USA > Georgia > The army reunion : with reports of the meetings of the societies of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio: and the Army of Georgia > Part 3
USA > Ohio > The army reunion : with reports of the meetings of the societies of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio: and the Army of Georgia > Part 3
USA > Tennessee > The army reunion : with reports of the meetings of the societies of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio: and the Army of Georgia > Part 3
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
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Oration of General Belknap.
these armies has been chosen to represent his constituents in the National Congress ; another, with the ability which has ever characterized him, presides over the Department of War, and the other is always faithful to duty, true to his trust wherever found, whether controlling the management of a complicated command, or, as when the fate of the Western army quivered in the balance, coolly stemming the tide of battle, he beat back the rebel host, crushed and conquered, stamping himself as the determined soldier, whom the pride of state could not allure ; whose name, soldiers of the Army of the Cumberland, is told to the youth of the land as the synonym of purest patriotism, your own beloved commander, Thomas, the Rock of Chickamauga ! And this characteristic was not confined to the armies, as armies, but between corps, divisions of corps, and brigades of the divisions, extending to smaller organizations, the feeling existed, and, attached together on the badge of our Commander, may be seen the acorn of the Fourteenth, the cartridge-box of the Fifteenth, the arrow of the Seventeenth, the star of the Twentieth, and the shield of the Twenty-third Corps, sug- gestive emblems of the complete organization, united like the commands they represented. Between the Corps of the Army of the Tennessee, existed that perfect unity of feeling which showed them to be self-reliant, and still dependent each on the other ; for each knew that neither would take an advance which the other would not willingly follow. Between them generous rivalry promoted military union. Their perfect faith in -
the army's chief never wavered, and when, as the enemy was developed, the commencing skirmish grew into actual battle ; McClernand's and Ord's Thirteenth Corps opened a way through the enemy in its front; Hurlbut's and Dodge's Sixteenth was a wall of fire; the arrow of Blair's Seventeenth went surely to its mark; while the cartridges of Logan's Fifteenth dealt death with the inevitable forty rounds. It was this
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patriotic faith which made the engagements of these armies so prominent among the successes of the war, and gave them a fame as unspotted as it is enduring.
And now, Comrades of the Army of the Tennessee, we willingly weave the cypress with the laurel that enshrines the memories of the thousands of our own command whose valor in action, ever conspicuous, remains remembered, though their last fight has been fought, and their camp is with a command higher than any they ever served with here. We do not number them, nor can we tell of all ; but drums will cease to beat and bugles to blow ere their examples be lost. Their military life is written. The records of the Rebellion have closed their pages for them. But while there survives a man of his division, he will recall the form and features of Iowa's Crocker, as in the heat of action, chivalric and inspired by the excitement, he gave his whole soul to the cause. The people of his State protect his memory, and in every house and home upon its prairies his honored name is a household word. The sons of Illinois fail to find at their gatherings the form of their loved Ransom. With a heart as gentle as a woman's, he was yet full of that old Roman fire which, gathering its inspiration from famous martial scenes, kindled in his mild eye unwonted light, and gave to the noble gentleman the mien, and attitude, and aspect of the born soldier, Both of them survived many hard fought fields, to die the death so unwelcome to a soldier,-one surrounded by friends of home; - the other away from its comforts and attentions with his last hours soothed by those who, on his staff, had learned to love him ; but to the last, both remembered the companions of their campaigns, and with the final beatings of their hearts, sent to us all, the soldier's last farewell.
Since our last meeting, another has gone, who, but twelve months ago with us, listened to the address of our chief at our Annual Meeting, - an officer of our Society, one of its Vice-
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Oration of General Belknap.
