USA > Maine > First Maine bugle, 1890 (history of 1st Maine Cavalry) > Part 9
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" The rank and file were the regiment. You made the officers. The officers did not form or shape you. Every offi- cer who endured or held on to the end, derived and received his strength from association and contact with you, who were the bone and sinew of the organization. Our own was the only regiment that kept the single-rank formation in every battle in which it was engaged. As a rule, in every engage- ment and in every skirmish, we occupied twice the length of line filled by any other regiment in our division. In fact, as each man stood alone with no companion behind to support him, he felt he must command himself, and fight the battle on his own responsibility and with his own manoeuvers, guiding, as every organization must, on those to his right and left, feel- ing and knowing that, with his trusty repeating carbine in his hands, he had the equivalent of sixteen men at his back and his order. In fact, much of the last year of the war, during a portion of which time eighteen hundred men were on the rolls, the regiment had only one field officer present, and little over one officer in each company. Count up the losses and deeds of that year, when of necessity, you of the rank and file com- manded and led yourselves, -- and you have your encomium.
" I would like to divide my subject, and speak of certain portions of the men of our regiment classified by similar ex- periences and conditions, - men who get poor justice in history or words ; whose crown of glory was a crown of thorns ; who suffered, who endured, who secured no visible reward. The largest class of these heroes are those who were captured in
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battle, or taken exhausted by weary marches and raids. Serg't. Winsor B. Smith is a type of these men,- bright, intelligent, fitted in every way to command and direct; who, in fact, while a private and orderly for Gen. Paul, won that general's applause and the approving laughter of all his staff, by taking command of a regiment of infantry with a full set of field officers and bringing it out of its lost condition, and marching it to the division headquarters, brought it ' front into line,' and causing its officers and men to salute, turned over the com- mand to the general with the words: 'I have the honor to report to you with the -th New York Regiment, which none of your staff officers could find.' This same Smith, with promotion just before him, on Wyatt's Farm, Sept. 29th, 1864, while executing an order to find the connecting battalion of the regiment, rode directly into the hands of the enemy, who had occupied part of the line we had held; and all his am- bitions for advancement were changed to the hunger and wait- ing of Andersonville. How many of our comrades suffered in like manner with nothing to compensate or reward them, while their more fortunate comrades had the exhilaration of battle, and received the rewards of valor !
Another, but not so large a class, are those whose military career and its promise was closed by wounds. It was wonder- ful how every wounded' man was anxious to return to the front. A determination to square accounts with the enemy seemed to animate them, and, when able to return, they welcomed each contest, and were found in the fore front of each battle. But those invalided by months of suffering in hospital, or by loss of limbs - how shall honor be done them or recompense be made, other than the badge they wear, attesting their presence where blows were received as well as given !
Another large class is those, who, with high hopes and ex- pectations, went forth to the war, and sickness was the only enemy met, and hospital the only field on which they suffered. A type of this class comes to my mind in the person of Oliver E. Copeland of Company B. He enlisted in the second year of the war, when it was evident that the war would be both hard and long, - a conscientious man. yearning to do something
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to aid his country, and hoping for opportunity to make his mark. Arriving in Washington the first of August, 1862, with some thirty or more recruits, they were sent forward to join their regiment, without overcoats or tents, with information that they would find the regiment a short distance to the front. For the greater part of a month they wandered from one regiment to another, from one division to another, from one corps to another, with no power to draw rations, begging food here and there as they could get it, with no shelter from rain and little covering for night, till nearly every man was broken down with sickness. He at last found his regiment at Frederick City, Sept. 6th, only to be sent to the hospital, sick with typhoid fever. As soon as convalescent he attempted to join the com- pany then about to move, but had a relapse of fever. Then fol- lows hospital after hospital, attempt after attempt to join his regiment and do duty, till a year is consumed, and he is dis- charged, sick and discouraged, never having seen the enemy or fired a shot, --- his only reward being a conscientious and per- sistent effort on his part to reach the front and do his duty. Disappointment and pain have been the lot of many who went forth with high hopes and tine devotion. I would fain give them the poetic honor they have earned.
