imbedded thought in the American heart that does not, as in many of
our Spanish-American countries, give its devotion to the man, but to
the law, the Constitution, and to the flag. So that in that hour of
gloom, when that richest contribution of all gems that Illinois has
ever set in our Nation's diadem, Abraham Lincoln, and in that hour
of the consummation of his work, dies by the hand of the assassin,
Garfield, who was to meet a like fate, might say to the trembling and
dismayed people: "Lincoln is dead, but the Government at Washington
still lives."
My fellow-citizens, to all those who, through your Mayor, have
extended me their greeting, to all who are here assembled, I return
my most sincere thanks. I do not look upon such assemblages without
profound emotion. They touch me, and I believe they teach me, and
I am sure that the lessons are wholesome lessons. We have had here
to-day this procession of veterans, aged and feeble many of them.
That is retrospective. That is part of the great story of the past,
written in glorious letters on the firmament that is spread above
the world. And in these sweet children who have followed we read the
future. How sweet it was to see them bearing in their infant hands
these same banners that those veterans carried amid the shot and
battle and dying of men! I had occasion at the centennial celebration
of the inauguration of Washington in New York, being impressed by the
great display of national colors, to make a suggestion that the flag
should be taken into the schoolhouses, and I am glad to know that in
that State there is daily a little drill of the children that pays
honor to the flag. But, my friends, the Constitution provides that
I shall annually give information to Congress of the state of the
Union and make such recommendations as I may think wise, and it has
generally been understood, I think, that this affirmative provision
contains a negative and implies that the President is to give no one
except Congress any information as to the state of the Union, and
that he shall especially make no suggestions that can be in any shape
misconstrued.
I confess that it would give me great pleasure, if the occasion were
proper, to give you some information as to the state of the Union as I
see it, and to make some suggestions as to what I think would be wise
as affecting the state of the Union. But I would not on an occasion
like this, when I am greeted here by friends, fellow-citizens of all
shades of thought in politics and in the Church, say a word that could
mar the harmony of this great occasion. I trust we are all met here
together to-day as loyal-loving American citizens, and that over all
our divisions and differences there is this great arch of love and
loyalty binding us together.
And now you will excuse me from further speech when I have said
again that I am profoundly grateful to the people of Galesburg and
this vicinity, and to these, my comrades in arms, who have so warmly
opened their arms to welcome me to-day. [Cheers.]
_Reunion First Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth Army Corps._
In the afternoon General Harrison attended the reunion of the First
Brigade Association, of which he is President. This brigade was the
General's command in the late war, and comprised the Seventieth Indiana
Regiment, Seventy-ninth Ohio, One Hundred and Second, One Hundred and
Fifth, and One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois. Many veterans were
present from these regiments. Among the prominent participants were:
Generals Daniel Dustin and E. F. Dutton, Sycamore, Ill.; Gen. F. C.
Smith, Galesburg; Gen. A. W. Doane, Wilmington, Ohio; General Miles,
Col. H. C. Corbin, H. H. Carr, N. E. Gray, Dr. P. L. McKinnie, and
Colonel Sexton, Chicago; H. H. McDowell, Pontiac; Capt. Edward L.
Patterson, Cleveland; Capt. F. E. Scott, Brokenbow, Neb.; Capt. J. T.
Merritt, Aledo; Major M. G. McLain, Indianapolis; Capt. J. E. Huston,
Clearfield, Iowa; James M. Ayers, R. M. Smock, Colonel Mannon, Major
Jack Burst, Wm. Eddleman, C. D. Braidemeyer, Capt. T. U. Scott, Capt.
T. S. Rogers, C. P. Curtis, Captain Bodkins, and others. Congressman
Thos. J. Henderson and many of the above-mentioned officers made brief
speeches during the reunion. General Dustin occupied the chair pending
the election of officers for the ensuing year. General Harrison's
re-election as President of the Association was carried amid cheers, and
as he appeared to assume the presiding chair the veterans gave him a
rousing reception.
