 The Lincoln Herald, Lincoln, Ill., June 17, 1869, p. 1 -- Gen.
Oglesby's oration
(Copy of transcript received from the Logan County Genealogical &
Historical Society)
"We come to-day to
honor the dead. You have reared to their memory, near their graves,
a costly and beautiful monument. Those we would honor by our
presence and this monument of marble, are already crowned with
honors above our powers to bestow. We remember them gratefully; all
admire them for their deeds; we love them dead, for their devotion
to our country while living, for the contributions of blood they
brought to the sacrifice liberty demanded. But we cannot honor those
who have so greatly honored themselves. I cannot tell how much is
due the dead who have died for liberty. Liberty that lifts up the
living, moving on in the tread of the dead to the full realization
in the soul, the mind, the heart of man, unfettered in its grand
domain of intelligent, constitutional, human freedom. We all love
life and cling to it to the last. – We can scarcely conceive what
earthly considerations will give our consent to give it away; we are
bound to it by attachments we are loath to sever. – Look where you
will over the broad domain of nature, and you still find everywhere
prevailing the same general uniform and unutterable love of life. –
When, then, we come to stand by the graves of those who have died
for us – who have broken the silver cord, facing an enemy who sought
our lives – who said, dying, "We died for our country." What shall
we say, and how shall we honor them. I look upon it as the strongest
bond of union, as the tie that shall bind us to the nation we love,
this willingness you show to honor these dead men. From many
battlefields we have gathered them; they lie in the graveyards of
every county in our State. Some came home to die – some came dead.
Wherever we go we shall find them, and a sad and mourning people
trying as you are to-day to place above them some enduring memorial
of affection and respect. A people who honor themselves by trying to
honor the dead, must love that country for which they died. The
monument you erect and dedicated to-day, is creditable both to the
living and the dead; the letters, the names engraved upon it, and
the monument to their memory, will remain for years. But if there be
no spot in the affections of our country, where these brave men
shall find a resting place, their memories will not be perpetuated.
How few names there are handed down to us on monuments. Most of the
names of the mysterious past comes down to us over the wave of
tradition or through the recorded pages of history. You see you
cannot engrave upon this monument the acts of the men it vainly
tries to perpetuate, nor shall I try to refresh your memories by a
long review of the call, the camp, the drill, the march, the toil,
that made them soldiers; nor the arrival on the field, the picket,
the skirmish, the battles, that made them Heroes. These will be
found written in the history of the country in those times, it is
their history. Too freshly do we still remember the dark, the fierce
conflict begun, the horrid thunders announcing the too rapid
approach of the dense, black, strange, unnatural and unwelcome cloud
that rose above; the ties of friendship and affection snapping and
breaking as the torrent of blood poured down upon us. The hard labor
of years we seemed to have gathered from our fathers seemed a
mockery; bad men laid hands upon the ark of freedom as though it did
not contain the covenant of liberty. Stung with madness, and mad
with rage, the aim seemed to be to destroy from the earth the
likeness of what, until our day; the world had failed to find. For a
time it seemed whoever put forth a hand to the ark of liberty was
smote with death, and now, when we have peace, how fearful it is to
look back over those scenes of agony and despair. One went from the
city, one went from the farm, one from the shop – from everywhere,
our old and young men went to war. How many of them never to return,
we shall, perhaps, certainly never know. It did seem hard to give
them up. Terrible as the invitation was, they did not decline it.
Home and its ties were not forgotten; love and affection were not
forgotten; love and affection were not broken – all was given up.
Soon the smoke of battle began to rise over the hills; the shout of
victory was heard in the camp of the enemy; terror spread all over
the land. Nations loving us none too well were eager to proclaim
that at last the bubble of government by the people had burst –
'These upstarts of the United States,' said they, 'have had their
day and run their race – Monarchies, not Republics, are what the
people require to make them nations.' Every little Duke or Prince,
half-seated on a crimsoned bench of power, started up with new hope,
to ride still further, with a little stronger rein, over the heads
of people. Nations, old and strong, and not averse to somewhat of
progress in the world, were more than prompt to confer recognition
upon our adversaries, to welcome them to their hospitable smiles and
ply them to their stores. We seemed to have as few friends as a man
gone into voluntary bankruptcy."
