During the late civil war, as we have said, Officer McWatters took a
deep and patriotic interest in the conflict. This was manifested in
many ways, particularly towards the soldiers and their families; and he
has not forgotten them since. Whatever the reader may think of a man
who in this age allows himself to go deliberately into a contest, the
avowed purpose of which is to maim and kill his fellow-men, for any
cause; or what he may think of that order of society which compels a
man to enlist in a cause of cruelty and blood (as hosts of men were
driven into the rebel ranks at the point of the bayonet, or by
conscription, or want of something else to do, however remonstrating),
ought to have but little bearing upon the case of the veteran soldier
now.
Our Northern soldiers went to the war with the assurance of the public
press, and the declaration of hundreds of thousands of those who
remained at home, but who gathered in crowds ("to see the soldiers
_off_") at the places of departure, that they should, on their return,
receive the gratitude of those for whom they fought. Promises were
abundant, and the poor, confiding fellows for the most part believed
them, and on the battle-field found consolation for their hardships and
dangers in the love of those they had left behind, and which, poured
forth in unstinted measure on their return, was to be their "good and
abundant reward." Poor fellows! they have learned, for the most part,
the value of their countrymen's love; they have learned how priceless
is the glory of an arm or a leg lost, since it secures for them, who
only had precarious homes before, a permanent home in the poor-house,
or has led them to the due consideration of the virtue of economy; the
estimable and superior value of rags over the whole coats they used to
wear; of temperance in eating, and other like virtues. Very few care
for the "veteran soldier" now, and his family is left to starve with
those of other paupers, or with those of the imprisoned criminal. This
is the sad truth; and were another civil war to arise to-day, probably
but very few of the old rank and file, who are still strong and able,
would muster around the standard again, but would generously suggest to
those who remained at home before, that they might now win all the
victories, and enjoy all the glory.
But there are a few in the community who have not forgotten the maimed
veterans and their suffering families; and chief among these few is
Officer McWatters; for we hazard nothing in saying, that, all things
considered, there cannot be found another person, male or female, in
the whole land, who has done more for the poor soldiers and their
families than he. He seems to be impelled in his constant care for them
by what amounts to almost a generous frenzy, and which might so be
denominated were it not that his deeds in their behalf are always
directed by wisdom; it is a passion, at least, with him; the poetry of
his current life.