The President then addressed the brigade as follows:
_Comrades_--The object of my visit to Galesburg was this meeting
which we are to have now. I should not, I think, have been persuaded
to make this trip except for the pleasure which I expected to find
in meeting the men of the old brigade, from most of whom I have been
separated since the muster-out day. We have had a great demonstration,
one very full of interest, on the streets and in the park, but I think
we are drawn a little closer in this meeting and understand each other
a little better than in the larger assemblages of which we have made a
part. It is very pleasant for me to see so many here. I cannot recall
the names of all of you. Time has wrought its changes upon the faces
of us all. You recognize me because there were not so many colonels
as there were soldiers--fortunately, perhaps, for the country.
[Laughter.] I saw you as individuals in the brigade line when it was
drawn up either for parade or battle. It is quite natural, therefore,
and I trust it will not be held against me, that you should have a
better recollection of my features than I can possibly have of yours.
And yet some of you I recall and all of you I love. [Applause.] When
you were associated in a brigade in 1862 we were all somewhat new to
military duties and life. The officers as well as the men had come
together animated by a common purpose from every pursuit in life. We
were not so early in the field as some of our comrades. We yield them
the honor of longer service, but I think we may claim for ourselves
that when our hands were lifted to take the enlistment oath there was
no inducement for any man to go into the army under any expectation
that he was entering on a holiday. In the early days of the war men
thought or hoped it would be brief. They did not measure its extent or
duration. They did not at all rightly estimate the awful sacrifices
that were to be made before peace with honor was assured.
I well remember an incident of the early days of volunteering at
Indianapolis, when the first companies in response to the first call
of President Lincoln came hurrying to the capital. Among the first
to arrive was one from Lafayette, under the command of Capt. Chris.
Miller. They came in tumultuously and enthusiastic for the fight.
These companies were organized into regiments, which one by one were
sent into West Virginia or other fields of service. It happened that
the regiment to which my friend Miller was assigned was the last to
leave the State. I met him one day on the street, and a more mad and
despondent soldier I never saw. He was not absolutely choice in the
use of his language--all soldiers were not. I think the First Brigade
was an exception. [Laughter.] He was swearing like a pirate over the
disgrace that had befallen him and his associates, growing out of the
fact that he was absolutely certain that the war would be over before
they got into the field, and left in camp a stranded regiment, having
no part in putting down the rebellion.
Well, his day came presently, and he was ordered to West Virginia,
and among the first of those who, under the fire of the enemy at Rich
Mountain, received a bullet through his body was Capt. Chris. Miller.
When these regiments of ours were enlisted we were not apprehensive
that the war would be over before we had an adequate share of it. We
were pretty certain we would all have enough before we were through.
The clouds were dark in those days of '62. McClellan was shut up
in the Peninsula; Buell was coming back from Alabama; Kirby Smith
was entering through Cumberland Gap, and everything seemed to be
discouraging. I think I may claim for these men of Illinois, and these
men of Indiana and of Ohio--if some of them are here to meet with us
to-day--that when they enlisted there was no other motive than pure,
downright patriotism, and there was no misunderstanding of the serious
import of the work on which they entered. [Applause.]
Those early days in which we were being transformed from civilians
into soldiers were full of trial and hardship. The officers were
sometimes bumptious and unduly severe--I am entering a plea in my own
behalf now. [Laughter.] The soldiers had not yet got to understand
why a camp guard should be established, why they should not be at
perfect liberty to go to town as they were when on the farm and the
day's work was over. It was supposed that an army was composed of so
many men, but we had not learned at that time that it was absolutely
necessary that all those men should be at the same place at the same
time, and that they could not be scattered over the neighborhood.
There were a good many trials of that sort while the men were being
made soldiers and the officers were learning their duties, and to know
the proper margin between the due liberty of the individual and the
necessary restraint of discipline. But those days were passed soon,
and they passed the sooner when the men went into active duties. Camp
duties were always irksome and troublesome, but when they were changed
for the active duties of the march and field there was less need of
restraint.
I always noticed there was no great need of a camp guard after
the boys had marched twenty-five miles. They did not need so much
watching at night. Then the serious time came when sickness devastated
us and disease swept its dread swath, and that dreadful progress of
making soldiers was passed through when diseases which should have
characterized childhood prostrated and destroyed men. Then there came
out of all this, after the sifting out of those who were weak and
incapable, of those who could not stand this acclimating process, that
body of tough, strong men, ready for the march and fight, that made up
the great armies which under Grant and Sherman and Sheridan carried
the flag to triumph.
