USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Newton > Third reunion of Iowa Hornets' Nest Brigade : 2d, 7th, 8th, 12th and 14th infantry, held at Newton, Iowa, Wednesday and Thursday, August 21 and 22, 1895 > Part 8
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"] now have the extreme pleasure of introducing one of my old friends from Illinois, General Osborn, who was appointed by General Grant minister to Buenos Ayres; the handsome and accomplished gentleman who was minister there for sixteen years in succession. General Osborn, my friends. Come forward, my General. I have talked him to sleep nearly. Ladies and gentlemen, General Osborn, of Chicago."
GENERAL OSBORN.
Ladies and Gentlemen :
Since coming here I, too, have caught the spirit, and I would gladly talk to you, but Judge Ryan wont let me. So I bid you good- afternoon.
JUDGE RYAN.
"Ladies and Gentlemen : ". That is a --- - Next on the program is nuisic."
After music, the meeting adjourned to the court yard, where General Prentiss spoke to an immense crowd.
After that, preparations were begin for the parade, and in a short time it was formed, and an imposing procession it made. The order was as follows:
Marshals --- M. A. McCord and O. C. Meredith. K. T. Band, led by Drum Major on horseback.
Co. L, I. N. G. Newton Fire Department.
Normal Institute Students, three hundred strong, headed by Miss Walsh in a carriage. Garrett Post, G. A. R. W. R. C. L. of G. A. R.
Martial Band of nine pieces.
Hornets' Nest Brigade.
The line of march was taken just as advertised and terminated at the east side of the school house, where seats had been built to
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IOWA HORNETS' NEST BRIGADE.
accommodate the crowd. The exercises were under the direction of Normal school. After a spirited duet given by two little daughters of S. E. Laird, Prof. D. M. Kelly extended the following welcome to the Brigade in behalf of the Normal. The address was permeated with a spirit of the truest patriotism and noblest manhood:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
As a young man I feel most highly honored by the invitation ex- tended to me to appear on this occasion as a representative of that loyal brigade of Jasper county teachers, voicing as best I may the respect, veneration and love they bear for that immortal brigade of grizzled veterans who honor us and the cause we represent by the Very fact of their presence.
We can say to you nothing that is new. We can add no new hol- ors to these soldiers living or to their comrades dead. We can sin- round with no new glory a subject that is already glorified in every loyal heart that throbs and beats beneath the Stars and Stripes. We can offer you, our honored guests, only the tribute of praise and gratitude that is due from our generation to your generation. We can offer you only the tribute of praise that is due from the protect- ed to the protectors living and the protectors dead.
What we have gleaned from the pages of history, you men who honor us with your presence, gleaned from the pages of bitter exper- ience. What we have heard of the ravages and the spirit of war, you saw and with your own eyes. You were the actors in that great and awful tragedy of civil strife. We ate but the camp followers reaping the rewards of your exertions.
I am afraid that we sometimes forget what courage, devotion and patriotism were displayed by our soldiers in the late war. Some of them returned and they are with us yet. Some returned but their stay was only brief. Some died upon the field of battle and ashes mingle with ashes in the long and ghastly french. Some died in prison, cruel, cruel death! and their forms are now mouldering in the bosom of their mother Earth. Some
died from pestilence and exposure and are now resting peacefully in graves unknown and uncared for.
It must be hard to die, even at home in the arms of father or mother, but what must it be to die far from home and mother, without a friend to lift the sinking head; without a hand to wipe the death dew from the failing eyes: torn by bullets and sabers: crushed by fly- ing splinters and the trampling hoof. Homeless, friendless, name- less, dying. No one to see, no eye to pity, but the eye of the Great God of battles.
Oh, it is hard to die! The green fields, the singing birds, the happy homes are hard to yield for that narrow house and the crawling worm. The bright flowers nod their heads to us and bid ns stay. The blue sky spreads wide her arms and eutreats us not 10 die. There is something in the heart of every sane man that tells him he must live. "Self preservation is the first law of human na- ture," yet these soldiers did not falter in the time of danger. The father kissed his baby and then was ready for the sacrifice. The son received his mother's blessing and went out to battle for his country. for his home, for liberty and for us, and are we truly grateful? Do we realize the good they gave us? Would you cross the ocean into England, France, Germany -the Stars and Stripes are at once your passport and safeguard. In the fastnesses of the Himalayas or in
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the jungles of the Amazon, wrapped in the flag of the United States, you are safe in time of danger. At home or abroad, in peace or in war, that lag is ever your faithful guardian and friend.
