History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 55

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146

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Sedgwick Post, No. 26, Salem. John A. Rawlins Post, No. 27, Plankinton. Harvey Post, No. 28, Rapid City. E. O. C. Ord Post, No. 29, Wessington Springs. John A. Dix Post, No. 30, Highmore. E. S. McCook Post, No. 31, Hurely. Meade Post, No. 32, Gettysburg. T. O. Howe Post, No. 33, Hitchcock. McKenzie Post, No. 34, Chamberlain. Reno Post, No. 35, Kimball. General Harrison Post, No. 36, Alexandria. Steedman Post, No. 38, Springfield. Baker Post, No. 36, Lake Preston. General Haskins Post, No. 40, Clear Lake.

Edward Welch Post, No. 41, White.

Gen. A. A. Humphrey Post, No. 42, Milbank.

General Sheridan Post, No. 43, Bloomington. Ralph Ely Post, No. 45, Columbia.

A. S. McCook Post, No. 46, Centerville.

Winfield Scott Post, No. 48, Ipswich.

General Wadsworth Post, No. 50, Flandreau. N. P. Morton Post, No. 51, Armour. Farragut Post, No. 52, Spearfish.

Colonel Ellis Post, No. 53, St. Lawrence.

Thomas Elson Post, No. 54, Northville. Dumont Post, No. 58, Blunt. Freeman Thayer Post, No. 59, Watertown.

Margin Walker Post, No. 60, Willow Lakes.

Sol Meredith Post, No. 61, Frankfort. General Upton Post, No. 62, Ashton. Ricketts Post, No. 63, Eathan. Keogh Post, No. 64, Deadwood.

Colonel Kirk Post, No. 67, Andover. Devine Post, No. 68, Arlington. G. M. Dodge Post, No. 69, Beresford. . General Crocker Post, No. 70, Webster. Phil H. Sheridan Post, No. 72, Faulkton. Robert L. McCook Post, No. 74, Brookings. Colonel Hughes Post, No. 76, White Lake. Atlanta Post, No. 77, Olivet. Grierson Post, No. 78, Tyndall. Stanton Post, No. 81, Leod City. Harvey Post, No. 82, DeSmet. Alpena Post, No. 85, Alpena. Morgan L. Smith Post, No. 88, Blunt. Iroquois Post, No. 89, Iroquois. General Steele Post, No. 94, Custer. U. S. Grant Post, No. 95, Oneida.

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Weitzel Post, No. 96, Clark.

General Sherman Post, No. 98, Clear Lake.

Colonel George Post, No. 99, Estelline.

Greathouse Post, No. 101, Platte.

Levette Post, No. 103, Groton.

William F. Dawes Post, No. 104, Warner. A. Lincoln Post, No. 106, Vernon.

J. A. Kellogg Post, No. 107, Wentworth.

General Rowley Post, No. 112, Frederick.

George Washington Post, No. 114, Valley Springs.

John B. Wyman Post, No. 115, Wessington.

E. H. Kennedy Post, No. 119, Volga. General Hendrick Post, No. 121, Britton.

Thomas S. Free Post, No. 128, Canastota.

W. L. Utley Post, No. 126, Parkston.

S. A. Strickland Post, No. 127, Hot Springs.

Gettysburg Post, No. 132, Roscoe.

J. B. Wiley Post, No. 137, Henry.

Gen. D. H. Strother Post, No. 138, Hecla.

Resaca Post, No. 139, Langford.

Colonel Hawkins Post, No. 140, Bristol.

D. M. Evans Post, No. 141, Raymond.

Calvin H. Duke Post, No. 143, Sturgis.

L. C. Ladd Post, No. 146, La Grace. Simon Cameron Post, No. 147, Leola.

Stanley Post, No. 148, Hermosa.

John Mangan Post, No. 150, Bangor.

General Brooks Post, No. 152, Wilmot.

Gen. J. A. Logan Post, No. 154, Alcester.

Gen. Warren Shedd Post, No. 155, Hill City.

Custer Post, No. 156, Carthage.

Merritt Post, No. 157. Wakonda.

McPherson Post, No. 158, Esmond.