On the other hand, comes a host of men who served till the close of the war, veterans of three and four years' service. whose individual courage and devotion have been witnessed in scores of battles. But I cannot rise from the minor strain that flows from the chant of that large number of comrades whose only glory is . these are they which came out of great tribulation.' At this time I would turn a little aside from the usual path, and do them honor. This can be said to their honor, that all these classes of the rank and file, love the regiment more, because much have they suffered."
REMARKS BY REV. MR. MARTIN.
Mr. Toastmaster Shehan then announced the toast:
" The Boys in Blue and the Boys in Grey,'
and called upon Rev. W. D. Martin, who served in the Con-
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federate Army during the war, to respond; which he did, sub- stantially as follows :
" Mr. President, veterans of Maine, and ladies of Eastport : It is with unfeigned gratitude that I appear in your presence to-night to respond to this toast. A thousand memories arise before me. I see the faces of men who are far away, and I ask the question, ' Is he to be forgotten,- he who stood by my side, who offered his life for what I fought?' I answer a thousand times . No.' I do not think you would wish it. I thank you for that unanimity and generosity which closed the chasm that was between us. Several years ago I was at Wash- ington, and, like many others, wondering what was to be done, if no one would come up and tell the story of the South. One day as I was going through the War Department, I read the following inscription : . No. 32, Confederate battle flag, capt- ured at Malvern Hill, near James River, Va., July 1st, 1862, by Serg't. W. J. Whithick, 83d Pa. Vols., Butterfield's Brigade. The flag was taken from a South Carolina regiment, who piled up their dead in front of our brigade.' This was a spring of hope .. I felt that the day would come when the bravery of the South would be recognized. The true soldier is always generous. He is imbued with a spirit of self-sacrifice, of self- forgetfulness for something outside of himself. I have noticed throughout the country that spirit of magnanimity which car- ried summer to the southern soldier's heart a year ago, in the resolution by a Maine regiment, asking that in the future, maimed confederates should be provided for. There is an in- crease of that spirit, and there are now many who desire that time to come. The hand of brotherhood has been stretched out, and we grasp it fully and freely. Our devotion was the same, only for different objects. In the South it was devotion towards the State, while the North was taught to look with respect to the general government. Now in the South every soldier feels that his heart is pledged to the support of the general government forever after. We can only test a man by his truth to his comrades and by his duties in the past, and, therefore, we can judge of his duties for the future. We can
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see that in the future our duties are one, and I know the day will come when every southern soldier will feel that if the time comes to go into the field again, we are pledged by our sacred honor to maintain that which others have won by sacrifice. Thanking you for your courtesy, I can only pledge you, as I have heretofore, that as far as my conceptions of duty are concerned, I stand here ready to do all that I can."
ADDRESS BY CAPT. BOUTELLE.
