USA > Indiana > Reunion of the 9th regiment Indiana vet. vol. infantry association, 1892-1904 > Part 2
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Comrades of the Ninth Indiana: You deserve well of your country. You survivors have a warm place in the hearts of your countrymen. The memory of your honored dead is a most precious legacy. They remind us that we have a country worth living for and worth dying for. You fought a good fight, You finished the work that was given you to do. Henceforth you are entitled to and will receive the joyful praise and gratitude of all true patriots of all climes, and of all time.
I again extend to you hearty words of welcome, and unless in a residence in this place of thirty-four years, I have not yet learned to know this people, they will appre- ciate your presence with us in a way that will cause no regrets in your minds of the honor you have done us in coming here upon this occasion."
Hon. E. P. Hammond was a Lieut. in Co. G of the three months Ninth and re-enlisted in the 87th Ind. Infy. and attained the rank of Lieut. Colonel of his regiment. He has served with credit both as a Circuit and Supreme Judge, and ranks as one of Indiana's ablest jurists.
MAJOR JOHN B. MILROY, President of the Association, responded to the address of welcome on behalf of the regi- ment, and the Secretary will take occasion at this point to say that owing to a lack of funds he is compelled to abridge and condense into the fewest words possible all impromptu speeches, including the response of our venerable President; suffice to say the Major in fitting words thanked Judge Hammond for his eloquent and cordial address of welcome, and for himself and old comrades thanked him for the compliment paid the Ninth as a fighting regiment. The citizens of Rensselaer and old comrades and friends who had labored so earnestly to make the Ninth welcome, were assured that their kind and cordial greeting was appreciated and would be long remembered by the old comrades able to be present. The Major said for one he was not a bit dis- appointed; he expected such a cordial welcome, and he felt at home because he knew he and his comrades were wel- come in the full sense of the word. Our volunteer soldiery not only exhibited the grandest courage and did the hardest fighting any soldiers of any country could boast of, but had emancipated three millions slaves and let into their lowly lives the bright sunshine of liberty and equality. He warned the old soldiers that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and they must guard with their ballots the fruits of their victories in the field. The great influx of foreigners into this republic, particularly of the pauper class, was to the mind of the speaker a menace to the free institutions of our country. The history of the past few months shows that this lawless element of humanity in the hands of designing political demagogues and selfish capitalists, was dangerous to the interest of the common people, which are the prop and life of this Nation.
Soulless corporations seem to want to strangle patriotism and have no use for the old soldier; his sacrifices are selfish- ly forgotten by men whose God is gain and whose souls are poisoned with greed. As a result of miserly greed of capitalists, who made their money off of the government while these men were pouring out their blood to save it from destruction, the defenders of the Republic are denied in their old age and infirmity the protection of a proper pension, and to the eternal shame of Indiana 200 old soldiers languish in her poor houses. No State sent to the field men or officers braver than did our Hoosier State. Comrades, you forsook home and home comforts, and you that returned alive from the bloodiest war of modern history never thought of the pay you were to get; you gave your services from a sense of manliness and patriotism, all croakers to the contrary, and comrades, it was just a little aggravating to come home and find some stay-at-home sneak had not only got rich while you were at the front, but in some cases had even taken advantage of your absence and married your sweethearts. You men of the Nigth have the consolation of knowing in your hearts that you did your full duty and did it well. The Green Mountain boys in revolutionary times would not fol- low Gen. Starke with any more daring than would you boys follow your brave Col. Suman. I have seen your bravery with my own eyes. Boys, you were as true as steel on the battle field, and there was no man in the old Ninth that is not too good and brave to end his days in a poor house. Your old first Colonel, that loved you almost as his children has passed over to that better land where most of your old officers and comrades are waiting to greet you when life's battle is over. It won't be long till you will again stand shoulder to shoulder with these old comrades-heroic spirits -who with you dared death when the life of our Nation was at stake.
In conclusion, the 'Major said: People of Rensselaer, allow me to say that Co. G was made up of gallant young men who proved excellent soldiers, and I am satisfied they
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have also been good citizens. I am glad to meet them again and to enjoy in common with these old comrades of mine at your hands this royal welcome to Rensselaer and +Jasper county."
