USA > Pennsylvania > History of the First regiment infantry, National guard of Pennsylvania (Grey Reserves) 1861-1911, pt 2 > Part 41
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" A detachment of troops was marching along a valley, the cliff's over. hanging which were created by the enemy. A sergeant with eleven men chaneed to become separated from the rest by taking the wrong side of a ravine. which they expected soon to terminate, but which suddenly deep- ened into an impas-able chasm. The officer in command signalled to the party an order to return. They mistook the signal for a command to charge: the brave fellows answered with a cheer and charged. At the sum- mit of the steep mountain was a triangular platform, defended by a breastwork, behind which were seventy of the foe. On they went, charging up one of these fearful paths. eleven against seventy. The contest could not be doubtful with such odds. One after another they fell: six upon the spot, the remainder hurled backwards; but not till they had slain nearly twice their own number.
"There is a custom, we are told, amongst the hillmen, that when a great chieftain of their own falls in battle, his wrist is bound with a thread of red or green, the red denoting the highest rank. According to custom they stripped the dead, and threw their bodies over the precipice. When their comrades came up, they found their corpses stark and gashed; but round the wrist of every British soldier were twined the red threads of honor."
This. I think. is the great word which this anniversary has to utter to-night. From all who are gathered here goes forth to the young man of our community this message: "Nothing is greater than honor. and honor means to seek not one's own. but the common good: the willingness when there is need to endure and to suffer hardship, yes even to lay down one's life for the well-being of all."
Speech of Major-General C. Bor Dougherty. Division Commander of the National Guard of Pennsylvania
COLONEL WIEDERSHEIM, VETERANS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: It is some- thing to have participated in this magnificent event, and to have been the wit- ness of the beautiful tribute paid by this gathering to the daughter of the first Captain of the original company which became the nucleus of the regiment which fifty years ago to-night assembled to answer President Lincoln's call. As a Connecticut Yankee from what was in ante-revolutionary day. the Western Reserve of Connecticut in Pennsylvania, I may say that I come from the Wyoming Valley down here to be among our ancient enemies. the Pennamities, to help participate and commemorate the valiant record of the sons of Pennsylvania. and it was worth all the travel to see that dear old lady, the mother of Major Turnbull, wave her response to the welcome which you have splendidly honored her with.
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It is indeed fitting that in this commemoration, that off glorious American motherhood and womanhood shall not have been forgotten.
Two score years and ten have passed and gone since those days when the heart of the country was stirred to its depths under the impulse of the inevitable conflict that was to plunge the nation into four years of blood fratricidal war. Of those who sit about these tables to night, who then were in the first years of their young and splendid manhood, it is extremely doubtful that the dire tragedy of the nation's future could possibly hive been revealed to any of them. The chances are that no revelation was ever made to anyone of what was to come. It is indeed rare that any con. ception of stupendous movements such as stirred and thrilled the people in those four year-, could have preceded the great events which followed and kindled the imagination with a glimmer of the dreadful happenings which were to carry the banner of the free to the fields of rebellion and earnage, where it was to feel the hot breath of civil war.
Oh! what a drama was being enacted in those first days. The Con- federaey had mounted the stage at Montgomery. Fort Sumter had been fired upon and its intrepid garrison had surrendered. Treason had rung up the curtain and the trumpet call of a nation had reached the ears and the hearts of men who went forth that Old Glory might live and wave as hopefully and as bravely as it did at Monmouth and Brandywine and Princeton and Saratoga and Yorktown and on the plains of Mexico.
The irreconcilable animosity between Freedom and Slavery, and the inexorable march of civilization had decreed the fate that was to follow and the prayers of those who cried for help, like David of old to his God. "Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man," availed not. The sombre cloud of war was over all and the death grapple was on.
It is diffieult, indeed, for those born since the war to realize what mighty elements were involved in that fearful struggle. But you who are here to-night, the last remnants of that old army who saw the angrily swerving flashes and the deep muttering outbursts of thunder where the battles for freedom were waged, can better appreciate and realize what all those years were and what the years which have come between have brought the people and the nation.
