USA > Ohio > Washington County > Marietta > Address at the dedication of the Washington County Soldiers' Monument, at Marietta, Ohio, September 17, 1875 > Part 2
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The Thirty-sixth was this day commanded by Lieutenant- Colonel (since General) H. F. Devol. Colonel Jones, of the Thirty-sixth, had been killed the day before. The Ninety- second was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam, Colonel Fearing having been very severely wounded the day before.
At the battle of Atlanta the Thirty-ninth was obliged to incur the greatest casualties of any engagement in its entire term of service, in order to hold its position and aid to save
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the train. The Sixteenth Corps, to which the Thirty-ninth belonged, was in rear of the Seventeenth Corps, supporting it, when suddenly it was learned that the enemy had in great force completely turned the left flank, and were moving up to capture the train from the rear. The corps immediately changed front to the rear, and moved rapidly to anticipate the enemy's attack. On reaching a ridge which commanded the field, the enemy, Hardee's Corps, was found to have already emerged from the woods, three hundred yards distant, and to be half way up the ridge. The brigade, to which the Thirty-ninth belonged, fell upon them with great determination-after a brief struggle drove them baek into the woods-and then seized the ridge the better to hold them in check. Three charges were repulsed. In one of these, the enemy attacked the brigade from the direction of its right front, gaining a fearfully destructive enfilading fire upon it. Then the greatest losses occurred. But the Thirty-ninth, with the Twenty-seventh on its right, obstinately resisting, replied with such a vigorous right- oblique fire that the enemy were again beaten back. The regiment, when Hardee retired, still held the position that it had assumed after his first repulse. The loss of the Thirty- ninth, in killed and wounded, amounted to one-third of those engaged.
There was hardly one of the great operations of onr Western armies in which Washington county was not rep- resented in the persons of its soldiers.
The Thirty-sixth, under the able command of Colonel Devol, was in nearly all the more important campaigns in the Valley of Virginia, including that driving campaign in which Sheridan ended all campaigning there. Buell's, Huntington's, and DeBeck's batteries shared the varied fortunes of the Potomac Army in the debateable land in front of and around Washington, in which that army ren- dered such important aid toward securing a successful result of the war, by its protection of the National Capitol, and of the rich and populous States to the north of it, from several invasions, and ultimately by the capture of Richmond. The Thirty-sixth also made one of its finest and most successful
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charges at Antietam, where it dislodged a rebel force from behind a stone-wall breastwork, which had been success- fully held against all attacks up to that time during the day. It was in this charge that Lieutenant Colonel Clarke, commanding the regiment, fell. Huntington's Battery ren- dered probably as great a piece of service as any battery during the war, by the desperate and successful stand it made, the first evening, to save the cemetery hill at Gettys- burg. At Chancellorville, enveloped in the disaster to the Eleventh Corps, it continued to pour grape and canister into the rebel columns till the enemy had reached it, when it saved its guns, clubbing the foremost of the enemy with the rammers, and fighting them with saber and revolver while limbering up. Buell's Battery was conspicuons for its services, in what General Longstreet calls in his report the battle of the Rappahannock, in 1862, when Pope was resisting on that river Lee's advance, and where its gallant and promising young commander was killed. DeBeck's Battery, under the command of Lieutenant Haskins, did important service on the left at the second Bull Run, where it handsomely engaged the famous Washington Artillery ; and ou various other occasions. The First and Seventh, and Ninth Ohio Cavalry, were with the Western armies, and continually employed in the arduous labors which attended the long marches, mighty battles, and in the far- reaching raids within the enemy's lines, which distinguished this war, and which have never been equaled in military history for fatigue and adventurous daring. The First Ohio, from its superior skirmish drill and firinness, was fre- quently selected to lead the advance, or cover the rear of the cavalry column, in the operations in the Chattanooga and Atlanta Campaigns. Much of its important service was performed under the command of that brave and astute officer, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Pattin of this county. The Seventh, at Nashville, on the right, charged over and captured field works and their guns. The Ninth formed a portion of Kilpatrick's command, in Sherman's conquering march through the Southeastern Rebel States. At Waynesboro, December 4th, in the general cavalry en-
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gagement, it made the second charge and broke the enemy's lines.