HON. WILLIAM JOHNSON of Valparaiso, late Circuit Judge, and now candidate for Congress at the coming election, and who served as a private in Co. H in the three months' service in the Ninth, was called for and responded in a speech chock full of good sense and patriotic sentiment, delivered in such an earnest eloquent manner as to evoke the hearty plaudits of his comrades.
Said Judge Johnson :- "There came a time in the history of this great Republic, in which our people of to-day take such a pride, when darkness and dire disaster hung like a pall over the whole country, when disunion, war, and anarchy stared a nation of freemen, unused to war, in the face, and strong men asked, "Shall this government of the people, for the people, and by the people, perish from the face of the earth?" The answer came in the springing to national defense, at the call of President Lincoln, of 75,000 young men, ready to do and die for the flag of our Union. In- spired with the bitterness of an unholy and mistaken prejudice, our brothers of the southern states waged such a fight, that following in the footsteps of the first volunteer soldiers of 1861, came loyal men by the hundred thousand, and in the spirit of a manly patriotism, braved the fierce fury of a four years' war, that the republic might be preserved as one nation, with one flag and one destiny.
To-day we greet the survivors of a regiment that was among the first to rally to the defense of an imperiled country and an insulted flag, and was among the last to quit the country's service after peace had been restored by the force of arms.
This gigantic combat between men of Anglo-Saxon line- age and magnificent courage on both sides, was but the eruption of a great social evil, existing in the greater portion of the states when in the light of liberty our forefathers
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framed our governmental system. An evil, the existence of which they then foresaw must. in time overshadow and threaten the very life of the young Republic, but which element of danger they felt powerless to pluck up and cast out of our governmental fabric. Hoping for a peaceable eradication of the evil thus left festering in the national system, our fathers handed down to posterity this free gov- ernment, which in the sense of right and equity was not en- titled to be called free when several millions of human beings in certain sections of the Union were held in bondage and doomed to a life of unrequited toil. The aggressions of the slave power is a matter of historical record and a thing of recollection with many of these elderly people, and this national scourge precipitated the insurrection of 1861 and arrayed our brethren north and south of Mason and Dixon's line face to face in a fratricidal war that shook this vast domain from center to circumference. The dream of peace indulged by white-haired patriots was, in 1861, dispelled by the cruel crash of cannon, and war with all its attendant horrors laid its blighting hand on our fair country.
The very best blood of this land flowed like water, and for all that for many months and years accursed rebellion unconquered deluged the southern half of our Union, and brought gloom, wretchedness and death to many a sorrow- ing household, and the shock of battle and the agony of doubt hovered over. the whole unhappy country till hope almost turned to bitter despair in every loyal breast, and then came at last Appomatox and the end.
No soldier of any country, in any age, ever exhibited a grander heroism or more magnificent courage than did the volunteer soldiers of the Union from '61 to '65. Men in middle age, men in the vigor of early manhood and strip- lings yet in their teens, at the call of their country left homes of comfort and happiness, and turning their backs upon the dearest objects of their love rallied beneath the silken folds of the stars and stripes and did heroic battle for the main- tainance of national unity and the equality of man.
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My countrymen of this generation, I tell you heroes tread the earth to-day in the person of these brave men who wore the blue in that fateful conflict for national life. His- tory, in justice, must record their deathless fame for acts of heroism and splendid courage on many a fateful field.
Like the ten thousand of Xenophon, beset as they were by a multitude of dangers and almost overwhelmed at many a critical point, still in the face of all discouragements and disasters their undaunted patriotism and unswerving loyalty to the old flag, and their splendid Anglo-Saxon grit led them to victory and honorable peace at last.
The charge of our soldiers at Mission Ridge has in mar- tial history no parallel for daring and almost superhuman courage. Chicamauga and Gettysburg for stubborn and deadly combat overshadow Waterloo, Sadowa and the great conflicts of this century. The Roman soldier fought for conquest and to subjugate. Soldiers of the Union fought for a principle dear to every human heart; fought that mothers might own their babes; that the flag of freedom might float over this nation as one people and as the emblem of liberty and equity."
At the conclusion of Judge Johnson's speech, President Milroy stated short speeches are now in order, and he had no doubt the boys would listen with pleasure to a few words from their old Colonel.