Somehow I always feel in the presence of the gray and grizzled veterans of the Civil War that their deeds and their lives make them the true orators of these occasions. To-night we are celebrating in glorious memory the departure of the Washington Grays for the front. It seems to me that no other thought save praise for the spirit of their patriotism should intrude upon the memory of those days and those men who were the makers of armies and the winners of vietory. And in those first hours when the North put on its armor and drove from its view every fear of death. the spirit of this Regiment was the spirit of the people.
Tonight we honor your valor and pay tribute to your heroism and your deeds-deeds and aets which in common with like deeds and actions of like men have given us all a glorious heritage to preserve and protect.
We of the younger army .- of the new army if you please .- glory in the memory of those years of accomplishment. realizing to the full the vast measure of your devotion and your service.
If it is true that love of country is next to love of God. then those who have served their country can in the last hours he content.
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Address of H. K. Bush-Brown, the Sculpter
MR. CHMEMAS AND GENTLEMEN OF THE VEIKIA CORPS: I consider it a great honor to be present on this occasion and especially so that I am called upon to speak. I had not been forewarned that an address was expected of me, but since time is my privilege. I would like to call your attention to the immortality of ideals. Generation come and go; nations grow and pass away, only the ideals they hold, and live for, and die for, are eternal. Men and measures succeed or fail, nations live or die, just in proportion as they hold to the ideal. The ideal always has been and always will be expressed by the words " Home and Liberty."
If you want anything done in the world, you will find the most efficient men are those with home and family.
This, however, is not my subject, but I wish to emphasize that the man who has the home ideal, has also the liberty ideal to defend it. Not for himself alone, but for the spirit of the brotherhood of man that is in him.
To-day, we have war talk on one side of us and a shout for perpetual peace on the other. Peace at any price, always has been and always will be an ignominious peace. Peace that accentuates an ideal always has been and always will be a glorious peace. The wars of the past and the treaties of peace that have been concluded by reason of them have been efforts at formulating into law the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pur- suit of happiness. Show me a people without the ambition of the ideal and I will show you a people without a history.
It seems to me there are just three sorts of people in the world, those who build the homes, those who defend the homes, and those who adorn the homes. Each one follows the same ideal in a different form. The first, those who build, are in the greatest danger of losing sight of the national ideals and may ery for peace at any price; for the rare acquisition of wealth and the mere enjoyment of wealth always have had a tendency to produce selfishness, and selfishness ever cries for peace.
Those who rush forth for the defence of the home and the ideal, have been generous and self-sacrificing spirits. This is the group I am addressing to-night. There remains the third group, those who adorn the home, the poets and artists whose function is to interpret the ideals of the nation to the world at large. How far I have succeeded in inter- preting the ideals in this statue which you have honored me by command- ing of may hands. I leave it to you and the world to judge.
I have endeavored to portray one who knew the hardships and horrors of war, but who counts his own sacrifices and his own suffering as nothing when weighed against the national ideal of liberty and the brotherhood of man.
You do well to make the fiftieth anniversary of your own organization an occasion for the emphasis of the fact that the nation has had ideals that are worth fighting for. The menace of the Republic is not the lack of peace alliances, but we may well fear that in the comfort of our pros- perity and our prolonged peace we are in danger of losing sight of the national ideals that are a heritage of our past, and have cost countless lives to defend.
It is our duty to transmit to our children in as full measure as we have received those ideals of liberty which we enjoy.
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Let us here fervently hope that our people alway, will have such Men ideals that the nation will be ever ready to maitam them by force of arm if necessary. Therein is the only guarantee of Peace. Preparation- ! ! war without high ideals is a menace to peace, therefore I will leave this subject where I began, only the ideal is eternal.