"Far down into the
hearts of our own people there was reposing a pure and vigorous
patriotism, which, touched by the conviction of imminent peril to
our liberties, rose to the surface and rolled like a wave of the
flood all over the land. Upon the crest of that were sat the women
of America, - Guardian Angles, crying aloud from morning until
night, 'come up to the help of our Soldiers fighting the battles of
our country!' A response such as had not been made in ancient or
modern times, was the munificient results in gifts to the afflicted,
the wounded and the dying soldier."
"But it is no part
of my purpose to-day to recall the miseries of the war. I have no
wish, and I am sure this audience can have none, to go over again
the thrilling and awful scenes of those days. I do not see that any
good end is to be gained in the race of life, as we live it here, by
returning to the past, so hopelessly fixed in its own immovable
sorrows and follies – its dark and bright sides. We treasure the
memory of our dead, something more than a beautiful custom; it is
the offering the heart bears to the afflicted – to those who
suffered in common with our country, the woes of war; and more
deeply still, the pain and anguish growing out of affliction born of
blood. With unabating respect we shall approach the graves of the
patriot dead, so long as a recollection shall last of their services
to the country, with emotions of profound gratitude."
OUR VOLUNTEER
SOLDIERS.
"We know, and it is
proper to confess, that but for the undaunted courage, the unselfish
sacrifices and services of these noble men and their countless
thousands of equally devoted comrades, but for the spirit of
patriotism forever found in the breast of the American volunteer,
our nation would not have weathered the storm one short year, and
would not again contest successfully, her existence against
assailants from within or without our boundaries. Men will be
patriotic; live for and die for a country, so long as their rights
are respected, their liberties guaranteed, and they are permitted to
stand upon a perfect equality of privileges with all who enjoy its
blessings. It was this estimate of human attachment to a country,
blessed with a code and constitution of laws in which all shared
equally its blessings, political, moral and religious, that gave to
the public mind the firm hope and confident expectation that no
earthly power could overthrow, or long disorganize it. I trust I
shall not be considered over-enthusiastic while asserting the candid
opinion, it never can be destroyed by say combination of power
outside of our own jurisdiction. If destruction shall ever come upon
us, it will only be when corruption shall have eaten out purity,
when dishonesty shall overcome honesty, when vice shall stand
sentinel over virtue, when justice shall have fled from our land,
and all distinction shall be lost between right and wrong! If you
can conceive a time when our people shall be led astray by selfish
devotion to meanness, stupidity, vice, wickedness and sin, when the
love of our past glorious history shall die out in the heart, and
patriotism shall wither in the soul of a free people, then may you
predict with some certainty, the awful day that shall be the last
one of this Republic. We are not, however, to forget the lessons of
the past, nor to lightly consider the sacrifices made by soldiers
and citizens in putting down."
THE LATE REBELLION
"We shall have
gained little if we have not learned to weigh well the causes which
led to it, the manner is which it originated, how it was conducted,
why it persisted so long in open hostility to us, how and why it
finally broke down, and yielded at last to the jurisdiction of the
national flag; and why, too, it was that nations, long on friendly
terms with us, with no cause of quarrel, were ready to lend us no
helping hand, but rather to put trouble in our way and stay our
progress back to peace and the re-establishment of law and order. –
Those men shall have died in vain, and their memories shall be
cherished to our dismay and dishonor, whom we mourn to-day, whom we
would fondly restore to life, whose great deeds we are trying in
some sense to perpetuate, if, after all, we have learned nothing.