It has been steeped in loyal blood; it has been powder stained and bullet torn; it has been furled in honorable defeat and reared aloft in many a hard won victory: it has waved over the heights of Look- out Mountain and sunk beneath the dark waters of the Mississippi; but thank God no stain now mars its striped feld, no jewel is missing from its starry crown. On Shi'oh's battle ground, an emblem of jus- tice, it lay folded close in the heart of every loyat son of lowa. tied round with the tenderest cords of his affection and sealed with a vow never to surrender it up until that heart was cold and still in death.
Upon every school house in the state of lowa, that banner should float, float, an emblem of patriotism, of liberty and of unsul- lied honor.
In the great ledger of Justice from 1860 to 1865, liberty is credit- ed by names and deeds that years of infamy will not over balance.
Turn to that page, 'tis open to all - heading these lists of credits will be found the name of Lincoln; following close after comes the name of your beloved commander Grant. Memories cluster round those wames, "Memories of the days that tried the souls of men." Ifere is a cluster of names blotted and tear stained and we know that Shiloh's dead are entered here: upon this crimson page the heroes of Gettysburg: upon that the slain on the fatal field by Fredericksburg. Oh, my soldier friends, praise is all that I can give you. I never heard the whistle of an enemy's bullet, yon heard many. I never ministered to the wants of a friend, cut down in defense of the oid flag. Yon ministered to the wants of a brother. you moistened his lips from your old canteen and you buri- ed him far from home and friends, all because he loved that old fag. I never saw a comrade starving, rotting, dying in a prison pen be- cause he refused to take the oath of allegiance to a state in rebel- lion. You did. Yon tried it yourselves, many of you to the extreme limit of endurance, your bowed forms and shrunken limbs still testify thereto. I never even did battle for my country or my home. You did both, upon the hillside. in the valley and by the stream. Your bunk mate lies buried by the l' ther of Waters, your comrades in the swamps of Alabama and th: cotton fieldls of Georgia. Where e're they rest 'tis hallowed gron id, watered by their blood and a nation's tears. Teachers, never before have we been so honored. We have now before us the grandest object lesson of patriotism that our time shall ever know. Let the lesson sink deep into your hearts and establish there a renewed determination to teach well the great lesson of love for America and for American institutions.
Here in the shadow of this sanctuary, the grandest in America, made possible by the patriotism and devotion of these men and such as these; here in the shadow of the free school, the birth-place of American liberty: here in the shadow of this school house, from which floats, thanks to these men and such as these, that beautiful emblem of red, white and blue: here in the presence of these teachers, whose sentiments I am called on to express, in their names and in the names of the school children of Iowa, I place my hand upon the walls of this building, the free school of America, and proclaim honor to yon as friends, love to you as soldiers, and veneration to you as patri- otic defenders of liberty and union!
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IOWA HORNETS' NEST BRIGADE.
Prof. Kelly's address of welcome was responded to by 1. Kinkead, 8th Iowa, and R. M. Terrill, of the 12th Iowa. We regret that we cannot present them as both were good. but all our efforts to get their manuscripts have failed. They will be court martialed at our next reunion, for disobedience of orders.
The Brigade at the close of the exercises marched to headquart- ers and disbanded.
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Camp Fire.
The Brigade assembled at head quarters at 7:30 p. m. and escort- ed by the drum corps, marched to the opera house -- Col. Ryan presided at the Camp Fire.
The exercises were opened by an earnest prayer by Rev. Harrah, followed by a solo, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," by Fred Hough. The first speaker introduced was Col. Godfrey, of the Ed lowa, "Johnson's Surrender to Sherman." The main points are only given in the paper at the request of the Col .:
"JOHNSON'S SURRENDER TO SHERMAN" BY COL. G. L. GODFREY."
