practical lesson to be learned, we should see to it that the soldiers who have gone forth be remembered. In no way can we better show our gratitude to God than by opening our hands liberally to them, or to their widows, or to their orphans. Let us not flatter ourselves that this is charity. It is not. It is paying a debt. We are to pay it as we would a debt too vast to be discharged at once."
The speaker briefly alluded to our triumph as a triumph of the rights of man, and said that its effect in Europe would be immediate and great.
Governor Buckingham then spoke of John Brown's in- vasion of Virginia, the excitement that ensued throughout that Commonwealth on its occurrence, and the resulting decree that his name should not be even uttered in that State, on penalty of expulsion from it. He then mentioned the fact that only a few days since the Twenty-ninth Regi- ment (colored) marched into its capital to the music of the drum and fife, singing "John Brown's soul goes march- ing on."
The John Brown song was then sung by Mr. Edmond, the choir and audience joining in the chorus with an unc- tion that the regiment might doubtless have profitably emulated.
Rev. Mr. Dana spoke next, and was followed by Hon John T. Wait, Rev. B. F. Clark, Ebenezer Learned, and Colonel H. B. Crosby, of the Twenty-first Regiment. Amid these addresses were interspersed the following songs : " Johnny comes marching home," solo by J. N. Crandall. " The Battle-cry of Freedom," solo by Geo. H. Martin. The audience then united with Rev. Mr. Lewis in the Lord's Prayer, who also pronounced the benediction.
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Thus ended Norwich's Jubilee meeting. Thanksgiving and praise, rather than loud exultation, characterized this last grand rally of the citizens for purposes connected with the now gloriously ended war.
In the afternoon there was a procession, under the mar- shalship of Colonel David Young, consisting of the Infantry Company of State Militia, under Captain Parlin ; the Free Academy Cadets, Captain Gilbert ; and the Fire Depart- ment, under Chief Engineer Andrews. The engines were gaily decorated with flags, and along the route repeated salutes were fired.
In the evening the general illumination of stores and private dwellings gave to the city a brilliant appearance. It was a memorable day, fittingly honored for the great event with which, in our country's annals, it will ever be associated.
"O beautiful ! my country ! ours once more ! Smoothing thy gold of war-disheveled hair O'er such sweet brows as never other wore, And letting thy set lips Freed from wrath's pale eclipse, The rosy edges of their smile lay bare.
What words divine of lover or of poet Could tell our love and make thee know it, Among the nations bright beyond compare ? What were our lives without thee ? What all our lives to save thee ?
We reck not what we gave thee ; We will not dare to doubt thee, But ask whatever else, and we will dare !"
The General Assembly, a little later, put on record this public acknowledgment of the glorious issue of the long struggle, and the Commonwealth's indebtedness to the heroes, living and dead, whose valor contributed to the grand result : -
" Resolved, That the heartfelt thanks and lasting gratitude of
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the people of this State are due and are hereby tendered to all Connecticut officers and soldiers, of every rank and grade, who in the war of the Rebellion have gallantly borne the flag, and nobly sustained the honor of our State ; and who, by long years of faithful service, and on many a hard fought field, have aided in preserving to us our institutions, and in demonstrating to the world that no government is so strong as that which rests in the will of a free and enlightened people, and that no armies are so invincible as citizen-soldiers battling for their own liberties and the rights of man.
" That this State will ever gratefully cherish and honor the memories of those victims of the war and rebel barbarities, who went forth from us for our defense, but who come not back to participate in the blessings of that peace which, through their efforts and sacrifices a just God has vouchsafed to us."
His Excellency the Governor gave publicity to these, in the following proclamation : -
" Therefore I, William A. Buckingham, Governor of the State of Connecticut, in order to effect the object designed by the Gen- eral Assembly, hereby issue this proclamation, and call upon the citizens of this Commonwealth to manifest by expressions of gratitude, and by acts of kindness, both to the living and to the families of the honored dead, their high appreciation of the sac- rifices made by each of the fifty-three thousand three hundred and thirty men, who from this State have entered the military service of the Nation during our recent struggle with rebellion, and to impress upon their children and their children's children the duty of holding such patriotic services in honor and per- petual remembrance, and thus prove the enduring gratitude of the Republic."