At the state encampment of 1893 C. B. Clark, chaplain, said: "Upon the two memorial days intervening between this and the last encampment over 50,000 citizens, besides thousands of school children, attended the services .. It was my lot to deliver the memorial address on May 30 last in one of the princi- pal cities of our young state. *

* * As I moved with the long procession, made up of 150 carriages, along the streets on which the business houses were closed, and saw miniature flags floating in the breeze from hundreds of build- ings, by which recognition the people of both country and city joined with each other in doing honor to our soldiers dead, my heart was touched. I could but say with deep emotion, 'Thank God, the boys are not forgotten.' And as I remembered that just at that hour a grateful nation was gathering around our sleeping comrades, while children's hands silently scattered flowers upon the sod above them, there arose before me a mighty army, the army of the dead, no longer dead, but living, whose spirit forms hovered over the land their valor had saved and who joined in the mingled sentiments of love and praise-love

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for the heroes who could not be forgotten and praise for the abounding peace and national prosperity which was the fruit of their heroic sacrifice. We fought not from the lust of power, nor the conquest of territory, but for eternal vindication of that dual principle bequeathed us by our forefathers-'liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable.' All who loved or hated liberty watched with bated breath the tremendous struggle. The emancipation procla- mation was but the logical and fitting climax to this great upheaval, born of the spirit of liberty and crystallized in the institutions for whose life we fought. When the war was over, when the dead were buried, and the survivors of that awful conflict had sheathed the sword, then for the first time since Jefferson penned the immortal document did the Declaration of Independence become in this country a living truth. Soldiers of 1861-65, you need no bard to embalm your deed in verse or song, no sculptor to chisel your worth in granite. Your monument is around you-a country saved and liberty ascendant and triumphant."

At this encampment General Gray said: "When Cato the censor used to finish his speeches in the Roman senate he ended every speech for long years with one sentiment, 'Carthage must be destroyed.' Now there is one pertinent thing you comrades should say at the close of every speech or at the close of every post meeting, and that is that the Grand Army must be recruited. Boys, there are 500,000 men eligible to the Grand Army that are outside of the order. You have but one-quarter of the eligibles in South Dakota inside the order today. The commander-in-chief said to me last night, the last thing before he went to sleep, 'If you get a chance at the boys tomorrow tell each one of them to get a fellow by the collar and bring him into the post.' That is the only efficient way to recruit the order; you cannot do it by sending out slips of paper; you cannot do it by telling some other fellow to recruit. If you know a man you can reach go to him and ask to see his discharge, and if he is not a member of the order ask him what in thunder is the matter with his record. The time has gone by when those who are eligible should lie around on the outskirts and not be fighting in the front ranks. While you live get all the boys in to live with you and have a good time. Get them in, and when the time comes for them to die, bury them by the beautiful ritual of our order." The committee on reso- lutions made a long report in which were the following preambles and reso- lutions :

Whereas, the education in patriotism of our foreign population and of our colored people has been neglected, and the instruction of all our youth in the righteousness of the cause of the North in the contest over the question of state rights, secessions and negro slavery has not been adequate and effi- cient ; and

Whereas, patriotism is a lesson to be learned and such instruction can be given best in the family and in the school room. Therefore,

Resolved, that the American flag, the emblem of our nationality, should be displayed in every household and over every educational and public institution in the land, and should be recognized by a proper salute on all suitable occa- sions ; and

Resolved, that the commander of each post in this department shall take such steps as may seem to him most practicable to have the last school day before Memorial Day, and during the first month of all the schools in the fall

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of each year, observed by certain patriotic services, such as addresses, resolu- tions, recitations and songs as will arouse a love of country and reverence for the flag and a devotion to the principles upon which our nation is founded.

Resolved, that we demand a liberal construction of the pension laws and a prompt adjudication of claims, to the end that liberal pensions may be accorded the survivors of the Union army, their widows and orphans, and that we depre- cate any narrow or technical construction of the acts of Congress granting pensions which may tend to deprive pensioners of what is equitably due them

Resolved, that we call attention of the posts in this department to the vital importance of establishing more intimate relations between our organization and those of the Woman's Relief Corps and the Sons of Veterans, and we hereby instruct our representatives in the next national encampment to present and favor such legislation by that body as shall open our post meetings to the members of those two organizations in the same spirit of fraternity as we are now invited to sit in the meeting of the Sons of Veterans.

