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 MEMORIAL ADDRE 
 
 DELI V EKED BV 
 
 J. L. DOBBIN, 
 
 AINERD, MINN 
 
 iVlay 30. 1895 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 J. L. DOBBIN, 
 
 BRAINERD, MINN 
 
 iVlay 30, 1895. 
 
1-- 
 
 
 APR 1 IMS 
 

 Comrades of the Grand Army, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 This day fraught with so many sacred memories, dear 
 to all and hallowed by its associations, again claims our 
 tender solicitude. 
 
 We meet to attest our affection for our departed dead 
 and to renew our vows to those they left behind. 
 
 Though all in love with life, cheerfully will the last rem- 
 nant of our great Grand Army lay life's burdens down, if 
 conscious that the remembrance of sacred trusts com- 
 mitted to our care shall continue to touch and move 
 each loyal heart. 
 
 Of all the days of the year Memorial day is the most 
 precious to the Union solclier. On this day memory leads 
 us back again to the past. Imagination aids us, and our 
 absent comrades are again with us ; not in winding sheets 
 nor burial shroud, but as ^Ji^^^^iiPfi^rc*^ ^^ li^^j — the flush 
 of health on their bronzecf cheeks, their eyes flashing 
 with all the fire and en^i|;ijiasm of youth; their hearts 
 bounding with ambition and bright hope; we see them 
 where duty calls and hear again their loud huzzas when 
 the red field is won. We move again amidst their forms 
 and reach out to grasp their hands in ours as they throng 
 to our embrace. We cannot realize that so much of 
 manhood and life and love is gone, nor can we realize 
 that we too must soon join them to part no more forever. 
 
 This beautiful ceremony in which we engage has met 
 with the almost universal approval of the American peo- 
 ple, and loving hands today will garland with flowers 
 many a grave, the occupant of which died "unknown ;" not 
 because they can be aided by these acts of tender affection, 
 nor because a brighter luster may be shed on their well- 
 merited glory, but in token of that debt of gratitude due 
 them from every child of this Republic. How long the 
 people of this country shall continue to observe this day 
 must, in my judgment, depend largely upon the 
 loyal people of the North. At one time I believed 
 
that the South, appreciathig the services of those brave 
 men who not only secured hberty to the North and South 
 alike, but made our government one and inseparable, 
 would all unite with us in revering- the memory of the 
 laiion soldier. In this, I am sorry to say, I have been 
 disappointed. 
 
 A few days ago a re-union of the United Confederate 
 Association was lield at Houston, Texas. It is 
 an organization similar in many respects to 
 that of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
 The historian of that body, speaking to the assembled 
 multitude, urged upon them that they should exclude 
 from the schools of the South all histories that did not 
 place conspicuously, and in a more favorable light, the 
 "lost cause," than those now in use. He claimed that 
 many of the histories now used in the South were writ- 
 ten by historians living in the North, and were inimical to 
 the ideas for which they fought. He urged that it should 
 be taught to, and known by their children, that in the 
 struggle from '6i to '65, the. Southem states were over- 
 powered by superior numbers, while fighting for 
 local self government. No more willful pen^ersion 
 ■of the truth could have been made. All then 
 living knew exactly what they were fighting for. but 
 the youth of the South and many in the North have not 
 yet learned the truth. I had hoped that 30 years after the 
 Rebellion none could be found, either North or South, 
 who would indulge in such foolish and mendacious asser- 
 tions, expecting them to be believed. All then living 
 >knew that the results of our last war were of far greater 
 benefit to the South than to the North, for they had 
 greater need of the blessings of civil liberty, and none 
 should feel more profoundly grateful to the Union soldier 
 than the people of that section known as the South. 
 
 Let it then be our chief care to teach our children and 
 also those who come from other lands to make a home 
 with us, that in the great struggle for liberty 
 and union the North was right, and the 
 South was absolutely and unqualifiedly wrong. And as 
 we teach these thing-s let us not forget to teach the duty 
 
we owe to those men who risked their lives to perpetuate 
 free g-overnment. Let us see to it that this day is not 
 diverted from the use to which it was intended. Let us 
 continue to make it a day which will inspire every Ameri- 
 can citizen with a iiiore lofty appreciation of his gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Another decade shall find but few of the Old Guard 
 ready at the call of duty. Other lips must speak th© 
 words which shall thrill us with love of country; other 
 hands must carry in the procession "Old Glory" to the 
 cemeter}', and weave the garlands of flowers to be laid 
 upon the grassy mounds. I would be glad, if even now, 
 the children and grandchildren of all good citizens of 
 this republic would take charge of these ceremonies and 
 make the silvery haired veterans their honored guests. 
 