This great gladness was soon tinged with an unex- pected and universal sorrow. Hardly had the pean of the people died away, and the sounds of rejoicing with which the land were filled quieted down, ere the mournful news came of the death of President Lincoln by the hand of an
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assassin. He had returned from City Point to Washing- ton on the evening of April ninth. From this time until the fourteenth were memorable days, filled up with a suc- cession of events, which marked the complete overthrow of the rebellion. The joy of the people continued to manifest itself, as the magnitude of the late occurrences came to be more fully appreciated Before Mr. Lincoln the sable clouds of war were rolling away, and as he entered, amid such glorious successes, upon his second term in office, were rising four years of sunny peace, with their rich har- vest of results, flowing from the laborious and faithful ser- vice he had, amidst unprecedented trials, rendered. At a cabinet meeting, between the hours of eleven and twelve o'clock, where he met General Grant and heard his final report, he bore himself with a hopeful, joyous spirit. In the afternoon, when driving out with Mrs. Lincoln, he had remarked, "We have had a hard time together since we came to Washington, but now the war is over, and with God's blessing upon us, we may hope for four years of hap- piness, and then we will go back to Illinois, and pass the remainder of our lives in peace." The shadow of the swift approaching tragedy had not fallen upon him, and all un- suspicious, " with malice towards none, with charity for all," he went in the evening, as had previously been announced, to Ford's Theatre. The assassin deftly entering the box in which the President and his party were seated, accomplished his fatal purpose, and by a single shot murdered the Na- tion's honored Magistrate. Mr. Lincoln lingered through the night, though without returning consciousness, and died on the morning of April 15, 1865.
The terrible tidings of his death was at once borne by telegraph to every part of the Republic. From joy and exultation the Nation was in an instant turned to weeping and lamentation. Business was suspended, gloom and
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sadness sat upon every face. Strong men wept, and the waving flags, which were still floating in triumph from every spire and masthead, were lowered, and the people commenced to drape their dwellings, and put on the garb of mourning.
" He lived to see the Republic's success, and to feel his veins swelling with that rich joy which swept like a current of quickening life throughout the land, and then died a martyr to the cause he had championed, sealing his service with his life, leaving the Nation which he had rescued in the wildest grief ; throwing the shadow of a strange sorrow over lands which he had never seen, and seeking the rest denied him here in the presence of Him who had raised him up."
Our citizens were appalled by the dread intelligence, and speechless and sad, mused upon the event that had no par- allel in our history. All cherished feelings of honor and affection for the martyred President, and but one sentiment pervaded the hearts of the loyal masses. The city itself was filled with gloom, and the long, grief-ful day will not soon be forgotten. Hon. L. F. S. Foster, who was now President of the Senate, Governor Buckingham, and others of our leading men, started for Washington, to be of such service as might be possible in this unlooked-for emer- geney, and also to represent the State at the funeral solemnities in the Capital.
On Sunday, April sixteenth, all the churches in town were dressed in mourning, and discourses appropriate to the sad occurrence were preached. It was Easter Sabbath, and the white festal flowers with which the pulpits and altars in many of the sanctuaries were adorned, stood out in their sweet symbolism against the draperies which memorialized the Nation's departed chief. Large congregations and the marked solemnity of the usually joyous services of this
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festival Sabbath, showed how profoundly the hearts of our citizens shared in the universal grief.
As indicating what the voice of the Norwich pulpit on the grievous event was, we give here the following very brief abstracts of the sermons preached : -
At Trinity Church Rev. John V. Lewis took for his text Psalm lviii. 10: "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance ; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked." The preacher began with an acknowledg- ment that he had an unusual text for an Easter sermon. It was not the text he had chosen, but God himself had chosen it and preached a sermon to the nation. And when he heard that text announced yesterday morning, he thanked God that the Gospel had a strong side, a sternly retributive side ; that it was a Gospel of vengeance upon the evil-doer, no less than of peace to the righteous. He thanked God that the risen Lord rose a conqueror as well as a saviour, to put all enemies under his feet. He thanked God for the Psalms of David, with their religious intoler- ance of the workers of iniquity, and for the Revelation of St. John, which truly shows us there is such a thing as " the wrath of the Lamb." The resurrection of Christ pro- claimed undying war upon every form of evil. The risen Lord is irresistible. He will make no unholy compromise with sin : offering pardon to the misguided and repentant, he offers only vengeance to the obstinate rebel. The re- mainder of the discourse was an exposition of the necessity of executing vengeance legally and by lawfully constituted authority. The great Easter of the Resurrection will re- dress all grievances.