The double quartette then sang " Tenting To-night on the Old Camp Ground," when the toastmaster gave the senti- ment, "Our Country Liberated and United," and called upon Capt. C. A Boutelle, of Bangor, who responded, in the main, as follows :
" Mr. Chairman and comrades, ladies and gentlemen : My watch admonishes me that at this late hour of the evening, the United States of America is rather a large-sized subject to attack successfully, so you will excuse me if I skim over it in a somewhat cursory manner. I am happy to be here this even- ing ; and every American citizen ought to take a pleasure, at any time, in speaking in behalf of the greatness and goodness of his country, and especially before the men to whom we are indebted for the fact that to-day we have a country happy and free - especially in the presence of you, men of the First Maine Cavalry and of the Sixth Maine, and others of that grand army whose deeds are the glory of our happy country. "Our country liberated and united' is a magnificent theme, and one that might well challenge the eloquence of the orator, as it has been the theme of the brush of the artist. How many of the men of the present day realize what is meant by the liberation and unification of our country ? When I look about me and see these young misses, and think that to them that great and teeming history, which is so real to us, is but a story ; when we remember that a year ago the child that was born while the smoke was arising above the casements of Fort Sumter deposited his vote as a free man, it is almost impos- sible to conceive of the flight of time. In 1861, the United
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States knew nothing of war. We had a little army and a few train bands, and knew nothing about the realities of war. But that spirit which has created armies and saved nations was alive in the people of the State of Maine; and when the sum- mons came from Washington, let it be remembered to the everlasting credit of the citizen soldiery of our State, every militia company in Maine responded to the call of the govern- ment, and went to the front. We can trace the formation of the regiments which are our pride in our history, to those little bands which responded to the call of the government at Wash- ington in 1861. The President called for one regiment, and we offered him ten. When Maine thus promised she would send ten times the number of regiments called for, everybody thought it was a mere boast ; but we sent ten, twenty, thirty regiments, until this little sparsely populated State had, from first to last, from Sumter to Appomattox, sent of the very flower of its population, seventy thousand men to follow the flag - one for every nine of its population, one for every four and a half of the male population of the State of Maine. This was Maine's gift toward the liberation and unification of this great Republic. It is well to do honor to these men. It will be a sorry day for Maine and the rest of this great nation when the people fail to come out of their homes to do honor to those who breasted the storm of war when it swept like a cyclone over the earth. We did something more than save the Union. The great armies of the Republic which marched to a conquest, not merely for the extension of power or the lust of gain, not only saved the Union, but purified and glorified it. The armies which carried our banner through the South, marched not as the hosts of the oppressor, not to inflict sorrow and suffering, but went forth bearing with them the olive branch of peace and brotherhood ; and when they triumphed they invited those who had been enemies to a share in the peace and happiness of this land, - to share with them the glorious heritage of their com- mon fathers. This was the object of the great struggle from 1861 to 1865. And now, twenty-four years after the opening of that great contest, standing as we do at this remote period from the cessation of that strife, what American citizen can fail
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to look over its surface and thank God for that great struggle. The Declaration of Independence accomplished in its spirit and truth, the great blot of American slavery wiped away forever from our escutcheon, the shackles of bondage stricken away from four millions of God's creatures - these were worth sacri- ficing for, these were worth dying for. And to-day, under the lead of that good Providence which guided us through the darkness and hopelessness of that struggle, this great and mighty people have extended in numbers and prosperity until fifty millions of free people proudly claim allegiance to the stars and stripes. We have gone on, prospering and to prosper. To-day we lead the nations of the globe in manufac- turing, until we are not only able to supply our own wants, but are turning our thoughts toward supplying the wants of the other peoples of the world. The smoke of our iron-works is not only ascending, -our busy spindles are not only singing, but we have something behind them other than a down-trodden, ignorant, and poverty-stricken people. The pride and glory and safety and promise of this great land of ours is in the com- mon people. To-day we have in this nation of ours the happiest, most intelligent, best fed, best clothed, and most contented working people on the face of the earth. That means something more than comfort and happiness to the individual -it means the bed rock on which the government of a free people must forever rest. This sort of government cannot be carried on with a population like the Russian serfs. But an intelligent, educated, patriotic people must have school-houses and churches side by side. It is such a condition of things that however humble a man may be, all possibilities of life shall be open before him. It must be, when we put a man in the highest position in the country that it can be said of him that he has done his duty in some useful position. It is our boast that President Lincoln split rails. and that President Garfield labored among the common people as a boy, driving horses on a canal path. These are the things which go to make up the glory of our achievements. What you did furnished the only guarantee which could be given at that time, that the government of our fathers should not perish front the earth."
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Capt. Boutelle closed by repeating as a tribute to the com- rades not here in the flesh, the lines beginning : "If the winds that sweep over our prairies," and as he finished was greeted by round after round of applause.
REMARKS BY MAJOR SUMNER.
