USA > New York > Dutchess County > Address delivered Wednesday, 28th November, 1866 : in Feller's Hall, Madalin, township of Red Hook, Duchess Co., N.Y. > Part 8
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Meanwhile, throughout life his heart was ever in this beautiful region. He returned hither, again and again, to select and buy a home. By predilection he belongs to this neighborhood.
After voyages to and from and around the world, and travelling to countries __ such as Otaheite, China and Ceylon-seldom visited. except in pursuit of gain, he came here, again and again. to Tivoli, and standing on our pine-clothed shore. with our magnificent moun- tains before his eyes, our majestic river at his feet, and the murinur of air. of trees. and of waves whisper- ing music in . is ears. he was won't toexclaim, " I have been throughout the world. and. after all, when I get back her- and look around me. I feel I have seen nothing more' beautiful. nothing so beautiful else- where." Or. as remarked at another time, " The more I gaze upon this scenery, the more it satisfies. One can dwell in its midst or return to it. again and again, without its tiring. It is satisfyingly lovely. Always the same in its features and effects, ret ever changing in its expression. and ever presenting some new or hitherto unnoted charm."'
If strangers are thus effected by our natural sur-
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roundings how dear should they be to those to whom they are the birth-place and home.
"Sweet clime of my kindred, blest home of my birth !' The fairest, the dearest, the brightest on earth !
Wher'er I may roam-how'er blest I may be, My spirit instinctively turns unto thee !"
General KEARNY was not an angel, as some people think they or their friends are. Some persons con- sider themselves, some deem particular friends, for the time being, angels. I have never seen one yet.
-" But we are all men, In our own nature frail ; and capable Of our flesh, FEW ARE ANGELS!"
With other men. and like bluff King HARRY, " I love to look upon a man " capable of planning, daring. en- during, executing. Such was General PHILIP KEARNY, nothing less, nothing more. " The bravest man I ever knew," said Lieutenant-General SCOTT, "and the most perfect soldier."
Strangers honored him. could I and mine do less ? When his funeral procession passed through Newark, its population was poured into the streets, militia, firemen, civilians, men, women and children. and as the body was borne along in solemn silence, through those long miles of living men, strangers to the dead. there was tears, and plentiful tears upon the cheeks of those who knew him only as in life he moved among them. But they knew his glorions qualities. If strangers were thus moved. would I not have been recreant had I not appealed to you, dear neighbors. to assist me in doing honor to the-my, illustrious dead ?
This was the reason that I was so anxious that his name should appear on this monument, that it might be associated with the names of brave men, from this neighborhood, who fought by his side on the field where he fell-names which it will ever be my own and my children's pleasure to honor. Moreover. while I and mine should always have had an interest in the other names, we shall have a double interest now, in hold ng this monument and site as sacred. be- cause my honored cousin's name is there. He and I. too, were the last males of an old and honored race. We were brought up together as brothers in a child- less grandfather's house, in which our mothers had died. My eldest son was his aide-de-camp, and first saw fire under him. My early companions and con- nections were his . associates. My friends were his friends. Red Hook men fought with him, near him and beside him when he fell. He valued HOOKER and "FIGHTING JOE" valued him. They fought in the same corps and they relied upon each other. When
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HOOKER, hard pressed and his own troops nearly ex- hausted at Wiliamsburgh. saw himself abandoned by those who should have been the first to supp rt him. he sent word back. through storm and mire and loitering after loitering divisions, to KEARNY, far in the rear, "to hurry forward." Other brigades and regi- ments intervened, but his trust was in KEARNY. "Tell HOORER I am coming," said KEARNY, to the Aide who carried HOOKER's message. And KEARNY did come and saved HOOKER.
Do you wonder, now, that I wanted his name upon this monument ? I, who thought so much of him living, and honor him. so greatly when dead. I, who was bound to him by blood, by association, by ad- miration while he was living, and by greater admiration and duty now that he has fallen on the field of honor, for you fellow-countrymen and neighbors, for me, and for our country.