Presidents, who gave its interest attention, and was a prompt attendant at its meetings. His wound received at Shiloh, while apparently yielding to treatment, was yet gradually sapping the foundations of his life, and with the sons of his State, we lament the absence of Wisconsin's Fairchild. And while we can not tell of all, we remember that there is yet another. Near his boy- hood's home at Clyde, Ohio, rests all that is mortal of McPherson, our third commander. From the front of the action, in full sight of the foc, booted and spurred, he went into the presence of the God of Battles. Of magnetic influence, of courtly presence, and of extraordinary military ability, he was a knightly soldier. Near him, as he fell in the battle near Atlanta, July 22, 1864, was a wounded private, George D. Reynolds, of Company D, Fifteenth Iowa. Though pressed closely by the enemy, this gallant boy refused to forsake his fallen general. From his own canteen he gave water to those trembling lips ; with his shattered arm he supported the dying hero's head ; from those eyes, ere they became lustreless forever, he received that glance of thankful recognition, which, beyond all pay or promotion was his full reward; and as that great heart ceased to beat, he felt the last faint, grateful pressure of his commander's hand. For McPherson's death came just as it should, amidst the crash of musketry, and the booming of heavy guns; and his comrades of the Army of the Tennessee loving him in his heroic life, and honoring him in his early death, bound upon his youthful brow a laurel crown, and sent his fame to history. The numbers of the enemy's dead upon that field were silent but sure witnesses that his army, under the command and dashing leadership of Logan, avenged the death of their honored chief. His successor in the command has an empty sleeve as the unimpeach- able badge of his heroism, and by the oppressed every where honor is done to that Howard whose well-earned reputation
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Army Reunion.
during the war shines as brightly as do his philanthropic endeavors among scenes of peace.
What must have been the feelings of our second commander, when, four years ago last month, severing the telegraphic wires as they sent off his and our last message-"all's well" - he broke the last bar of iron which bound this Army to their North- ern home. The measure of his fame was nearly full. The admiration of the age had crowned the accomplishment of his successes at Atlanta with generous praise, and high up, on the column of the world's great captains, was inscribed the name of Sherman. Reliant upon the confidence of his Army, and grasp- ing with his genius the future of the rebellion, as it was mapped out before him, he commenced that march which to all time will be told as "Sherman's March to the Sea." And, as he turned his face toward the ocean, a long line of departing locomotives, as, with their living freight of weak and wounded, they moved to the North, whistled and shrieked out to him their last farewell.
" There tracks of blood
Even to the forest's depth, and scatter'd arms, And lifeless warriors, whose hard lineaments Death's self could change not, mark the dreadful path Of the out-sallying victors; far behind, Black ashes note where their proud city stood."
Marching to the sea, he added to the Nation's Christmas Gifts, four years ago this month, the city of Savannah ; a little later he captured the capital of Secession, and compelled the surrender of Johnston's baffled army ; every where, and always stamping on his plans the mark of genius, on their execution the signet of a determined will, and wherever he may be, finding a welcome home in the hearts of his command.
Above us we see the name of another, whose boundless repu-
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Oration of General Belknap.
tation the Army of the Tennessee claims as its own, for Grant was its first Commander, and has said that "with that Army he felt himself identified to the end of its service." Overcoming the assaults of his enemies at home by his modest manner, and, con- quering his foes in the field by his military ability, he achieved for himself a name which is matchless, and has marked him as the leader of leaders, and the General of the Age.
" Patient in toil; serene amidst alarms - Inflexible in faith ; invincible in arms" -
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Proud are we of him, who at Donelson, and Vicksburg, announced "unconditional surrender" as his terms; who at Chattanooga told his army, " no enemy can withstand you, and no: defences, however formidable, can check your onward march"; who, with Sheridan, effaced from military lexicons the word "can't," and placed there, instead, the memorable phrase, "go in"; who in his last order told you "your marches, sieges and battles dimmed the lustre of the world's past military achievements, and will be the patriot's precedent, in defence of liberty and right, for all time to come ;"and who received from President Lincoln the acknowledgment, "you were right, and I was wrong." From us he needs no laurels, for those he wears will be forever green. The Nation which trusted him in war, confides in him in peace, and has placed the soldier-statesman in the line of Presidents which began with Washington. His, and his army's friend, we miss to-night ; that noble soldier who from first to last, in depression and in victory, stood by his honored chief; and from the lips of every one of us, as we find he is not here, comes the earnest expression which tells the sentiment of all the soldier hearts throughout the land-" Long live John A. Rawlins !"