Ladies and Gentlemen, and Comrades:
I appear before you to night under rather embarrassing circum- stances, not so much so now, not so embarrassing since I have been here and met your people and received the cordial hospital- ity that I have, as I was when i started from home. little embarrassing because Mr. Ryan presided here tonight. There may be difficulty between Ryan and me. he being the chairman he has got the advantage of me, but I want to say to the members of the Hornets' Nest Brigade, that you will never appreciate, you will ney- er fully know and cannot appreciate because you do not know the work that this chairman has done to forward the interest of getting up this reunion. Now if he has written you half as many letters as he has me in regard to it, he must have employed all the typewriters in Newton, and I do not know but that is the case. Why it got so in the morning mail. if the children in bringing in the mail didn't see a letter with Dave Ryan's name in the upper corner of it, they wonid say, " What do you suppose is the matter with Mr. Ryan? Is he sick?" That is the fact. He was in great distress about getting somebody to talk for the 2d lowa. I proposed this man, and that man, and other men, and he couldn't get fixed. and finally I told him I bad a paper that I had prepared to read before another military organiza- tion. that would take from ten to fifteen minutes, and that as a last resort I could bring that paper down. Well, now the cordial reply I got to that was, "Well, Colonel, bring down the paper and if we can't do any better we will let you read it." Well, that was pretty good. I felt pretty good over that. That was only equalled, though, by the carnest solicitation I had from another member from Newton abont my coming here, and that is a member also that i have seen working in the interests of this organization since I have been here -1 refer to Col. Manning. Now Mr. Ryan came up to Des Moines and came before the committee and asked the
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committee to bring the organization here this time. He says, "The people of Newton will entertain the Hornets' Nest Brigade, free." Oh, says I, "That won't do: what authority have you got for saying that?' He says. "I have got the authority of the mayor and every- bolt in Newton." " What will you do with us! You haven't got a hotel large enough." :Well. we will parcel you out among the poo- ple." Well the committee decided to come here. A few weeks after that, Col. Manning came to Des Moines -it was during the state con- vention he came into a room in the Bavery House where I was sitting. Now you know the Colonel has got one of the most beaming faces in the world; he is a handsome man also, but he has got a pocket in that face where he keeps his stock all stored and disguised. and he can open that pocket and spread it all over his face better than any other man that I ever saw. He came in and he had his face disguised, when he saw me sitting there. Says I. "Good morning." "Good morning." " When did you come up?" "Just got in." said he; "A meeting?" "We had a meeting down to Newton this morning."
" Yes" "Well, what about?" "Oh. about your confounded Brigade."
" Well, what of it?" He says, "It falls to my lot to have to entertain you while down there." Well that was encomaging, but I told him if I could stand it two days, I thought he could. Well, I have been here and I have been to his house two days and he is still alive and so am I. thanks to his good wife. And I feel as though I wanted the largest hearted man here to offer som : resolutions of tanks. I believe there is a committee appointed, though. Well, I hope the committee will cover all these things in their thanks. and there is one thing further that I hope they will not forget that struck me. and that is this. The recitation we had last night. on Shiloh Battlefield at Night." I had never heard it before. I hope there did not any of you see me sitting back here in the corner wiping my eyes at the recitation of that. If you did. I hope you will not call me a baby. But it was grand. Now the mayor told in his opening speech, "Boys, if you see anything that you want, take it .. If von can't reach it. ask any of the citizens of Newton to hand it down to you." Now I want to ask some of the citizens of Newton to hand down that beautiful young lady that recited that piece to us last night that we may shake hands with her and thank her for the entertainment that she gave us. [ Applause. ]
But now to this paper. Iam not going to read it all.
The Col. then read a paper on the surrender of Johnson to Gen. Sherman. The paper sustained Gen. Sherman in his first agreement with Johnson, which agreement was disapproved by President Johnson. (President Lincoln having been killed a few days previous to Johnson's surrender.) That Sherman had consulted with Lincoln just a few days before, at City Point. the paper took the grounds that Sherman was carrying out the policy of President Lincoln and sustained this view by liberal quotations from the conversation. be- tween Lincoln, Grant and Admiral Porter, had at City Point, just a few days previous to the surrender, and in closing the paper censured severely the newspapers which published the unfriendly criticisms against Sherman, and also Secretary of War Stanton and Gen. Hal- leck for their ill conduct toward Gen, Sherman, as brave and patriotic a commander as ever led an army.