. Resolved, that the council of administration is hereby directed to devise a plan by which the Woman's Relief Corps and the Sons of Veterans shall have a voice in the selection of the place and time of holding the annual encampment and in fixing the program of the public exercises during the session.

Mr. Bennett said: "In all of the public exercises in any of the places in which we have held a session there has always been a restriction, so far as attempt was concerned, to hold the people who were desirous of attending them. Now if a tent could be purchased that would hold a thousand or fifteen hundred people to be used on such public occasion, so that the whole people, wherever we assembled as a department, might have the pleasure, the instruc- tion and the inspiration that it is desirous that they should get from these meet- ings, I think it would be a wise move. Inasmuch as these sessions are held for the purpose of arousing enthusiasm and teaching loyalty, we want all the people, the children and women and young men and everybody, to come and participate and endeavor to get some of the inspiration incident to these meet- ings." The council was directed to inquire concerning the tent and make report at the next meeting.

Chairman Carpenter of the Sons of Veterans addressed the encampment as follows: "The fourth annual encampment of the Sons of Veterans extend you our greetings and renew our allegiance and assure you of our continued co- operation and loyalty to the men who wore the blue and gave us what we are enjoying today. We come to you and pledge you as you were loyal and true to your country's name so will we be loyal to our country and true to you who have so bravely given us what we now enjoy. I urge upon you fathers that you press home upon your boys the objects and principles of our organization. It is an auxiliary to your order. It will step into the tracks you have made, and it will take up the work where you lay it down." In replying to this, Governor Sheldon said: "We hope you will take back with you to the encampment of the Sons of Veterans the hearty thanks of these old Grand Army men. We are glad as fathers that we will be able in their early manhood to set them such examples, to instill into them such principles as shall make them loyal and devoted to the flag and devoted to the principles of government for which we fought, so that if the occasion should ever arise they will not be found wanting.

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Take back to the Sons of Veterans the hearty cordial greetings of these old men, and tell them that your organization meets their hopes and that they bid you Godspeed, and that they hope that in every work which comes to you in your organization that you will show yourselves to be worthy sons of those who we hope are noble sires."

In September, 1893, upon the return of the South Dakota veterans from the national encampment they stopped in Chicago one day in order to assist in making Grand Army Day a big success. Later it was proposed to have a Con- federate Day and to have all the Grand Army of the Republic members present on that occasion to make that day also successful. While the state officials of the order were in doubt, they received from E. T. Langley, post department commander, a series of stringent resolutions which had been adopted on that subject by Kilpatrick Post and which severely condemned that step. Com- mander Nash accordingly sent the following reply to the World's Columbian authorities : "The old soldiers of this department, the men who saved the nation in its hour of peril from the assault of treason which arrogated to itself the title (Confederacy) feel deeply grieved that your body has, through mistaken judgment as we believe, attempted at this late day to make the rebellion respect- able and destroy or mitigate the odium of treason by designating Confederate Day. We believe and are proud to believe as a fact that the great majority of former rebels do not desire to parade in public as the men who were traitors to their country and endeavored to overthrow its Government. Your great expo- sition-the admiration of the whole world-would not now be in existence, and this greatest exhibition of man's triumph would not have been possible, had the rebels been successful in their war upon the Government. We feel that it is an insult to the nation and to every man who served in the Union ariny and navy for the officers of the World's Columbian Exposition to thus (unwittingly we hope) attempt to make treason respectable and honor the men who sought to rend the nation and destroy its flag. Therefore, on behalf of the Department of South Dakota, Grand Army of the Republic, and on behalf of every loyal citizen of our state, I desire most earnestly to protest against the consummation of your proposed Confederate Day program." As Confederate Day did not materialize it is presumed that South Dakota, in conjunction with all of its sister states, had effectually killed the project.

Elaborate preparation for the due celebration of Decoration Day was made in the spring of 1894. Sons of Veterans and Woman's Relief Corps all over the state were invited to participate in the services. Order No. 1I said: "Not many years will come and go ere the duty we so lovingly perform on Memorial Day will be performed by other hands than ours, but while we are still on duty let us reverently and earnestly seek to impart a love for the heroes who have died that our country might live, which will constrain generations to come to cherish hallowed memories of those to whom duty and love for our flag was dearer than life. No post of this department should fail to properly observe Decoration Day. Let the children be assigned some prominent part in the exer- cises, for, comrades, remember the children of today must in the near future take your places, and upon you mainly depends their proper education in those lessons of patriotism and loyalty which are essential to good citizenship."

