Fellow soldiers: For three years we battled for our country's rights
and for our homes. We are widely separated; but with grateful memory
of the past we live for the future. Our country is now at peace. If
the call to arms should ever again resound throughout the land, may
we ever be ready. Let not the thoughts of former days and past
hardships deter us from again rushing to arms, for without a country
we are as nothing. With proud hearts we think of the past, knowing
and feeling that we have done our duty. We were welcomed home, and
by the fireside relate tales of by-gone days; of days of pleasure
and of pain; of those dark hours when our country was in danger, and
when we answered the call TO ARMS. Prosperity now reigns. Our flag,
the proud emblem of liberty, floats throughout the land from North
to South, and we as a nation are happy and prosperous beneath its
folds. The proud Eagle of America soars aloft on every ocean, and
the star-spangled banner floats on every sea. Our nation has passed
through a great deal in four years, and New Jersey has done her duty
nobly. Thousands of her brave sons have given their lives for their
country, and those that remain will read this book with interest. As
these pages are perused by the members of the 14th, scenes that were
long since forgotten will be fresh in memory. Soldiers, our work is
done! These terrible days of war are over. Throughout the land
soldiers' societies exist. Let every man that was a soldier join
these societies, and do all in their power to help those widows and
orphans whose husbands and fathers fill a soldier's grave, and ever
remember that our flag, the stars and stripes, must wave o'er this
Glorious Union now and forever. As a country we have no equal.
Slavery forever abolished and our nation saved, with thanks to the
Almighty for our safe return to our homes and families, to go no
more to war.
Those men who in the hour of peril remained at home and did all in
their power to help along the glorious cause, and by their actions
showed that they respected a soldier, will be looked upon by the
returned veterans as men; but those mean sneaking Copperheads that
were forever denouncing the North and were in favor of the South,
will be despised by us for their meanness. New Jersey is redeemed,
and to-day a loyal Governor sits in his seat at Trenton, a soldier's
friend. What we have passed through can be known only to us, and now
happy at our homes are content. The South is subdued, and has
learned a terrible lesson, that this Union can never be broken, and
as a united nation will live forever. As a regiment, the 14th no
longer exists, but the name of the 14th New Jersey from the old 6th
corps, will never be forgotten, but ever be remembered with pride as
a band of heroic men, that gave themselves for their country in its
hour of peril. It is but natural that the people should turn with
beaming eyes and grateful hearts to the heroic Union soldiers who
have nobly periled their all in defence of their country. Forever
shall the memory of our gallant dead be embalmed in the hearts of
the living. On the banks of many southern rivers; under the
spreading foliage of many a forest tree; on the hillsides and in the
valleys of the South, are tens of thousands of those grassy mounds
which mark the last resting places of the noble Union dead. In many
a northern home the widow and the orphan, the brother and the
sister, the bereaved father and disconsolate mother await the coming
of that step that so often in the past had been the sweetest music
to their ears. But they await in vain. Never more shall a mother's
kiss be pressed upon his brow as he sleeps in his little cot in the
humble chamber of the old homestead; but in the heart of a redeemed
nation his memory shall live forever. Comrades, I am done! Our
beloved country, healed of its wounds, to-day stands among other
powers a free and independent nation forever. Liberty, that
priceless gem, was purchased at a fearful cost. But those brave men
who now live will ever, with proud step and beaming eye, exclaim
with emotion, that with my help the country was saved. The
star-spangled banner planted high upon the everlasting hills of
truth and justice, shall wave to the breeze till time shall be no
more; recognized by foreign powers as the head of all nations. In
the annals of fame, our country lives forever!
Written by SERGEANT J. NEWTON TERRILL,
New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Commenced Sept. 1st, 1865; finished July 15th, 1866.