Rev. Mr. Graves, in the Central Baptist Church, spoke as follows : -
"I cannot proceed further with these services without alluding to the event which crowds all other thoughts from our minds,
1
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which has draped our sanctuaries, and filled the hearts of the na- tion with sadness. Abraham Lincoln is dead. The people's President. The man whom God had raised up to guide this nation through its great life struggle. Dead by the hand of an assassin. Murdered in the Capital by the spirit of secession, which for four years has been deluging our land in blood. It is a tragedy without parallel in the world's history, since the assas- sination of Julius Cæsar in the Roman Forum, and a crime sur- passed only by the crucifixion. God, 'who maketh the wrath of man to praise him,' has suffered this for some end, wise in his inscrutable providence. Perhaps it is to teach us in this most critical juncture of national affairs the utter folly of trusting in man, however tried and trusty that man may be, and to make God our refuge, who is a very present help in time of trouble. Perhaps because he saw that the executive administration, in the hands of this kind, this tender-hearted man, would not mete out to treason the justice which is its due, and which He, as the God of justice means it shall have at the hands of a sterner man. His work is done, and well done. He lived to see the spirit of rebellion broken, and the glad dawn of peace. Abra- ham Lincoln is saved to history, and to-day he takes his place among the great and good of all times. Let us bow with rever- ence and submission, even in the depth of our grief, to the will of God."
In the Universalist Church, Rev. Mr. Ambler announced as his text Job v. 8 : " Affliction cometh not forth of the dust."
"Our hearts are all clothed with the drapery of sadness. The circumstances attending the death of our President were such as to render the shock to us more than ordinarily terrible. If his frame had been wasted by disease, if he had been taken from us by some gradual and invisible process, we might have bowed more easily to the Providential decree. But that he, a leader of the people, the President, not of a party but of a nation, a friend no less to the South than to the North, whose sole desire
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was to promote the common good, and whose official labors have been honestly and wisely designed to secure the best inter- ests of this Republic - that he should have been coolly assas- sinated in the very Capital of the nation, with no provocation except that which may be supposed to be in the venom of rebel- lion - is a circumstance which has no precedent in history, and which may call forth not only the lamentations of the American people, but the universal execration of mankind. It is not now a proper time to say much about the punishment which ought to follow an act like this, though some punishment, severe and signal will, in the course of justice, be visited not only on the actual perpetrators of the deed, but on the no less guilty instiga- tors of it. At present we can think of little else save our loss. The hand which guided the Ship of State in its peril, till we could see the haven of peace, is powerless ; the wise counsels, tempered always by humane feeling, will no more shed their light upon us, but as records of the past ; the cheerful spirit which kept up the courage of the people, and which for their sake never allowed itself to be entirely overcome, even in the dark- est period, will now smile upon us only from the heavens, where we shall turn for consolation in our bereavement. Let us find it in the providential care and government of God. The proc- lamation of liberty has been sealed with blood. Henceforth let it be sacred in the eyes of the American people, and may He who inspired the martyr's soul on earth help us to guard aright those principles of justice and freedom which have been left to us as our legacy."
In the Broadway Church, Rev. Mr. Gulliver took for his text Psalms xlvi. 10 : " Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen ; I will be exalted in the earth." The preacher remarked : -
" That he would be glad to obey the first injunction of the text literally. It was a task any man might well shrink from, to give expression to the feelings of horror, indignation, and grief, that fire all our hearts. But the second injunction, contained in the
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latter part of the text, is one that can be more easily complied with. We may be still, so far as any attempt to give an adequate utterance to our emotions is concerned, but we are bound to see God in what has occurred, and to know what He is designing to teach us. The first point of instruction is, that God is an abso- lute sovereign. He asks counsel of no man! He doeth all his own will. No man can say unto Him, 'What doest thou ?' Men would not have selected Abraham Lincoln to be President of the United States, if it could have been known that he would be called to pass through such an ordeal. But the history of the past four years shows that he was precisely the man to do a great work of philanthrophy, and to lead a nation divided in sentiment and interest, wild with alarm and doubtful of the future, to unanimity of opinion and action. But the same sovereign God who put Abraham Lincoln into the seat of power has taken him out of it. He has not consulted us. We mourn and we wonder. But God has done it. Perhaps there was a radical defect in Mr. Lincoln's character, which unfitted him for the closing up of the war. He lacked the early religious instruction which would have given him very different views of law and penalty, and the rela- tion of mercy and justice, and the necessity for the general good of individual retributive suffering.
"Just at this point a new man is brought forward, certainly not the man we should have selected. This too, is God's work. And at the end of four years we may rejoice as much in the elevation of Andrew Johnson, as we now do in that of Abraham Lincoln. He certainly has had a peculiar experience of the rebels; and of his own frailties. Let him have a generous support, and be re- ceived as the Lord's anointed, appointed by Him to this high position.
"These events also teach us that God purposes all, even the most minute events, and even the wicked acts of wicked men. They show also why God hates, and so severely punishes slavery, whose spirit and character reached a culmination and fit expres- sion in this assassination. Finally, they show each one of us the plague of our own hearts. The selfishness of slavery is essen-
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tially the same as all other selfishness. Every rebel against God is lifting his hand against the Government of the universe, as did John Wilkes Booth against the President of the United States. The horror we feel to-day at that crime is but a reflection of the horror which angels feel at the assaults we are making upon God's Government. And let us remember we are dealing with one who never confounds mercy and justice, and " will by no means clear the guilty."
