USA > Iowa > Delaware County > Manchester > Reunion of the 12th Iowa V.[eteran] V.[olunteer] infantry 1st-8th, 1880-1903 > Part 37
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The way he told of the privat ions of his boyhood and the gentle tone with which ho spoke of his mother threw a true light upon bis inner life, so that when he had finished, tears were in the eyes of the whole com- pany which listened to his simple manly words.
I have known Colonel Henderson now for more than a quarter of a century, and whether I think of him as a farmer's lad following the furrow on the prairie yonder, or lying helpless on the battlefield at Cor- inth, or holding his own in the tumultuous encounters of the House of Representatives, or weilding the authority of the second office in the government of the United States, I confess that he has always seemed to me an admirable example of what is best and strongest in the life of the
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American people.
In every aspect of his career he has been a representative of lowa: though not born upon our soil, he came into contact with it before he was ten years old, and until ne was twenty-one kept close enough to it lo get the physical, intellectual and moral strength which comes up into a man out of plowed ground through his bare feet. To a young man like Colonel Henderson the call of his country for sokliers to defend her in the time of need, came as a command to be obeyed at once; and so the awkward country boy just turned twenty-one years of age, finds himself a member of Company C of the Twelfth lowa Infantry, and entered with you upon that eventful experience which has given to the survivors of the regiment a heritage of honor and glory for all time to come.
Ile was with you in the camp of preparation while you made ready for the war: he was with you through the long winter at. St Louis when disease wasted your numbers, before yet you had seen your enemy in the field. He was with you at Cairo where you met for the first time your great commander, then holding a humble assignment in the national service; he was with you at Donelson where you won everlast ing honor by bloody work well done; he was with you on the historic field of Shiloh where not even the bravery of the bravest could stand against the overwhelming disaster which befell you; he was with the little remnant of the regiment at Cor- inth where he fell in the thick of the fight under wounds which left him maimed and crippled and filled much of his after life with misery and pain. He has been with you in the blessed years of peace, and has enter- od with a perfect sympathy into the joys and sorrows of your daily lives. He is with you today, and all others seem like intruders upon the rites of a ceremony which belongs to you and to your contrades living and dead.
Colonel Henderson received in an extraordinary measure the recogni- tion which the American people have always been prompt to give to those who have served their country in war. When he retired from pub- lie lite, he had enjoyed for an unusual period the distinction which he- longs to the House of Representatives, crowned at last by two unanimous elections to the office which more than ever embodies the influence and dignity of that great popular assembly. But no eminence of his career in civil life, can overshadow the service which be rendered when with willing heart and eager enthusiasm he offered his name to the Twelfth lowa and with you have himself without reserve to the national defense.
For over twenty your; Col. Henderson has been a notable figure in the arena of American public life. His record in the House of Represen- tatives was remarkable not only for its length, but almost from the be- ginning. for the mique personal leadership which was accorded him by his colleagues.
It is a bady which never fails to judge with infallible accuracy the qualifications of the men who aspire to direct the great affairs of legisla- tion. It is considerate of the weak, inexorable in its dealings with the vain and presumptuous, proud of the valiant and Stecessful, losing no time in according the full measure of appreciation to ability and strength. It is a fighting arena in which no intellectual gift is worth anything un- less it is kept always ready for the fray. It is a forum of debate, of hand to hand contrat. always ready to listen to words spoken in season, will- ing to give new men a chance and generous with its applause for the
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humblest member who takes occasion by the hand.
