Author Title Imprint ^) lSenl.l^obT.C.|cl|eticl^. if- ji "^^ I % u 5nn|or (General Boberf C ScftiMtck i^tc^ rtt iUaaltiiii^tiiit, i>. 01., Ptuvch 23, 1890. unta hcl^ tJt his liouov at the C<5vitn& (Oj.tcx-a llloitsc, flaiitou. (Ohio, 3lpx*tl 25tlr, 1890, un&ev the rtiisvi«-*t"S' "-^t the ®rtl*fiel^ (fTluh, of u'ijiclt he ntua an honovavi\ iixcmbcx-^ STItc foKomiiig panes contain a record of tt\e proceedings a I III at serai ce mhiclx mas participated in by ttie people of Saijton nit\o desired to l^onor tlic ineniory of lltetr most distinguished fellom citizen. Introductory cJcldresS by Ool. Q. CJ. rcirrot. Under the circuinstances it would not be expected, and perhaps would not be proper for nie to indulge in any remarks more than would be necessary to state the purpose of this meeting. We are not assemljled to-night my friends as once we met in this ver}- room, without distinction of party, to indulge in grief at the sudden taking off of the distinguished son of this state. President James A. Garfield. But we have come together to-night, first as the representa- tives of a political party, to acknowledge the able and long continued services of one who in his day was foremost among the leaders of that party, and then in a larger sense to honor the memory of our friend, our neighbor and our townsman, whose long life overrunning the Psalmist's mark, was a source of continual pride to us and was full of honor to himself. The book in which is written the glories of this republic has no page more illustrious than that which the State of Ohio has furnished. It glows with a fame that no lapse of time can dim. Her sons have served the nation in its Executive Department, in its representa- tion at Foreign Courts, in the Senate, in the House of Representatives, and at the head of its victorious armies, and they made Ohio a name of renown and honor, and to-night we may justl}- congratulate ourselves upon the large contributions which the Miami X^alley has made to this glorious roll of celebrated men. The occasion is sug- gestive of Thomas Corwin, and no name can justly be placed higher upon the list of distinguished men and no fame is richer than his. The intimate association in life of vSchenck and Corwiii ]:)lends the memory of these two, and the names are mutually suggestive, each of the other. One of these was the Golden Mouthed Orator of his day. Among the reminiscences of the older men of this valley, none are richer in interest than those which relate to Corwin on the stump and in the court room, where as in the Senate Chaml)er, crowded audiences hung entranced upon his eloquence. He moved men at his will, to laughter or tears. He stirred every passion at pleasure that en- nobles human nature. He was a great political master, and the life long friend of General Schenck. Differing so widely as they did in all mental characteristics, there is yet manv points of resemblance between the careers of these two men. Both won their highest honors in the political field. Both occupied various highly responsible positions in that field. Both acquitted themselves in the offices to which they were respectively appointed or elected, with great advantage to the countr}- and credit to themselves. General Schenck outlived his great and noble friend. He lived to see the day which Corwin only prophesied of. He lived to see the two opposing factions meet in armed col- lision. He lived to advance his political principles and prove his patriotism at the point of the sword, and to add to his distinguished re})Utation as a statesman, the dis- tinction of the courageous and skillful soldier. He made a name which we will cherish and perpetuate. One of the immortal names that were not born to die. Prayer by Rev. W. 0. Hale, d. d. Almighty and Everlasting Father, hear us to-night ; hear thou our prayer. We come to thee because thou hast heard us in other days and other years — in the years wherein we stood in darkness and turned to thee for light ; when love of country and love of our friends and kinsmen and love of life, impelled us to seek thine aid ; when only faith in thy word and in thy providence sustained us. Blessed be thy name in this place, in this nation, in all the earth, for thou hast delivered and we are glad. We can not know thy majesty and glory, thy dominion or the ineffable perfection of thy character, but we can know thy love and righteousness. We can see thy fatherly hand in the present and in the past, and know that the God of battles has been our great Captain in the warfare of lib- erty. We behold the justice and truth of thy word, and rejoice in thy government, and seek th}' glory. We ask thy blessing upon us as we are assembled to commemorate the excellency of character of th}' servant — the illustrious dead. We believe, as thou didst call Moses and Samuel and David and Jephthah, the great men of the long past, to lead thy people in progress and conquest, as thy power rested upon their swords, — so, too, upon the swords of our own great leaders, — thou didst bestow power to overcome ; that they were thy servants even as Cyrus was thy servant, and that we owe to thee, our Father, the glory and the power and the kingdom. Thy servant went forth in our behalf, but in thy name. We honor the man, but take the crown of immortal fame to tnine altars, O Lord of Hosts ! We thank thee for the ^•^ctory and the glory and the integrity of the union. O God ! we thank thee for the peace of this great, grand nation, for which so many gave up life. We stand to-night both in the light and shadows of the years of deadly strife, as when we came into our great churches and humble temples to plead with thee for the union, and we thank thee that there is no north or south, east or west, but one united, undivided, immortal people. Oh, bless our land, bless our })eople ! Bind their States to thine altars ; make all men thine own. Then our heroes shall not have suffered and died in vain. Bless. O God ! our vState, and accept, we beseech thee, our thanks for the honor thou didst bestow upon the scms of this our native state. When in peril we were in tears, but now in peace we shout thy praise, and in glad words proclaim our gratitude. It was in tin- way that the solution of our woe was found ; thou didst work by the hands of men. Leaders thou didst appoint, and we are grateful that it is in thy providence that these leaders were our neighbors and friends and brothers, and thus we are before thee. Bless these friends and neighbors of thy dead servant ; be gra- cious to his kinsmen, and deal kindly with those whom he loved and who were of his own blood ; the L,ord make known to them his grace and tender mercy. Are not all the names before thee that to mention move us to manly pride, and inspire our hearts to noble purposes for life and citizenship. Let thy spirit hover o\-er this land and keep us, O God ! Bless the President of these United .States, and direct thy servant, that he ma>- rule o\-er us in righteousness; that virtue, ])atriotism and ]n'osperit>' may increase, and