Comrades ! we stand at a commanding point in the life of the land, in the progressive march of the people, which places the
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Nation foremost among the Governments of the world; we can not be found absent when the assembly sounds. The star of the future is bright with hope. This Union, rendered dearer by the blood spilled to insure its life, must remain unbroken by rebellion, and strong against attack. Throughout the land, from Maine to Florida, and from sea to sea, the American citizen must be free to go, unmolested and at home. The bands of iron binding the Continent from ocean to ocean, can not be stronger than the cords of patriotic affection tying heart to heart. And, while from the lips of the President elect comes that noble sentiment, which finds no readier response than from ourselves, " Let us have Peace," back from the past, and from amidst occurrences which presaged the future, comes that prophetic utterance of our second commander, "We must have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in all America." Made stronger in heart than ever by this reunion, striking hands to-night with a fervor that shows that the memories of the past trials and triumphs of these Armies will live and bear fruit, should the country's call ever again be sounded, you feel that, while with honest pride you sustained the honor of the flag, as citizens you will never tarnish the records of the Nation whose standards were borne to triumph by the Armies of the Union, and whose assembled thousands, as they greeted your grand review, on the avenues of the Capital, and strewed your march with flowers, sent to you the grateful acclaim of the people of America :
HAIL AND FAREWELL !
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BADGE OF THE SOCIETY OF THE
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ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE.
ORATION OF GENERAL CRUFT.
COMRADES OF THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND : The Society which you have formed, and the meeting of which has called us together, on this occasion, has among its chief objects " the per- petuation of the memory of the fortunes and achievements of the Army of the Cumberland," and the preservation of "that unanimity of loyal sentiment, and that kind and cordial feeling which has been an eminent characteristic of the army, and the main element of the power and success of its efforts in behalf of the cause of the Union." Other, and cqually worthy objects, are also interwoven with those stated, but assume lesser importance in the general plan of organization. In furtherance of the grand purpose of the association you have come up hither, from all parts of our broad land, to reawaken, in memory, the valorous deeds of the old Army, and to kindle anew in your hearts that steadfast loyalty and wondrous cordiality which ever distin- guished it. Your reunion to-day is one of the glorious rewards which await the gallant soldier. It is one of those privileges for which he has patiently toiled in camp, endured long and dreary , marches, and risked his life ofttimes in battle. It is a great and glorious privilege. God grant you all, my comrades, long years to enjoy the like occasions.
In pronouncing an anniversary discourse to you, on matters connected with your Association, the hasty thoughts which I have been enabled to devote to them, resolve themselves into a consideration of the following topics : 1
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Army Reunion.
Ist. The prominent characteristics of the Rebellion. 2nd. The origin of the " Army of the Cumberland," and its exploits in the great struggle for the life of the Republic. 3rd. Its peculiarities as a distinct army in the field. 4th. The teachings of the war.
Of these in their order :
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REBELLION.
No elaborate discussion of the origin of the sectional differ- ences which caused the late war of the Rebellion, from a political stand-point, is expected, nor would it be in good taste on the present occasion. It is sufficient now to say that a long chain of causes, stretching back through more than a generation, had estranged the people of the North and South. Differences of climate, soil, productions, character of labor, customs, pursuits, and political teachings, all had to do with this. It was not any single cause which brought about the war, but a combination of many. The most note-worthy of these causes was the persistent effort made by the South, so to shape Federal legisla- tion as to foster and extend the institution of African slavery, and to establish the political dogma known as the doctrine of " State rights." Ambitious and cunning politicians fanned these smouldering embers into the flame of civil war. In 1861 the country became the theatre of an armed rebellion, more won- derful in origin-more surprising in extent-more magnificent in resources and combinations than any of which the history of the world gives account. The Rebellion-stripped of all poet- ical and other surroundings-was an effort, on the part of eleven States of the Union, by force of arms, to throw off the Federal Government, and establish a confederation which should per- petuate the barbarisms of African slavery, and preserve the
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Oration of General Cruft.
political heresy of "State rights." To accomplish these pur- poses, the rebellious States organized a strong civil government, and appealed to the arbitrament of arms. Abandoning diplo- macy, they resorted to the musket and cannon-" ultima ratio regum."