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Prof. A. N. Currier gave ns the following excellent paper, which gave evidence of much thought in its preparation:
"THE LONG ROLL."
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am really afraid that some of these younger people will remem- ber the old soldier who fought a little a good many years ago, and ever since that time have talked about it when they got a chance, but you have made a very grave mistake if you make so severe a judgment against us. This is only one of our spells, but as the Hornets' Nest Brigade have only one of these spells, once in three years, I think you may put up with it, but still I am afraid that after these speeches are over, you may think a new definition of speeches which I have heard will be very appropriate. It is a definition that is not found in Webster or the Standard dictionary, or the Encyclo- pedia or the Century, but is taken from the bicycle. Somebody has said, that a great many speeches are pneumatic tires. I will say to yon that my "tire" shall be very short, because I heard what Col. Ryan said, and having risked my life a few times thirty years ago 1 do not propose to endanger it tonight. When this speech was assigned me-for I did not choose it myself-I only accepted it because, as a soldier, I had learned that when Col. Bell gave the command I must obey. It would seem a grievous sin against the proprieties to make the beating of the Long Roll the prelude to a speech. In war times, certainly, it was never a call to words, but a cry to arms, to arms! that put the blood astir in our veins and sent it tingling to our finger tips. After these thirty years of peace, it calls up anew and most vividly many a stirring scene and hard fought struggle, but at this moment. most of all, the bloody field of Shiloh-to most of us the first experience of a real battlefield. The Long Roll on that memora- ble morning came to us as an utter surprise. There had, indeed, been some stray shots on the picket line during the night, and we heard the firing at the front that took place when the outmost regiments were surprised while yet asleep in their camps. But there was no thought of a general engagement in which we should share. The routine of Sunday morning went on quite undisturbed. Divine services were an- nounced for I1 o'clock and inspection was going on on the color line of the 8th when the order came from Brigade headquarters, directing the beating of the Long Roll and preparations for an immediate march to the battlefield. There was a quiver in Adjt. Sam Rankin's voice as he reported the order and Cooney's nervous fingers for a moment forgot their cunning but it was only for a moment and then the Roll was beaten in dead earnest that said, "to arms, to arms!" with more emphasis than any words could do. They thrilled us like an electric shock and it seemed as if their ccho reached regiment after regiment and brigade after brigade as the call sounded again and again and the excitement and bustle surged through all that great camp, which up to that moment had seemed more like a great picnic than a theatre of war. Everybody was greatly excited, but if there was fear in their heart there was none in the faces or the actions of our men. Those who had been ill and off duty, claimed to be well again, and those on special duty asked to be released from their details. One thing alone weighed upon our spirits, Col. Geddes was under arrest and we might be compelled to go into battle without him We all felt that it would be a great misfortune to be deprived of his experience, his skill and his bravery at such a crisis. But, however, he is released from arrest and amid the shonts of the men
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leads us to the field. I shall not attempt to describe the events of that bloody field. Marked as it was by serious disaster, it was still more marked by the high courage and stubborn resistance against superior force. Those of us who fell into the hands of the enemy on Sunday evening had not then, and have not now, any apology to offer for that misfortune. We could not be driven from our post by the repeated and violent attacks of the enemy. We inflicted losses out of all proportion to those we suffered. Those who did not die in their tracks were overwhelmed and captured with their faces to the for. It was our misfortune and not our fault that we did not share in the dearly bought victory of Monday. Serious as were the Union losses from the lack of foresight and preparation on the part of Grant and Sherman, as well as from the courage and skill of the enemy, Shiloh was a victory of great consequence to our cause Grant's pluck and capacity in action were displayed in a greater battle than heretofore, but more than all else, the metal of the western armies was tested in a supreme effort and found to be of the finest and best. The Cluster and swagger in rebel quarters stopped short, there was no more talk of one rebel being as good as three Yankees, and both arm'es realized. as never before, the seriousness and magnitude of the conflict.