thy name and thy law be acknowledged sui)remc : Uial thanks- giving for all th\- mercies, l- will, and our law-makers men after thine own heart. Bless the Go\-ernor of this State, and be thou his counsellor, his sun and his shield. Bless the widows and the orphans. Deal gracioush' with the wounded and the afflicted of that grand army of all America, whether victors or defeated. In mercy subdue all strife ; in love make all love, and in power bestow a Father's blessing upon our whole land and every one of the land ; and at last bring us into thy presence and we will then, as now, give th}- name the glory of things tem- poral and spiritual eternally in Christ. Amen. bETT&RS 0P f^EGRET. Cincinnati, O., April 24, 1890. H. A. Crandai.l, flsq., Dayton, O.: I very much regret my inability to accept your kind invitation to attend the meeting of the Garfield Club to honor the memory of Major General Schenck, a man that T always appreciated very highly, and whose name can not be too highly honored by the ]:>eople of this State or the Nation. Truly yours, RICHARD SMITH. Dayton, O., Ajnil 25, 1S90. Mv Dkar Sirs: — I received your kind invitation to attend the me- morial service in honor of the memory of Gen. Roliert C. Schenck. I regret that absence from the city will [irevent my attendance. Ohio had no abler son or more patriotic citi/cn. Citi/ens of Dayton feel an h(inest pride in his record, and should heartily join in the public acknow ledg- ment of his long and distinguished service. Very respectfully yours, JOHN A. McM.\HON. House of Rki'rksf.ntatives, U. S., W \siiiNi;i(iN, .\pril 22, 1890. Messrs. Crandall, Ramsey anh IIaikd, Committee: Genti.emkn : — Duties here, which im|)crativcly - l)()th be- longed to the same i)()litical jxirly and State, and were in the foremost front as leaders: both soldiers and generals in the Union Arm\-, and members of the same Congress. When Oeneral Schenck was chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, Cieneral Oarfield was chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, the two most inii)ortant committees of that body ; and when vSchenck resigned that 17 consternation, for the great Indian chief, Tecuniseh, and his brother, the Prophet, had aroused to fury all the Indian tribes, formed alliances with them and the British, and, in formidable numbers, menaced every town and settlement, and defied the power of the government. Before young Schenck was three years old the conflict was raging. His infant ears first heard the steady tread of armed men, the roll of the drum and the shrill piercing fife, and his young eyes danced with delight as he saw the stars and stripes of his country borne past his home by the brave pioneer sol- diers of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, among whom was his own father, a distinguished general officer, and all under the leadership of the gallant General William Henry Har- rison, the hero of Tippecanoe, marching on to humble the pride and power of the British and Indians at Fort Wajme, Maumee, River Raisin and Thames, and with the aid of Perry and his brave seamen on the lakes, to crush forever their dominion on lake and land. Past that home of his infancy, after man}' severe conflicts and great loss of life, returned the remnant of that brave band, to renew their task of opening up the wilderness to all the blessings of religion, education and civilization. In this magnificent Miami Valley, with all these heroic surroundings, with the blood of heroes in his own veins, he grew up to manhood. He obtained a liberal education in Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, an institution created by the Legislature the year of his birth, and established on lands reserved by the general government for educational purposes, and from which has gone forth so many distin- guished sons of our own and neighboring vStates to fill all the positions of honor and trust of the country, even up to the Presidential chair, now occupied by one of its alumni. He studied the law with great diligence under the tuition of that distinguished lawyer, statesman and most eloquent man of his times, Thomas Corwin, and at the age of twen- ty-one, nearly sixty years ago, began the practice of his profession in your city, which he continued for thirty 18 years. For sixty years he claimed this as his home. He loved this valley and its people, and whosoever of them came to hin), whether in Brazil or Washington or London, bore a key which opened his home and his heart. What years of trial and triumph were these ! I gaze with intent enthusiasm at the successive steps which he trod on his upward career, as histor}- does and will for ages record. Look on the tablet which records the events of his life : Born at Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, October 4, 1S09; graduated at Miami University in 1827; tutor of French and Latin there until 1830; admitted to the Bar of Ohio in January, 1831 ; practiced law at Dayton for thirty years; member of the Ohio Legislature in 1.841 and 1842, from this county; elected from this district to the 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st Congress, from 1843 to 1851 ; in 1851 he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo- tentiary to Brazil, and also accredited Envoy Extraordinary to the Republic of Uraguay, the Argentine Confederation and Paraguay, negotiating important treaties with them ; entered the Union Army in 1861 in the War of the Rebel- lion, and was appointed Brigadier General by President Lincoln ; promoted to be Major General for distinguished bravery at the second battle of Bull Run, August 30, 1862, in whicli action he was severely wounded while leading his men in the thickest of the fight, from which wound he was disabled for months, and never finally recovered; in De- cember, 1862, he was appointed commander of the Middle District of the United vStates, including the city of Balti- more, and while so acting was, by the people of this district, enil)racing the counties of Montgomery, Butler, Warren and Preble, elected to Congress, when he resigned his com- mission in the army. In Congress he was successively chairman of two of the most important committees of that body, and especially were they so at that time, when the war was still raging, — the Committee on Military Affairs and of Ways and Means, — committees which imposed enor- mous labor on the chairman, and which required the utmost 19 ability and statesmanship to meet. One is astonished, on mereh' glancing at the index of the Congressional Globe, to see the many reports, petitions, resolutions, answers to questions, arguments to sustain, replies to attacks, which kept the chairman almost continuall}' on the floor, when not engaged in meetings of the committee, with goyern- nient officers and men of all conditions and parties haying business with the military or ciyil department of the goy- ernment ; for the legislation for the maintenance of the war and all its supplies, as well as that necessary to support the whole