Sprech of Brig. Genl. Thomas I. Stewart, the Adjutant Central Chief of Staff
" THE NATIONAL GUARD "
We have entered upon the period of semi-centennial anniversaries ci the greatest and most important period of all the centuries; of the bloodiest conflict of modern times, and upon the outcome of which depended more for humanity and for government among men than ever before, hung upon the fate of armies. It is well that Philadelphia, the most loyal and patrioto. city of that time, should thus early assemble to pay tribute to her soldiers. and recall the stirring events and fateful occurrences of the early Qu'- and to-night in this war-recalling presence, we are grateful and joyous that all is quiet along the Potomac. "Not a rifleman hid in the thicket," no blaring bugle, shrieking fife, or rolling drum calling men to battle. O'! Chory's stars are still in their place, and the flag of a reanited country is waving over every foot of our vast domain, and is respected. honor .. and saluted by every nation in the world. Fifty years is but an atu. in the centuries of time that have passed into history, but it is more than half of the time allotted to the individual. Every man that answered the call in 1861, has passed far beyond that limit; some may have in a measure the buoyancy of youth, others are bent in form, halting in step, but all still full of that patriotism that led them from the path- and pursuits of peace to the fields and hazard of war. Some of the-e men are gathered about this table to-night enjoying to the very full this occasion. singing the old songs, recalling their soldier and sailor days. They touch elbows with the men and soldiers of a later period, who, inspired by the achievements and the glories of the earlier war, rallied under the old dar. willing to do. to dare, and to die to keep the glory of our stars undimme !. and our matchless ensign untarnished. This splendid regiment whose Vet- eran Corps is here assembled, has a conspicuous phee in both wars. In fifty years it ha- given to the State and the Nation splendid service. N. call to duty ever found its men irresponsive or tardy. It gave its full share to the list of immortals, and won its place on the pages of history From out its rank there came great leaders and great soldiers. men who honored their city and their State, and whom this Nation should ever ind! in grateful remembrance. We sometimes fail to properly appreciate one privileges and our blessings. What a glorious privilege it is to live within the shadow of Valley Forge and Gettysburg, to have the companionship i the priceless treasures of the Revolutionary period, to live within a Ill. whose sons were first on duty, and on whose soil was struck the blow the sent rebellion to its grave, and made forever immortal the Philadelphia Brigade, and also Philadelphia's foremost soldier. the controlling genial- of Gettysburg, the great George Gordon Meade.
It is a great privilege and a mient honor to be here in patriotic Phi' delphia, to mingle with her soldiery and pay tribute to the men of whon
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she is so proud. It is a great privilege to look upon such a scene graced by the presence of the women of Philadelphia, who with enthusiasm to1 the right, and tenderness for the suffering. sanctified with their affection and their love, the Armies of the Union. Women shared the privation, of the War,-they suffered at home --
" She fought the hardest fight Not in the storm of battle Where the drum's exultant rattle. The onset's maddening sell. The scream of shot and shell
And the trumpet's clangor soaring. Over the cannon's roaring. Thrilled every vein with fire,
And combat's mad desire. She fought her fight alone To the sound of dying groan, The sob of failing breath, The reveille of death."
They were the builders of the temple along with their warrior brothers. They helped to make it the grand memorial that it is to the soldier and the sailor, and to the magnificent men and women of America, and so, as we to-night recall the days of War, there must well up from every patriot a fervent prayer, God bless the women of America.
In this presence one feels the inspiration of the hour and the insig- nificance of the individual. We look even beyond the life and the achieve- ments and the service of this splendid regiment, and review, in recollection and in speech, the stirring times and the great period in which it had its birth. Up to 1861 we had probably the most unromantie and prosy country in the World.
Our mountain- were simply elevation- of land. Our rivers, and bays, and islands, were defined in our geographies. We had no inspiring history beyond that of the Revolution, and that confined to a thin belt along our coast line. Our people were the most peaceinl people in the World, knew less about war than any civilized nation, and we had no desire to acquire the knowledge. We did not comprehend fully what secession was in Isol, but when the news went out to every town and home in the Northland that the Union was to be dissolved by force of arms, then we woke up, as from a dream, and men turned from selfishness and money making to Patriotism. You know the story of that response. There is an oft-told tale, which never jars on the ears, though word by word it has been poured into our memories. There is no need to repeat the story here, and yet the very allusion to it kindles afresh the patriotic ardor, and brace- the nerves for the struggle, as when the ery for troops rang through the land and hosts of men -prang forth to the defence of their country, and Pennsylvania. her great heart throbbing with patriotism, first to answer. It was well that Pennsylvania's arm was so close to the Nation's heart.
I will not ocenpy your time, save to say, that when the War was over, we had written on the granite of history the fame, and the name, and the glory of the American soldier, regular and volunteer.
I am asked to speak of the National Guard. This is an armed force,
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better trained, better equipped, better disciplined to-day than ever before in the history of the Country. During all the wars fought by thi, Nation. the dependence has been upon the citizen soldier, and yet we went through the War of the Rebellion and the Spanish War, and for over one hundred years did nothing in the way of legislation to make the citizen soldier immediately available for duty.