Other States and other localities may rear taller and statelier monuments to his memory, but he would value none as much as this-his first memorial-set up Among scenes he loved so well. and coupled with the names of soldiers who fell like him in defence of a common Fatherland and Flag. ** * * * *
The incidents attending the fall of Lieutenant CHAM- BERLAIN were as unusual and sad as the fallen man was remarkable for moral and physical attractiveness .. Few men are jauntier and handsomer than he was, few more genial and agreeable,
-" Generous as brave Affection, kindness, the sweet offices Of love and duty, were to him as needful As his daily bread."-
As an evidence of his fine personal appearance, I was passing through the hall of WILLARD's Hotel, Washington, in the Sumater of 1861, when my atten- tion was struck by the graceful carriage and form of an officer, whose face was turned away examining prints or papers lying on an adjacent table. Satisfied that so fine a figure must have corresponding features, I made a movement which induced him to turn. As he did so. I recognized WARREN W. CHAMBERLAIN, of Lower Red Hook. . Were the details of his last hour generally known, romance would make them her own and poetry breathe its sweetest numbers in doing jusi- ice to them.
" A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman, Fram'd in the prodigality of nature,
Young, valiant. wise, and, as he proved, right loyal- Were seldom to be found."
During the second battle of Bull Run, CHAMBERLAIN Aide to General SYKES, was sent with orders to Colonel,
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(now Major-General) G. K. WARREN, then command- 5th N. Y. V .. (DURYEA's Zouares.) On his way he was hailed by an outlying Rebel picket, composed of a Texan scout named HAGGERTY and his son. CHAMBER- LAIN kept on, without heeding the call to halt and sur- render. Thereupon both riflenien fired and lodged their balls in his body. CHAMBERLAIN fell from bis horse, and his slayers came up to him; then won by bis gentle bravery. they remained by his side offering what rude consolation they could, and about half an hour afterwards closed his eyes. Before he died CHAMBERLAIN drew a letter from his pocket which he had written to his beloved brother before the battle commenced, and with enteebled hand and failing strength, but unfaltering courage, added in pencil. " I am dying, August 30, God bless you.' and died. The Texan HAGGERTY is reported to have said that during the war he had killed many without compunction. but the instant that CHAMBERLAIN fell he expressed his regret to his son, as he knew by his bearing that the officer was a gallant fellow. and with this conviction he remained with his victim until he died, and promised to see that the letter-which then and there received a postscript so terribly mournful-should be forwarded to its direction. "The officer." continued HAGGERTY, " said but little, yet enough to melt iny heart and to coupel me involuntarily to ask his forgiveness which was freely and nobly accorded."
No one who knew WARREN W. CHAMBERLAIN could fail to recognize in the dying soldier the "gentle gentleman " they had so often gladly met in happier hours.
" Of those who fell on that disastrous day Their pra se is hymn'd on lottier harps than mine ; Yet one I would select from that proud throng, *
And partly that bright names will hallow song ; And his way of the bravest, and when shower'd The death-bolts deadliest the thinn'd files along, Even where the thickest of war's tempest lower'd,
They reach'd no nobler breast than thine, young, gallant HOWARD."
The eleventh from this vicinity, JOHN DECKER. 20th N. Y. S. M., or 80th N. Y. V., lost his life by a chance shot, young in years and young in a soldier's trials. His regiment had been detached in the direction of Alexandria to meet an expected attack. ' This did not ocenr. Returning homewards a coreless soldier be- longing to the 14th Brooklyn, encamped on their line of march, discharged his piece at random, and the ball passed through the bowels of unfortunate DECKER. . He lived a few days in great suffering, and then died 21st March, 1862. His comrades from this neighborhood contributed to pay the expenses of sending his body
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home, and it now lies buried under the shadow (north) of the old Red Church by the side of his father and friends. To perish thus by a friendly bullet was sad, indeed, but his death was as honorable to him as though he had died in battle, for he fell in the service and in the uniform of his country.
When the patriot falls, must he fall in the battle, Where the cannon's loud roar is his only death rattle,! There's a warfare where none but the morally brave Stand nobly and firmly, their country to save. 'Tis the war of opinion, where few can be found, On the mountain ot principle, guarding the ground, With vigilant eyes ever watching the foes,
Who are prowling around them, and aiming their blows."
To those who would regret or murmur that this young man died so early, and to so little purpose, let them remember blind old MILTON's consolation, that in the discharge of duty
" They also serve who only stand and wait."