goyernment, passed through those committees. All these inyolved a strain on the physical and intellectual abilities which few men were able to meet, but which were disposed of by General Schenck with a clearness and mas- terly statesmanship which has never been excelled on the floor of that House. It was a grand and wonderful exhi- bition of the power of man. He was elected to the 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st Congress, and seryed there until 1871, when he was appointed Minister to England. He was also one of the members of the High Joint Commission to set- tle the disputes between England and the United States, growing out of the depredation of the rebel vessel Alabama on our vessels on the seas. That commission consisted of the following members from this countr}- : Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State ; General Robert C. Schenck ; Samuel Nelson, Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States; E. R. Hoar, late Attorney General of the United States, and George H. Williams, late Senator of the United States from Oregon. Certainh', an array of talented men, each of whom must have been proud of the other. An equal number of distinguished Englishmen represented that country. A successful settlement of the vexed matter was made. A new administration came into power, and General Schenck returned from England in 1875. Some time afterward he was appointed by the goyernment as editor of the United States Statutes at large, and at this he was engaged when, after a short illness of pneumo- nia, he died at Washington City, March 23, 1890. 20 Surely, here are badges of official distinction, covering a period of more than forty years, sufficient to fill the ambi- tion of any man. A simple statement of so long, import- ant and varied public service would form a most eloquent memorial, without laudatory adjectives. As Mr. Lincoln said in that memorial speech on the battle-field of (lettys- burgh, " The world will little note nor long rememl)er what we sa>' here, but it can never forget what the>' did here." To have been a prominent leader at the bar of this city and State, so renowned for its man}' able, eloquent and learned lawyers ; to have represented in the Congress of the Nation for nearly sixteen years, by eight popular elec- tions, one of the most intelligent and discriminating con- stituencies of the State ; to have been distinguished at the l^ar, in puljlic assemblies and Congress as one of the fullest equipped and most acute debaters and eloquent orators of a Nation whose most prolific production would seem to be orators ; to have stepped from civil life into the w'ild crash of war at the higliest crisis of his country's fortune, and with l^ravery unsurpassed and consummate skill, to have reached its highest honors ; and at the close, when victo- rious peace crowned the national banner, to have marched back as one of a million of soldiers, and with the plaudits of a grateful country, to resume the duties of a private citizen in the calm serenity of an unclouded peace ; to have been again sent by the old friends of his childhood and manhood to represent them in Congress for four successive sessions, and then by the Nation sent to represent it at the court of the most renowned Nation of the Old World, is certainly something l)eyond the usual lot which marks the life of man — even the most distinguished of men. It has been said that " some men are born great; some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them," and luck and circumstances are often alleged to be the important factors in the elevation of men. Fortunate birth, circumstances, what is called luck, and sometimes 21 the favor of friends may thrust greatness upon a man, but neither luck, circumstances nor enthusiastic friends alone can long sustain one in high public positions who has not the strength, ability and integrity within himself to main- tain the position. The great mass of our people are so intelligent, there are so many of ability who are constantly pressing forward for leadership, that it is only superior staying qualities which keep one to the front for any considerable time ; and these qualities are being continually tested by critical, interested and often selfish and unscrupulous e3'es, to detect the least flaw through which to pierce the strong mail which pro- tects the victorious knight. Consider the many distinguished men who graced the country when Robert C. Schenck, at the age of thirty-one years, stepped into the arena as one of the champions of the Whig cause in the great campaign of 1840. Then was Daniel Webster in the height of his fame; his calm, majes- tic presence, great learning, wonderful powers of eloquence, the unapproachable expounder of the principles and con- stitution of the country, and whom men, as the only verdict on his ability, called "The Godlike." General Harrison, whose renown as the most siiccessful conqueror of the Indian tribes, and whose name was a household one in every cabin as the hero of Tippecanoe, drew to 3'our city to listen to that remarkable voice, soft and clear as an .5^olian harp, an hundred thousand freemen filling all your streets and private houses, and camping in 3'our suburbs for days. Henry Clay, with his grand magnetic presence and clarion voice, which thrilled all who listened, as he delineated how the adoption of his great American system of protection to home industry would open up the forest, fill the land with cities and manufactories which would consume the produce of the farm, furnish him with all the implements for en- larged production, clothe him from the sheep and flax and cotton grown at home, and make the Nation independent 22 of all others, and powerful in peace and war. Tom Corwin, matchless in beauty of diction, strength of argument, keen and caustic wit, and humor which made laughter hold both her sides. And there were Brough and Crittenden, Allen, Metcalf, Todd, Chase, Ewing, Stansberry, Hamer and a host of others, who made the country resound with logic and argu- ment, fact, fancy, wit and sarcasm ; but with all these great names, vSchenck held a high place in the affection of the people, and no man for years, when he appeared in public assemblies, drew more interested listeners, who hung with thrilling pleasure on his words, whether fervid, patriotic appeals, bitter, sarcastic denunciation of what he believed wrong, or broad, humorous strokes, with which he was wont sometimes to bury an antagonist as under an ava- lanche. His ])osition in Congress from 1843 to 1851 was noted not only for his ability as an apt and eloquent parliamenta- rian, but also as a clear and comprehensive statesman, who labored not merely for the immediate constituents who voted for him, but regarded the whole Nation as a unit, to be so held, if need be, by the blood of every one who claimed its protecting gegis. To this principle he consecrated his life when, in 1861, as the hand of treason fired the first gun at Fort Sumter, he tendered his services to the