GENERAL SUMAN. In response to continued calls Gen. Suman said: " I learned, Mr. President, in the army to be very cautious and never let these old Ninth boys get me into some tight place where they could'nt get me out again, and I am not going to let them get me into a corner at this time by calling for a speech; they know I don't make speeches. I am just here, my boys, to follow along in your tracks like I used to, and I am going to depend on you to clear the way and make the speechies; that is a Colonel's duty, you know, just to follow along in the rear of his regiment. Captain Hodson has always something good to say, and Captain, the boys will listen to a short talk from you."
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CAPT. HODSDEN said, "Col. Suman has called on me too early in the program; I am all loaded up for another occasion, and will fire off my ammunition to-morrow forenoon by order of the committee. What's the matter with Capt. McConnell making us a talk."
CAPT. D. B. McCONNELL said: "Comrades, you have heard from me so frequently, I know you prefer to hear some other comrade talk.' However, later on when you can spare me a little of your time, I want to say a few words relative to our project for a Soldier's Home."
Officer's Reports being next in order, Corresponding Secretary Whitehall made a brief report, as follows: "Com- rades, I again congratulate you on our association having passed another year in its history. Our annual report of proceedings was delayed several months in its publication on account of the difficulty of procuring reliable data for the revision of the roster of survivors and the death list. The demands of my private business are so great that even at odd times it is with difficulty I can attend to my work as your secretary in anything like a satisfactory manner. I would respectfully report the following schedule of receipts and disbursements.
RECEIPTS.
To amount received from John Banta, Treasurer, $ 96.95 To amount received by letter, membership dues, 9.25
Total, $106.20
DISBURSEMENTS.
Cost of publishing 8th annual report, - 86,95
Stamps for mailing reports, invitations; express on engravings, envelopes; receipts, tablets, etc., 15.25
Balance in Whitehall's hands, 4.00
Total, $106.20
Respectfully submitted,
ALEX. L. WHITEHALL, Cor. Sec'y.
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Treasurer Banta submitted his report, as follows:
LOGANSPORT, IND., Aug. 30th, 1892.
Mr. President and comrades of the Ninth Indiana Vet- eran Association: Gentlemen :- I submit my report of re- ceipts and disbursements for the year ending Aug 31st, 1892. Receipts from A. L. Whitehall, $ 67.25
Donated by committee at Logansport, 30.00
Received from John Lathrop, Ex-Treas., 7.75
Total receipts, $ 105.00
DISBURSEMENTS.
To Sec. A. L. Whitehall, Mar. 5, 1892,
91.95
Aug. 8, 1892, 5.00
For stationery and stamps,
- 50
Total paid out, $ 97.45
Balance on hand, 7.55
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN BANTA,, Treas.
On motion the association took a recess until 7:30 P. M., to reassemble at the Opera House and participate in a camp- fire.
The ladies of the Rensselaer Relief Corps, assisted by other patriotic ladies, had prepared a grand supper, and spread wagon loads of toothsome viands on tables in the spacious grove in the Court House square; the tables were enclosed in. a square with ropes, and G. A. R. sentries paced inside the ropes. Ninth comrades and their wives were placed at the right hand tables, and after they had all been seated the remaining tables were assigned to comrades of the Post, and Jasper County veterans and their families, and the tireless ladies, the gray hairs of many of whom proclaimed them the wives, widows, and even mothers of men who fought in the great war, busied themselves in seeing that no person left that festal board without having been well served. After those first seated had been served, other ex- soldiers, citizens, women and children took their places and enjoyed the bountiful supper, until 700 had been fed. As
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had been anticipated, a most enjoyable time was had by every one who gathered at the supper tables out in the open air beneath the shade of the leafy trees. Many an old vet- eran, with his vest fitting " Youst like de paper on de vall," blessed the good ladies of Jasper County for that splendid supper.
THE CAMPFIRE.
The Opera House was literally packed full in a few moments after the doors opened. The campfire was opened by Comrade S. B. DOGGETT, a member of the Ninth Band, executing a stirring drum solo entitled "The Advance and Retreat."
The Glee Club then sang "A Thousand Years, My own Columbia" very creditably.
