Chicago, January 31, 1894.
* Every soldier of the Army of the Potomac: remembers, the
colors that for two years floated over the headquarters of
Gen. Meade. Last night when one hundred and fifty men who
fought in that army gathered around the banquet board at the
Grand Pacific hotel a fac-simile of that flag floated over
them. It was a handsome guidon, on one side a field of
solferino red bearing a life-sized golden eagle surrounded
by a silver wreath of laurel; on the other were the national
colors with the names of the corps of the army.
The fifth annual banquet of the Western Society of the Army
of the Potomac will be remembered on account of the presence
of many distinguished men. The cigars had not been lighted
when Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, escorted by Gen. Newberry and
Col. Burbanks, came in. The bald head and sparse gray hair
of the famous orator were recognized by all, and he was
given a mighty welcome.
Save for the emblems of the Union and the fac-simile of Gen.
Meade's flag the decorations were simple. There were no
flowers, but the soldiers could read on little signs stuck
up around the tables such names as "Petersburg," "White
Oak," "Mine Run," "Cold Harbor," "Fair Oaks" and "South
Mountain." The exercises began and ended with bugle call and
military song, and the heroes of the Potomac showed that
they still remembered the words of the songs sung in camp.
Col. Freeman Connor, the retiring president, acted as
toastmaster. Seated near him were Maj.-Gen. Nelson Miles,
United States army; Gen. Newberry, Col. Ingersoll, Thomas B.
Bryan, Col. James A.. Sexton, Maj. E. A. Blodgett, Fred W.
Spink, Col. Williston and Maj. Heyle.
The exercises began with the singing of "America" by all
Col. Conner made a few remarks and then Col. C. S. McEntee
presented the new-comer to the society. When Colonel
Ingersoll was introduced, the veterans jumped up on chairs,
waved their handkerchiefs and greeted him with a mighty
shout. The Colonel spoke only fifteen minutes.
At the conclusion of Colonel Ingersoll's speech he was again
cheered for several minutes. A motion was made to make him
an honorary member of the Western Society of the Army of the
Potomac. The toastmaster in putting the question said: "All
who are in favor will rise and yell," and every comrade
yelled.
--Chicago Record, February 1, 1894.
FIRST of all, I wish to thank you for allowing me to be present. Next, I
wish to congratulate you that you are all alive. I congratulate you
that you were born in this century, the greatest century in the world's
history, the greatest century of intellectual genius and of physical,
mental and moral progress that the world ever knew. I congratulate you
all that you are members of the Army of the Potomac. I believe that
no better army ever marched under the flag of any nation. There was no
difficulty that discouraged you; no defeat that disheartened you. For
years you bore the heat and burden of battle; for years you saw your
comrades torn by shot and shell, but wiping the tears, from your cheeks
you marched on with greater determination than ever to fight to the end.
To the Army of the Potomac belongs the eternal honor of having obtained
finally the sword of Rebellion. I congratulate you because you fought
for the Republic, and I thank you for your courage. For by you the
United States was kept on the map of the world, and our flag was kept
floating. If not for your work, neither would have been there. You
removed from it the only stain that was ever on it. You fought not only
the battle of the Union, but of the whole world.
I congratulate you that you live in a period when the North has attained
a higher moral altitude than was ever attained by any nation. You now
live in a country which believes in absolute freedom for all. In this
country any man may reap what he sows and may give his honest thought to
his fellow-men. It is wonderful to think what this Nation was before the
Army of the Potomac came into existence. It believed in liberty as the
convict believes in liberty. It was a country where men that had honest
thoughts were ostracized. I thank you and your courage for what we are.
Nothing ennobles a man so much as fighting for the right. Whoever fights
for the wrong wounds himself. I believe that every man who fought in the
Union army came out a stronger and a better and a nobler man.
I believe in this country. I am so young and so full of enthusiasm
that I am a believer in National growth. I want this country to be
territorial and to become larger than it is. I want a country worthy of
Chicago. I want to pick up the West Indies, take in the Bermudas,
the Bahamas and Barbadoes. They are our islands. They belong to this
continent and it is a piece of impudence for any other nation to think
of owning them. We want to grow. Such is the extravagance of my ambition
that I even want the Sandwich Islands. They say that these islands are
too far away from us; that they are two thousand miles from our shores.
But they are nearer to our shores than to any other. I want them. I want
a naval station there. I want America to be mistress of the Pacific.
Then there is another thing in my mind. I want to grow North and South.
I want Canada--good people--good land. I want that country. I do not
want to steal it, but I want it. I want to go South with this Nation. My
idea is this: There is only air enough between the Isthmus of Panama and
the North Pole for one flag. A country that guarantees liberty to
all cannot be too large. If any of these people are ignorant, we
will educate them; give them the benefit of our free schools. Another
thing--I might as well sow a few seeds for next fall. I have heard many
reasons why the South failed in the Rebellion, and why with the help of
Northern dissensions and a European hatred the South did not succeed. I
will tell you. In my judgment, the South failed, not on account of its
army, but from other conditions. Luckily for us, the South had always
been in favor of free trade.
Secondly--The South raised and sold raw material, and when the war came
it had no foundries, no factories, and no looms to weave the cloth for
uniforms; no shops to make munitions of war, and it had to get what
supplies it could by running the blockade. We of the North had the
cloth to clothe our soldiers, shops to make our bayonets; we had all the
curious wheels that invention had produced, and had labor and genius,
the power of steam, and the water to make what we needed, and we did
not require anything from any other country. Suppose this whole country
raised raw material and shipped it out, we would be in the condition
that the South was. We want this Nation to be independent of the whole
world. A nation to be ready to settle questions of dispute by war should
be in a condition of absolute independence. For that reason I want all
the wheels turning in this country, all the chimneys full of fire,
all the looms running, the iron red hot everywhere. I want to see all
mechanics having plenty of work with good wages and good homes for their
families, good food, schools for their children, plenty of clothes, and
enough to take care of a child if it happens to take sick. I am for the
independence of America, the growth of America physically, mentally,
and every other way. The time will come when all nations combined cannot
take that flag out of the sky. I want to see this country so that if
a deluge sweeps every other nation from the face of the globe we would
have all we want made right here by our factories, by American brain and
hand.
I thank you that the Republic still lives. I thank you that we are all
lovers of freedom. I thank you for having helped establish a Government
where every child has an opportunity, and where every avenue of
advancement if open to all.