government to maintain its integrity by war. When he was commis- sioned Brigadier General of \'olunteers In' President Lin- coln, there was no end of criticism by those who stood out of long range, and would advise the government how to carry on this war. It was claimed that he had neither the military education or al)ility of an orderly sergeant. Per- haps he had not. But long before the war closed, he and thousands of others, as inexperienced as he, taught us that the quiet, private American citizen, who had not, it may ])e, ever loaded or fired a gun, was an apt scholar, and had wonderful destructive powers in the line of war when his country's salvation depended on it. 23 One of his first essays as an officer was when detailed b}' his commander to take possession of the London & Hamp- shire Railroad as far as Vienna. With a train of cars, he proceeded to carry out his order, but was fired on by a masked battery, three cars disabled, ten men killed and others wounded. The engineer ran the engine back to Alexandria, leaving the General with a small band to resist a much larger force. But he maintained his position with so much vigor that the enemy withdrew. Much bitter criticism was vented on him, which subsequent experience proved to be unjust, but amid all he was sustained and praised for his conduct then by that grand commander and true American, General Winfield Scott. We had not learned then that every hillside in the South was fortified, and that masked batteries could be rapidlj^ mobilized so as to be available at any given point ; that they were hid away in the most peaceful landscape, and that every navigable inland water was prepared with deadly torpedoes to guard the heart of the Confederacy. McDow- ell, McClelland, Burnside, Thomas, Pope, Meade, vSherman, Grant, all learned this, as they bravely marched into the enemy's countr}-, and left under every turf over which the}- trod a soldier's sepulchre. From this time on for two years. General Schenck was in active, vigorous service all over the seat of war, in Vir- ginia and Maryland — in that first great struggle at Bull Run, where both sides learned that there was a war, and that war meant killing people. He was with Rosecrans on the Kanawha, New and Gauly rivers ; in command at Cumberland, Maryland ; then up the south branch of the Potomac, holding Moorfield, Peters- burg and Franklin ; pushing on through the mountains with 1,500 men a battalion of cavalry and DeBeck's Ohio Battery to the relief of Millroy, only to find himself con- fronted by 15,000 rebels, and then to successfully withdraw his forces to a place of safety. Then at the second battle of Bull Run, where in the thickest of the fight, when 24 urging his men forAvard, a rebel l)all shattered his right wrist, causing his sword to be thrown some distance from him, but peremptorily refusing to leave the field until he regained his sword. He was for a long time unfit for duty by the wound, but as soon as he was able, was i)ut in com- mand of the middle district, in the city of Baltimore. Here at the beginning of the war our troops had been fired into when passing through to the defense of the capital, and there was still a bitter feeling against marching Union soldiers over their soil. But that city lay between the great cities of the North and the capital of the Nation, and through it were to pass, day by day, immense numbers of soldiers and all the appliances of war to protect the Capitol and crush the rebellion south of it. It required sagacity, patience, bravery and eternal vigilance to keep that high- way open. General Schenck was equal to the task, and soon had absolute control over the rebel and turbulent element, which had theretofore proved so troul)lesome to the general government, and soon by day and by night at the home of its birth, "mid the rocket's red glare, bombs bursting in air "' could be heard the inspiring notes of " The Star Spangled Banner" filling all the air and jubilating the heart of ever}- patriot. He maintained this position until December, 1S63, when, having been elected a member of Congress for this District, he resigned his commission. His power and usefulness to his country in that and succeeding Congresses were of the highest conceivable character. I quote from one whose great ability, high patriotic, chivalric character, matchless eloquence as a speaker and writer has thrilled his country- men with lo\'e and admiration, and made the name of James G. Blaine the synonim of the highest t>pe of an American. In his history of twenty years in Congress he says " Robert C. Schenck was an invaluable addition to the House. He w^as at once ])laced at the head of the Committee on Mili- tary Affairs, then of superlative importance, and subse- quently made chairman of Ways and Means, succeeding 25 Mr. Stevens in the undoubted leadership of the House. He was admirably fitted for the arduous and difficult duty. His perceptions were keen, his analysis was extraordinarily rapid, his power of expression remarkable. On his feet, as the phrase went, he had no equal in the House. In the five minutes' discussion in committee of the whole, he was an intellectual marvel. The compactness and clearness of his statement, the facts and arguments which he could marshal in that brief time, were a constant surprise and delight to his hearers. No man in Congress during the present generation has rivalled his singular power in this respect. He was able in every form of discussion, but his peculiar gift was in leading and controlling the committee of the whole." His subsequent career as Minister to England was a marked one. His genial manners, great ability and true Americanism were recognized by all, and he became per- sonally one of the most popular ministers who had ever represented this country at that court. But he was not dazzled with royalty and allowed no friendly popularity to interfere with his duty to his country and none of her inter- est suffered in his hands, but in every complication kept her honor and welfare at heart as the leading object to be maintained. Returning to America he was met with great cordiality by men of all parties, and until the day of his death num- bered among the warmest of his friends, man}- of his viru- lent political opponents. He did not gain this b}- hypoc- risy or paltering in a double sense to any one. " He would not have flattered Neptune for his trident." No man was firmer in what he believed to be right, no matter what might be the opposition, and he never feared to de- clare his sentiment before friend or foe. And hence the honesty of his motive was never questioned ; while the real goodness and kindness of his heart warmed the entire at- mosphere in which he lived. His countrymen crowned him with great honors. No 26 one has ever been heard to say that he was unworthy of them, or proved recreant to any trust. And so, full of honors, with the crown of four score years upon him, he has passed from earth, and his remains by loving hands have been laid in yonder beautiful cemetery, ahnost overlooking the place of his birth, this city, the scene of his triumphs, the homes of his friends through all these long years, this beautiful Miami valley, the Eden of our new world, and over all, in, we trust an enduring peace, floats that flag whose sovereignty he ever sought to maintain as the protector of that Constitution wdiich he de- claifed "may undergo alteration, but the Nationality for which it was made, iiiitst be one and ctcnia/y " Witli the storied l)rave Our country nurtured in her Ljhny time Rest tliee — tliere is no ]irinider grave, Even in lier dwn proud clime ; For thou art Freedom's now, and Fames', One of llie few, tlie immortal names That were not born to die." FHY eOUNTRY! 