Comrades, it is hard to believe that a third of a century lies be- tween us and those events, so fresh in our memory and thoughts, and yet it is not hard to realize it when we look into each others faces and behold the traces of the years in features and forms. Then we were boys. or young men. full of life and energy, now our hair is gray, or white, and our step is less elastic -men call us old. but [ assert that we are yet young and vigorous and fit for service, whenever and wherever the drum beat of duty summons ns to arms. The country is indeed saved and safe from rebels, and is Union in a truer and fuller sense than ever before. but our term of service is not over, if we are the true men we claim to be. What was worth saving at such a cost of blood and treasure, must be kept as a sacred trust and handed over to the generations to come, without spot or blemish. Not on the far off fields of the south, but in our very midst, must the battle be fought against the violators of the sanctity of the law through chicane. or corruptions, or open violence, against the enemies of our public schools, the enemies of a pure and free ballot, against the foes of the perfect freedom of labor and of the equality of all American citizens in rights and privileges without regard to color, ancestry or religious creed.
Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, we have shown bow a million citizens, attached to their homes and devoted to the pursuits of peace, could be transformed, for love of country, into valiant soldiers. We have shown how a mighty army, thished with victory, could gladly lay down its arms and resume the duties and occupations of civil life. Let us continue to show how gray haired veterans ever true to Old Glory-our free and stainless flag, can do conspicuous service to the land we fought to save, with no furlough and no dis- charge until the final muster out.
Miss Belle Lambert gave an excellent rendering of "Money Musk" of which the audience showed their appreciation by their loud ap- planse.
Then came singing, after which H. G. Curtis, of the 8th Iowa, was drafted to fill the place of one of the speakers who was absent
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IOWA HORNETS' NEST BRIGADE.
and who was to have talked about "The man that carried a gun," and responded in a brief and telling manner as follows:
I came here to listen, not to talk. I am not on the program but I am one of thos . boys that carried a gun. Iam one of the fellows that helped put down this rebellion, and I belonged to a regiment that helped to do it, and to a Brigade that helped to do it. Now you say, how was this done anyhow? The boys loved their country; the girls loved the boys: a combination that was invincible. (Loud applause.)
Win. T. McMakin, of the 14th lowa, as the last speaker, had the subject, "We took touch of elbows." As he stated. the paper was con- fined principally to the 14th lowa, but it was no doubt a like experi- ance of many of the other comrades.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Comrades:
Comrales: I want to take you back, let your minds revert back some thirty years ago. Do you recollect when you were recruits? I am a raw recruit tonight and yet I feel that I can stand as a soldier I I can do nothing else, if I cannot say a word tonight I can point to that old flag that contains the history of all of us. I feel. com- rades, tonight, that it is good to be here. I feel that we have in these associations and these reunions, that we again take the "touch of elbow." We feel the grasp of the hand; we light over our battles again: we renew our age: we live longer for enjoying these things I know many of our comrades and I would refer you to our old com- mander of the 14th lowa-look at the difference as he appears up- on the stage, as he appeared before von and addressed you He is old in years yet how supple he is: young in heart as any of us
What I shall say tonight will be principally in relation to the 14th lowa, as my history is in that as a private. and I feel that tie existing as you all feel. and comrades, while there is a tie existing running between all of this great army, yet there is a tie of regi- ment, yet there is an inner tie of company. i would draw the at- tention of the comrade's to a question that has never been brought up as I see, that the 14th lowa was the largest regiment that went from the state of lowa, not in number of members but in companies. We had first, three: we had again, seven, then three more, making in all thirteen companies that were organized and in the 14th Iowa, not at one time. however. And I would again call the attention of the 14th lowa that our extent of service was as great as any regi- ment that ever went from the state of loxa. Now the first active campaign that I experienced was at Ft. Henry. You recollect that we were booked for that place but we got in a little too late to capture the Fort. It was taken. We landed upon the bank near Ft. Henry. You recollect we lay there over the Sabbath day. Well on Sabbath morning while we were some of us writing and some of us doing various work, down through that camp charged a beef animal. Well. we wanted fresh meat We grasped our gou, I with the rest, not knowing who was with me, and after that animal we started. Down we went and I fired at it, and a man at my right hand fired: at that I looked around to see who it was and it was our chaplain. Well, I thought I was in good company if I had the chaplain, but the worst of that thing, comrades, was, they sent word
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