President Milroy called on Colonel JOHN H. GOULD to open the campfire with a short speech, and the Colonel responded in his usual happy vein, saying, "A glance at the reginiental roster revealed the fact that a number of the rollicking soldier lads of '61 to '65 were lawyers, doctors, teachers and preachers." And the Colonel then told how one of his old comrades in the 46th Ind. had been wild and wayward in his soldier days, and mocked the good chaplain, and even played cards in the good man's presence; but after all his wild capers, religion had got a good firm grip on Joe Plum's heart, and he had now for nearly twenty years been a missionary in a foreign land, down in Missouri. ( Laughter. )
The theme assigned Judge Gould was " Hoosier Heroes," and he said, of course he could not if he would, mention the names of even a fraction of our Hoosier Heroes. In the old home of General Milroy, who led the Ninth Indiana to the field in the spring of 1861, he felt it was but proper for him to say, that in the person of their old townsman the people of Rensselaer had furnished a grand hero, a pure souled old patriot, of whom Jasper County and the Hoosier State may justly be proud. And among the rank and file of the gallant volunteers from Rensselaer and Jasper County were many heroes whose memory is enshrined in the warm hearts of
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this people. A man did not have to wear the starred strap of a general to be a hero, and to be loved and honored by loyal hearts. Citizens of Rensselaer, in honoring the men of the Ninth Indiana, both living and dead, you honor your- selves as well.
When the martial Milroy, in a few moments after Sum- ter was fired upon, rallied his company of gallant young men, how few of you dreamed of the terrible combat that was to follow, and of the immensity of the sacrifices the North-land, in four years, would be compelled to make at the altar of our Union. What then seemed a mere " speck of war," grew into a vast storm that almost wrecked this nation, and out of that storm came a few heroic souls un- scathed, and many others that bore the scars of battle, while on the battle-field many a knightly lad gave his precious young life for home and country. In the awful struggle to suppress an unholy and causeless rebellion, the Ninth Indi- ana wrote in the blood of very many of its noblest men, a history of loyalty and courage that time cannot dim. And comrades of the Ninth, you and your gallant brothers who fell at your sides, but played the manly part of a true patriot after all.
And with the memory of the farewell kiss of a mother, wife, sister or sweetheart yet warm in your young hearts, you could have done no less than you did as soldiers battling for home and the dear ones of that home. After all, boys, the most heroic figure revealed by the fires of the great rebellion is that of Mother. Still I sometimes think the Baby was after all the real hero; the babies who gave up great big hearted fathers to die that this great nation might live.
The Colonel then drew a picture of Grant, the old hero on Mount McGregor, holding death, as it were, at * arm's length," while his baby, Nellie, was speeding swiftly over the waves of the Atlantic to press upon the lips of her sol- dier-father the kiss of her own baby days, the priceless pure token of childish love. And Sherman, too, when the grizzled old warrior felt the dews of death. on his brow, how the grand old man prayed that he might live till "little
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Tom " could reach him. Tom, no matter that he was a grown-up man, was still to Sherman the baby boy, and ere the tireless pulse of the old soldier beat its last tattoo, he yearned to see "little Tom" and clasp that (to him) baby hand that played with his heart-strings when the bullets of the enemy sang dirges for many a blue-coated follower, but not for Sherman. So it is, my comrades, it is the baby that nerves our hearts to deeds of daring, that quickens our en- ergies and makes us give manly battle for bread, and like Grant and Sherman, these old soldier-fathers would have their eyelids sealed down in death by the soft touch of baby fingers. Yes, the babies are the true heroes, and for them we are always ready to do and dare; and in conclusion, I will say, God bless the baby. Him we declare our hero and our commander-in-chief.
Comrade J. H. MURDICK of the 88th Indiana, gave a representation of the battle of Franklin on the snare drum, and Lieut. WM. HORTON, of the 12th Michigan, gave an ex- hibition drill, both of which exercises were well received by both the old soldiers and the audience generally.