Into the midst of these restless and stormy activities Col Henderson came in the Forty-eighth Congress after a brief but brilliant career at the lowa bar; and he had not been there very long before the House had learned that he could be counted upon not only for wise counsel but in all the sudden emergencies of controversey and discussion. His opportu- nity came early in the session of the Forty-ninth Congress He had been active and earnest in securing the legislation which provided for the in- crease of the pensions of widows from $8.00 to $12.00, and when the gen- eral pension appropriation bill was under discussion, he ventured to make some comments upon the attitude of members from the South towards that legislation. Almost immediately, as so often happens, without warning, acrimonious debate sprang up which raged for several days, in- volving nearly all the important party leaders on both sides of the House. Everything, as usual, was discussed except the matter under considera- tion. and while Colonel Henderson was supported adequately on his own side of the House, it is obvious from the Record that he had to bear the brunt of the battle himself. All the weapons of partisan warfare were directed against bim; epithets and offensive personalities filled the cham- . ber, through all of which Col. Henderson maintained a calm and cheerful temper. At length a gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Norwood, in a speech bristling with irritating satire and evil insinuations, sneered at bis "ex- pansive patriotism," and with malice ill concealed, tried to make a jest of his foreign nativity. When the Georgian had finished, so complete was his apparent victory that Mr. Allen, the quaint humorist from Mis- sissippi, suggested "that business be suspended for a moment while the gentleman from lowa receives the sympathy of his friends."
It was an important hour for Col. Henderson. If he had tried to answer wit with wit, ridicule with ridienle, he would have failed alto- gether. But Mr. Norwood's contemptuous allusions to the fatherland, to Ben Lomond and the thistle, made it appropriate for the lowa orator to pass by in silence the words of levity and banter and to take his posi- tion upon higher ground where his antagonist was easily ontclassed.
Straight from the shoulder came colonel Henderson's reply: "It is thrown in my teeth that I first drew breath in sight of Ben Lomond. That is Irne, Mr. Chairman, but while it is true that I represent in my birth the land of the thistle, I want to tell the gentleman that from low land moor to highland pass, treason never found birth in a Scottish heart. True it is that I was born in Scotland. True it is that a little child I came to America. Does it remain for a simple Scottish boy of twenty-one, not born under the folds of the beautiful flag of America, to teach patriotism to a gentleman who was born upon American soil?
Mr. Chairman, I recognize with pleasure the gentlemanly and manly charactar of some of my opponents in this debate. I take pleasure in recognizing in that way the gentleman from West Virginia ( Mr. Wilson), and the cultivated and eloquent gentleman from Kentucky ( Mr. Breckin- ridge), who spent four years of his life in the Confederate service. That gentleman drew a picture, beautiful, touching and instructive, of three brothers, all nursed at the same breast, fighting on opposing fields, and yet no barrier between their hearts.
I too, Mr. Chairman, will attempt to draw a "family picture," if 1
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may have the same permission. Three brothers of us met together one night in 1861, under the old family roof, and agreed that in this great land of our adoption the bour had come for us to lay our lives at the feet of our common country. We slept none that night; all sat up. In the morning before parting, the old father ( turning to Mr. Norwood ) born in Scotland, too, took down the old family Bible ( again turning to Mr. Nor- wood ) brought from Scotland, and after reading it, knelt among his little group of Scottish-American children, prayed to the God of nations to guard us and make us brave for the right, finished the prayer and said amen.
The parting you gentlemen have nothing to do with; but those three brothers, 'all nursed at the same breast,' and 'with no barrier between their hearts,' went side by side to the war, all, however, fighting on the same side - the side of their country. The eldest, Thomas, fell, shot through the heart in the deadly "Hornet's Nest" of Shiloh, and he now sleeps in an unmarked grave by the quiet waters of the Tennessee. The next, serving four yeaos and veteranizing. lives, but is almost a physical wreck, his health laid upon the altar of his country. The third and youngest is still pretty well, I thank you; but Mr. Chairman, I want it distinctly understood that so long as I have a memory to remember what Thomas fought for, so long as I know that for nearly a quarter of a cen- tury his widow and children have struggled without that gallant prop, (turning to Mr. Norwood) Scottish though he was in origin, I feel not called upon to get down on my beaded knee in the Capitol of my country ( with all due respect to the gentleman from Georgia ) and apologize for Thomas' death, for William's ruined health, or for myself."