The war, which followed, was marvelous, in many respects, and was wholly unlike any in which the armies of the Republic had ever before engaged. No parallel exists, at any point, between the late Rebellion and the war of the Revolution, that of 1812, or the Mexican war. All these contests were with foreign enemies, and were made by our nation as a unit. It was not so, however, with the Rebellion, which was peculiar in many ways.
It was a fratricidal war-a contest of arms between sections of a common country and government. The hand of brother was arrayed against brother, and father against son. All ties of kindred, marriage, friendship and affection were forgotten. Every citizen was forced to decide between loyalty and rebellion, and, in some form, espouse the cause of his choice. Like all civil wars, the Rebellion evoked more bitterness, hate, destruct- iveness and passion, than attends warfare between different nations, in the same measure that family quarrels are more intense than others.
The Rebellion was a war of sentiment. The South was fighting for a cherished set of social and political ideas, which had been instilled into the generation of the men who inaugurated the war, from the cradle upwards. The North, originally, was contending for the integrity of the Government, and against the supremacy of the States; but, as the contest deepened, the freedom of the negro and other matters assumed various propor- tions as war measures. Personal manhood and prowess finally became infused into the strife, and, before the war ended, it became also a question of sentiment with the North, though not especially so at the beginning.
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Army Reunion.
· Viewed from the stand-point of the government, the Rebellion was peculiar in the character of the enemy. The troops of the Republic were hastily summoned to face an enemy of greater intelligence and courage than they had ever before encountered ; and, by the same rule, an enemy of greater ability, resources and malignity. So far as the United States were concerned, the Rebellion was, to a great extent, necessarily an invasive war within its own borders, and that into the country of an enemy more creative in warlike expedients, more wary and better skilled in military matters, than any people in the world. The populace at the South had been more or less bred to warlike practices and traditions, and had apparently been long provoking and courting the incursion of their Northern neighbors. They were fighting for their homes and firesides, and to establish, upon sure foundations, their boasted chivalry and individual superiority. The physical conformation of their country was fitted to a prolonged struggle, and guerrilla warfare. It was crossed by craggy ridges and mountains, difficult to be passed by soldiers, and impracticable for effective operations of cavalry and artillery. A few troops knowing the topography of the country, could hold important fastnesses, for a long time, against large bodies of well equipped soldiery advancing upon them by ordinary military approaches. The war was, therefore, mostly offensive, on the part of the Government, and was, of necessity, prosecuted upon a theatre where all the movements of the enemy were aided by an accurate knowledge of the country.
The Government met with no partizan aid in the South. The favor of the citizens was toward the cause of the Rebellion. A few isolated instances of towns, districts and individuals, who were loyal to the Union, were encountered, but these were rare and not to be trusted. The aid of a plausible and ingeniously constructed civil government was constantly given to the rebel cause ; and it was powerful enough, by early and systematic proscriptions, to
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Oration of General Cruft.
drive all the men capable of bearing arms to the ranks of the insurgents. Not only the men, but the women of the South, strongly engaged in the Rebellion. Of course, they did not take the field, as the Amazons of old are said to have done, but they were a tremendous power in the Southern Confederacy. From the very commencement of the war, they were willing to forego all domestic ties to prosper their side, and so continued until they were forced to admit their "cause was lost," only by witnessing the returning fragments of the armies of the Con- federacy after Lee's surrender.
Never was more devotion shown to any cause, from com- mencement to ending, than was exhibited by the women of the rebellious States toward that in which their fathers, husbands, sons and brothers were engaged. Every officer and soldier of the Armnies of the Union saw and felt the power which the rebel women of the South exercised during the war. There was no hardship or suffering which they were not willing to undergo - . no deceit or falsehood they would not practice-no desperate venture they would not make for their
" Bonnie blue flag, with but a single star."
History furnishes no example of greater zeal and abandon to the fortunes of their cause; not even the women of ancient Sparta excelled them in their fidelity to their flag and kindred.