Not only is it due to them, due to ourselves due to posterity, but
it is due to the conquered that we impress upon the national heart,
for the good of the national heart, for the good of the national
cause, and for the good of the cause of liberty throughout the
world, the stern lessons too plainly taught from the commencement to
the end of the dreadful crisis. Not that I shall attempt on this sad
occasion to discuss them, but that I may impress upon those who do
me the honor to listen, excusably, I trust, the high importance of
not lightly passing by those scenes unimpressed and untaught. Those
so recently in rebellion against the government, who are sensibly
attempting to regain their lost attachment to the Union, and
striving to re establish themselves under our humane laws and
amongst our people, where all hope that they may become happy,
prosperous and devoted, know well enough this is our duty and
purpose. Nothing less than the re establishment of the Union would
satisfy us; nothing less than its maintenance and perpetuity will.
Peace thoroughly established, the Union completely restored, the law
everywhere respected, good order observed, the national power fully
recognized, the citizen enjoying the full rights of citizenship, and
the flag of our country honored, respected and obeyed throughout the
land, at home and abroad, we say to those so lately in arms against
us, here in the midst of a free, happy and prosperous people, who
love their country, love justice, love liberty, love equality, love
obedience to law, and bow before the majesty of a free, outspoken,
intelligent majority – here you, too, may live and participate with
us in the august privileges and bountiful blessings we tender to the
world. Do you not remember the magnanimity, as well as the courage
of our Union soldiers? The dead and the living alike catching the
spirit of our institutions, breathing the same with loyal citizens
in a frank and generous manhood, set an example of moderation,
candor, good will and forbearance, that equal of which the world, so
far as I know, has not seen."
"It is not our
province to scatter flowers over the graves of our enemy, if by this
proceeding it be thought we approve their cause. It is our province
and pleasure to spread flowers on the graves of our soldiers, and
praises upon their memories, if by so doing we heartily approve
their deeds and would imitate them – a moral dignity attaches to a
noble set the obligations to uphold and defend it. We can do no less
than adore our soldiers for all they did in suppressing the
rebellion. Humanity from every quarter of the globe, demanded it;
heroic valor did it, and now we must be let alone to approve and to
justify, and praise it. We make no ostentatious display over our
victory. It was one we did not wish to contend for; but one we could
not afford to lose. – Forced upon us, a great nation of fee-men
could do no less than meet this crisis boldly. If it were necessary
that the power and virtue of this nation should be brought to this
test, it were (unreadable) perhaps, that the trial came when it did
– in the midst of our sorrow, humiliation, and distress. We were
amazed at the gigantic splendor of our efforts, and the dignified
patience and indomitable will of the people, from the beginning to
the end of the fearful contest. Each perplexity only developed the
wisdom to meet it; each additional adversity in time brought its
corresponding prosperity; calamities, though they came by the gross,
were followed by successes grand and imposing. Fasting and praying,
thanksgiving and hard fighting, finally, under the providence of
God, brought us safely through."
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CIVIL WAR
"Civil war is a
crime in the face of which all other crimes are as nothing; and the
people who in madness rush to this dreadful arbitrament, and bring
upon their country its immeasurable woes, fasten upon themselves a
responsibility for wickedness, absolutely appalling. All the known
means for the pacific adjustment of real or imaginary wrongs are
torn up by the roots; the tribunal of human passion takes the place
of tribunals of justice. Reason, dethroned and put to flight,
abandons the country while the angry elements of our worst nature
lay hold of the helm of power and bear universal sway. If this be
true of all nations, and may only be excused and atoned for by the
justification that human rights are crushed to the earth and cannot
rise, that power is remorselessly used to press out even the
aspirations of liberty, in a people goaded to so stern a resort,
when the rights of men are trifled with as worthless toys, what
shall be said to justify the restless temper and mad ambition of men
who create such a state of affairs, and plunge their country into
this horrid vortex, where liberty reigns supreme; where the law is
equally measured out to all; where no arbitrary power can be found;
where no injustice can be done; where freedom of thought, of pinion,
of action and discussion, is the universal rule, and all men are
protected by a constitution, the most wise liberal and free, the
world has ever known. Civil war must find no, further quarter in
this Republic – men who may be found to justify or favor it must be
taught to feel the weight of outraged public opinion, and made to
bear the execrations an indignant people can heap on those who would
defy the peace of a humane, intelligent and liberty loving nation.