The survivors of some of them are here to-day, and whatever else has
come to us in life, whether honor or disappointment, I do not think
there are any of us--not me, I am sure--who would to-day exchange the
satisfaction, the heart comfort we have in having been a part of the
great army that subdued the rebellion, that saved the country, the
Constitution, and the flag. [Applause.] If I were asked to exchange it
for any honor that has come to me, I would lay down any civil office
rather than surrender the satisfaction I have in having been an humble
partaker with you in that great war. [Applause.] Who shall measure it?
Well, generations hence, when this country, which had 30,000,000, now
64,000,000, has become 100,000,000, when these institutions of ours
grow and develop and spread, and homes in which happiness and comfort
have their abiding place, then we may begin to realize, North and
South, what this work was. We but imperfectly see it now, yet we have
seen enough of the glory of the Lord to fill our souls full of a quiet
enthusiasm. [Applause.]
Here we are pursuing our different works in life to-day just as when
we stood on picket or on guard, just as in the front rank of battle
facing the foe--trying to do our part for the country. I hope there
is not a soldier here in whom the love of the flag has died out. I
believe there is not one in whose heart it is not a growing passion.
I think a great deal of the interest of the flag we see among the
children is because you have taught them what the flag means. No one
knows how beautiful it is when we see it displayed here on this quiet
October day, amid these quiet autumnal scenes, who has not seen it
when there was no other beautiful thing to look upon. [Applause.] And
in those long, tiresome marches, in those hours of smoke and battle
and darkness, what was there that was beautiful except the starry
banner that floated over us? [Applause.]
Our country has grown and developed and increased in riches until
it is to-day marvellous among the nations of the earth, sweeping from
sea to sea, embracing almost every climate, touching the tropics and
the arctic, covering every form of product of the soil, developing in
skill in the mechanical arts, developing, I trust and believe, not
only in these material things which are great, but not the greatest,
but developing also in those qualities of mind and heart, in morality,
in the love of order, in sobriety, in respect for the law, in a
God-fearing disposition among the people, in love for our country, in
all these high and spiritual things. I believe the soldiers in their
places have made a large contribution to all these things.
The assembling of our great army was hardly so marvellous as
its disbanding. In the olden time it was expected that a soldier
would be a brawler when the campaign was over. He was too often a
disturber. Those habits of violence which he had learned in the field
followed him to his home. But how different it was in this war of
ours. The army sprang into life as if by magic, on the call of the
martyred President--Illinois' greatest gift, as I have said, to the
Nation. They fought through the war, and they came out of it without
demoralization. They returned to the very pursuits from which they had
come. It seemed to one that it was like the wrapping of snow which
nature sometimes puts over the earth in the winter season to protect
and keep warm the vegetation which is hidden under it, and which
under the warm days of spring melts and disappears, and settles into
the earth to clothe it with verdure and beauty and harvest. [Great
cheering.]
_Alumni Hall, Knox College._
After the public reception was concluded the President and party
participated in the laying of the corner-stone of the Alumni Hall
on the campus of Knox College. Dr. Newton Bateman, president of the
college, conducted the exercises. Prof. Milton L. Comstock read a brief
history of Knox College, at the conclusion of which Dr. Adams introduced
President Harrison, who spoke as follows:
_My Fellow-citizens_--Speaking this morning in the open air, which
since my official isolation from campaigning has made my voice
unaccustomed to it, will make it impossible for me to speak further
at this time. I do not deem this ceremony at all out of accord with
the patriotic impulses which have stirred our hearts to-day. Education
was early in the thought of the framers of our Constitution as one of
the best, if not the only guarantee of their perpetuation. Washington,
as well as the founders of the venerable and useful institution,
appreciated and expressed his interest in the establishment of
institutions of learning. How shall one be a safe citizen when
citizens are rulers who are not intelligent? How shall he understand
those great questions which his suffrage must adjudge without thorough
intellectual culture in his youth? We are here, then, to-day engaged
in a patriotic work as we lay this corner-stone of an institution that
has had a great career of usefulness in the past and is now entering
upon a field of enlarged usefulness. We lay this corner-stone and
rededicate this institution to truth, purity, loyalty, and a love of
God.