While the Government had no party in the South, there was a large element in the North in sympathy with the rebellion. This force was dormant, to all appearances, but it was a strong and powerful undertow, and tended to clog the efforts of the Govern- ment in every direction-to break down its financial expedients when "gold, which turneth the wheels of war, was wanting " -- to prevent enlistment-to encourage desertion- to spread dis- content in the Federal armies-to decry their victories, and
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Army Reunion.
rejoice over their reverses. This hidden and unseen opposition was practiced by thousands who had not the manliness to array themselves in arms on the side of the Rebellion-even by those whose roofs were kept over them, and firesides protected by the strong arm of the Government, and who held honors and office by its gift.
Another characteristic of the Rebellion was the singular spec- tacle of four millions of negro slaves standing passive, and making no effort to wrest their liberty by insurrection. They were left at home, in abject servitude, and still kept laboring on for their mistresses and the children of their masters, while their owners had gone to the field. The producing ability of the slaves, and their faithfulness to their masters, really enabled the Southern people to commence the war, and certainly enabled them to prolong it very materially. It was a power in war which had not before been encountered by our nation, and there was no mode of computing or measuring its strength. It had no parallel any where in military history, and no similitude except a faint one in the conduct of the serfs of Russia during the Crimean war; but even here the resemblance fails, for the serfs were serving their Czar under promise of freedom, while the Southern negro had nothing to look forward to but perpetual slavery.
While the Rebellion was a war without nominal allies on either side, yet the rebels had a strong and powerful moral alliance with England, France, Austria, and other European kingdoms. The monarchs and citizens of these countries were in deep sympathy with the cause of the South. They furnished much of the money, arms and material with which to prosecute the war. Their merchantmen were constantly running the blockade of our Southern seaboard, freighted with rich cargoes contraband of war. The small Confederate navy came from England, and to her may be traced all the disasters to American commerce occasioned by the war. The Emperors of France and
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Oration of General Cruft.
Austria, calculating upon the strength of the Rebellion, and the crippled condition of our Government, attempted to strike at our " Monroe doctrine," and establish an empire in the bordering Republic of Mexico. Thus the Confederate Government, while apparently fighting single-handed, had this quasi-alliance-anom- alous in the records of war, and difficult to oppose on account of the professed amity existing between these powers and the United States.
The Rebellion was chiefly a contest between land forces. Owing to this fact, and the necessity of maintaining a close blokade in front of the entire Southern sea-coast, our gallant navy had not the usual opportunity to distinguish itself. Wher- cver occasion offered, however, it added to its former renown. The grand victories at New Orleans, Fort Fisher, Mobile and elsewhere -the splendid action of the Kearsarge in the English channel, in sight of the French cannon at Cherbourg, and of the monitors along the Atlantic coast, the invaluable service of the gunboat marine in the Western waters, all shed imperishable lustre upon our navy.
Another peculiarity of the war of the Rebellion, compared with any in which the Government had before engaged, is to be found in the vast changes and improvements which had been made, during the last few years, in all arms, and also, to some extent, in strategy, logistics, engineering, grand and minor tactics. The rebels had kept pace with all these improvements, and. thereby presented themselves as a more formidable enemy than any previous one. The war was found to be a school, in which not only soldiers, but officers of every grade, were pupils. Many of the military theories of past ages were modified or overturned. Gunnery had to be learned anew, with the constant improve- ment in rifled cannon, and the whole science of projectiles restudied. The masses of soldiery used were so increased as to require new modes of transportation, supply and manœuvre.
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Army Reunion.
Railroads and telegraphs had been brought into requisition as aids in warfare, and changed all the past ideas and practice connected with it.
These were some of the most striking characteristics of the War of the Rebellion, as compared with any former one in which the Federal Government had before engaged. The novel features were all against the United States, and in favor of the insurgents. They contributed to make the war ten-fold harder, in all respects, than any other before undertaken, and greatly to diminish the chances of conquering a peace. He who went to the war, in the outset, with the belief that victory over the Rebels was an easy thing, soon changed his mind, and found that it was no holiday affair. The preparations of the Government, both in men and material, were, in the commencement, totally inadequate. It required at least two years to educate the Cabinet at Washington up to a conception of the power and proportions of the Rebellion. Thousands of Federal soldiers had been wounded and slain, and millions of treasure had been expended, before even the people of the great North awakened to the magnitude of the war, and realized the sacrifices that yet had to be made to save the life of the nation.
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