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The eleventh annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic met at the Opera House, DeSmet, June 5, 1894, and was called to order by the commander, N. C. Nash. One of the first points brought to the attention of the encampment was that the previous year few, if any, of the delegates had brought credentials with them; so that it was impossible to tell whether they were entitled to legally represent their posts. D. H. Hawn and Comrades Ackley, Hall Batchelder, and Johnson were the Committee on Credentials this year. The encampment received from Louisville Commercial Club, Kentucky, a gavel made from an oak tree which grew on the farm where Abraham Lincoln was born. The interest in the gavel was almost wholly historic. Louisville was an applicant for the national encampment at this time. The delegates were instructed to vote for Louisville, but this motion was reconsidered and they were left uninstructed.

General Palmer said: "It has been my good fortune to be present as a delegate in every encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic since its organization in the Territory of Dakota. I find myself today more than ever drawn to the encampments, because I am going to see the boys. Unconsciously I consider this one of the greatest pleasures of my life. I expect to see the Sons of Veterans steadily taking our places as the years pass. Some of the men whom I have seen marching down the streets upon the day of our encamp- ments I do not see any more. Some of the men I met at Chamberlain are not here today, and I never expected to see them again in my life. But our duties will be taken up by the young men-a pure, clean, noble manhood. I tell you he must be blind indeed who reads the recorded page as it is going forth, being made day by day in this land of ours, that does not understand the issue, and he does not have to read between the lines that this country which has once been in peril and saved by these old men, is going to be imperiled, and to be saved, if it is to be saved, by the genuine and magnificent young men as are members of the Sons of Veterans. A young man, a young boy, who reads the daily papers and the accounts of what is transpiring in this land of ours today can understand the dangers we are in when we see armed men who are reported unable to speak the English language marching through the streets of an Illinois town crying and singing "Vive l'anarchique." The time may come when the loyalty and patriotism of 1860 to 1865 may be put to its test again. I tell you, my comrades, the boys that were then alive will ever be found loyal to their country and their country's flag, though they may not be able to shoulder the musket and put down armed treason and armed rebellion and armed anarchy; but I say to you the hope of the future and the welfare of this country lie largely with these boys of the Sons of Veterans who know something of what their fathers passed through."

At the eleventh annual meeting of the Woman's Relief Corps, coincident with the eleventh encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, the presi- dent made a full report. She reported that she had received great help from Mrs. Sara E. Holmes, Mrs. L. P. Bryson and Mrs. Lelia L. Smith during the past year. She reported that the hard times had not only prevented the forma- tion of many new corps, but had compelled several to disband. Corps had been organized at Wessington Springs, Ipswich, Esmond and Arlington. She said: "Commander, your posts cannot afford to be without the Woman's Relief Corps,

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this valuable auxiliary of women. You know that women have a way of doing so many nice little acts, that men never think of, and the W. R. C. seems to know just how and just when to do these things-to get up a nice supper, discover when a veteran's family needs aid, and in a quiet way send the needed supplies. Besides it is a duty you owe the good women of your locality to open for them this legalized avenue, that they may demonstrate their patriotism and loyalty to the brave defenders of their country." At this time more than nine-tenths of the Grand Army of the Republic posts in the state had Woman's Relief Corps auxiliaries. The women attending the national encampment at Indianapolis were Mrs. Carrie M. Cleveland, Mrs. Lukens, Mrs. Carpenter and Mrs. Bryson.