If we expect our nation to endure, our union to become perpetual,
certain great fixed and cardinal principles must be graven into the
hearts of the people, which time nor change shall not effect; settle
all disputes by reason and the ballot, and crush forever the spirit
of civil war."
OUR PRESENT DUTY
"Now that the
authority of the government, is restored, and actual civil war has
been put down, what at present is as much required as anything else,
would seem to be a substantial restoration of fraternal feelings,
and a real respect for, and willing obedience to, the laws of the
country; holding on to the right by a firm hand and yielding no inch
of that which we know to be just and right, in good temper let us go
forward to the end of a policy which is sure to bring about these
results. Time cannot much longer delay, nor the arts of unwilling
men much longer put off, the perfect realization of all that is
necessary to heal the breach, close the gap, and secure the grand
and total results of all that naturally and necessarily flows from,
and follows after, the suppression of the rebellion."
THE DYING SPIRIT OF
REBELLION
"The public mind
has been filled with misgivings about the disorder growing out of
the late war. Will the time ever come, when it will be safe to say
the spirit of rebellion has subsided and men have finally returned
to their reason and allegiance? It is true to say, there are some
living who will never forgive us for rescuing them from their folly
and madness; who will remain spiteful and hateful to the end of all
they shall ever be; but the spirit of civil war and of rebellion is
as sure to die as that men who rebelled against the government are
sure to die. One will not, I begin to believe, outlive the other.
After all, there is not much difference between a civil and a
foreign war as respects the permanence of the sentiments they
engender. This has been said by one of our best and most thoughtful
American writers, I think this statement is based upon sound
reasoning. History is full of examples of how speedily the feuds of
a civil war die out. Cruel and relentless as the strife is, which
comes of civil war, once happily ended, a few years of reflection
will begin to repair the way to a better understanding. - What
occasion have we in any mere boasting spirit, for reminding the
South that it has been conquered? I am sure no such spirit finds
encouragement amongst our people. Horrified and justly outraged as
we were in the beginning, insulted and injured as we were to the
end, so glorious and full has been our measure of happiness in
maintaining the Union, so splendid have been the results and so
satisfied are we with what has thus far been accomplished, the least
we care for is to spend time in bandying epithets with a defeated
foe. Affairs of much greater concern demand our attention. We will
keep a watchful eye upon them, in no unkind spirit, to the end that
human rights are not trifled with, while prosperity is returning to
help them along; we will not stop a rebel to remind him of our
success, nor unduly magnify, to his discontent, our victories over
him; and as we have so little occasion, backed by success and
crowned with victory, to cause the spirit of the strife to continue,
what I would like to know, has our enemy left to encourage him to
remember the past? – The undertaking was a failure – the more he
remembers it the more he encounters disappointed hopes. He will
finally worry himself down, grieving at his folly and over-conceived
(unreadable) tune. The rider who (unreadable) first, and behind
(unreadable) race, has but (unreadable) leave the country
(unreadable) remain, he must in time, and I think in a reasonable
time, learn how foolish it will be to nurse a spirit that can only
end in new and renewed grief, sorrow and disappointment. As time
goes on, however, and the nation grows stronger, moves along more
smoothly, it will be found far more difficult than now to find men
willing to take praise to themselves for ever having been rebels, if
it shall not actually come to pass before the end of a quarter of a
century. All men, everywhere, will be found manfully denying, not
only for themselves, but that their parents were ever traitors. You
will find more Union men in the South in the next generation, than
in this. – We shall not require the aid of a foreign war to cement
dis-connected spirits to the union; the price of war, always a
calamity, is more than we are willing to pay for what is now
manifest will naturally, in time, easily come to us. Commerce,
inter-communication, independent, free discussion, the gradual
displacement of bitterness by the substitution of a more friendly
feeling will, in time, in much less than we have been expecting,
restore the amity and concord of former days."