 History informs us that nearly 2,400 years ago the semi- 
 barbarous hordes of Asia, swept along by the full tide of 
 power, detemiined to chastise and crush the Islands of 
 Greece. The result of that determination was the battle 
 of Marathon, which is given as the most wonderful that 
 ever was fought, not only from the fact that a handful 
 of Atheuians defeated more than ten times their number, 
 but because of its far reaching effect upon the worlds civ- 
 ilization. At the close of that remarkable conflict the sur- 
 viving Grecians took a solemn vow that annually they 
 would meet around the graves of those who fell and offer 
 sacrifices over their sacred dust. Mounds were raised 
 over the brave and illustrious dead and the soil of Platea 
 became a second Holy Land. Thither embassies every 
 year came from the states of Greece to offer sacrifices. 
 Tliey taught their children to uncover their heads and re- 
 move their sandals when they approached that sacred 
 place, and so great was the love of the people for those 
 who died that when the aged warrior who had stemmed 
 the tide of Oriental barbarism and saved the very life 
 of Greece, beheld for the last time the sun fading in the 
 west, young men and maidens were to be seen renewmg 
 upon the altars of Platea that holy fire whose fervent heat 
 should quicken the hearts of every Athenian with affection 
 for his patriotic ancestors. So faithfully did the children 
 
of Greece renew and keep the pledge of their fathers that 
 the great Plutarch tells us of witnessing the 6ooth memo- 
 rial service. In the coming years shall it be written on 
 history's tell-tale page that the children of Greece knew 
 how to be more grateful than the youth of this 
 republic, heirs to a priceless heritage; and 
 shall it be chronicled by some future historian 
 that with the expiring throb of the last survivor of the 
 great Grand Armies that marched with Sherman to the 
 sea, and received the sword of Lee at Appomattox, the 
 memorial service dedicated to our nation's heroes died 
 also? Those who fought at Marathon secured for man- 
 kind the intellectual treasures of Athens; the growth of 
 free institutions; the liberal enlightenment of the Western 
 world, and the gradual ascendency for many ages of the 
 great principles of European civilization, but those who 
 fought in later years the battles of our Union not only 
 secured a lasting peace to this beloved land, but struck the 
 shackles of slavery from more than four million human 
 beings entitled to all the rights which God's creatures 
 should enjoy; they made the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, that "all men are created equal," a living truth; 
 they made it possible to exercise the right of free speech 
 throughout all this land; they made this country, whicli 
 was only free in name, free in truth and in fact, and se- 
 cured free government for future generations. I believe 
 that most of our people appreciate all the results of the 
 war and desire to do their whole duty in venerating the 
 memory of those who fell in the cause of liberty; they 
 have not only raised mounds over the hallowed dust, but 
 many of the states, as well as the national government, 
 have made generous appropriations to erect monuments 
 to the valor of our departed comrades. The chisel of the 
 sculptor has imbued with life inanimate marble, and the 
 monuments at Gettysburg and Atlanta breathe out a 
 nation's gratitude. We not only admire but commend 
 these patriotic efforts to keep before the youth of our 
 country the noble sacrifices made for the cause of liberty, 
 and the preservation of the Union. 
 
 Yet neither "storied urn, nor animated bust," however 
 
beautiful or costly, can perform the duties incumbent on 
 the people of this RepubHc. If the time shall ever come 
 when marble slab or granite shaft shall be all that is left 
 to remind the American people of their obligations to 
 those we honor today, then indeed shall they have died 
 in vain. But that ^ime will never come! When monu- 
 ments shall have crumbled to dust, wherever a heart shall 
 be found that beats to the transports of patriotisni and 
 liberty, its aspiration shall l)c to claim kindred with the 
 spirits of our heroic dead. 
 