Two others came home to die. Of these. one, Et- GENE LIVINGSTON certainly deserves the highest credit if there is any degree in patriotism. Even with the first sound of aların he hastened to enrol himself. A pupil of the Highland Mili ary College, established at Newburgh. on West Point principles, he seemed to feel that even young as he was he might be of service. This brave lad abandoned everything which could make life attractive. He had not yet attained the age when his country could legally demand his services, and bi- feeble constitution would have exempted him from military duty under any circumstances. But, however frail the tabernacle. it enclosed an adventur- ous spirit. His great-grandfather had taken a promni- nent part in establishing and building up our country. A kindred patriotic ardor glowed in the bosom of our first Chancellor's great-grandchild, and inspired him to offer his feeble arm to save that which his ancestor had assisted to inaugurate. Ninety years ago ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON signed the Declaration of our Independ- ence. Five years ago his youthful descendant conse- crated bis frail life to maintaining that free govern- ment which that declaranon may be said to have called into being.
After a first enlistment, of whose particulars there is no record. he was mustered in the 95th N. Y. V., (WARREN Rifles). Placed on guard at Camp Thomas, near Washington, he died. eventually, after eight months suffering on the 31st December, 1862, a victim to one night's unaccustomed exposure, a martyr to what the world would call hereditary patriotism. The. man and the youth both deserve equal remembrance from their countrymen. Success crowned the efforts of the one, and death the resolution of the other; but
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in the judgment of the impartial, the crown is due to the brave youth whose name is inscribed upon the memorial we have contributed to raise and establish.
He was one of those who were born to feel
"Our Country first, their glory and their pride, Land of their hopes, land where their fathers died, When in the right, they'll keep thy honor bright, When in the wrong, they'll die to set it right.
EUGENE LIVINGSTON, of thee, youth, patriot, martyr, may we truly say that
-While the tree Of freedom's wither'd trunk puts forth a leaf, Even for thy tomb a garland let it be
The second in this category was CHRISTIAN GRUNT- LEB, Senr., a German, who likewise may be said to have given his life for his adopted country, and that country owes a debt to his surviving family. Neither his age nor his physical strenth justitied his enrolment as a soldier, but he was enroled, and went forth and performed what duty he was able to perform. Dis- charged in consequence of ill health, he came home and died of disease, dropsy, engendered by the hard- ships to which he had been exposed, which he was incapable of supporting.
Three other. of our brethren, ALFRED LASHER, GEO. H. KELLY, and LEWIS REDDER. all belonging Company B, 20th N. Y. S. M., or 80th N. Y. V., were struck down in the forefront of battle in POPE's disastrous combat, on the 30th. August, 1862, on the same field of Bull Run, second, or Manassas, npon which our Army had been discomfited on the 23d July, of the previous year, 1861. If contemporaneous history is to be believed, had MCCLELLAN and his proteges done their duty ar the time by their country, as these our fallen neighbors, these latter might have enjoyed the dying satisfaction of feeling that they fell on the theatre of triumph. In such a case the success of our arms might alleviate, in a measure, our sorrow at their loss.
, Of the incidents attending their death, we have no account. They were standing up to their work like men when the victorious Rebel wave swept over them : our . Army was forced from the field, and nameless graves received our Union dead.
A fourth member of this company, CHRISTIAN GRUNT- LER. Junr., had his lower jaw shattered by a mu-ket shot in this same battle. Although he lived for twen- ty-four hours, and survived his transport to the Ales- andria hospital, the wound was fatal. He must have suffered the acutest agony since it was impossible for him to swallow, and he was thus incapable of taking either stimulants or nourishment or medicine.
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On the 17th September following. RUFUS WARRINGER, of the same company and regiment, was shot through the bowels at Sharpsburg or Antietam. as it is variously styled-the battle which " our soldiers won and their general lost." He died in the arms of a comrade, Ser- geant CHARLES K. McNIFF, and that same comrade consigned him to his grave on the battle-field.
One year afterwards, but under a far different style of commander from MCCLELLAN, fiery PAIL SHERIDAN, PETER WYER Of Color Company C. 128th Regiment N. Y. V., an Irishroan by birth, but an American in heart and action, fell shot through the heart. in the victori- ous conflict of the 19th September. 1864-a conflict whose result sent the discomfited Rebels whirling homewards up the Shenandoah Valley. In this battle variously known as Winchester. or Bunker Hill, or of the Opeccan Creek, the regiment to which WYER be- longed greatly distinguished itself. According to his comrade, Sergeant HENRY BRUNDAGE, who stood be- hind him when he full. PETER WYER was a neat and brave and efficient soldier, and so he died. Prompt, undinching and reliable at all times, he died like a brave soldier. happily without a pang.