West of the Mississippi, the Seventy-seventh was with Steele, in Arkansas. At Mark's Mills, when guarding a train under command of Col. McCormick, it was sur- rounded by a division of rebels, and, after a handsome re- sistance of two hours, was compelled to surrender. Two other regiments at the opposite extremity of the train had previously been compelled by the same force, some 7,000 men, to accept terms. Afterward it aided in the capture of Mobile, and was engaged in the coast operations in Texas. The Thirty-ninth and Sixty-third were with Pope when he led the advance of the western armies in the operations against Corinth, resulting in the capture of that place. General (then Major) Noyes, of the Thirty-ninth, was one of the two officers who first penetrated the town, and raised the national flag on the highest building they could find-the Seminary. These two regiments were in the subsequent operations for opening the Mississippi, end- ing with the capture of Vicksburg. In the great re-enlist- ment the Thirty-ninth mustered five hundred and thirty- four men into the service as veteran volunteers, the greatest number of any Ohio regiment. The Thirty-sixth, Thirty- ninth, Sixty-third, and Ninty-second were in the Atlanta campaign. The Thirty-sixth came east after the capture of Atlanta, and joined Sheridan. The other three regi- ments remained with Sherman, and were in the great march to the sea and through the Carolinas. The Thirty- sixth maintained to the end the soldierly bearing which Crooke's labors had impressed upon it at the beginning of its service, and it was in more than one instance pronounced, by experienced officers of the regular army, to be unequaled in this respect by any volunteer regiment they had ever known.
The Second Virginia Cavalry rendered important serv- ices, mostly in arduous and hazardous marches and en- gagements in the mountain regions; much of the time under that gallant officer, Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Pax- ton, of this county.
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.. Meantime, the One Hundred Day Men were sent for- ward to aid in closing the war, and our regiment, the One Hundred and Forty-eighth, was called upon to suffer casu- alties that added to the list of those for whom this mon- ument is raised-six names by the explosion at City Point, and by the fearful railroad accident on its way there.
As the Thirty-ninth had the fortune to be the first of the regiments in which we had soldiers which were under fire, so was it in the last battle in which any of them partici- pated-that at Goldsboro'. The division to which it be- longed was so completely enveloped by several corps of the enemy that both flanks had to give back in horse-shoe fashion to make the fight. At the very head of this for- mation, where it stood when the fight opened, the Thirty- ninth still stood when the fight closed, the division being at length relieved by the advance of other forces. Next day, general orders providing for the movement of the troops stated that the Thirty-ninth Ohio would remain in camp "for distinguished gallantry in the action of yes- terday." Thus gloriously ended our battle record in the war for the Union.
Such are the bare annals of the military organizations in which Washington County was represented, with a sin- gle page from the more particular record of each. The events to whose period they belong are fast shifting from the domain of experience into that of history, and we who were part of them already feel, not a few of us, that we have passed from the foreground into the middle distance of the panorama of life. Many of the younger portion of those who hear me saw the mighty storm of war sweep to and fro over the land, even as a pageant seen with the wondering eyes of childhood, nor knew the strain that tugged at the heart of every grown one of us while the life or death of the Union was fought for. The torpor of reac- tion from that strain so affects us that we care too little now to dwell upon that'on which once we could not think too much-the deeper meaning of the struggle. We are con- tent to see those who succeed us enter into and enjoy the
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rich competence of repose which the labor and burthen of war alone provided for them, and we neglect to impress upon them the lesson which we-because we so long failed to read its naked and apparent text upon the southern sky- had to learn in the darkness of trial, by the red illminina- tion of fire aud blood.
It is apt to be thus after great uprisings of the people, resulting in success. A generous forgetfulness, in putting ont of sight the animosities of the contest, lets grow dull also the sense of what was contended for; and sometimes it has been known that those who strove in vain to over- turu principles which they hated in the sanguinary but vigilant trial of war, proved able by meaner methods to undermine them in the subsequent security of peace. Let us then for once commune with you who have come to mingle with us newly upon the stage of action, and are soon to supersede us-always, believe me, to our content- and consider, before we separate, not merely what were the objects at stake, national unity and free society, but what was the innate and abiding impulse which inspired and directed the purpose of those who fought for them.
We should have done injustice to the manhood of these dead, if we had neglected to recall this day their deeds as soldiers. We shall do more than injustice-we shall dese- crate their memory as citizens who gave their lives for the common weal-if we fail on this occasion to appreciate the animating spirit on our side, as distinguished from the pas- sions and purposes which actuated and inflamed those on that side against which we strove, and over which, under God, we prevailed.