_Phi Delta Theta Banquet._
In the evening the President attended a banquet tendered him by Lombard
and Knox chapters of Phi Delta Theta, of which college fraternity
General Harrison was a member in his student days. At the President's
table sat Toastmaster Lester L. Silliman, of Lombard Chapter, with
General Miles, Generals Grosvenor, Morgan, and Post, Mayor Stevens, Dr.
Ayres, and Rev. Dr. Hood. Brother Geo. W. Prince delivered the welcoming
address on behalf of the local chapters, to which the distinguished Phi
brother, President Harrison, arising amid great applause, responded.
After a few pleasant remarks regarding his recollections of college life
and his pleasure at meeting again with the members of the Phi Delta
Theta, he said:
My college associations were broken early in life, partly by
necessity and partly by choice; by necessity so far as the compulsion
to work for a living was upon me, and by choice in that I added to my
responsibility at an early date, so that it has not been my pleasure
often to meet with or sit about the banquet board with members of this
society. It gives me pleasure to meet with you to-night. I feel the
greatest sympathy with these young men who are now disciplining their
minds for the work of life. I would not have them make these days too
serious, and yet they are very full of portent and promise. It is not
inconsistent, I think, with the joyfulness and gladness which pertains
to youth that they shall have some sense of the value of these golden
days. They are days that are to affect the whole future. If I were to
select a watchword that I would have every young man write above his
door and on his heart, it would be that good word "Fidelity." I know
of no better. The man who meets every obligation to the family, to
society, to the State, to his country, and his God, to the very best
measure of his strength and ability, cannot fail of that assurance and
quietness that comes of a good conscience, and will seldom fail of the
approval of his fellow-men, and will never fail of the reward which is
promised to faithfulness. Unfaithfulness and lack of fidelity to duty,
to work, and to obligation is the open door to all that is disgraceful
and degrading.
I want to thank you again, gentlemen, for this pleasant greeting,
and to ask you, after the rather exhaustive duties of this day, to
excuse me from further address and accept the best wishes of a brother
in the Phi Delta Theta organization. [Cheers.]
_The Brigade Banquet._
Later in the evening the President and party attended a banquet given by
the citizens in honor of the First Brigade. It was a brilliant affair,
conducted by the ladies of the city, active among whom were Mrs. Geo.
Lescher, Miss Tillie Weeks, Miss Maude Stewart, Miss Winnie Hoover,
and Mrs. Whiffen. Mrs. George Gale had charge of the table of honor,
assisted by Mrs. Otto M. Smith and Miss Louise Tryon. Gen. Philip S.
Post was Master of Ceremonies and presented General Harrison.
The President prologued his parting words with an incident of a visit
he made to a small town down the Potomac. Although he was introduced
as President all over the town, no special attention was paid to him,
and when the local paper came out with a column and a half report of
the visit of the Chief Executive, the good people of the town were
astonished, but explained their lack of attention by saying they thought
Mr. Harrison was president of some fishing club. Aside from jokes, said
the President:
One serious word in leaving. This day in Galesburg I shall long
remember. The enthusiasm and the cordiality of the citizens, the
delicacy and kindness of their attention, have impressed me deeply.
I shall ever gratefully recollect Galesburg as a spot of especial
interest, as the place of the meeting of the old brigade. Comrades,
I hope to meet you again when my time is more my own, and on several
occasions like this to speak to you more familiarly, and to recall
this time. I have tried not to be stinted in my intercourse with you,
for I have wanted you to feel me warm and sincere. I have expressed
myself, but not as freely as I would if by ourselves, or if I were
but a private citizen or member of the brigade. But I would say to
you and all your families, to the wives that sit here, to the wives
and children that are at home, to those who have gone out from your
roof-tree to prepare homes, to your grand-children--and I hope all of
you have them--to one and all, I extend the hearty sympathy and best
wishes of the "old-timer" you served so faithfully.
