USA > Maine > First Maine bugle, 1890 (history of 1st Maine Cavalry) > Part 3
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"Then, again, there is another thing that our army accom- plished: we reunited the people of the country. We were divided; we were a southern people and a northern people.
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They had a great deal to say against us, and we had a great deal to say against them. They didn't like us, and we didn't waste a great deal of love on them. They alienated themselves from us, and we alienated ourselves from them. They looked upon us as another country ; we looked upon them as trying to make another country of their own. Two peoples were living upon this territory. Now we are a reunited whole. And now the old love has returned. The northern people love the south- ern people, and the southern people love the northern people ; and I trust and hope and pray that the time will never come when we shall love one another less.
" There is one other thing that the war accomplished. We reunited the government, the grandest government on the globe. We had two governments, one at Richmond and anoth- er at Washington, neighboring cities once belonging to the same State, or nearly so; and here they were establishing or under- taking to establish an opposition to our government in a near city, thus cutting in two the power of our population, thus making two where only one could exist. One was to be a slave country, and the other a free country. The slaves, of course, would always be running away from the slave country. Our free nation would always be accused of stealing the negroes and carrying them off. There would always have been trouble. For fifteen hundred miles through our country the line would be run, with the slaves on this side and no slaves on the other, and there would have been continual warfare. We could not have had peace six months in any year. In the courts and out of courts, on the line and away from the line on either side, there would have been strife continually. Now the war has blotted all that out. The war has made us once more a Union, a united country.
" In the second or third year of the war, when I was bound for Europe the first time, on board the steamer was an Alabama gentleman who was going abroad on a commission for his confed- eracy, and in conversation with an Englishman on board he spoke of his country. The Englishman turned upon him and he said, . Where is your country ?' . Why, the United States of America,' replied the Alabama gentleman. 'Oh, no,' said the
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Englishman ; 'it is the disunited States of America ; you have no country ; you will either swallow up the North, or the North will swallow up you ; you have no country, and you have no. right to speak of your country : you have got to go abroad to find one.' The Alabama gentleman had a good deal of pluck in his nature, and he told the Englishman, in the presence of perhaps fifty passengers. that if he did not take back those words he would knock him into the sea, and he went at him as if he was going to accomplish that threat in about half a second. . Well,' said the Englishman, 'then I will beg your pardon.' So he took it back.
"Now the result is, that we have reunited the country. We were a disunited union at that time, but the war has made us one; we have now one President, one Congress, one seat of government, and we are one people again ; and I hope and pray to God that we may remain so forever.
" Now, Mr. President and Comrades, I will speak of one thing more. We have re-established liberty. It was not because we wanted to fight and kill the people of the South that we did fight ; it was not because we were outraged in feeling simply ; but every man that went to war went for a principle. Every man that went from the North to the South and fought the bat- tles of the country went there for an object. I know that I had one in my heart, and I know that you had it in your hearts. We went there because, if this country was divided, if the pop- ulation should be divided and kept divided, the liberty of this country, on which we based our pride in it chiefly, would have been crippled, and perhaps obliterated in the end ; that liberty towards which the oppressed people of all nations are to-day looking ; that liberty which brings the Irishman and the German and the Scandinavian to our shores to rest under our flag in security and comfort. Now we have established the liberty of this country. It is as safe and as strong as the forest oak; it will stand and flourish forever. All the people of the globe can come and sit under its shade, and be happy as we are happy.