Commander Nash said in his annual address: "Comrades, your mission is not yet fulfilled, nor will it be until old glory floats from every schoolhouse in the country we saved. When the children of this generation have learned to rever- ence that flag and love it with that intense fervor which will prompt them to give their lives if need be in its defense, when the men and women of our land are patriotic and loyal, when good citizenship is indelibly stamped on our civilization, when love of God and country is the universal rule-then, comrades, the war will be over and we can be mustered out." He further said: "At our last encamp- ment we were just beginning to feel the heel of the oppressor. The tyrannical rulings and the brutal presumptions of an unrepentant rebel who had been em- ployed by the hostile administration to apply a whip of scorpions to the backs of the men who saved this union and who were entitled to a nation's gratitude, was bad enough ; but to place that whip in the hands of a comrade who, to his ever- lasting shame, be it said, consented to do the brutal work, made the pain harder for us to bear. The commissioner had fame and honor within his grasp. How pitiful that he should choose infamy and dishonor instead. Had he told Hoke Smith, 'You can have my resignation, but you cannot have my service in attempt- ing to bring dishonor upon my comrades living and dead, nor will I be a party officially or unofficially to any scheme which has for its ultimate object the distress of my comrades and the widows and orphans of these brave men who have answered the last roll call-had he said this, his patriotism could never have been gauged by the size of his salary. * * Until Lochren's administration of the pension office, congressmen could go there at the request of their constit- uents and learn what further evidence was necessary to complete a claim, but now it is a star-chamber affair and merits the contempt of all honest men. The pension roll is a 'Roll of Honor,' my comrades, and you and I alike desire and demand that it shall so continue; but this administration assumes that the pen- sioners are no better than a lot of horsethieves, and it is wasting the people's money in a particularly fruitless attempt to convict the pensioners of obtaining money by fraud. *

* Who has a better right to a comfortable old age, unharrassed by the fear of extreme poverty and consequent distress, than the men and women who saved this nation from destruction? What is now doled out as a charity is yours and mine by right, by virtue of a contract which should be as sacred as any obligation the Government can assume, and it has no right by subsequent legislation to impair that contract. A pensioner in this state was dropped from the rolls, and I took the matter up, and in the course of my corre- spondence with Mr. Lochren I said to him: 'After a claim has been allowed under the rules and regulations authorized by law, you have no right to suspend

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the payment of that pension until you discover that it was obtained through fraud.' This pensioner was restored to the rolls."

Commander Nash also said: "Under the able and skillful guidance of its president, Mrs. Carrie M. Cleveland, the Woman's Relief Corps of this depart- ment has made substantial progress during the past year. The loyal women of our land are the best friends we ever had or ever can have. During the dark days of the rebellion they were not less loyal and patriotic than the boys who are now veterans, and their noble service contributed more to the dawn of peace than we can ever know until the records of the universe are open to our inspec- tion. Recognizing in them able and efficient co-workers with us in the mission of our order, we bid them Godspeed in their noble work and we extend to them with all the cordiality veterans are capable of, the right hand of fellowship; and, comrades, since we owe them a debt we can never repay fully, let us settle the score so far as we can by the most generous, sincere and helpful encouragement. Without their assistance I fear our memorial exercises, which contributed so much to the education of the rising generation in lessons of loyalty and patriotism, would speedily languish. Therefore, Mrs. President and sisters of your conven- tion, go on in your grand work, and may the thought that your brothers whom you helped save this nation are intensely loyal to you nerve you to greater efforts and aid you in achieving success as complete as it will be sublime.

"Sons of Veterans! Worthy sons of noble sires! It is with profoundest admiration that we greet you. We salute your loving confidence that you will preserve untainted the liberties your fathers and forefathers achieved on many a bloody battlefield. Brave and fearless, honest and conscientious as you are, remember that great deeds are but seldom done ; most of us must content ourselves with the smaller duties which go to make up good citizenship. Be comforted and encouraged by the thought that the good, every-day, duty-doing men and women are of far greater value to mankind than the few who are credited with great deeds. Comrades, encourage by your means the gallant Sons of Veterans, whose organization will remain and whose members will stand with uncovered heads when ours is mustered out. They will take up the work where we leave off. Our mission cannot be fulfilled in the years of our lives, for it is too great to be accomplished before we cross the dark river. Our great commanders are en- camped on the other shore, and we have steadily and loyally touched elbows and continued our march. Soon death's bugle will sound for us, but our sons will take up the lines of march when we lay down our arms, and 'Old Glory' will still be carried forward. The hallowed memories which cluster around our heroic dead should prompt us to that higher plane of living which makes all mankind brothers. We decorate their graves with flags to teach the children that these men died in defense of the flags which float above their graves; that they died in order that the Government of this country, which they proudly claimed as their native or adopted land, might survive the storms of treason which so fiercely assailed it in 1861. The observance of Memorial Day is growing more general as the years roll by. To teach its proper observance should be in keeping with the solemn memories it revives in every thoughtful mind.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 55

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146