The blood of the Twelfth lowa was evidently up once more and no- body came within bis reach, who did not feel the stroke of the old lowa soldier's wrath. That speech illustrating in the most effective way his ability to take care of himself in the rough and tumble engagements which have always been common in the House of Representatives was the beginning of a long series of parliamentary achievements which have given him a permanent place among the popular leaders of our times. Few men of this generation have made a more profound impression upon the national life. He has been identified with the business of the govern- ment for so many years that his departure from the House of Representa- tives has been everywhere deplored as a grevions loss to the public ser- vice: for leaving out of consideration altogether his abilities to do the work so long entrusted to him by his distriet, it has never happened to any other citizen of lowa, and to few others in any state, to secure the training in public affairs which comes from an uninterrupted activity of more than twenty years in the House of Representatives.
I had the opportunity of knowing Colonel Henderson with a special degree of intimacy for the twelve years beginning with the administra- tion of General Harrison, during which we served together in the House. He was already counted among the old members when I first entered. and in the memorable contest. for the Speakership of the Fifty-first Con- gress he had a most flattering support drawn from all sections of the country. Mr. Reed won the prize and Colonel Henderson at once became a member of the little group of experienced legislators to whom the management of the business of the House was committed. And from
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that time, whether in the council chamber or npon the door, le remain- ed one of the chief supporters and defenders of the policies and program of the party to which he was attached.
When Mr. Reed retired from public lite, Colonel Henderson was so generally looked upon as his natural successor that one after another the able men who were selected by the partiality of the community in which they lived, to contest the honor with him, withdrew in his favor, leaving him in possession of the field without a dissenting voice. A good many people were disturbed by the fear that no one could fill MIr. Reed's place; yet after four years in the chair it was the testimony of friends and foes alike that the office had suffered no disparagement during the period of Colonel Henderson's administration. He exhibited all of Mr. Reed's masterful talent for controling the House, and with it a suavity of man- ner, a kindly sympathy, a thoughtful regard for the feelings of others, which were sometimes want ing in the erader methods of his predecessor.
Ile put aside the honors of that office at a time when he enjoyed the confidence of both sides of the House, and might have looked forward to a future undisturbed by the ordinary vicissitudes of polities. . Those of us who have come here today are not thinking so much as we look upon this statue, of the gavel which he hokls in his hand as of the crutch he is leaning upon. The blaze and glare of official station seem dull and com- monplace; the personal contentions which sometimes add to the cares of the public service, a burden too heavy to be borne, are all forgotten; the mistakes, the failings and mischances which are a part of our poor human frailty, are left to the charity which remembereth that we are dust. The presence here of these bent and white-haired men, whatever the artist may have intended, makes this a soldier's monument. When you look upon it you will think of a worn and faded uniform of blue, and when those who come after you, your children and grandchildren, stand about this spot with curious interest, they may have to ask what the gavel in the uplifted hand is for, but they will know without asking any- body what the crutch means; for they will hear the echo of Lincoln's sol- emn call for troops and Kirkwood's stern demand that Towa should do herduty. And right well were all the proclamations answered, though they followed one after another like alarm bells in the night; for from her sparse and meager population, there marched into the field, eighty thousand fighting men, one in eight of all who lived within her borders, men, women, and children. More than 2,000 of them fell in batth. Over 10,000 died in the hospitals and the prisons. Your comrade, there on that pedestal, is only one of 10,000 more who came home disabled by wounds or stricken by disease: so that over one quarter of the whole en- listed force of lowa was literally a sacrifice upon the ahar of the Repub- lic.
The years which have gone since your last battle was fought, have made sad havoc with the broken ranks, as your own roll call shows; but a goodly number still survive: and throughout the land wherever an Iowa veteran lives, from thousands of humble homes, there has today gone up to Heaven a soldier's blessing upon the name and fame of David B. Hen- derson.
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DAVID B HENDERSON.
IN WAR A HERO, IN PEACE A STATESMAN, A TRUE IOWAN. HE VOLUNTARILY LAID DOWN THE SCEPTER OF POWER WHEN HE STOOD CONSPICUOUSLY THE ENCHALLENGED LEADER OF THE AMERICAN CONGRESS
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Reunion Proceedings.
Assemble in pavilion at 7 p. m.