OTTUMWA, IOWA, OCTOBER 9.
The President's party left Galesburg the night of the 8th, arriving
at Burlington at 10 o'clock, where about 8,000 people greeted them.
The President was escorted to the Commercial Club rooms, where Mayor
Duncan, on behalf of the city of Burlington, and P. M. Crapo, president
of the club, made addresses of welcome. A reception of one hour's
duration followed, during which President Harrison shook hands with
3,000 callers. Ottumwa was reached at 8 o'clock Thursday morning. A
committee of citizens, headed by Hon. J. G. Hutchison, met the President
at Galesburg. On arrival the President and his brother, John Scott
Harrison, were immediately driven to the residence of their sister, Mrs.
T. J. Devin, where they passed the morning.
At the Coal Palace the President and Secretary Tracy were met by Gov.
Horace Boies and his staff, headed by Adjt.-Gen Greene; also Senator
Wm. B. Allison, Senator James F. Wilson, ex-Senator Harlan, Hon. John
F. Lacey, and the following Committee of Reception, representing the
city of Ottumwa: T. J. Devin, W. T. Harper, J. E. Hawkins, W. B. Smith,
Henry Phillips, Sam'l A. Flager, J. C. Manchester, A. W. Johnson, W. T.
Fenton, J. G. Meek, Calvin Manning, Geo. Withall, J. W. Garner, J. J.
Smith, W. W. Epps, H. B. Hendershott, J. H. Merrill, W. B. Bonnifield,
A. H. Hamilton, C. F. Blake, John C. Fisher, Hon. John N. Irwin, J. T.
Hackworth, W. C. Wyman, John C. Jordan, A. G. Harrow, Allen Johnston,
T. D. Foster, J. W. Edgerly, A. W. Lee, William Daggett, G. H. Sheffer,
W. D. Elliott, Charles Bachman, H. A. Zangs, R. H. Moore, Capt. S. B.
Evans, Capt. S. H. Harper, H. W. Merrill, J. R. Burgess, J. B. Mowrey,
A. C. Leighton, W. S. Cripps, R. L. Tilton, Dr. L. J. Baker, D. A.
Emery, Samuel Mahon, W. S. Coen, O. C. Graves, Thomas Swords, and
John F. Henry. Other cities in Iowa were represented on the Reception
Committee by the following prominent citizens: Hon. John Craig, of
Keokuk; Judge Traverse and Senator Taylor, of Bloomfield; Gen. W. W.
Wright and Gen. F. M. Drake, Centerville; Gen. B. M. McFall, Oskaloosa;
T. B. Perry and J. H. Drake, Albia; Geo. D. Woodin and Hon. F. E. White,
Sigourney; Hon. Chas. D. Leggett and Chas. D. Fullen, Fairfield; Hon.
Edwin Manning and Capt. W. A. Duckworth, Keosauqua; F. R. Crocker
and E. A. Temple, Chariton; O. P. Wright, Knoxville; E. B. Woodruff,
Marion Co.; Col. Al. Swalm, Oskaloosa; Hon. W. P. Smith, Hon. Josiah
Given, Hon. Fred Lehman, G. W. Wright, Des Moines; Hon. John H. Gear,
Hon. John J. Seely, Burlington; Hon. F. C. Hormel, Capt. M. P. Mills,
Cedar Rapids; Hon. Geo. H. Spahr, Hon. W. I. Babb, Mt. Pleasant; Hon.
J. B. Grinnell, of Grinnell; Dr. Engle, Newton; Frank Letts and J. S.
McFarland, Marshalltown; Hon. J. B. Harsh and M. A. Robb, Creston;
ex-Governor Kirkwood and Ezekiel Clark, Iowa City.
The President and Governor Boies reviewed the parade from a stand
in the park. The column was led by the veterans of the famous Third
Iowa Cavalry. Three thousand school children participated in the
demonstration, which was witnessed by fully 40,000 spectators. The
public reception took place in the afternoon at the Coal Palace; the
great building was overflowing. Hon. P. G. Ballingall, President of the
Coal Palace Exposition, introduced Governor Boies, who welcomed the
President in behalf of the people of Iowa.
President Harrison responded as follows: