USA > Michigan > Annual report of the Adjutant General of the State of Michigan for the year, Vol. I > Part 17
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You have humbled that spirit in the field; but in doing that your task is not finished. You will find it now your further patriotic duty to guard the citadel of liberty from being undermined by the crafty, and the wary and astute enemy who failed to carry it by assault. It has been wisely said by one of our most far-seeing statesmen that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Never did that aphorism possess such significance as at the present time. The disorganizing heresy of "state sovereignty" is still believed in and cherished by the defeated rebels; and as in the past we have seen that traitors do not hesitate to violate their most solemn oaths and obligations to maintain the Union and the Constitution; so, on the settled principle that like causes produce like effects, and judging the future by the past, it is certainly not an extravagant presumption to assume that as these confirmed traitors considered allegiance to the State paramount to the allegiance which they owe to the Union, any new oath which they take will be coupled with the mental reservation, that these oaths are to be binding no longer than the period arrives when their respective States shall again be ready to secede.
Upon you, therefore, and upon all true, loyal men and patriots, rests the duty of exercising that eternal vigilance which shall effectually guard against permitting traitors, who are known to hate the Government they failed in their efforts to destroy, again to repeat the crime of using positions within its councils to plot its overthrow. Make it a great and fundamental principle, to be neither evaded nor set aside by any specious sophistry, that traitors shall be purged of their treason by works meet for repentance, before they shall be suffered to enjoy the privileges and im- munities of loyal men; and that as the Government was established in '76 by men loyal to its principles, and again in this conflict was preserved only by the same loyal sentiment of the people; so in the future these principles of freedom and equality can only be maintained, and the gov- ernment founded upon them preserved, by those who are equally true and loyal to it.
Soldiers of Michigan : The hearts of her people swell with just and noble pride at the mention of your patriotic, your loyal and noble deeds. You have won an undying fame, and your names and memories will descend to posterity as those of heroes.
But, soldiers, all who have honored the State and won for themselves a glorious record, are not here to receive our encomiums and to join in the pomp and pride of this occasion. There have stood around these loved
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flags many as brave and noble as any here to-day, who will never rally to the Stars and Stripes again. They went forth as full of life and hope as any among you, but they come not back. They loved the old flag with a love that can never be doubted, for they have sealed their devotion with their lives. Those letters of gold inscribed upon your banners, which re- cord the times and places of your heroic endeavors and glorious achieve- ments, are the epitaphs of many a brave and gallant comrade. The old. flag they loved so well is a fit place for its inscription. With their memo- ries enshrined in the hearts of the people, and the flag to tell their story, their glorified spirits will look down with joy upon the record they have left behind.
And there were others who went forth as courageous and leal as any of these, who, in the vigor of youth or the maturity of manhood, have fallen slowly but surely by the ravages of disease and exposure. In the obscurity of our crowded hospitals, or exhausted upon the march and dying at the- hand of the ruthless guerrilla, or in Southern stockades and prison-pens, enduring a thousand deaths from starvation and exposure, these noble men. have fallen martyrs to the cause they served.
None of all these brave and devoted men can we ever reward for their- sacrifices. The most glowing tribute to their memories cannot half express the measure of their deserved glory. Let us, then, rear a noble monument to their memory, and consecrate it with the best affections of our hearts .. Let us adorn it with the embellishments of art, and make it outwardly attractive to ourselves and our children, and teach them its significance. It will make patriotism lovely in their eyes. Tell them, -
" How sleep the brave who sink to rest By all their country's wishes blest. By fairy hands their knell is rung; By forms unseen their dirge is sung; There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, To bless the turf that wraps their clay; And Freedom shall awhile repair, To dwell a weeping hermit there."
But there is another type of sacrifice and suffering that we may reach. Let us pour the balm of consolation into their hearts, and open a liberal hand to those who have come back from the conflict maimed and crippled. for life's service.
Citizens of Michigan, as you value the privileges which their sacrifices have retained to you; as you honor the institutions of your country, for. the maintenance and strengthening of which they have spilled their blood; as you respect yourselves, and would be worthy the fame which they have achieved for you, see to it that these men do not suffer for the comforts of life. They do not come to you as objects of charity. Their lost and use- less limbs plead with an eloquence that no words may deepen, and tell you
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that your prosperity is based upon their misfortune. Aid and cherish them, and thus exemplify your worthiness to enjoy the blessings they have preserved, and they will ever bless you.
Nor should we be forgetful of those who in the recent struggle have been bereft of fathers, brothers, husbands, sons and kindred. To them let us offer our heartfelt, our kindest sympathies in their sad bereavement, and remind them of the consolation-inadequate though it be to the magnitude of their sorrows-that those whom they have lost died for their country, for freedom and humanity.
Soldiers, for myself and the people of this State, I cannot refrain, before closing this address, from paying a well-deserved tribute to the ladies of Michigan for their disinterested and heroic efforts to alleviate the distresses and mitigate the sufferings of those who have been compelled by wounds or sickness to languish in hospitals, far from their homes, and debarred from the loving care of kindred hands. Ministers of mercy, their cheerful and kindly sympathies have been constantly put forth in behalf of the sol- dier, under all his trials and vicissitudes, throughout the entire period o. our sanguinary struggle, even up to this day, and to the present hour. They have been, indeed, the soldiers' friend, and by their untiring labors at home have supplied camps and hospitals with articles of comfort and luxury, that to the weary and distressed patients were more than medicine and better than surgery; and by their personal attention and self-devotion have smoothed the sick pillow and ameliorated the sharp pangs of many & gallant soldier. At home, their smiles and presence, as well as their goor cheer, have ever been the first to greet the returning soldiers. They have proved themselves a bulwark of loyalty and patriotism, thoroughly appre ciative of the great interests at stake, and worthy of all the honors that w can bestow upon them.
God bless the noble, the loyal, the patriotic ladies of Michigan !
Again let me say-heroic soldiers-citizen patriots :
I receive, in behalf of the people of Michigan, these honorable memc rials of your valor and the nation's glory; and on their part, I once mor thank you for the noble services you have rendered in defending and pre serving the life of the nation, at the hazard of your own, and at the sacrific of so many of your comrades. I may venture to give you the assurant that you have the unbounded gratitude and love of your fellow-citizen. and that between you and them the glory of these defaced old flags wi ever be a subject of inspiration-a common bond of affection. To yo they represent a nationality which you have periled your lives to maintain and are emblematic of a liberty which your strong arms and stout hear have helped to win. To us they are our fathers' flags-the ensigns of a the worthy dead-your comrades, our relatives and friends-who for the preservation have given their blood to enrich the battle-fields, and the agonies to ballow the prison-pens of a demoniac enemy. They are yo
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flags and ours. How rich the treasure ! They will not be forgotten and their history left unwritten.
Their stories will be as household words; and the minds of those who come after us will dwell upon the thoughts of manly endeavor, of staunch endurance, of illustrious achievement, which their silent eloquence will ever suggest. They will ever typify the grand results accomplished by the loyal men of the nation in this great rebellion; and should the flame of patriotism ever wane upon our altar-stone, the halo from these mementos will kindle again the ancient fire that electrified the world.
Let us, then, tenderly deposit them, as sacred relics, in the archives of our State, there to stand forever, her proudest possession-a revered incentive to liberty and patriotism, and a constant rebuke and terror to oppression and treason.
The benediction by the Rev. Dr. Duffield closed the exercises at the stand.
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The following special report of this Department, together with letters and papers in relation to the detention in service of the officers and enlisted men of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, are embodied in this Report for the purpose of giving them a proper place on the State records:
MILITARY DEPARTMENT, MICHIGAN, - ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Detroit, April 23, 1866.
To His Excellency HENRY H. CRAPO,
Governor of Michigan, Flint, Michigan:
SIR: In compliance with your letter of instructions, below inserted, I have the honor to submit to you the following report, covering the sub- ect mentioned in said letter, so far as I have been enabled to do so from personal knowledge, and official documents now on file in this Department, bearing thereon:
STATE OF MICHIGAN, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Flint, April 6, 1866.
GENERAL: Complaints are being made to me almost daily, concerning Il treatment by the Government, or by officers serving under it, of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, recently composed of the 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th Regiments, in their retention in service, in breaking them up and consoli- lating them into one regiment, (the First Cavalry, ) and in effecting that onsolidation, wrongfully detaining a large number of the men in service fter they had been ordered discharged by proper authority, and in sending
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them to Utah, thereby, in consequence ot the particular season of the year at which they were sent, placing them in such a position, on account of the extreme winter weather in that country, as prevented their leaving for their homes at the expiration of their terms of service, and on other accounts.
Although I am familiar with all the material facts with regard to the subject, and have, from time to time, submitted them to the War Depart- ment, while urging their muster out, yet, in order to have the matter in a proper shape for future reference, I have to request that you will make a report to me in detail, covering the whole matter from the time the Brigade left Washington, in May last, up to that of the recent muster out of the First Cavalry in Utah; and, in addition, include in said report any facts concern- ing any alleged injustice as having been done other Michigan Regiments, either as regards any unreasonable retention of them in service, or misusage of them in any other respect.
Very respectfully, your obed't serv't,
HENRY H. CRAPO, Governor.
(Signed, )
TO JOHN ROBERTSON,
Adjutant General, Detroit.
In the latter part of last May, the time at which the armies were en camped around Washington, your Excellency, with several of your staf accompanied by myself, was in that city, being on a tour of visitation t the Michigan regiments then serving in those armies. The Michiga Cavalry Brigade, composed of the 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th Regiments, wa then encamped near the city, and on learning that it was under orders t move West, you visited the camps of those regiments on the mornin before they left. Understanding that some dissatisfaction and disappoint ment prevailed amongst them, in consequence of their being ordered West and not being mustered out at Washington, as they had expected to hav been, you then advised them to have patience, and to accede cheerfully t the requirements of the Government, and that in a short time they ur doubtedly would be discharged from the service. This was the conclusio to which you had come, from the information you had obtained in you intercourse with the authorities at the War Department; that the must out of the Volunteer troops was soon to commence, and that it would pr gress as rapidly as practicable, and as the interests of the service wou admit of, and that it was the intention of the Government to send a lar number of the Western troops West, in order to place them as near to the homes as possible, at the time of their discharge. From this knowledge the designs of the War Department with regard to the movements a muster out of Western troops, and the Michigan Brigade being the fir troops ordered West, you believed and expected that they would be tl first discharged.
While you were awaiting and anxiously expecting daily to hear of t
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.
muster out of the Cavalry Brigade, you were much surprised and disap- pointed on learning that it had been ordered from St. Louis to Fort Leavenworth.
Getting impatient at the apparent delay in the muster out of Michigan troops, you went to Washington again, about the first of October, specially on that business, and was assured by the Secretary of War that they should all be discharged from service by the first of December; with this assurance you awaited the promised action of the Government until the time specified arrived.
In the meantime the Cavalry Brigade, then composed of the 1st, 6th and 7th Regiments, (the 5th having been mustered out,) had been marched across the Plains, the regiments broken up and portions of them consoli- dated into one regiment, to be known as the First Michigan Veteran Cavalry.
Your Excellency recognizing the consolidation of these cavalry regi- ments, before referred to, as wrong, and believing that it had been effected without the authority of the Government, as such action was contrary to the published orders of the War Department, in order to ascertain the facts in the case, the following letter was forwarded from this office, on the 22d November, to the headquarters of the Department of the Missouri, request- ing a copy of the order on which the consolidation was made, and in reply thereto, special order No. 37, inserted below, was received:
MILITARY DEPARTMENT, MICHIGAN, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Detroit, Nov. 22, 1865. 5
To the Assistant Adjutant General,
Department of the Missouri, St. Louis:
I will feel very much obliged to you if you will furnish this office with a copy of special orders No. 37, current series, Department of Missouri, covering the consolidation of the 1st, 6th and 7th Michigan Cavalry Regiments.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obed't serv't,
(Signed, )
JNO. ROBERTSON, Adjutant General, Michigan.
SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 1, 1865.
No. 37. *
5. * Upon receipt of this Order at headquarters U. S. forces n Kansas and the Territories, the portions of the 1st, 6th and 7th Regi- ments Michigan Cavalry Volunteers, who have two years or more to serve, will be consolidated into one or more companies of the legal standard.
The officers to be retained with the consolidated organization (not to xceed the number and rank authorized by existing regulations) will be nominated by Major General Dodge, commanding U. S. forces in Kansas
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and the Territories, subject to the confirmation of the Major General commanding the Department.
The Assistant Commissary of Musters for the District of Kansas is hereby charged with the perfection of the transfer rolls, as directed in Circular No. 64, A. G. Office, of date August 18th, 1864.
By command of Major General Pope.
(Signed,) JOS. McC. BELL, Assistant Adjutant General.
To JOHN ROBERTSON,
Adjutant General Michigan, Detroit.
[Official. ]
D. G. SWAIM, A. A. G.
1
Upon the receipt of the above order, and from information received from Col. Kidd, of the 6th Cavalry, or his arrival in the State from the Plains, it was ascertained that a great injustice had been done a large number of the men of those regiments, which led to the following correspondence :
MILITARY DEPARTMENT, MICHIGAN, - ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Detroit, December 6, 1865.
Colonel James H. Kidd, Commanding 6th Regiment Michigan Cavalry, Jackson, Michigan:
COLONEL: I am directed by His Excellency the Governor of this State, to make the following inquiries of you with respect to the consolidation of the 1st, 6th and 7th Regiments of Michigan Cavalry into one regiment, known as the First Regiment Michigan Veteran Cavalry, in pursuance of Special Orders No. 37, Current Series, of the Department of the Missouri, dated at St. Louis, September 1st, 1865, a copy of which is herewith submitted :
Ist-Was the consolidation made in accordance with the order above referred to, by the officer under whose direction it was effected ?
2d-Was not the same application made of the order to the 1st and 7th Regiments, in the consolidation, that was made to yours ?
3d-Had the enlisted men who were transferred from your regiment to the 1st Regiment, in that consolidation, two years or more to serve ?
4th-Were the transferred men of the 7th Cavalry in the same condition as to term of service as those of your own regiment ?
5th-Were not cavalry regiments from other States, serving in Kansas, mustered out of service as entire organizations, having longer to serve than the 6th and 7th Michigan Cavalry ? if so, state what regiments, and, as near as you can, at what time they were so mustered out.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, (Signed,)
JNO. ROBERTSON, Adjutant General.
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HEADQUARTERS SIXTH MICHIGAN CAVALRY, Jackson, Mich., December 6th, 1865.
Brig. Gen. John Robertson, Adjutant General of Michigan:
GENERAL: I have the honor, in reply to the interrogatories contained in your communication of this date, to state:
Ist-The order first received by me relative to the consolidation of the three Michigan regiments on duty on the Plains, was Special [Field Order No. 11, dated "Headquarters U. S. Forces Kansas and the Territories, near Fort Laramie, September 17, 1865," issued by Major General Dodge, when en route for Powder River, where I was with a portion of my regi- ment. This order provided for the consolidation into companies of the legal standard of that portion of the 1st, 6th and 7th Regiments Michigan Cavalry whose terms of service would not expire prior to February 1st, 1866, and regimental commanders were ordered to forward lists of the men embraced in this class, and also recommend officers to be retained. All other men to be sent to Leavenworth for muster out. Subsequently, while at Fort Laramie, and before the arrangements for carrying out the pro- visions of that order had been perfected, I received by mail a copy of "Special Order, No. 37, dated Headquarters Department of the Missouri, St. Louis, September 1st," providing for the consolidation only of that portion of these regiments which had over two years to serve, and order- ing the muster out of all others. I had no men whose term of service would not expire before the expiration of two years, and I immediately telegraphed to General Dodge, who was at Denver City, stating to him that General Pope's order of September 1st, and his order of September 17th, conflicted, and that my entire regiment was entitled to muster out of service, not less on that account than that orders from the Secretary of War prescribed the muster out by organizations. He replied that, when he was at Fort Laramie, (Sept. 17th,) he had received orders by telegraph from General Pope, authorizing him to proceed with the consolidation of the Michigan regiments as he saw fit. No copy of this telegram, however, was furnished for my information, nor did I ever see any order revoking Special order No. 37, Headquarters Department Missouri. On the contrary, on my arrival at, Fort Leavenworth with the detachment of the 6th Michi- gan Cavalry, whose term of service expired prior to February, 1866, (the other portion having been sent to Utah,) I received Special Order No. 79, directing all men of the 1st, 6th and 7th Regiments, except that portion consolidated in accordance with Special Order No. 37, Headquarters De- partment of the Missouri, to report to the Assistant Commissary of Musters for the District of Kansas, for muster out, then officially recognizing the force of that order, while it had been officially ignored in Special Field Order No. 11, and portions of my command, who under General Pope's order are clearly entitled to muster out, have just as clearly been retained
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in service by General Dodge contrary to justice and in spite of orders. I therefore say in answer:
Ist-The consolidation was not made in accordance with Special Order No. 37, in fact, although Special Order No. 79, Headquarters Kansas and the Territories, so stated, for I had no men who would have been retained in service under that order.