From 170? to 1903, each man available for military duty was to supply himself with "A good musket or firelock of a bore sufficient for balls of the eighteenth part of a pound, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack. A pouch with a box therein to contain not less than 24 cartridges, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball ; or with a good ritle, knapsack and powder horn. Twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle and a quarter of a pound of powder. Each commis- sioned officer shall be armed with a sword, or hanger, and spontoon."
There was not in all the Northern States combined, in IS61, a Division of troops, as well organized, as fully equipped, and as well trained as the Pennsylvania Division is to-day. There was not a regiment as good as the First Regiment-not a single regiment as well equipped for the field.
The Government organized and put into the field thousands upon thou- sands of men absolutely untrained. and undisciplined, and it took months of valuable time to make these troops etilcient. Disease lurked in every camp and in every bivouac. Death reaped a richer harvest from the field of ignorance, error and folly, than from fields of battle. Men were brave, none braver, they were willing to die for their country, their home, and their flag, but they had to be prepared for war after war began. Patriotism may start a war, but it does not always wage it to the end. This is evi- denced by the drafts that were made during the War of the Rebellion. Since 1861, and since the Spanish War we have stepped into the World's Arena, and must be ready to meet all comers. We have important interests to protect, we have our institutions to perpetuate, we have new obligations assumed, and new responsibilities to meet. The Government promises pro- tection to every person and every home under its flag, and unless we are able to do that we may become the prey and the war spoil of the War Lords of the Earth. It is too late to install fire extinguishers when the house is ablaze. Until peace and love and harmony and concord shall rule the World, armies be disbanded and navies no longer ride the face of the deep, war is possible, and until then we must have armed men.
The ocean, ones considered our safeguard and a barrier, is to-day an open roadway. Population is not a military defence. In the War of 1812. there were involved on our side 576,000 men, while the largest British force. including Indians, at any one time was 20,000 men.
During that war 3500 invaders marched to our Capital, burned and pillaged the same, when we had a population of 7.000,000 of people.
A force of 20.000 men of the allied Armies was able not long ago to proceed to China, land. march to the Capital, and dictate terms of peace to a country having over 400.000,000 inhabitants.
No man can tell what the morrow may bring forth. No man can tell when discontent may grow into anarchy and lawlessness and disorder. No man can tell when the enemy may come as a flood, and unless we are prepared to meet him, we may be in disgrace and humiliation, while he divides the spoils. Our Regular Army is less than 100,000 men and our dependency must be as of old upon the citizen soldier. first the National Guard, then
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the volunteers. With all the National Guard available we would have 250,000 men, and this for a Nation of nearly a hundred millions of people. Surely no thoughtful man will fail to realize that under existing conditions we med a trained citizen soldiery. We need it for defence and we need it for educa- tion-it encourages discipline, promotes self-reliance. it develops intelligens. it teaches method. and the precise and orderly performance of duty -- it makes a better class of citizens.
The Emperor of Germany claims that the present commercial prosperity of Germany is attributable. in a large degree, to the influence of military training upon the able-bodied young men. The young man who servey with the colors is drawn closer to them. He imbibes a love for the flag that stimulates patriotism. and hence he becomes a better citizen, and a patriotie citizenship tends to obedience to law, tends to public virtne, and better government. Every corporation, every merchant. every man who owns and loves his home. should encourage the National Guard, and should respect the men who are willing to serve with the colors, and prepare themselves to perform intelligently the duties of a soldier.
We all want peace. we pray that war may never cast its shadow at our gates, but it is well that the achievements of the past. that the lessons of patriotic and heroic live-, should ever be present before the young who shall come to take the places they filled and glorified. and may this Vet- eran Corps continue its unvarying loyalty now and hereafter to the high ideas and ideals of those whose lives should ever be an inspiration. and whose memory shall ever abide with its as a people.
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INDEX
[The names in the Muster-Roll do not appear in this Inder.]