'TIS 0P t^HEE:. Sung by the Philharmonic Society. I\Iy country! 'tis of thee Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing ; Land where my fathers died, Lantl of the pilgrims pride, From every mountain side Let freedom ring. My native country, thee — Land of the noble free — Thy name I love ; I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and teni])led hills; My heart with rapture thrills Like that above. Let music swell the Ijreeze, And ring from all the trees, Sweet freedom's song ; Let mortal tongues awake, Let all that breathe partake, Let rocks their silence break, The sound prolong. Our father's (iod I to thee Author of lil)erty, To thee we sing ; Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light ; Protect us by thy might. Great God, our King ! GoL Bonn Piatt's Qddrcss. (iCJifUimii o/ tltr Car field Clitb a)id fclloii'-citi^-^ois: I hastened here, heart full, in response to your kind in- vitation, to assist in these memorial services in behalf of my General and life-long friend. I must confess, now that I am before you, that I feel embarrassed. It seems to me as if I were called upon to give in words the delicate odor of the violet, or render upon a poor instrument the sweet music of the grandest master. I am forced to remember that the very affection that stirs my heart and dims my eyes, mars my utterance. An excess of feeling destroys the just perspective, so necessary to a clear comprehension of either character or career. The cold, calm, impartial hand of historic record is our better friend. We can com- fort ourselves with the thought, that in the history of our country, in the darkest hour of its peril there is written the epitaph of Ro]:)ert Cumming vSchenck. He owes little to his friends, and sleeps in peace, without fear of his enemies. While placing immortelles on his new made grave, we can only say, in tear-laden words, that we loved him living, and lament him dead. There is another eml)arrassment, second only to the one given, that is found in the fact that I am addressing his per- sonal friends and neigh1)ors. My testimony to his rare ex- cellence must appear poor beside your memories that pre- sents his career as part and parcel of yourselves. Through the many years that it was my ])recious privilege to hold the friendsliip and share tlie confidence of \w\ General, he never appeared separate and a])art from his home, his beloved Dayton. In all his triumphs and in all his troubles he 29 would turn to his friends and the associates of his youth and age with a faith so childlike in its devotion that one learned that no time could decay, no event dim the sweet- ness of a being that had the underlying characteristics of his nature. At home in the political arena, where we were thrown so much together, in the turbid field of perilous campaigns, where we shared the same tent ; on the shores of Europe where we met, in all his moments given to rest he found relief in memories of you, my friends, not only as true hearted men, who stood by him in good and evil re- port, but in dwelling upon that sweet human gossip, that so cheers our life with a loving sense of home. His monu- ment is in your heart, and when those hearts have ceased to beat in life, the story I trust will be taken up in that en- during history of the people, found in bronze and marble, that will carry to the latest generation, the honored name of Robert Gumming Schenck, Dayton's great man. It is not necessary for me to dwell here upon his youth and early manhood. He was j-oung in years when he en- tered public life. It was at a period ever to be remembered as the golden era of our nation's life, when leaders of the people were not onl}- great, but good. About the names of Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Corwin and a host of others, there cluster, not only all that was brilliant in our nation's history, but all that was pure as well. We mourn the dead in the remains of our departed hero. Have we not some- thing more to mourn? As we gaze up from the grave where the form of our brave, brilliant, honest old hero moulders into dust are we not called upon to mourn some- thing sadder than his loss, that his loss makes so conspic- vious through contrast in the dark effacing finger of decay crumbling space all that made such lives as his possible. We are here, however, to mourn the dead and not the dying. My first acquaintance that soon ripened into affection of Robert C. Schenck is found in a far cr}- back to 1840. It was in that wild political campaign in which the Democ- 30 racy born of Jefferson, rendered illustrious by Jackson, went down in deafening shouts of laughter under Martin Van Buren. An ardent young Democrat, I stood amazed amid the ruins of my party, before log cabins, canoes, coons and a strange phantasmagoria of a mad midsummer's night dream. In that I came to know two men of antagonistic politics to mine whom I soon learned to love and admire, and one was Schenck and the other Corwin. Although warmly attached we remained politically apart until the war upon the Union made but one party at the north and that of men under the muskets held together in a way that noth- ing but death could disintegrate. When the Whig party first fell to pieces at the approach of the great question that neither political organizations could grasp or control, Robert C. Schenck, like Corwin, and many other eminent Whigs, found themselves at a loss. Where to go was a puzzling question. To join the Democ- racv was impossible. To make part of the new organiza- tion, composed mainly of Abolitionists, was equally out of the question. I remember when Fremont was nominated I urged ni}- friend vSchenck to join us in the endeavor to elect him president but he would have none of him. Had Justice John McLean been made our standard l)earer he might have thought better of it, but then we would have lost all the force of the revolution we contemplated in being respectable. True reform is never reputable. There is a popular superstition to the effect that men be- long to one party or other because they have certain opin- ions or principles, as they are called. The fact is, however, that men have certain opinions because they do belong to certain parties. In politics, as in aught else, the intellec- tual proces.ses have little to do with