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 AN ECHO OF 1861 
 
 THE ARM OF THE LORD THESUPPORT OF THE NATION 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. EDWIN SAWYER WALKER, A. M. 
 
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Class Book 
 
 52, Vu 1 S' 
 
 Volume 
 
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 A SERMON. 
 
 THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF 
 THE NATION. 
 
 Delivered before the “Ripon Rifles,” in the First Baptist Church, 
 Ripon, Wisconsin, June 2, 1861. 
 
 By Rev. Edwin Sawyer Walker, A. M. 
 
 TEXT: 
 
 Exodus XXXIII: 1314. 
 
 “Now THEREFORE, I PRAY THEE, IF I HAVE FOUND GRACE IN THY 
 SIGHT, SHOW ME NOW THY WAY, THAT I MAY KNOW THEE, THAT I MAY 
 FIND GRACE IN THY SIGHT: AND CONSIDER THAT THIS NATION IS THY 
 PEOPLE.” 
 
 “And he said: My presence shall go with thee, and I will 
 
 GIVE THEE REST.” 
 
 These words are words of :miingled prayer and promise. 
 The first verse is the prayer of Moses, the leader of Israel, and 
 the second verse God’s promise in answer to that prayer. 
 
 There is not, in all history, a more interesting narrative 
 than the account which the Old Testament furnishes, of the 
 life of Moses and the Israelitish nation, under his wise and 
 patriotic administration. From a condition of the mlost bitter 
 bondage, Israel grew, whilst under his leadership, to be the 
 most free, enlightened and independent nation in the world. 
 This change from servitude in Egypt, to freedom in Canaan, 
 was not, however, brought about in a day, nor without the 
 shedding of blood 1 . To every reader of the Bible who comes 
 to it, not with a caviling, but in a reverent spirit, there are 
 opened lessons, which reveal, in language not to be mis¬ 
 taken, the great plan of Divine Government among men. 
 
2 THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 
 
 The more thoroughhly we study these lessons, the better 
 shall we be prepared to fulfill our duties, as in the providence 
 of God they may be assigned us. “Though we are well as¬ 
 sured that the Divine Being is attentive to the conduct of men 
 at all times, it is but reasonable to believe that he is peculiarly 
 so, while they are under his correcting hand.” As the princi¬ 
 ples of God’s administration are unchangeable, and the con¬ 
 dition of the United States at this time is not unlike the con¬ 
 dition! of the Israelitish nation, at the time the text was first 
 written, I cannot perhaps better improve the occasion than by 
 pointing out some of the lessons which God’s dealings with 
 that nation teach. 
 
 i. It is not enough to trace national judgments to their 
 natural causes. We must look higher, or we shall fail to 
 draw from them the instruction which they are calculated to 
 teach. The times into which we have fallen are without a 
 parallel in the history of our government. The counsel of 
 the wisest of our statesmen has proved insufficient to check 
 the wild tumult into which so large a portion of the country 
 has been plunged. However much honest men may differ as 
 tc the true causes which have led us, as a nation, to this brink 
 of ruin, none will deny that it is now alike the dictate of rea¬ 
 son and of patriotism, that we do all in our power towards 
 perserving the liberties purchased for us by the Fathers of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 Before proceeding further let me call your attention 
 briefly to some of the prominent facts ini the history of the 
 Israelitish nation which find a parallel in the history of our 
 country. That nation was declared by God’s own word, to be 
 his “peculiar people.” Among all the nations, none were 
 blessed with such manifest tokens of divine favor, as was the 
 nation at the Red Sea, when having resolved to throw off the 
 yoke of oppression it was secured ini its independence, by the 
 overthrow of its enemies. So the United Colonies of Ameri¬ 
 ca, (were, though not by direct word, yet in most unmistakable 
 terms, declared in the providence of God to be, his “peculiar 
 people.” From the day that those exiles from England set 
 foot on the shores of Massachusetts Bay, to the present, the 
 guiding hand of God has not been withdrawn. 
 
THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 3 
 
 The Revolution! was the Red Sea of our national deliver¬ 
 ance. Moses, the lawgiver and patriot, who was so often tried 
 with the follies and the sins of his people, and yet who stood 
 firm when the whole nation trembled with fear, finds his 
 parallel in our own Washington, wiho in the darkest hour of 
 his country’s trial abated hope nor prayer, but in faith gave 
 himself up to her service, and to her enfranchisement. The 
 forty years which elapsed after the Israelitish nation* was se¬ 
 cured in its independence, before it entered into' Canaan, was 
 a period of mingled prosperity and trial. 
 
 Such also has been the history of our nation thus far. 
 Under the righteous government which God himself had insti¬ 
 tuted, the Israelites enjoyed the most ample freedom consist¬ 
 ent with their own welfare, and yet some of them trampled on 
 the authority of that government by substituting a golden 
 calf in place of the only and true God, as an object of worship. 
 
 How instructive is the history of that rebellion! In 
 Moses’ absence it broke out into fearful proportions, so that 
 it became necessary for him, on his return) from the mount, 
 where he had comimtuned with God, to' issue a proclamation 
 to all loyal men in the follolwiing language: “Who is on the 
 Lord’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi 
 gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto 
 them: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, put every man 
 his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate, 
 throughout the camp, and slay every man his companion and 
 every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did ac¬ 
 cording to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people 
 that day about three thousand men.” 
 
 It wlas soon after this rebellion and the fearful conse¬ 
 quences that followed it, that Moses went into the tabernacle 
 of the Lord and there in humble supplication sought counsel 
 in the words of the text, “Show me now thy way, that I may 
 know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider 
 that this nation is thy people. And he said: My presence 
 shall go Iwith thee, and I will give thee rest.” 
 
 II. As already remarked the providence of God has de¬ 
 clared, during all its history, that this, our nation, is his peo¬ 
 ple. Under our free institutions the wilderness has been 
 
4 THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 
 
 made to blossom as the rose. With a hospitality such as no 
 other nation has ever shown, our country has been open to 
 the wanderer, and the exile, from every land, and her pro¬ 
 tecting shield has been freely proffered' ito all who have 
 sought her shores for an asylum and a home. From a popu¬ 
 lation of three millionis, the small one has become a strong 
 nation; the marts of her cjomimlerce, which fifty years, ago, 
 were insignificant, or without existence, now rival the seats 
 of trade, that in the old world have been built for centuries, 
 atnd the hum of her manufactories, which have sprung into 
 life as by magic, keeps time iwith the spindles of Manchester, 
 as the inventive genius of her people outstrips that of every 
 other nation. 
 
 Nor is it in material prosperity alone that this nation has 
 arisen from her infancy, so soon to become the wonder and 
 admiration of the iwlorld. Fostered by her free institutions, 
 education in almost all of its branches, has received the highest 
 attention, so that no nation on the face of the globe can boast 
 of a more intelligent population. Works of art, it is true, 
 are not nulmerous amongst us as they were among the 
 ancient Greeks and Romans, or as they are amongst the 
 nations of the Old World, but still we are not wholly wanting 
 in the products of genius, both in painting and sculpture. 
 
 It was the glory of Athens that she had a Phidias to adorn 
 her with costly statues of marble, and of Rome that she had a 
 Raphael and an Angelo to beautify her wlith paintings, and 
 masterpieces of architecture, which still defy the ravages of 
 time. But America, instead of such as these, presents to the 
 world as her glory, the names of Patriots who adorn their 
 country’s history with imperishable renown,, of Statesmen 
 whose fame grows brighter with each succeeding year, and of 
 Citizens whose worth in private life is equaled only by their 
 valor, when called to maintain the honor of their country, 
 whether assailed by traitors at home or enemies abroad. 
 