Wednesday, April nineteenth, the day of the funeral, was one of general mourning throughout the land. The services at the White House, held in the East Room, were simple and impressive, and attended by a large concourse of the dignitaries in the Capital, Foreign Ministers, Judges, Congressmen and Citizens. The remains of the President were then conveyed to the Capitol and placed in the ro- tunda, beneath the statue of Liberty, and guarded by sad and weeping soldiers.
In Norwich the bells were tolled during the day, guns fired every half-hour, while the National colors were dis- played at half-mast, and trimmed with black. Business was suspended, while in the windows and doorways of almost every building were the trappings of woe to be seen. Tasteful devices, expressive of the popular sorrow, lent variety and impressiveness to the city's unaffected grief.
In many of the churches public religious services were held, attended by large and serious congregations. His Honor, Mayor Greene, issued through the morning papers the following deep feeling appeal to the citizens of Nor- wich : -
" FELLOW CITIZENS : To-day the Nation stands with sad heart and uncovered head around the grave of one it dearly loved. To-day noon, our beloved friend and President is buried. His death is the most dastardly murder that ever occurred in the
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tide of time. Let all places of business be closed from eleven A. M. to three o'clock P. M. Let every one attend his respective place of worship, and participate in the solemn duties of the hour, and while bowing submissive to the hand of God, let every one swear in his heart, eternal, undying hate of slavery, - the damned insti- tution that has sowed the South with treason, - has drenched our land with blood, - has maimed and crippled thousands of heroes, - has extinguished the light of joy in thousands of hearts, and has now consummated its wickedness by murdering one of the noblest, wisest, and best of men, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, our cherished Friend and President.
" JAS. LLOYD GREENE, Mayor."
The funeral procession which on Friday, the twenty-first, started from the Executive Mansion, was one never before paralleled. Moving solemnly through city and country, the cortege swelling in numbers, held on its sorrow-traced course, till the martyred dead was borne back to a quiet resting-place amid the scenes and friends of earlier days. Halting in the great cities, the grief-smitten citizens crowded round the bier, and looked for the last time on the sad weary face of him who had held and guarded the people's imperial trust.
" So he grew up, a destined work to do, And lived to do it ; four long suffering years Ill-fate, ill-feeling, ill-report, lived through, And then he heard the hisses change to cheers,
" The taunts to tributes, the abuse to praise, And took both with the same unwavering mood, Till as he came on light, from darkling days, And seemed to touch the goal from where he stood."
The funeral train reached the Capital of Illinois, May third, and the body was placed under the rotunda of the Court House. The latter was decorated with flowers. Over
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its north door was the motto, " The altar of freedom has borne no nobler sacrifice ;" over the south door, " Illinois clasps to her bosom her slain, but glorified son."
The last words of the funeral oration, by Bishop Simpson, were as follows :-
"Chieftain ! farewell ! The Nation mourns thee. Mothers shall teach thy name to their lisping children. The youth of our land shall emulate thy virtues. Statesmen shall study thy record and learn lessons of wisdom. Mute though thy lips be, yet they still speak. Hushed is thy voice, but its echoes of liberty are ringing through the world, and the sons of bondage listen to it with joy. Prisoned thou art in death, and yet thou art marching abroad, and chains and manacles are bursting at thy touch. Thou didst fall not for thyself. The assassin had no hate for thee. Our hearts were aimed at, our National life was sought. We crown thee as our martyr, and humanity enthrones thee as her triumphant son. Hero, martyr, friend, farewell !"
Thus with joy shaded down with profoundest sorrow, the Nation accepted its costly, but sacred triumph, rejoicing over the rebellion crushed; sorrowing over the grave of him who consecrated himself to so grand a work, and sealed it when finished, with his own life's blood.
XV.
MISCELLANEOUS.
TOWN ACTION. - COST OF THE WAR.
THE amount of indebtedness of the town of Norwich September 1, 1861, was one hundred and seven thousand three hundred and seventy dollars ($107,370). On the first of September, 1865, the debt had risen to one hun- dred and eighty thousand three hundred and three dollars ($ 180,303), showing an increase in the four years of sev- enty-two thousand nine hundred and thirty-three dollars ($72,933). During the war the town disbursed for directly war purposes one hundred and sixty-four thousand one hundred and seventy-eight dollars and sixty-eight cents ($164,178.68), and at its close its distinctive war debt was in the form of loans amounting to eighty four thousand and ninety-six dollars ($84,096.00).
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