After entertaining music by Fayette drum corps and band, which was inspiring, and, for the time carried us back again to 61-5, the reunion was called to order by the president, Lieutenant Dunham, and Mr. A. II. Loomis proceeded to deliver his address of welcome and was followed by Hon. R. W. Tirrill of the 12th.
Mr. President and Friends. members of Twelfth Iowa :-
In bidding you welcome to Clermont it is with a realization, that no words can fully express the pleasure we feel in having you with us upon this occasion. We appreciate the great honor it is to our little city to have so large and distinguished an assembly for its guests and we greet you, old and young; soldiers of war and citizens of peace, we greet you and bid you a most cordial welcome.
And especially to you members of the 12th Iowa, who have seen fit to bonor ns by holding your quadremial reunion where at this time, in be- half of the citizens of Clermont we bid you a most hearty welcome. Clermont feels greatly honored in having yon as her guest; noted as your regiment is for its many acts of valor upon the field of battle, to which our distinguished Senator paid such eloquent tribute this afternoon.
We welcome yon the more heartily because of the special interest Cler- mont has always had in the 12th lowa, in which so many of the noble sons of Fayette county served, with credit to themselves and the honor of their State. Yes, Clermont is proud to entertain such a Company and long will this day be remembered as one in which we were privileged to bivouac with one of the bravest regiments that ever marched beneath the stars and stripes. ( Why bless you Col. Henderson, if you could have had these veterans down at Dubuque yesterday of the day before, you would have quelled that riot among the carstrike men so quickly, Senator Allison would probably never have known that there was trouble in his vity and would have been with us at this time. )
Realizing that such an occasion as this may not offer itself to Cler- mont again, we ask yon, members of the 12th, to surrender, uncondi- tionally, as prisoners of our charge, not even asking for a parole, before the time of your exchange to the better accomodations of your own homes.
It is a happy thought, my friends, that so long as patriotism and reverence for our country exists, the Nation need have no fear from ex- ternal foes, or internal problems, and those monuments will serve to in- spire the highest sentiments of patriotism in the hearts of the young, and perpetuate the memory of the men I have the honor to welcome and whose presence adds a sacredness to those blocks of marble and tablets of bronze.
God bless you, and may the teachings of this day lead us to a greater love of friends, of home, of country, and of God.
A. H. LOOMIS,
Secretary of Clermont Soldiers' Monumentary Association.
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Mr. A. H. Loomis, and Citizens of Clermont:
Individually I have some knowl- edge of the generous hospitality of some of the good people of your little city and I know that a large number of the comrades of the Twelfth lowa Infantry, whom I represent here this evening, and in whose behalf I now speak, have been recipients of the bounteous hospitality of your people in times past, but today, the welcome that we have received by your kind and forceful words, has been even now, already fully verified by the reali- ties this day experienced: and in behalf of my comrades, whose senti- ments I voice, I now beartily thank you, and your people through you, for these manifestations of good cheer and loyal fellowship, as well as your generous hospitality so kindly proffered.
While perhaps, we are right in believing, that as soldiers of the late rebellion, we are entitled to the generous hospitality accorded us by your citizens, yet we must not, and I trust we do not, lose sight of the fact, that the great civil war of of to os was not crushed out wholly by us, but by the aid and assistance of the great loyal heart of Americans, meaning the soldiery and the loyal men and women of this country, typical exam- ples of whom you find in your own little city in the persons of Gov. and Mrs. Larrabee.
I have known Governor Larrabee quite well ever since we met at West Union in 1863 and nominated our own Win. B. Allison for his first term in Congress, and since that day it has pleased us both, to labor to- get her in his interest and in the interest of this District, as well as in the interest of this great commonwealth and nation, until we have seen him grow from that small beginning in 1863, to a position in the affairs of the Nation. and in the hearts of his countrymen, never before excelled by any man or statesman in this or any other country
At another convention. we joined forces to nominate another man lor congress, who after many years of faithful service, during which time be battled with southern chivalry for the right, until he was recognized as the leader of his associates in the lower House of Congress, and finally elevated to the Speakership in that great body, by reason of his untiring zeal, acknowledged executive ability, and honest devotion to principles.