 It seems fitting on a day like this, when young and 
 old are assembled to attest their devotion to country that 
 we should dwell en themes that may inspire usi 
 with loftier views of life and more fervent zeal for the in- \ 
 stitutions under which we live. The average American ■ 
 citizen of today, on whom rests the burden of civil .uid 
 political affairs, has but little time or inclination to seri- 
 ouslv consider absor'bing questions of vital importance to 
 us ail. Visions of wealth or nreferment or the betterment 
 of his condition engross his waking hours. He does not 
 comprehend the fact that he is one of the rulers of this 1 
 great nation clothed with many of the powers of a king, ', 
 that presidents and governors are but his creation and ' 
 his servants, and that the people are supreme. 
 
 Matters of the gravest importance demand today the ■ 
 patriotic consideration of every intelligent citizen. The 
 strife between capital and labor; the abandonment or con- 
 tinuance of our educational system; the subordination to 
 and respect for civil law, and the enforcement of the 15th 
 Amendment to our National Constitution, are matters 
 which, if unheeded, may assume such phases and propor- 
 tions as shall again test the strength of our govermiient. ^ 
 
 Blessed as we are with a country rich in nature's wealth, 
 whose shores on either side are washed by an ocean in- 
 viting the commerce of the world; whose geographical 
 position brings it within the temperate zone, making it 
 the most suitable abiding place for man, we cannot un- 
 derstand why murmurinsfs of discontent should be hearcj 
 within our borders. With a government without a taint 
 of despotism, where the people make their own laws; a 
 
government founded upon the broadest principles of in- 
 dividual rights, which has brought greater blessings to 
 this people than any other country has ever known, we 
 cannot understand why anarchy should raise its baneful 
 iiead and find any place to nurture its noisome brood. 
 With an educational s\stem unsurpassed, vipon which 
 rests the very life and stability of our government, we fail 
 to realize why it should not receive the united loyal sup- 
 port of all good citizens. I am not unmindful of the 
 fact that the best intellects are engaged in the solution of 
 these problems so full of interest. Yet, after all, it will 
 be reserved for the loyal thinking masses to find a way 
 to avert any tlireatened dang-er. 
 
 Thirty-five years ago questions of state rights and 
 human slavery and kindred questions agitated the politi- 
 cians of our country. Had the masses of our people 
 given these questions the intelligent consideration they de- 
 served at the proper time, I am constrained to believe that 
 war might have been averted and the lives of 1,000,000 
 of the flower of American manhood been spared. In- 
 difference to American citizenship permitted evils to fes- 
 ter and grow upon the body politic until the usual reme- 
 dies were found inadequate. 
 
 Having lived so long under the demoralizing influence 
 of human slavery war became inevitable, and seemed not 
 only a necessity to purify our poHtical atmosphere and 
 teach us that we were drifting away from the moorings of 
 freedom, but more especially to elevate us to a higher 
 plane of civilization. Tlie freedom of which we then 
 boasted was rather a jealousy of our own rights than a 
 reverence for the rights of others. 
 
 We lacked . humanity. We unconsciously inflicted 
 gross wrongs. We wronged the Indian; we enslaved 
 die Negro. We professed to vouchsafe free speech to all, 
 and yet we heard unmoved the howHng of the brutal mob 
 who thirsted for the blood of him who dared to speak 
 in defense of the liberty of the Negro. The fire of con- 
 flict gave us broader views of freedom, and as the smoke 
 cleared away from the fields of carnage on which lay 
 our martyred dead, we learned the lessons which war 
 
alone could teach. We learned that war \Yith all its 
 horrors can develop the grandest natures the world has 
 ever seen. "It developed courage, that sublime energy 
 of the soul, which defies the universe when it feels itself 
 to be in the right. It developed self-sacrifice, which rep- 
 udiates the idea that our life is worth more than anything 
 else, when for a principle it throws that life away as if 
 to say: It is not necessary that I live, but it is necessary 
 that right should triumph. It developed magnanimity, 
 that spirit which prompted us to not only extend mercy 
 but food and raiment to a fallen foe. Who does not know 
 that most of us on both sides of the struggle became 
 mightier and larger and grander in our natures from the 
 education received l)y our great civil war." 
 