2d-The order applied with equal force to each of the three regiments- .Ist, 6th and 7th.
3d-Every man transferred from my regiment had less than two years to serve.
4th-The 16th Kansas Cavalry, having, I believe, eighteen months to serve, and the 2d Missouri Artillery, having longer time to serve than the Michigan regiments, were ordered to Leavenworth in entire organizations for muster out, arriving there nearly simultaneously with my regiment. Both these regiments were sent from Fort Laramie (the point whence my men were sent to Utah) to Fort Leavenworth.
I have the honor to be, General,
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
(Signed, )
J. H. KIDD, Late Col. 6th Michigan Cavalry.
On reading the foregoing communication from Colonel Kidd, your pre- "vious belief that a great wrong had been done to the men of these regiments was so much strengthened that you were satisfied beyond a question that a flagrant and unwarrantable act had been committed in the consolidation referred to, and in order to present the circumstances in the case, so far as known to you, to the proper authorities, and to again urge upon the War Department the claims of the men so obviously unjustly held in service under the operations of that consolidation, to a muster out at once, the following letter (accompanied with the documents therein mentioned) was forwarded to the Hon. Secretary of War, the reply to which follows:
MILITARY DEPARTMENT, MICHIGAN, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Detroit, December 8, 1865.
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C .:
SER: In October last, and when I was in Washington, I had the honor to have a conference with you about the muster out of Michigan troops; you then kindly promised that all the Michigan regiments would be out of service by the 1st instant.
I now most respectfully beg to call your attention again to this matter, and to state that only a portion of one Cavalry Regiment (6th) from the Plains, has arrived in the State up to this time, and I understand that a portion of another (7th Cavalry) is now at Fort Leavenworth, for muster out. This still leaves in the service from this State six regiments, as follows:
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Ist Cavalry, Veteran, at Salt Lake, Utah. .
3d Cavalry, Veteran, at San Antonio, Texas. 3d Infantry, at San Antonio, Texas. 4th Infantry, at San Antonio, Texas.
12th Infantry, Veteran, Camden, Arkansas. 28th Infantry, Goldsboro, North Carolina.
The officers and enlisted men of these regiments are very much dissatis- fled at being retained in service so long after the termination of the war, and very urgent and numerous demands are made upon me for interference in their behalf. I dislike very much to annoy the War Department with matters of this kind, but having your promise as above, and in order to reconcile them, I informed the regiments that they would be out of service about the 1st inst., and now the time has expired, and they are still held, making my information incorrect, for which I am very sorry, as it will undoubtedly lead them to be still more dissatisfied, and at the same time distrustful. Consequently I again appeal to you for their speedy discharge.
They are undoubtedly legally held for the whole term of their enlistment. Yet notwithstanding this, the phrase used in their enlistment papers, "or " during the war," has led them, and with some justice, to suppose that when the war ended, they would be discharged, and especially as some of the regiments have been placed on service which they consider as not con- nected with the war, for instance, on the Plains, and on the Mexican border.
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