THE FUTURE
"We are in no
condition at present for a war with any nation, nor do we desire
one. Let us rest until the tired energies of an over-strained nation
recover the vigor which is sure to come; gather together the still
floating, fragments of discontent; unite in one common sentiment to
the Union; strengthen the bulwark of freedom around the boundaries
of the Republic; let our commerce return to the sea in our own
vessels; probe the commerce of the world by necessary arteries of
trade, and see that trade at home does not languish; put at rest the
public mind by annually paying a portion of the public debt; do not
for one moment loose sight of the public credit; wait until there
shall be no difference between our paper and specie circulation;
lighten, as consistently as we can, the burdens we bear; and then,
if there be necessity for it, we may talk of war. In the mean time
we will in patience bear any real grievances, and by lightly
pressing the toe of those who have greatly wronged us, make them
keep up the peace all around the globe. From whatever point we look,
the future of this nation is promising enough. Keep straight in the
course we are steering, and we shall sail along well enough. Look
well, of course, to the agencies we are to use to give thrift to our
hopes; trust the management of public affairs to men of known
patriotism, who do love our country, and upon whom the bare
suspicion of dishonesty does not rest; drive corruption out of
public places by disarming of office those who look with the least
allowance upon it; replace them again and again until it shall
become fashionable to say our public affairs are honestly
administered; see to it that no man is chosen to a responsible
position, who has not the confidence of the people that he will
faithfully execute the trust. We are accustomed in this country to
look to the people for the renewal of virtue and the restoration of
confidence. Let us not disappoint our own expectations."
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
"With infinite
gratification we contemplate the character of that great and good
man whose name your city bears. His footprints are yet almost fresh
upon the free soil where he used to mingle with you as his
neighbors. – The plain, unonstatious man of the people that he was,
sets us an example of honesty, of purity, of virtue, we may strive
to imitate. His heart was fervent with love of country and freedom;
a dishonest thought found no resting place in his great soul. The
envious spirit of sedition could not brook the presence of one so
great and so noble. With the hosts of patriots who have been slain,
he too has gone down to the grave's sacrifice upon the alter of his
country. Near the capitol of our State he reposes with the patriot
dead. With the soldiers of the Republic who died for freedom, we
venerate the name of Abraham Lincoln."
"Nor can I perform
a more grateful duty on this occasion than to recall to your memory
some of the thoughts of the martyred President, given to his country
on the field of Gettysburg: 'Its is for us, the living, rather to be
dedicated to the unfinished work which those who fought here have so
nobly advanced. It is rather for us here to be dedicated to the
great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full
measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a
new birth of freedom, and that Government of the people, by the
people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.' Who
shall attempt to add another to these sublime thoughts? I am done."
CONCLUSION
"In your grave
sleep on, honored dead. No field of earthly glory longer awaits you.
Separated in death from brothers in arms with whom on distant fields
you fell, whose graves may be unmarked, but whose names shall be
cherished as long as memory lasts; here at the home of your friends
returned to lie, rest in peace. Some will come to drop a silent tear
of affection, some with words of praise, but all will venerate you.
When the warm, blood of life was coursing its channels around the
soul, and happy days met you through the peaceful march of life,
buoyant and hopeful under the smiles and affection of those who
loved you, under the fair promise of a future full of hope; when
there was no one living who could say you had done aught to disturb
the universal quiet that reigned throughout our peaceful and happy
land – the harsh, unwelcome notes of fearful war fell upon your
ears; you arose from your former life, stood for a moment while yet
the manual notes summoned (unreadable) your country's honor, then
(unreadable) cattle you went, you could (unreadable). From it you
returned, (unreadable) on the (unreadable) of your country's
immortal dead."
[Text from file received from
the Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society]
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