"Mr. President, I hope the time will never come when we shall have to fight these battles over again. All these veterans know as well as I do, and a great deal better, what it has cost
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to accomplish all these things to which I have just carelessly referred. I hope, I will repeat, that there will never be occasion for another such war. But, sir, let me say, in my old age, that if there should ever come a time when this battle has to be fought over again, I hope that we shall stand to our guns as we aid in that other day. Whether it be an internal enemy or an external one, let us strike for freedom, for our country. Let us do as we are instructed to do by our great poet, when that day shall come, if it ever does come ; let us-
"' Strike for our altars and our fires; Strike for the green graves of our sires; Strike till the last armed foe expires; For God and our native land.' "
Comrade E. S. Johnson said :
$
"I wish simply to say that the First Maine Cavalry was the only regiment that ever had a chaplain killed in the war. The chaplain who succeeded the gentleman who has just taken his seat was shot and killed at Cold Harbor. He went right to the front and encouraged us to go forward, and he was the only one of us that was killed in that battle. His patriotic heart would not permit him to be idle when there was work to be done for his country. I believed at that time, and believe now, that it was a holy war, and its results were attained through the Almighty hand and arm. When that chaplain was sent to us, after Dr. Teft left, I remember at one time we were having a prayer meeting in my tent one Friday night, and I went over to him and said, 'Here is a Bible and hymn book ; we are hav- ing meetings in my tent every Friday night and every Tuesday night, and we are glad to welcome you here.' He read a chap- ter in the Bible and we sung a hymn, and then we repeated passages which suggested themselves to us and prayed, thinking of our homes in Maine, and our other home. It was but a few days after this that that man went to the front at Cold Harbor, and gave his life for what he believed to be a sacred cause. There can be no higher source of gratitude and pride to any American citizen than to know that he was a soldier in that army which has accomplished such grand results. I thank God
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that the life of this Union was preserved ; that the glorious principle of liberty prevailed. I thank God that I am permitted to enjoy this reunion, to revive the spirit of patriotism in my heart, and to meet so many of my old comrades in the enjoy- ment of health and strength."
President Little said :
"We have with us this evening one of the men who went out to care for the health of those of us who might need his services. Many of us found him a friend indeed, at Antietam, at South Mountain, at Culpepper, and at other places. I will call upon Ex-Gov. Garcelon."
Dr. Garcelon said :
"I did not expect to be called upon to say a word here to- night, but I am always happy to meet any members of the First Maine Cavalry. A generation has passed since my first acquaint- ance with the regiment. I remember its appearance at the first drill it ever undertook under the command of the famous Col. John Goddard. I remember well, likewise, its condition during its winter quarters at Augusta in the winter of 1861 and 1862; and I remember still better my next meeting with the regiment after it left Augusta. in the little town of Waterloo, I think, in the vicinity of the Sulphur Springs in Virginia, and on the march to Culpepper a day or two afterwards, and four or five days after meeting it out on the picket line just at the foot of Cedar Mountain ; and I remember well the condition of affairs on that afternoon when some 1800 of our soldiers were put hors de combat either by being killed or wounded. I remember well the unfortunate march from Culpepper back to Washington from what was called the second Bull Run. I remember well its march up through Maryland to the bloody field of Antietam. And I remember, too, Mr. President, the night of the fight at South Mountain, when we fell back to Middleburg, and I was appointed as one of the operating surgeons ; and of my friends keeping guard over me a day or two after, when I was in the discharge of my duty. I remember many of the incidents which occurred at that time in the summer of 1864, when you were
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commencing the bloody march from Brandy Station through the Wilderness and on to Appomattox. I met members of the regiment under many and various circumstances, and I had very many of your comrades in my charge during those four years that you were in the service. It is not an unfrequent thing for me to receive a communication from some member, asking if I do not remember him and the circumstances connected with his sickness.
" During all the time of the war I am happy to say that, in my judgment, there was no regiment of cavalry that acquitted itself with greater honor, or was more faithful to the service of its country ; and, so far as my observation goes, since the return of the regiment, its members in the main have conducted them- selves as true men and as patriots.
"I am not here, gentlemen. to-night, to make a speech. I am here simply by invitation to meet members of this regiment in this social reunion. I can but contrast the feast that is set before you to-night with the fare which we received during many of those marches which I have mentioned.