 As the clouds rolled away from each battle-field, we 
 realized that war frequently comes as the refiner of the 
 universe, before which all illusions, all unrealities fade 
 away. We beheld truths that had never appeared to us 
 before. Many of us regarded the Negro only as an ani- 
 mal, fit to be purchased and sold and used as a chattel. 
 At Miliken's Bend and Fort Pillow, in the flash of mus- 
 ketry and roar of cannon, the truth dawned upon us that 
 we had wronged him,' and as the war progressed, we were 
 sure we had. The children of Israel fled before the aven- 
 ging ire of Pharaoh's army, and the kind billows of the 
 Red Sea delivered them from their oppressors, but the 
 American Negros, after nearly 250 years of degrading 
 bondage, bravely stood before their former masters and 
 fought with a heroism worthy of freemen. To this, his- 
 tory furnishes no parallel. A peace-loving people, we 
 abhorred war ; yet our achievements in literature, science, 
 art and agriculture in the past twenty-five years can be 
 traced almost directly to its results. 
 
 The thunder of cannon aroused us from lethargy to ac- 
 tivity. Activity in agriculture; the wilderness became a 
 fair garden. Activity in manufactures; the name Ameri- 
 can became synonomous with invention, and the wildest 
 dreams of Franklin w-ere realized in the discoveries of 
 Edison. Activity in art; each home became a temple 
 for the be.autiful in sculpture, painting and music, and re- 
 
finement made its appearance where nature's rustic rude- 
 ness once held sway. Science removed from our eyes the 
 scales, and the sons and daughters of this land advanced 
 in a decade farther than their ancestors had in the pre- 
 ceding century. But above and beyond the benefits ac- 
 cruing to our common country and underlying all, that 
 which challenges our admiration most was the unselfish 
 patriotism of the Union soldier. 
 
 When a complete history shall record his deeds, his un- 
 selfish devotion to country shall stand as the brightest 
 attribute of his character. The Roman soldier under 
 Caesar fought for the spoils of conquest. The Persian 
 army under Xerxes marched out as slaves under the 
 guidance of a master, and one part of the army plied the 
 lasih to make the other perform its duty. Napoleon's 
 army was largely made up of men dragged from their 
 homes by conscription, and fought to make their idol 
 master of the world. Even the English armies are com- 
 posed of men who in time of peace make war a study and 
 a trade; but the Union army was made up of men from 
 the active pursuits of peaceful industry, who, leaving 
 the anvil, the plow and the pen, and bidding farewell to 
 those they held most dear, gave up all to volunteer at their 
 country's call, that they might secure to future generations 
 the blessings of free government. Greater love hath no 
 man for his country than this. Scholars and statesmen 
 may plead and write for her, but the citizen who offers his 
 life to his country in the hour of her imminent peril, has 
 ever occupied and w^ll continue to occupy the highest 
 place in the affections of his countrymen. Though three- 
 (|uarters of a century has passed awav since Waterloo, 
 who stand higher in the affections of the English people 
 than the heroes of ihat sanguinary battle? 
 
 We would remember all today whose voices, though 
 hushed in death, still speak to us from the tomb more 
 eloquently than tongue or pen. With conscious pride we 
 refer to those whose names no longer designate or in- 
 dividualize them. They are the great "unknown." who 
 fell where they fought. One hundred and forty-eight 
 thousand of these sleep in our National Cemeteries, but 
 
these are not all. Though we cannot tell what their an- 
 cestry may have been; whether they first saw the light 
 in luxury or squalor, they are still ours, their memory 
 is enshrined in our hearts and shall continue to live in our 
 affections. 
 
 "Bring- the flowers; deck the heroes' 
 
 Graves from ocean shore to shore. 
 Theirs the lives which paid the ransom, 
 Ours to reap, their lal)ors o'er." 
 
 "Peace! the Hand that made creation 
 
 Still doth g'uard his offspring's dust; 
 Flowers grow, while breezes o'er them. 
 
 Waft the birds' sweet song of trust." 
 