CAPT. D. B. MCCONNELL, by request, next made a few remarks, relative to the need of a Home for Disabled Soldiers. He said: "While enjoying the pleasure of these reunions, he could not drive from his mind the haunting thought of some poor comrade, who through wounds, disease or misfortune of some kind, could not take from his slender means the small sum it would cost him to attend one of these reunions, and enjoy the satisfaction of meeting old comrades, and standing shoulder to shoulder with them once more in the ranks of the regiment. For the lack of a dollar or two, this old comrade that was with us at Shiloh, Stone River, or Chickamauga, must stay away in spite of the fact that his old heart yearns to be with us.
Judge McConnell alluded to the conflict between labor and capital, and said, statesmen of broad, liberal views and humanitarians loving their fellow men, and earnest in a desire to help the great common people, are already asking themselves the question, whether an employer operating a
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vast manufactory, employing skilled labor, had a legal and moral right to dismiss an old and faithful artisan from his employ, whose skill and years of patient toil in conjunction with his fellow employees, had built up a colossal fortune for the owner of the factory; whether equity did not of right give the trustworthy and skillful artisan such an interest in the product of his hand and brain as entitled him to some share in the vast profit above the meager pay doled out to him by employer, at least to the extent of a decent support in his old age .. In short, has the miserly employer a right to turn out of his shops an old faithful servant merely because he can get more work out of a younger and stronger man? The greed of capital would, in utter selfish blindness, if left to itself, crush out the spirit of patriotism from the breast of the great common people, who are the brain, the brawn, the prop and mainstay of the republic when war or danger assails the nation. But for the heroic sacrifices of the soldiers of the Union, capitalists would now have no country in which to amass fortunes, and no protection for their property, and yet deaf to all sense of the patriotic or moral obligation, to save a few paltry dollars, they would and do consign in our own state the battle-scarred or dis- ease-racked, and aged defender of our Nation and flag to a county poor house for shelter and sustenance in his dying hours. Well may our disabled and deserving but unfortun- ate old veterans complain that republics are ungrateful.
Statistics show to the burning shame and disgrace of Indiana, that 200 of her aged and disabled soldiers are in- mates of the poor houses of the state. A movement is on foot, at the instigation of the Grand Army, to provide a home for our disabled soldiers, where they may end their days, not as paupers, but as the wards of a patriotic people, who recognize their duty to care for them in their extremity and infirmity.
The Judge then alluded to the fact that while there were National homes for disabled soldiers, yet to enter one of these meant to the old soldier who had a wife, that he must tear himself from his aged companion and live and die apart from
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the old wife if he entered one of these asylums. And it was the aim to build in Indiana a home, where the old soldier could take his old wife with him. And he told the story of an old soldier who applied to General Carnahan for admission to a National home, and when he found Mary, the old wife, could not go along, said: "I'll never desert Mary, General, and will go with her and die with her in the poor house." Judge McConnell then said it was hoped that as grounds had been given at LaFayette for such a home, that individuals of means, counties and towns, and G. A. R. Posts, would, by the time the legislature met, have built a sufficient num . ber of cottages; that state aid could be secured to meet the living expenses of the old soldiers who would be gathered into these cottages; and he suggested the propriety of coun- ties and posts taking steps at once to insure the erection of a cottage or cottages, to be known as their donation to this worthy charity, and to be occupied by some old soldier or soldiers from the community that provided the cottage. The speaker urged the Post and Relief Corps and all patri- otic citizens to call a meeting and organize. and contribute freely toward the erection of one or more such cottages as the gift of Jasper County.
After a solo and chorus by the Glee Club, the eleven- year old daughter of the Secretary, MISS MADGE WHITEHALL, a student of the Cook County Normal School, recited the "Siege of Calais," and the training of Col. Parker and assist- ants enabled the little lady throughout the recitation of the long but thrilling story, to hold the best attention of the large audience and to greet the closing lines,
"So at last the grand old story. Ends in conquered Calais' glory,
For, not Edward's might and skill, Nor Phillippa's gracious will Thro' the centuries doth thrill, But that deed so great and tender Where in noble self surrender Six brave men in solemn state Passed beyond that iron gate, Halter-led to meet their fate."
with very hearty and prolonged applause.
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In the absence of John Lathrope, the regimental bugler, John W. Jackson, of the Ninth band, rendered several of the old bugle calls, evoking the cheers of the comrades.
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