our actions. We are the victims of circumstances over which we have no con- trol, and are more moved by our feelings than our intellect. The course of my eminent friend, or that indeed of myself, illustrates this. Schenck was an ardent Whig. It seemed impossible for him to l)e aught else. If there was any crea- 31 tiire on earth he fovind more offensive than another it was an abolitionist, a fanatic, who, to destroy the guarantees of the constitution would unhesitatingly burn the constitution. He saw the northern wing of his beloved party joining the free soil party and he saw at the same time the southern wing disappear in a fanaticism more fatal to the govern- ment of the Fathers than the abolitionists. It was not until Lincoln was nominated that he gave in his adherence to the Republicans in whose fold he lived and died. Our friend and hero gained all that he achieved in life from his high intellectual qualities and his great force of character. He owed nothing to luck. He was not the sort of a man we are sometimes called on to wonder at, if not admire, whom a chance wave catches up, and in spite of bloody disasters, frightful blunders, and even criminal acts, is whirled up to the highest pinnacle of fame and fortune. We say the man is strangely fortunate, and he illustrates the French axiom that nothing is so successful as success. Gen. Schenck not only had none of this, but had, on the contrary, ever at his side, a malign influence that seemed to come just in time to rob him of his merited reward. I remember when we tendered our services to the National Republican Committee in the first L,incoln campaign. We were assigned to vSouthern Illinois, the land of L,ogan, called Egypt, from its intense darkness. It was a campaign of great labor, and not without peril. We had immense crowds at our meetings as we went from county to county, and these assemblages were composed of people called to- gether from idle curiosity and not by any sympathy with our political doctrines. There was a small body of settlers from New England at each county that rallied about us as a sort of police, and I remember vividly the able arguments, lightened by wit and humor, that seemed thrown away, but which was good seed in the troubled time that followed when John A. Logan came into line and won for himself an immortal name as a gallant soldier of the Union army. Our missionary labors ended at Springfield a few days 32 before the election, and at Springfield Robert C. Schenck, in the last effort of his canii)aign, made the ablest effort I ever heard in l)ehalf of our cause. Mr. I^incoln was prom- inent in the audience, and fairly entranced by the happ}' utterances that rising above party, plead for our country and the government of the fathers. At the end of the meeting Mr. Lincoln asked us to return in case we were successful, to vSpringfield. When these returns were counted and our triumph assured, we were telegraphed for and gladly responded to the summons. There was a wild jub- ilee of the enthusiastic Repuljlicans, in which my General took prominent part. When that ended and Schenck was about to leave, Mr. Lincoln begged him to remain and ac- company him to Chicago. The newly elected President W'as very earnest in this request, so much so that it was sig- nificant of more than the pleasure to be found in his .so- ciety. We understood this to mean that one of the ablest leaders of the lately formed party was looked upon as an adviser called on to assist in organizing the incoming ad- ministration. This significance deepened when the press took the scent and commented favorably on the selection. He accompanied the President-elect as part of his family to Chicago, when shortly a change appeared and the malign influence came in to blight what would have been an act of grave importance to our party and the people. Gen. Schenck felt the change and wdien permitted to leave for home without even an explanation he felt deeply wounded. Without any effort or move on his part, he had l)een placed in a false position before the country, and he, who never, in all his high career, had asked for office was humiliated as appearing to tlirust himself forward an indelicate office seeker. It is something more than speculation to dwell on what would have been the result liad Robert C. vSchenck l^een called to President Lincoln's first cabinet, especially to the war department. His especial abilities, high patriotism, firm inte":ritv and "reat talent lor detail would have given 33 a far diiferent meaning, force and effect to that arm of the government in the opening hour of our countr5^'s peril. That which came to us when Edwin M. Stanton was called to that all important department would have been ours from the beginning. The cruel hurt given Gen. vSchenck would have driven him from public life back to a profession in which he had the abilit}- to win both fame and fortune, but for the war that followed so soon after. There never lived a man pos- sessed of a more patriotic heart and the gun at Sumter had scarcely caught its echo in the northwest before he tendered his services to the government and was commissioned Brigadier General. He had all the higher qualities of the soldier. Quick to see he was as quick to act with that higher courage which gives confidence. The confidence to his men he felt in himself. Then again, the malign influence that shadowed his life interposed. The press of the country covered the appoint- ment with ridicule and abuse. It was .stj^led that of a "political general." Ignorant of war, as we had come to be, through generations of profound peace, we added to that ignorance by a condition of idiocy from which to this day we have not recovered. There was then, as there is yet, a superstition to the effect that a command of men in time of war called for instruction more than ability, and that such ability without instruction is of no avail. Apply this to any other profession and where are we? A school graduates a thousand doctors, and one doctor in the thousand is a success. Apph' this to the profession of the bar and the same result is given. But how utterly absurd it is when we know that war is not a science, not even an art, and therefore can not be taught at all. The greatest captains poor humanity have suffered from, have left us nothing that can be made available at a militar}- school. The axioms left us for guidance in the field are of as much use to the volunteer from civil life as to the graduate of a military academy. Our little school upon the Hudson is de- 34 voted exclusively to training privates and when one of them is commissioned to command, he enters vipon his duties in the field of war as much an ignorant, raw recruit as the young man who goes in from private life. In the cruel disaster — the shameful surprise at Shiloh, when so many thousands of our poor fellows were shot down ere they could fall into line, we are gravely told in Hay's Life of Lincoln, that the general in command was learning the art of war. Gen. Schenck was not permitted