 We speak of our honored dead and our thoughts invol- 
 untarily revert to those who fell resisting the" charge at 
 Gettysburg-; who scaled the heights at Fredericksburg 
 never to return again; who met a glorious death while 
 fighting- above the clouds at Lookout Mountain, or re- 
 turned home wounded and shattered to sicken and die. 
 But we would also place the immortelle today upon the 
 graves of those who made the org-anization and main- 
 tenance of the Union army possible. We would place 
 the flower of remembrance on the graves of the American 
 mothers, who laid broad and deep the foundations of 
 liberty and inspired their sons with noble aims and lofty 
 views of patriotism; who in the hour of our country's 
 peril laid on its altar those dearer to them than life itself, 
 and like Abraham of old, asked not wliy the unnatural 
 sacrifice was demanded; who with womanly fortitude 
 blessed God that they had g-iven their sons, even though 
 in the shock of battle He might reclaim his own. We 
 would lay the garland of flowers today upon the graves 
 of those who, like sweet ministering angels, in camp and' 
 hospital, moistened the parched lips or cooled the fevered 
 brow. We would bless and hallow the memory of all the 
 noble women, who by word and deed and offices of love 
 inspired our flagging zeal, and nerved our weary arms. 
 
They were patriots .ill; and the time will come when jus- 
 tice will be done them; when the records of their unselfish 
 deeds shall be gathered into history's golden urn, as a 
 priceless heritage for the daughters of this goodly land 
 of ours. 
 
 As the scene of this most terrible tragedy of our 
 country recedes from view with the years, coming 
 generations will continue to appreciate the services of the 
 men and women who were the actors in this great con- 
 flict; and as around the hearth the story is told, it will 
 be an inspiration to each one to do something for his 
 country's good. 
 
 , Let the teacher remember that it was such as lie who 
 taught the American soldier the history of his country; 
 who spoke to him, when a youth, of Bennington and 
 Bunker Hill, of the sufYering army at Valley Forge; of 
 tlie midnight advance of Washington and his men in mid 
 winter across the Delaware. Let the teacher remember 
 that his patriotic services are as essential in the little 
 temple of American liberty (the public school house over 
 which he presides) as the soldier's services in the field, 
 and as the color guard of noble youth shall raise towards 
 heaven this sacred emblem where eager winds shall un- 
 fold its beauties, and loyal sunbeams kiss its silvery stars, 
 think not the labor lost if he shall explain its emblematic 
 meaning. 
 
 Let him tell them thai in a few years the great Grand 
 Armies of Grant and Sherman and Sheridan will all be 
 sleeping the sleep that knows no waking, and that 
 into their hands will be consigned the care and .keeping 
 of that flag with all it implies and adjure them to guard it 
 well, for what it represents was purchased at fearful cost. 
 Above all, teach them to be honest, not only to them- 
 selves but to their country. Tell them of the integrity of 
 men of former days, when Major Andre's British gold 
 was unable to purchase a freeman's honor. Show them 
 also that although the enemy appears not in martial array 
 to menace our institutions, a more dangerous and in- 
 sidious foe is ever present, — corruption's gilded hand is 
 ever stretched forth to tear down the American flag. To 
 
 13 
 
the teachers of the pubhc schools, and those best of all 
 teachers, the mothers of this land, must we look for suc- 
 cor from this dreaded enemy. Unless the American 
 youth shall be taught that the worst of criminals and 
 traitors, is the man who accepts a bribe or steals from 
 the public coffers when intrusted with the confidence of 
 his fellow citizens, then, indeed, shall history repeat itself; 
 and self-government must prove a failure. 
 
 Let the ministers, the priests of God, who are also 
 teachers, remember this; and let them bear in mind that 
 neither they nor such as they manned the guns that thun- 
 dered at the battles for the Union, for like the master 
 they sei-ve, they come to preach peace and good will on 
 earth, yet it was their fervid eloquence that helped to swell 
 the ranks of our shattered armies, and their cheering 
 words that nerved our arm to "Strike for God and Home 
 and Native Land." Let them remember that eternal vig- 
 ilance is still the price of liberty, and to them is intrusted 
 the task of keeping the springs and fountains of our civil 
 and political as well as our social life, sweet and pure. 
 
 The press, that mighty agency in a free land, which, 
 with the pulpit, wields the greatest influence for good, 
 must receive support only when it shall teach men to be 
 loyal to free government and to be true to their own man- 
 hood. 
 