"Although I was not associated with your regiment as a member thereof, it was my fortune to have a general charge of the medical department of this State, and I, of course, had an opportunity of knowing the condition not only of your regiment, but of all the regiments that went from this State; and I am glad that there are so many of you that are enabled to meet here to-night in this social gathering.
" You have already been told some of the results which have been brought about by the contest of the rebellion ; and, what- ever may be said with regard to that matter, it cannot be por- trayed too vividly ; and yet I have this one word to say, that the causes which produced the rebellion have not all ceased. In the language of one of the distinguished citizens of America, the Hon. William Seward, 'There is an irrepressible conflict between slavery and liberty,' and the rebellion, let me say, did not put an end to that conflict. The spirit of slavery exists to- day, not only in other countries, but in this country ; and as liberty must always be the price of eternal vigilance, it becomes each and all of us to look well about us, to see that we are not
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enslaved in some other way than by a system of laws such as enslaved the black man and made him the tool and chattel of the South.
"Gentlemen, I hope those of you who are members of the First Maine Cavalry may live to a good old age, and that we may have an opportunity of greeting you often upon occasions like this."
President Little said :
"Comrades, this is getting to be rather serious. Our regi- ment has produced all sorts of men, and Co. K I think the funniest ; I am happy to introduce to you Comrade Menander Dennett, who I have no doubt will amuse you."
Comrade Dennett produced roars of laughter by his recital of Mark Twain's story of " Jim Wolfe and the Cats," and, in response to an encore, recited "How Ruby Played," in his inimitable style.
The quartette followed with " Tenting on the Old Camp Ground."
President Little said :
"During the fall of 1863 our regiment was sent out on a scouting expedition towards the Blue Ridge. Unbeknown to us, the two corps of Jackson and Gen. A. P. Hill, of the rebel army, moved in between us and the union army, so that, upon our return at night, we ran upon their pickets and had to go around some distance before we joined our forces. While we were cautiously proceeding on our way we came across an en- campment. about two o'clock in the morning, and we were uncertain whether they were union or rebel troops. So our kind friend Maj. Thaxter volunteered to go into the camp and find out who they were. He rode half a mile or so to the camp, where he dismounted, waked up a soldier and asked him what regiment that was. . The 12th,' he said. '12th what? " asked the major. 'The 12th Virginia, you damned fool,' was the reply. The major left. I will call upon Maj. Thaxter to con- tinue the story."
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Maj. Thaxter said :
"Mr. President and Comrades, it gives me great pleasure to meet so many of you here this evening. It gives me great pleasure to meet so many ladies and gentlemen of this fair city of Auburn ; and I am very glad to meet these young ladies and these youths. Such a meeting as this ought to be a source of instruction to these boys, for here are some of the men that helped make the history that you are studying in your schools. It is a matter of surprise to me when I meet young men. and think that they were born and have grown up since the war closed. It tells me how rapidly time is passing ; and when I find at these reunions, year after year, that, since the last one, two, three or four of my comrades have passed away, I am im- pressed with the thought that we are rapidly approaching the time when but few of us will meet at these reunions. It fell to the lot of those of us who were members of the First Maine Cavalry to come into manhood in one of the greatest epochs of the world's history. I think no decade can be picked out since Christ was upon the earth that was so full of momentous events, of the fulfilments of the immutable purposes of God, than those ten years from 1860 to 1870. Some of the results of that war have been recounted to you by the reverend gentleman who spoke early in the evening. He has told you of the reunited country and the reconstructed country, and the great material prosperity that resulted from the war; and my friend over the way, whose voice I was glad to hear, rose and told us of that greatest and most important event in the earth's history, in which we were actors, and which, till my dying day, I shall regard as one of the proudest things that I ever had the honor to participate in, - the unshackling of four millions of colored people.