to enjoy such bloody in- struction. He was not permitted to demonstrate that such instruction was not needed. An event occurred shortly after he assumed command that nearly ended his career as a soldier. We look back at it now in utter amazement. While establishing Camp Upton on the Virginia side of the Potomac, in throwing out a picket, he followed the written instructions given him by General Irvin McDowell. The mistake made by my General w^as in not putting the regi- ment designated for the duty in command of a Colonel or a member of his staff. But full of anxiety to have the order carefully obeyed, he took command himself. It is one of the lessons not laid down in Halleck's Art of War, but gen- erally practiced to have a subordinate between the General and the work to be done upon whom to visit the responsi- bility if aught goes wrong. In a country that was known not to be held by the enemy. Gen. Schenck, in person, transported by rail a regiment. A stray Confederate officer in command of two pieces of artillcr>- that happened to be crossing the country, heard the approaching train, hastily trained his pieces to rake the track, and as the train rounded a turn, fired upon the crowded cars. Ten men were killed and a numl)er wounded. Gen. vSchenck acted with great presence of mind and high courage. He rallied his men and brought off his killed and wounded. It was early in the war and lives had not been cheapened to the extent necessary to allow a General to slaughter thousands while learning the art of war, and the howl of 35 wrath went up from press and people over the loss of ten men. Now the ridiculous blunder of a political General was simph^ appalling. A man of less nerve would have sunk under the abuse and thrown up his commission. We must know the facts to realize the situation. Our armies were made of volunteers who read the papers, and every day newsboys threaded the camp with their shrill cries and distributed journals filled with ridicule and lying abuse of the General. Their confidence in him was a vital necessity to his and their success and while riding down the lines he could read in their faces the fatal effects of the poison. On the other hand, at Washington, the cotton-breasted, epau- letted heroes of subsequent defeats, openly sneered at my General as the " Car Conductor in Commission." I vividly remember as if it were but yesterday, those days of gloom and nights of torture. Gen. Schenck was a proud, sensitive man, but he had that indomitable will which defied fate and clamping those iron jaws together he bided his time and so won his spurs at last. But, for this untoward event in the beginning of his career as a soldier. Gen. Schenck would have surged to the front and conquered renown as Logan, McClernan and other volunteers did. He was splendidly equipped for the service. He was a born leader of men. He was not only the bravest of the brave as I have said, but to a remarkable brain he had that subtle magnetism in his force of char- acter that won confidence and admiration. However, he never entirely recovered from that first blight. The West Pointers who sneered at the volunteers in the beginning grew jealous toward the end as our gallant fellows de- monstrated in fighting their way into command that brain was of some account even in war. The true story of the late war has never been told. If it ever is there will be some strange transformation. The history so far, if one may call it such, is made up of news- papers and political stump oratory. When the record is made up by the cold impartial hand of history, the popular 36 heroes of to-da}- will disappear as such, and two men will emerge from the obscurity of neglect to fill all the space of popular admiration ; the one George H. Thomas and the other Stonewall Jackson. The military careers of these great captains will bear the closest inspection and grow brighter as they stand. Now to show you how little real history we have I can startle you with the fact that our General Robert C. vSchenck was one of the only two men who ever defeated Stonewall. You thought you knew every event in our General's life and yet here is one that of itself merits a monument. In the beginning of the war the great Virginia fighter was defeated at Winchester, and in the latter part of June, 1S62, Gen. Schenck was ordered from Cumberland, Mary- land, to McDowall to the relief of the gallant General Milroy who had penetrated with a small force that far in the enemy's country. Our General had but one brigade and the expedition was hazardous in the ex- treme. We had mountains to climb, and rivers to cross, without the remotest information as to what might be before or on either side of us. We arrived at McDowall the same night that Stonewall Jackson did, he being then engaged in his campaign of victories that so disconcerted McClellan before Richmond and startled our government at Washington. Jackson had twice the number of the force made up of Schenck's and Milroy's brigades. "We've got to get out of this," said Milroy. "Yes," responded vSchenck, "Rut to do that we first must fight." We soon learned that the enemy was fortifying a strong position on what is called Bull-pasture mountain. Against this Schenck and Milroy moved out. We found ourselves on a long slope of mountain with a long level summit that of itself made a defense without much artificial work. Vp the slope our gallant fellows marched firing as they went, and under a continuous discharge from the breast-work above ^until the ^mountain brow \yas reached and 1;he, Con- 37 federates driven from their position. That night "we folded our tents like Arabs and silently stole away." We were not molested or pursued. This was no great affair and had no great consequences. But its management and success demonstrated his military qualities, while he carried to the grave the great distinction of having out-marched, out-maneuvered, and out-fought the greatest fighter of the Confederate side. Why he was neglected by the government at Washington we can well comprehend. President Lincoln was carrying on two wars — one in his rear and the other at the front. For every battle in the field he had a corresponding conflict in the political arena, and the one was far more perilous than the other, for if he failed there, his vast armies would disappear and the government itself crumble into frag- ments. So when Fremont threw up his command it was Sigel, not Schenck that succeeded him. It was better to suffer from Sigel in the field, than endanger the German vote that was back of the gallant but inefficient General. The press was editing events, when not criticizing or pro- jecting campaigns, and had no time to correct some of its own errors or give re-hearings to false condemnations. Thus one of the most capable of officers fought on under imbeciles. But he fought on, how bravely and well the records of the war remain to tell us, until at the second Bull Run, while leading his brigade in the hottest of the fight, he was shot out of his saddle. Promoted