A
1
Act of Assembly, 1889, 477; of May
4, 1864, 134, 141; of 1873, pro- visions of, 179
" Active Service Roll," 36
Addresses, delivered at fiftieth an- niversary banquet, 613-615, 777- 797
Adjutant-General, letter of, Feb. 11. 1910, 10; report of, 1862, 7; 1877, 622
Advancements and retirements, 269
Albany Zonave Cadets, visit of, 170 Allen, Major William S., resignation of, 554; William W., long service of, 201
Altoona, railroad strike at, incident of, 229
Anniversary of Antietam, 150; cele- bration, 41; eighteenth, 246; eleventh, 171; fifteenth, 203; fif. tieth, 610-616; addresses delivered at, 613-615, 777-797; historic pageant, 611; notable banquet, G13; oldest daughter of regiment pres- ent at banquet, 658, 791; parade in storm, 661; preparation for celebration of, 588. 656; unveiling of statue, 611; fortieth, 493, 494; forty-eighth, 587; forty-fifth, 554; forty-fourth, 546; forty-first, 504: forty-ninth, 599; forty-second. 522: forty-seventh. 575, 653; forty-sixth, 565; forty-third, 534; fourteenth, quietly celebrated, at Hazleton. 194; nineteenth, 250; seventeenth, 239; sixteenth, 217; third, 130; thirtieth, 361; tenth, 155; thirty- eighth, 478; thirty-fifth, 421: thirty-first, 367 ; thirty-fourth, 413, 414; newspaper comments on, 413: thirty-ninth, 484; thirty-second, 391; thirty-seventh, 447, 448; thirty-sixth, 435; thirty-third, 404; twentieth, 264; twenty-fifth, 311; twenty-first, 277; twenty fourth,
postponement of, 205; twenty- ninth, 354; twenty-second, oldest colonel present at, 257; twenty- seventh, 331; twenty-sixth, 313; twenty-third, 295
Annual message of Governor Curtin, 1863, 52; review, 290
Antietam, Anniversary of, 150
victory of MeClellan at, 48
Appendix A. 748; B, 751; C, 757; D, 760; E, 766; F, 770; G, 773; H, 777
Appeal to citizens, 49; to Citizens' Bounty Fund Committee, 72. 73, 74 Appointments free from favoritism,
177; and retirements, GOS, 600; and resignations, 30, 31, 32, 156. 415, 416, 519, 543; staff, 11, 146, 243, 321
Appropriation, direet, for militia, 149
Armories, 13, 16
Armory, charter procured for, 272; Company of Gray Reserves, incor- poration of, 13; damaged by fire, 524; fund, fair for benefit of, 1880, 626; 1884, 627; new, occupation of, 293; plans considered for, 270; site purchased for, 273
Arms furnished to regiment. 15
Artillery Corps of Washington Grays. itinerary of visit to Mt. Vernon (1832), 773-777; practice, 15 Association of Military Surgeons of United States, reception to, 421 Averages, general. 489, 498, 510, 529, 633, 537, 549, 553, 559, 560, 567, 568, 574, 581, 586, 594, 597, 598, 604
B
" Bailey Medal," 161
Baltimore and Washington, danger of, 134 Banner year (1892), record of, 385 Battalion drill, first, 17, 18; exer- cise, 27
799
800
INDEX
Battle of Manila, 456
Beaver, Gen. James A., inauguration of, 313
Belmont Mansion, 16
Benefit, Forepaugh, for armory fund. 287
Benson, Major Edwin N., in me- moriam, 662, 663; R. Dale, com. missioned colonel, 176; congratu latory order of, 183; General Order No. 11, June 1, 1877, 218: resignation of, 236
Bentley, First Lieutenant William W., death of, 595
Bi-centennial of State, 233; parade during, 283
Blake, Gen. G. A. H., career of, 302; escort to, 300
" Bloody Angle," 92
Blumhardt, First Lieutenant Charles A., Jr., promotion to captaincy, 599
Board of Officers. business of, 11: eircular letter of, 136, 162: extract from minutes of, October 7, 1863. 78; August, IS66, 145; first meet- ing, Il: meetings of, 31 ; personnel of, 131, 132; regular meetings held, 286: resolution of, December 3. 1861, 29 ; resolutions of. 21: - pecial meetings, 21, 36, 77; of Trustees, 13S
Bonnaffon. Colonel Sylvester. Jr .. chosen to command Veteran Corps. 622: record of, 623: report of. 1877, 766-770
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