" These battles that you see named upon the walls are, many of thein, unfamiliar to you ; very few of them have passed into history ; but they mean very much to us. Many of thein were but skirmishes ; but it was the incessant skirmishing of the First Maine Cavalry which thinned its ranks and sent a large part of our comrades into the other world. Many of these engagements
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that you see named here were very severe upon our regiment. I recall some of them to mind: Aldie, Middleburg, Upperville, following close upon each other, were perhaps three of the most spirited engagements that our regiment participated in. What a host of memories they bring back of the comrades that have left us! There are no friendships that we form on earth that compare with those formed with our comrades in this regiment. I recollect the faces of many of those that went down in those engagements : Col. Douty, Kimball, Neville, Taylor of Co. M, - all men of wonderful power of mind and body.
"Our President bas narrated an incident which, perhaps. it
. will be well for me to refer to. One of the most important reconnoisances, I think, that was ever made by any regiment during our war, or during any war, was that to which he has referred ; it was important in its long continuance, in the fatigue endured by man and beast, and perhaps important in its results to the commanding officer of our army. It was not in the great battles that are so well known in history that the cavalry regiments saw their severest service ; it was in their long pro- tracted reconnoisances, in their raids, in their picketings, in their bivouacs, in all the daily routine of army life. It was these that told upon men and showed what kind of soldiers there were in this regiment.
"Our President has given the substance of the story which he has asked me to tell you. Gen. Meade was in doubt where the rebel army was, and of course it was necessary to ascertain. Early one bright. crispy October morning, when everything was beautiful and bright, we left our camp. I remember of noticing how clearly defined were the outlines of the Blue Ridge as we marched towards it. When we reached Little Washington we sent a detachment ahead while the rest of us rested there. When the detachment returned we took up our march back. not knowing that anything had interposed in our rear to inter- fere with our returning the way we came. About ten o'clock at night we reached a place called Amisville, where we found our passage intercepted by Hill's corps, so we were obliged to make a ditour to get by them. About two o'clock in the morn- ing we saw before us a large number of fires, which I took to be
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the camp-fires of our troops, and I supposed that all we had to do was to proceed, and that we would soon meet our own pick- ets in the road. The colonel was of a more cautious turn of mind, and was quite unwilling to have his command go on. I, without any knowledge that he intended to halt, went ahead with the advance guard, expecting every moment that we should meet our pickets in the road. Soon the advance guard stopped ; but I, in my confidence that I was soon to meet our own troops, kept on. Not meeting any pickets in the road, when I got oppo- site the encampment I turned into the field where it was and went towards it. The first sight of the encampment, the horses and their accoutrements, convinced me that I was in the wrong camp; but, in order to make sure, I rode up beside a man, who had a shelter tent thrown over him, for it was a chill October morning, and I endeavored to wake him, but he was very soundly asleep and I could not wake him. I rode a short distance on to another one and shook him and spoke to him, and finally succeeded in waking him. He was very cross to think he had been waked. I asked him what regiment it was. He said ' the 12th.' I asked him, 'The 12th what?' There was but one of the Southern States that sent twelve regiments of cavalry into the field, and he was somewhat surprised at my question, and not wishing to be further bothered, he said, ' The 12th Virginia, you damned fool.' I told him it was all right, and turned to leave. Just then a sentinel in the camp shouted to me to halt; but it was dark, and I knew there would be no danger in my attempting to leave the camp, and I did so. As soon as I re- gained the road I went on at as rapid a pace as a horse that had been thirty hours under the saddle could go. I found the colonel about where I had left the advance guard, making arrangements with a couple of men to go up to this camp and find out who they were. I said to him, 'Colonel, that is the 12th Virginia up there.' He had no occasion for the services of those men, and we immediately turned off to our left and made another détour, going around the town of Warrenton. This part of the country was very familiar to us, and ten o'clock the next day brought us to our friends. The colonel immedi- ately sent to headquarters and reported the results of the
as
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reconnoisance to the general in command, who, I have no doubt, regarded it as important information. I am sorry that I have taken so much time in relating this ; but really I consider this one of the most remarkable reconnoisances of the war, in the length of time the men were in the saddle, showing the ability not only of the men of the regiment, but of the horses. to endure fatigue. I have often thought if somebody would write a history of the achievements of the horses in the war, it would be interesting."