for gallant service in the field he was given a department and a corps, from which he retired to enter Congress as your Rep- resentative. Vv^liat those services were in Congress I need not now repeat. They are too well known to you, and to the his- tory of our country. As Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means he repeated as leader of the house what he had demonstrated long before, and that was that as an able, ready debater he had few equals and no superior. Cool, clear, logical and ready, he could so state a case as to make 38 the mere statement an argument, and in his ready wit so fence with his opponents as not only to disarm opposition, but make a debate of the dry est subject a fascinating dis- play. He had the rare combination found in a turn for detail and the higher qualities of the orator. It was, how- ever, the ready wit I have mentioned that flashed along the line of argvunent and lit up like lightning the most sombre subject that his opi)onents feared and won victory for him in advance. It was during the negotiations of the High Joint Com- mission, organized to settle the questions with England, that my General demonstrated his diplomatic ability and that led to his appointment of Minister to England. Then, again came in the malign element that seemed to have shadowed his honorable life. Among other properties in which he had invested his modest means, was some stock in what is known as the Emma Mine of Utah. He bought that stock as he purchased the house in which he died. He paid full value for it, and believing it to be sound and hon- est, he advised a few friends to invest. One day he was cautioned to "unload," as it was termed in Wall street, and learned from the promoters that Emma was not a mine, but a pocket, and would soon be exhausted. " I cannot do that," was the reply. " I have advised some near and dear friends to invest and if the Emma goes down I too must go down." That was the speech of a man who never had any financial transaction but what was open to the scrutiny of the world. but there are certain anglomaniac snobs of American growth hanging about the area ways and kitchens of the nobility to gather items from .servants to reha.sh for American journals, who seized on this and went to alnising a man whose shoes they were not worthy to tie. But the matter was .sensational and it swung through the press with almost the same volume as that of the \'ienna affair. Now I am not here to defend my General from any charge of this sort. His long life is in itself a complete de- 39 fense. He lived all the years of his honored career in the open at all times, and much under the fierce glare of public place. He occupied positions of trust in which he could have winked himself into millions. He went into office one of a crowd and he came out alone, the one poor man of the group. Plain and simple in his habits of life, he found his income sufficient for its wants. I parted with him some twelve years since, when he was thought to be dying of Bright's disease, and I was on my way to my home in Mac-o-chee to put ni}- house in order, for I too was very ill. It was a sad parting as we smiled through our eyes dimmed in unshed tears, for we never expected to meet again this side of our graves. That w^as a sorrowful inter- view, but a sadder one was our last, in which he told me that he had lost his little place as legal advisor to the vState Department, and had resumed the practice of the law. " I have one case," he said, "one in behalf of the Department clerks. There is not much money in it, but I hope, through it, to come into notice as a law3'er again." When I heard this from my brave old friend, then ap- proaching his eighty-first year, and remembered his long and eminent services, the situation seemed so pitiful that I had to turn away my head to hide my tears. Ah ! my friends it is not that republics are ungrateful, but that they are mean. The )wbiesse oblige of European aristocracy has no place with us. We cannot be generous, even with other people's nione}'. General Schenck was a man of the strictest integrit}', but it always seemed to me that it manifested itself more in his high sen.se of honor. He treated dishonor that approached him as an insult. I could never imagine any one making a dishonest proposition to him. He made no profession of high morality, and after all I rather think that the virtue is like one's stomach, when in good order we do not know^ that it is there. When the knowledge comes to us the organ is injured. General Schenck's most marked trait was in his intense 40 personality. It was strikingly American, not only in its high patriotism but his versatility. Born through many generations upon our soil, the strong blood of his race seemed to take in each birth some new quality from its environment. From this junction of qualities from mixed races comes the happy adaptability of the American character. It was vividh' illustrated in ni}- general. As a lawyer he would have stood at the head of his profession. He turned from this to lead as a politician with a power that approached statesmanship. As a soldier, a debater on the floor of the House, as a diplomate he shone unrivalled in some and unequaled in others. He grew old with grace and dignity, surrounded by his loved and loving daughters. He lived out the sum of his grand life; and when at last he folded his cloak about him to lie down to pleasant dreams, he could say with the poet Shell\- : " Heartless tilings Are (lone and said i' the world, and many worms, And beasts, and men li\e on, and mighty earth. From sea and mountain, city and wililerness, In vespers low, or joyous orison, Lifts still its solemn voice; but thou art gone, Thou canst no longer know, or love, the shapes Of this jihantasmal scene, who liave to thee Keen purest ministers, who are, alas! Now thou art not." RcsT, Spirit Rest. SuNc; BY Miss Margaret Cotter and the Philharmonic Society. Rest, spirit rest, Thou art fled to realms of endless day. Blest of heaven, By \varhling choirs of seraphs led, Soar spirit, soar away, Rest, spirit rest. f3ENEDieTI0N. Bv Rev. Morris i;. Wilson, I). I). And now, upon the proceedings of this hour; upon the generous words uttered ; upon the hearts which liave been stirred ; upon the sacred memories revived ; upon the con- victions which, we trust, have l)een strengthened ; may the smile of Heaven be bestowed, and may the blessing of Almighty God, grace, mercy and peace from Father, Son and Holy Spirit, come unto us all, go with us, and abide with us forevermore. Amen. Organized i S 8 4. M\]^ CiapfieU fl^k OF DAYTON, OHIO. OFFICERS, 1890. Presidciil, . . . Vice President, . Financial Sec'y, . Recording' Src'v, Treasurer, . . . Herbert A. Cranijall, Is". P. R.\MSEY, Fred. A. JTcss, Charles J. Hall, Charles D. Kidd, Jr. DIRECTORS. JOHN B. WOOD, D. \V. ALLAXLA.V, EDWIN C. BAIKD, W. S. HAWTHORN, GEO. W. D.4VIDSON, B. K. HERSHEY, JOHN C. CLINE, JOHN JOHNSON, LEWIS J. JVDSON. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 700 080 5