One month afterwards, 19th October, 1564, ALFRED DECKER, of the 6th N. Y. Cavalry, was killed at Cedar Creek, that remarkable double-battle, at once a di-as- trous defeat and a gloriously decisive victory. The early morning of that day witnessed a surprise and alnost a disorganization of the Union Army. The genius, andacity and influence of one man converted that defeat and tight into an advance and victory. and a pursuit almost without example to the discomfited Rebels.
The last in order in this brief necrology is Captain AUGUSTUS BARKER.
". Brief, brave and glorious was his young career."
At the age of 19 years he was commissioned Second Lieutenant. 4th December. 1861. in the 5th N. Y. V., Cavalry. Twice promoted for gallant and honorable service, he was shot by guerrillas at Hartwood Church, near Kelly's Ford, in Virginia, on the 17th September, 1863. On the ensuing day he died, a vic- tim at the murderous hands of Rebels, who for every hundred killed in honest tight, have assassinated thou -. sands either singly. as they killed BARKER, or whole- sale as at Fort Pillow: or in thousands by slow tor- ture iu their loathsome prison-pens and hospitals.
And now these Rebels who have been slaying our brethren for five years, come and ask from us equality of rights for the future, and oblivion for the past. There are men, like an accidental President, would elevate them above the patriotic citizens who detied
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them in the field, only to be betrayed for them in the cabinet.
In perfect contrast to this policy of ANDREW. JOHN- SON was the action of loyal fiery PHIL SHERIDAN.
Ah ! fair Shenandoah, thou nest of the robber, How stands the count with thy people to-day ! Where is the fire now, Showing thy ire now, Blazing, while gazing with fear and amazement,
As on it crept swiftly from door-post to casement. Weeping with pale dismay, .
Stood maids and matrons gray !
Has it not spread to the end of the valley !
Did it not follow thee in thy grand rally,
SHERIDAN, SHERIDAN, cavalry SHERIDAN !
In requital of this murder of Captain BARKER and other similar atrocities, SHERIDAN laid waste the Rebel territory which harbored such assassins, and raised a wail whose warning voice doubtless saved many a Northern man from a similar fate to that of the unfortunate young officer.
" What though the mounds that mark'd each name, Beneath the wings of Time,
Have worn away !- Theirs is the fame Immortal and sublime ;
For who can tread on Freedom's plain, Nor wake her dead to life again !
In conclusion, let me remark that results are often determined by a concurrence of circumstances, the wis- dom of whose co-operation those, who are most op- posed to them at the time, afterwards see and under- stand. Such has been the case with the location of this monument. Divers sites were canvassed and the one selected was a compromise. Calm reflection must decide that it is the best. It stands in the midst not only of the present generation, but of those who are growing up to succeed them. As long as its material endures, be it a hundred, be it a thousand years, its inscription will preach a sermon of Republican-Demo- cracy-that is Democracy in the true, and not in the perverted sense of the term-and of Patriotisin. When the men of this generation have passed away, some child will ask one of those who are children now, "Father, what does it mean for men to lose their lives in suppressing a Slaveholders' Rebellion ?" Then the father will tell the astonished child how 300.000 Free- men had to lay down their lives to put an end to a curse which had demoralized and almost incurably . poisoned a large portion, even of our Northern free- men, so that they were willing their country should perish rather than a political party should fall. Then the kind parent will go on to explain to that little one be- longing to a generation which will scarcely be able to comprebend such depravity, how 250,000 slave- holders or oligarchs were able to rule nearly
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30.000.000 of people, through the wealth and power which they had acquired by trading in human beings, like cattle, and by buying, selling, and breeding men and women with souls whiter than their own ;- slave- holders, or oligarchs, constituting the basis of a domi- neering tyranny, whose boast it was that it took the fresh moulded image of God from his hand and stamped upon ir, in the hour of its birth, " Goods and chattels personal."
Afterwards, doubtless the rest of the inscription will likewise demand an explanation. Very likely the question will be asked, " Where did they get those con cluding words ? " What must be the answer? Those emphatic words are from a speech admitted by critics, foreign and native crities of the highest order, to be the finest which ever fell from human lips.