President Little said :
" We have a gentleman here who has a deep interest in this regiment. He gave to it one of its most gallant officers, and to the State and nation one of its truest patriots. I wish to intro- duce to you the Rev. Stephen Boothby, father of Lieut. Col. Boothby, who fell at my side at Beaver Dam Station."
Mr. Boothby said :
" Ladies and gentlemen, and members of the First Maine Cavalry : Some of you, perhaps, can imagine something of my feelings in standing here as a substitute for my son, who, I believe, never asked for a substitute while he was living. I should be so happy if he could have been here to address you this evening, but God had otherwise determined ; his work was done, and he went to his long home. I love to think of the members of the First Maine Cavalry. God bless them. I love to meet them and shake hands with them, for I feel that I am shaking the hands of good soldiers and true men. When I hear the name of the First Maine Cavalry mentioned, there is a feel- ing of pride springing up in my heart for the honor you did the State and the benefit you did to the nation. My heart glows with gratitude when I call to mind the part that you acted in saving this nation, and in insuring to us and our wives and our daughters the liberties that we enjoy to-night. I like the way that you celebrate your reunions, that you do it in a civil man- ner, unlike many other regiments. I feel a deep interest in your welfare. I am happy to say that I believe the soldiers had implicit confidence in their officers, that if they got them into
----
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difficulty they would always get them out again, and the officers had implicit confidence in the soldiers that they could do the work which they laid upon them. This will appear, if we go back to Aldie, where the noble Douty fell. Kilpatrick was trying to hold the ground against Stewart's cavalry ; regi- ment after regiment had been broken and discomfited. As I read the history, at this moment Col. Douty appeared upon the scene ; Col. Kilpatrick rode up to him and asked him if he could do anything with the First Maine Cavalry to help them. Col. Douty said they would do their duty. . Well,' said Col: Kil- patrick, 'I wish you would hold them while I re-form these regiments ;' and, as they went forth, the historian says it was one of the grandest sights imaginable. As they marched on, they met confused horses running to and fro without riders, men on foot trying to escape, the rebel army following them and cutting down men and killing horses. But as soon as Col. Douty met them the scene was changed; the enemy were driven to the foot of the hill, then up over the summit and over beyond into the woods, when Douty's command returned, having lost but few men. This shows me the confidence they had in each other.
"If Col. Cilley is here, he will pardon me if I mention his name in connection with another incident at Stony Creek, when the rebels were on one side of that little creek and our men on the other. Two regiments of cavalry and one of infantry were marching up the hill towards the First Maine Cavalry ; and when they came near, a volley of bullets went through your ranks ; and amid the noise and confusion Col. Cilley cried out, . Charge, charge !' and you drove them back, and thus caused a peace for the day. This I mention to illustrate the confidence which I believe the soldiers had in the officers, and the officers in the soldiers.
" I think no other regiment ever accomplished so much of this kind of work, not only in these two places, but in many other places which -might be mentioned. You were true men, true from Cedar Mountain to Appomattox. Who ever heard of a traitor in your regiment ? And so, my friends, I greet you to-night ; I thank you, and I am heartily gratified that I have
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the pleasure of meeting you, and meeting you in the enjoyment of health and the liberty you fought to maintain."
President Little said :
" We have with us to-night one of our number who has been residing in the South since the war, and we shall be glad to hear from him. I call upon Comrade Shehan."
Dr. Shehan said :
" Comrades of the First Maine Cavalry : It is customary on occasions like this for the speaker to say that he did not expect to be called upon ; but such is not my case. Indeed, I have had the greatest difficulty in holding my peace. I suppose I have been called upon partly to explain a remark that I made on the street to-day. I inadvertently said that perhaps there was no man in the First Maine Cavalry that killed so many southerners as I did; and that needs explanation. I was a physician, and practised in a southern town five years. (Laugh- ter.)
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