That animating spirit or principle was the same which has reconciled liberty and order, freedom and authority, in the English race, until it has become a transmitted political instinct, a heredity, the reconcilation of progress and con- servatism, laying hold of customs or principles of law that have been found to work well, and making them precedents to be followed, yet hesitating . not to do away with prece- dent when it has come to be mere obstruction or degen- erated into abuse. We feel the motions of such a political
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judgment in us, and we can discern it in the instance, though we may not fully describe its character or tell the springs from which its habits took their rise. It is as subtle in its essence and difficult of definition as the ma- terial bond which keeps the universe in balance. It is as apparent and certain in its operation as the motions of the planets or the far and slow procession of the stars. It took, in England, a monarchy and aristocracy, and created with their aid greater individual freedom than had ever been known under the forms of consolidated government before. It took in America, a democratic republic, and proved it to have greater power to put down internal dissension than any despotism the world had ever seen. It is the spirit that preserves free states by intelligent, voluntary, and ready obedience to law-that loves party and abhors fac- tion-that accepts facts and avoids extremes. It spoke in Douglas, when the South demanded of him, seeking Southern votes, whether he would support Lincoln, if elected, in enforcing law, and he answered that he would. It controlled the Republican party in the winter before the war, when it accepted the principle of popular sovereignty in its legislation for the Territories, thereby compacting the Union sentiment of the North. It inspired Alexander H. Stephens, when, in his speech against rebellion, as the rebellion was breaking out, he demanded that his people should consider, not what had been thought, but what had been done against them by the North. It induced Lincoln to withhold the emancipation proclamation so long as it might be a hasty disruption of the sanctions of law. It in- pelled him to launch its thunders when the issue had be- come hopelessly manifest of Slavery and Secession against Liberty and Union. Sometimes, by a noble reaction, it ap- pears in those who long had seemed to have forgotten its dictates. It influenced Lee to surrender, because warfare conducted after armies could nowhere keep the field, would destroy society. It spoke in Vallandigham, when he coun- seled his followers to accept the results of the war in good faith, and thus relax the tendency to centralization. Above
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all, while not afraid to take revolution as the last resort, it never takes it as the first.
Why was it that the North was all astonished that the people of the South, when lawfully defeated in a lawful election, and before any legislation had against them, took up arms? It was because it would not, under any such circumstances, have done so itself. It was familiar with the fact, that in Spanish-American populations, often when a minority finds itself defeated at the polls, it issues a pro- nunciamento and institutes bloody rebellion. It did not expect this of men bred in the same traditions as itself.
There was then a difference of spirit, a difference in the principle of action, that underlay the contest from which, ten years ago, we emerged victorious on the particular issues then presented. And this difference is too deep and great to be passed over as mere party variance in politics. A Mexican might sincerely believe that it could so be re- garded; an American must believe it if at all-with a doubt! It is true that the difference grew out of a peculiar institution, and that following the fate of that institution it may pass away. It is equally true that the spirit which that institution bred may survive it, and ou other issues work mischief in the land again. Whether it will do so or not depends on ourselves. When men are not true to themselves, others will not be true to them. When men are not well convinced themselves, they will not convince others. If we accept it practically that there is no differ- ence between the spirit of English law and the spirit of Mexican anarchy, not only shall we fail to make those with whom we fought respect the convictions for which we fought, but we shall even become in time as they themselves.
Do not think I talk party politics. The men who fought this war for us, to whatever party they may now belong, are above criticism as to their motives in public affairs, and their opinions are entitled to respect. I speak only of that on which, then, we all agreed, and ask that by the memory of these dead we may never give it up. Let us, to whatever party we belong, never give up the senti- ment and the duty that united us in the war. The rebellion
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was a crime against free government. If that conviction is given up by those who held it, the days of our government are numbered. And so long as any considerable portion of our people refuse to accept that conviction, so long is our government in danger.
Let us remember, then, we who were on the stage of action in the great contest, and you our inheritors, remem- ber, for what these dead fought, for what they died. And to all, and to future generations, let the appeal rise from the graves of those to whom we now dedicate this monu- ment: "We, to tell of whom this stone was raised, ask of those who come after us that they see to it that we did not die in vain."
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