This speech, it will have to be told, was made by a man who, from a Western rail-splitter or day-laborer, rose to be President of the United States, to live for ever in history as America's second WASHINGTON. This speech was made by a great and good man, who began by piloting a flat boat on the Mississippi, and ended by directing the helm of Goverment ; who, after piloting this country through four years of the most fearful war which ever raged ; and after having been re-elected to the Presidency by a satisfied and victorious people, was assassinated by the side of his wife, by an agent and exemplar of that very spirit which produced the · Slaveholders' Rebellion," a treason which our brethren died to oppose and suppress. This speech was made by that wise but uupretending ABRAHAM LINCOLN, who enjoys the supreme honor, the blessed and glorious distinction, of having emancipated, at once and forever, 4,000.(0) of human beings, hitherto as destitute of rights as the beasts of burthen, reasonless and soulless ; chattles according to Southern legal language, classed with their mules and their cotton gius. This speech was made at the dedication of a National Cemetery to receive those who fell at Gettysburg. that battle won. by our sobliers and not by our generals, which deter- mined the fate of the war and of slavery.
I cannot finish my address to-day, fellow-citizens, better than by appropriating some of the language of that speech and adapting the rest to the change of locality and season.
Ninety years ago our fathers brought forth upon this contine ta new Nation, conceived in liberty and dedi- cated to the proposition that all men are created equal. For over four years we were engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that Nation, or any Nation, so conceived or dedicated, could long endure. We are met to set up a memorial of those who perished on the
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battle-fields of that war. We are met to dedicate or inaugurate a monument to those who gave up their lives that that Nation might live. It is altogether fit - ting and proper that we should do this.
But in a larger sense, we cannot consecrate, we can- not hallow any ground dedicated to the memory of our patriot martys. The brave inen, dead, whose names are inscribed upon this marble, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say or do here ; but it can never forget what onr dead soldi. rsdid. It is for us, the living. rather to be dedicated to the unfinished work that they so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from the honored dead we take increased de- votion to the cause for which they gave the last, full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain-that the Nation. under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom, and that the Government of the People, by the People and for the People, shall not perish from the earth.
AMEN ! SO BE IT !
N. B .- Remark+ referring to pages 25-51. In these 27 pages there are many things in expression, style and typography for which the author cannot h ld himself responsible. Had the work been carried on as he bad reason to expect it would have been, they would hare been remedied. The remarks in regard to generals are not his own. but those of the parties who furnished the facts or reviewed the copy.
OMISSION -- APPENDIX to Note 11, Page 15,-ROBERT L. LIVING- STON .- This officer accompanied the arst Union advance to Manassas in 1862 ; was present at Big Bethel; at Yorktown ; at Hanover Court-house, where he received his first promotion for bravery : at Mechanicsville, simply in support, however ; at Gaines's Mills, where he behaved remarkably well. There, having reformed the 12th New York Volunteers, he led it forward, carrying the regimental flag. on horseback, until it was taken from him and borne by his General. BUTTERFIELD. At Mechanicsville he, likewise, rallied the 16th Michigan, which, subsequently, behaved magnificently. In this effort he was finally assisted by the PRINCE DE JJOINVILLE, who had ridden up to compliment him on his conduct. Lieutenant Livi . (- STON passed through all the terrible conflicts, in which he was peser t. without a scratch, except upon one occasion. This was at Turkey Bend, the day before Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862, where a shell bur-t under his horse, and threw over both animal and rider. Captain Hort, Assistant Adjutant-General on Major-General BUTTERFIELD's staff, who was near the spot, thought Aide-de-Camp LIVINGSTON WH killed. During this campaign Lieutenant LIVINGSTON carried order-, everywhere, under fire, not only for his own General, but for Gen- erals GRIFFIN, F - P -- -, and others. He resigned at Fred- ericksburg, on account of an accident 'received, according to the official report, in the line of his duty. J L.
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SUPPLEMENT.
NOTE I. TO PAGES 3-4
HOW THE SOUTHERN MIND BECAME PERMEATED WITH DISUNION SENTIMENTS.
(INTENDED AS CHAPTER I. OF A CONTEMPLATED WORK, TO BE ENTITLED: "THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE GREAT AMERI- CAN , WAR," TO SUPPRESS THE SLAVEHOLDERS' REBEL- LION, TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN CONJOINTLY BY BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL J. WATTS DE PEYSTER AND JOSEPH B. LYMAN, ESQ.)
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