 Let each citizen of the Republic keep it ever before him, 
 however humble his lot, that he can if he will, be a 
 potent force in assisting to solve the great problem of our 
 Nation's destiny. 
 
 Surely there is need of patriotic action if we are to 
 avoid the dangers that threaten us, and expect to assim- 
 ilate the heterogenous element that, each year confound- 
 ing liberty with license, land upon our shores to test the 
 fabric of our government and threaten our national life. 
 Yet let us hope that, as in the past, a kind providence 
 has guided our affairs, so shall we still find brave hearts 
 and strong arms in the hour of our adversity. 
 
 Conscious of the rectitude of our past efforts we, with 
 pardonable pride, approach the close of the granc est cen- 
 tury in all history. No other century has been fraught 
 
with so many incidents affecting the welfare of o ir race. 
 From its beginning to the present time, the march of 
 civiHzation has been onward and upward. Pregnant of 
 activity, it has been rich in resuhs. Tlieories have given 
 way to reaUties, and nature has so far succumbed to the 
 investigations of science as to raise the query whether 
 the days of miracles have passed. Productive of genius, 
 the coming century lias become its debtor for magnificent 
 achievements in hterature, science and art. Yet, to our 
 mind, its crowning glory consists not in its inventions or 
 discoveries, but in its resistance to aggressive tyranny; 
 the abolishment of slavery; the protection and mainte- 
 nance of free institutions, and the advancement of woman 
 to her true position in social life. Honored above all 
 other inhabitants of fne earth, happy in the consciousness 
 that Providence has guided and controlled us, should 
 the American citizen feel when he reflects that of all the 
 nations of the world, this Republic, even with its devastat- 
 ing civil war, has made the greatest advancement. Having 
 demonstrated to the world that a government of the peo- 
 ple, by the people, and for the people, is more enduring 
 than that based on the so-called "divine right of kings." 
 thrones are tottering and coronets are falling from un- 
 easy heads. 
 
 Liberty with magic stylus has engraved over the portals 
 of the palace of royalty the ominous word "decay." Too 
 intelHgent longer to continue the puppet oU plaything of a 
 king, France becomes a Republic, and immediately the 
 revulsion among her people tends to the highest pros- 
 perity. Brazil, following her wise example, gives glad 
 promise of future greatness. Thus shall the good work 
 go on until the clouds of ignorance and oppression are 
 dispelled by the warm sunshine of humanity and popular 
 education. Then, and then only, may we hope that what- 
 ever differences born of rapacity and human passions shall 
 arise among nations, reason shall prevail and the methods 
 of peace triumph over brutish force. 
 
 Comrades of the Grand Army, as the sunset of life ap- 
 proaches, we would solve the hidden mysteries of futurity. 
 We would look even with finite eyes beyond the peaks 
 
that limit the horizon of our vision and catch some glimp- 
 ses of the hills and vales beyond. But this cannot be. 
 What is in store for our beloved land none can tell. Yet 
 no superhuman means are necessary to aid us in fore- 
 telling the efifect upon our country of the gathering at 
 scenes like this we witness today. Nor do we need the 
 voice of seer or prophet to tell us that this is but the 
 l)resage of the dawning of a brighter, happier day, when 
 each patriotic act performed and each noble sentiment 
 uttered shall have made its impress on our race wher- 
 ever found; when liberty in every land shall have become 
 enthroned and "man's heaven-erected form adorned with 
 the smiles of love and peace and sweet content." Then 
 shall the hovel of serf and peasant be known no more, yet 
 straw thatched hut, with liberty as a guest, shall be as a 
 palace for nature's king. 
 
 And as the cycling years roll on, beloved spirits shall 
 hover near to catch the sweet strains of some grand 
 "Gloria in Excelsis" wafted heavenward from the shrines 
 of liberty throughout the world. And though with the 
 years our faces shall have faded from memory, and all 
 that we now see and hear and love shall have changed, 
 still let us indulge the hope that with the glad springtime 
 Columbia's grateful children will meet around this flag to 
 sing praises to the God of Freedom and strew the 
 graves of our illustrious dead with nature's choicest 
 flowers. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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 013 785 191 fi *r 
 
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