Col. D. B. Henderson was one of the boys of the Twelfth Lowa Intan- try, and he is the conspicuous figure, whom we delight to honor here today, through the generosity of your worthy citizens, Governor and Mrs. Larrabee.
But after all, Allison and Henderson are only our boys. in a sense: they do our bidding, subject to the criticisms of their constituency, for or against, right or wrong, not a bed of roses after all: Jet we have always been proud of them, glad to hear them spoken of in foreign lands as among the greatest statesmen of the Nation; and yet they are in our keeping and in a measure, subject to our dictations.
Col. Henderson could not it he would, prevent Gov. Larrabee from erecting that statue yonder, he must submit in this, as in many other things; of course, he has to some extent blocked the wheels of his future political progress to which he has so long been attached, but we will soon have him back in line and put him on double duty.
Mr. Mayor and Citizens of Clermont: In a sense, we meet you here
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on common grounds, to commemorate the stirring events of Gl to 65 in which we all had a common interest.
The loyalty and patriotic devotion of your citizenship furnished the banner company of our regiment, and proudly did your boys maintain the honor of that starry emblem.
That old flag handed down to us by the fathers of the revolution, preserved in its purity by the comrades of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic and the loyal men and women of this great country of ours, has been carried by our boys across the mighty waters of the deep, to the far away islands of the sea, planting it upon the ramparts of universal brother- hood, and in the mighty presence of the nations of the world, have un- furled its silken folds, to human freedom and constitutional liberty.
R. W. TIRRILL ..
Another pleasing feature following the address of Comrade Tirrill was a very beautiful song, artistically rendered by Miss Stella Spears, a daugh- ter of Comrade Hart Spears of the 12th, which received hearty applause.
A reading, "The Man Without a Country," was then listened to with rapt attention by Miss Beulah Wright who held her audience spell- bound from first to last, receiving a storm of applause upon retiring.
Shiloh as seen today by Comrade P. R. Woods, of Co. C. and W. F. MeCarron of Co. I. as follows:
Shiloh Battlefield.
P. R. Woods.
When a camp fire is called, every old soldier who attends, is expected to bring a rail, to help keep the fire burning. I thought I would try to bring one that had not been too much charred. So I have selected for a short talk, our recent visit to Shiloh battlefield.
My wife accompanied me on the trip. I assure you it was a very en- joyable occasion. We avoided the crowd and had a most excellent oppor- tunity of looking over the grounds, and studying the positions and move- ments of both armies.
We arrived at Paducah, Ky., by rail, May toth, and took passage on a steamer for our trip of two hundred and twenty-seven miles up the Ten- nessee River, to Pittsburg Landing. There is much travel and traffic on these steamers, and our progress was slow. We were two days and most of three nights on the boat, reaching Pittsburg Landing at 2 o'lock on the morning of the 19th. I saw nothing especially familiar along the river, only that it is a beautiful stream. We passed old Ft. Henry, the objective point of our first campaign. Little could be seen, but the outlines of the old earthworks. On the boat, both up the river and on our return, we met many people of all ages, natives of Ken- Lucky and Tennessee. They were kind and courteous, and we talked freely of the events of the war, and of conditions in the South. We
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learned much of the state of society in the border states, after the close of the war; of the hatred, the treachery and brutality. But time and a wise administration of public affairs, have greatly mollified these condi- tions.
When we reached Pittsburg Landing, my old college friend and army comrade, Major Reed, was there to greet us. The Major had a team at his disposal, and we spent the greater part of the line days we were at the park, driving over the field, to the various points of interest.
The National Park and Cemetery contains about four thousand acres, and more will be purchased. Much has been done to beantify the grounds, but the work is not completed. The underbrush, old logs and rail fences have been removed and about twenty-five miles of road, rin- ning throughout the park, have been graveled. Otherwise, the grounds are left, as far as possible, unchanged. Some of the old frees, badly scarred by shells and bullets, are still standing. But the greater number have fallen to decay, and others grown up in their places; so that the general appearance of the field is much as it was at the time of the battle.
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