" The Sixth Maine " was the next sentiment, to which Major A. B. Sumner, of Lubec, responded substantially as follows :
"I am very happy to be here to-night with you, and glad to be able to respond to a toast to the Sixth Maine. One of the brightest recollections of my life is that I was a member of that grand old organization. You know its record with your own gallant, brave regiment. We won many battles in our strife. I see on these walls Fredericksburg, Rappahannock Station, Cedar Creek, and the names of other battles, where we were, too. The old thrill returns as we recall the experiences of twenty years ago. Early in 1863 we broke camp and marched up the north bank of the Rappahannock in the early morning. Just before crossing the river some of our men removed their shoes and stockings. Some one inquired, 'what regiment is that?' Quick as thought came the answer, .Sixth Maine Cavalry, going into battle.' We went across there. We took to the river as if web-footed, holding our ammunition and rations above the water, believing in the old adage, 'Trust in God and keep your powder dry.' Well do I remember when you came back with the trophies of Brandy Station. It has become a proverb with us that the Sixth Maine was a regiment of deeds, not words, and I will keep the reputation of our regiment, and give way to others who will interest you more."
REMARKS BY A. H. KELLEY.
The next sentiment was " The Sons of Veterans," to which Mr. A. H. Kelley thus responded :
" Mr. President : It is rather a difficult thing to respond to a toast so late as this, but I respond because the chairman of cere- monies here happened to discover that I am the son of a veteran of the Maine Sixth - Chaplain Kelley. 'The Sons of Vete-
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rans' is an organization, and that organization, as its name indicates, is composed of those whose fathers served in the late war; and being a member of that organization I am now called upon to respond to this toast. We know -some of us are old enough to remember - what trials you who went into the army passed through ; how our homes were influenced by news that we received from the front; the anxiety of mother, brother, and sister; how carefully the columns of the newspapers were. scanned after the battles; how the list of the killed, the wounded, the missing were read to see if the names of father or brother were of that number. Some of us were too young to. remember that, and some have been born to these veterans who know nothing of the trials of the war. It seems to me we. should cherish as Sons of Veterans, - we should honor as citi- zens of Eastport, to-night, - the First Maine Cavalry ; should honor the cause for which they fought; should honor the veterans who have endured the fortunes of war, and especially the cavalry - the first in the front, looking out for the foe, the last on the field, to cover the retreat. They were those who were expected to do the hard work and the fighting. When the infantry was unable to do the work, the cavalry must do it. When Gen. Pleasanton saw the fate of his army depended upon the cavalry ; when Keenan led his men in that fearful charge, each man knowing' it meant death to every one; when we think of this, then we know what it was to belong to the cav- alry. Is it not then the duty of the Sons of Veterans to cherish in their memories these lessons of patriotism, to honor the veterans, and to teach the children who come after them that patriotism is as dear to the American heart as it was to the heart of the Roman who said: 'It is sweet to die for one's country.' Is it not as true of us --- is not love of country as dear to the American as it was to the Roman heart ? May we all say, with heart as full as ever Roman heart was, . It is sweet to die for one's country,' and the fruit of that sweetness is given to the children of those who died."
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REMARKS BY DR. J. M. JONAH.
The quartette sang "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," and then the sentiment was given, "Eastport - the first in the United States to greet the rising sun," to which Dr. J. M. Jonah responded, substantially as follows :
"Gentlemen of the Cavalry -- Ladies and Gentlemen : True, this Eastport is the point in the American Union that first greets the rising sun. This is an island, one of an archipelago over which two flags float to the breeze, and they the proudest that represent nationalities on this globe,- England and America. They possess the highest type of civilization, and always have and are still giving impetus to the forces which develop loyalty in the hearts of the people. I am not a native-born citizen, I am a son of adoption, and represent Eastport to-night; and, ladies and gentlemen. Eastport is represented here ; and did I possess the prose of a Burke or the poetry of a Shakespeare, I would fail to express the patriotism, the invisible thought and emotions of this vast audience. Public assemblies such as this serve to stimulate the moral and educational powers of every community. The invisible mind is the workshop of the race. and in it was the power that caused the sons of this Eastport to volunteer their services at their country's call when a war cloud arose from the South threatening to dissolve the Union. East- port sent its quota to the many fields you have heard recounted here to-night, to honor and protect the national flag. Eastport Was represented ! and if I am not mistaken enrolled more men during the war, according to her population, than did any town or city from the St. Croix to Kittery - four hundred and three from a population of three thousand seven hundred and fifty. These are the figures, and I challenge any members of the press represented here to-night to show that my statement is incorrect -- when they do I will stand corrected; and still more, from our town six hundred and eight persons were en- rolled (two hundred and five who were not citizens of East- port). Can any town or city in our State show such a record ? That loyalty which prompted a response when the nation was
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in the throes of war still lives in our people, and is rep- resented here to-night in two of the finest and best-drilled companies of volunteers in the State, and the best-looking men too (applause) ; and when on parade to-morrow you strangers will submit that my statement is true. Should we in Eastport not be proud of them? Yes, just returned from the capital of the State, carrying with them the flag, the first prize that was presented to the volunteers of the State for a trial of skill in shooting. Yes, they brought it home! This reminds me of what I once heard said : That all the other side of Kennebec recognized this side as not being up to the usual standard of intelligence, skill or art. Our boys, our volunteers, brought home the flag; and when that little boat was nearing the wharf on Sunday last, that flag waving to the breeze, my mind reverted to the first decade of the 17th century, when Samuel De Champlain with his little craft of Frenchmen, with patriotism in his soul, moved up among these islands dotting them on his birch-bark chart. What a mighty contrast! yet all prompted by the same invisible power, loyalty. When our vol- unteers go up to the next annual drill we expect them to sweep the board, bring away honorably all of the prizes, when, even should they return home on Sunday, we will greet them with three cheers expressive of our appreciation of their competitive ability on the field."
REMARKS BY COL. DRINKWATER.
The Band rendered a medley of National airs, and then came the toast, "The Ladies of Eastport," to which Col. A. C. Drink- water, formerly of the personal staff of His Excellency, Governor Butler, of Massachusetts, was called upon to respond. Col. Drinkwater spoke substantially as follows :
"Mr. President, and Ladies of Eastport : I don't know why this has been put upon me -a man so modest as I am, who hardly dares speak to a lady - but as a son of Maine, a son of a daughter of Maine, I cannot sit in my chair and not answer to this toast. 'The Ladies' - God bless them - they are more than half of all that we are. Their work is upon every hand ;
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- we see it upon these tables to-night. The ladies of Eastport have shown that they are what their mothers were, fitted to make the homes of young men happy. And if there is any young man within these walls who is capable of making a home, it is his duty to immediately make proposal to some of these fair daughters ; and if he can find one who is not already engaged he may thank his stars if she will accept him. After drifting about considerably I chose a daughter of Maine for a wife, and I have been thankful from that day to this that I acted so wisely. It was the wisest thing I ever did in my life and I hope that the sons of Maine will not go outside the State for their wives.
"Ladies of Eastport, - I can only say that you have done everything that the veterans of the First Maine, or of any other regiment that is here to-day, can ask for. They are thankful to you, and I hope that sometime we may again meet in East- port, and meet in larger numbers, for every member of the First Maine Cavalry who reads or hears of this reunion will say, 'I am sorry I was not there.'"
REMARKS BY COL. DYER.
The next sentiment was " The Citizen Soldier," to which Col. George B. Dyer, of Boston, responded as follows :
" Citizens, soldiers and boys, - for to each other soldiers always will be boys ; time cannot quench the hearty feeling of com- radeship they have toward each other. Boys of the First Maine Cavalry, who never lost a flag, - and who never lost a good op- portunity to forage, - I, an infantry man, feel honored in being your guest. We had a great respect for you. You who were " critterback," you had many an advantage over us, and we remember it well. We always admired your go-a-head-a-tive- ness - particularly in foraging. We did the best we could in that line, and when off your route, sometimes flattered ourselves we did pretty well; but, boys, we are both beaten to-night, and the citizens have done it. They were the advance and they must have stripped the town. I cannot make a speech, but your commander, General Smith, threatens to place me under arrest
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