 Under these same benign institutions also*, Religion has 
 found the most ample protection! and reached out the arms of 
 her influence to the ends of the earth. Here every man is free 
 to worship God as he will, and from hence have gone forth 
 missionaries of the Cross of Christ, whose names are redolent 
 
THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 5 
 
 of noble deeds, of self-denying love, and true Christian devo¬ 
 tion/. Colleges and seminaries of learning have here been 
 founded, and borne abundant fruit, making real additions to 
 the sum of human knowledge; and religious and benevolent 
 associations at the sarnie time have here given proof to> the 
 world that our blessings as a people have not been wholly 
 unappreciated, nor the Lord who hath bestowed them wholly 
 forgotten 
 
 Notwithstanding all these proofs that “this nation is thy 
 people.” Oh! thou God of Israel, how have iwe as a nation 
 fallen, under thy rod! We have miade to ourselves friends of 
 the mammon of unrighteousness, and now we are, as a nation, 
 gathering the bitter fruit. Whilst we may very properly at¬ 
 tend to ithe more evident causes which have brought us into 
 our present state, let us never forget there is a Being placed 
 above them, who can at his pleasure, so direct the affairs of 
 our nation as to make the war into which we have been 
 plunged a means of good, not to our nation only, but to the 
 whole human race. The honor of God requires that his 
 sovereignity should be acknowledged, and his agency con¬ 
 fessed. 
 
 Let us then consider the conditions by which we are to¬ 
 day confronted. A nation of twenty-three millions of people, 
 six months ago>, elected, according tlo the provisions of the 
 Constitution, a Chief Magistrate, who in due time took the 
 prescribed oath—“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully 
 execute the office of President of the United States, and will, 
 to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the 1 
 Constitution of the United States.” Against the authority of 
 the government thus legally constituted there has risen a re¬ 
 bellion in ten States of the Union, which has in a short period 
 of time, assumed such a threatening aspect, as to put in 
 jeopardy the very government itself. State after state, has 
 followed in the surging and maddening current of rebellion, 
 until public faith, in a large portion of the Union, is cast to 
 the winds, and treason, a thousand fold blacker than the 
 treason of Benedict Arnold, has come to be christened with a 
 new name, even “Loyalty to the State.” 
 
 Thus men have loved darkness rather than light, because 
 
6 THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 
 
 their deeds are evil. The word of the old prophet—“Woe 
 unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness 
 for light ain/d light for darkness”—echoing down through the 
 ages, pronounces the sentence of condemnation on the ene¬ 
 mies of our country. At the call of the Chief Magistrate more 
 than half a million of freemen, loyal, liberty-loving citizens, 
 irrespective of political party or religious creed, have sprung 
 to arms in defense of the dearest rights to man. 
 
 All honor to the patriotic instincts by which the masses 
 have thus been moved to respond to the call of country, in 
 the hour of her peril. But if we repose on an arm of flesh, 
 instead of placing our reliance on God for safety, it will be 
 painful to contemplate the issue. 
 
 “The perfect unanimity which prevails, the ardor to de¬ 
 fend everything dear to us, which is expressed by all classes, 
 the sacrifices cheerfully made, the labors sustained, and the 
 mighty preparation by sea and land, which the vigilance of 
 the government has set on foot to put down rebellion must be 
 highly satisfactory to every well disposed mind. They af¬ 
 ford, as well as huimtan means can afford, a well founded 
 prospect of success. Though there is on this account no 
 room to despond, but much on the contrary, to lead us to 
 anticipate a favorable issue to the contest, yet nothing, surely, 
 can justify that proud confidence in our national force, with¬ 
 out a dependence upon God, which is alike contrary to the 
 dictates of true courage and true piety.” 
 
 True courage is firm and unassuming—true piety, seri¬ 
 ous and humble. In the midst of all our preparations we 
 must put our chief confidence in Him who directs all things 
 according to the counsel of his own will, and is able to cause 
 the wrath of man to praise him. In so doing our reliance on 
 God, however, is not to supercede the use of those means 
 which he puts within our reach. As did the soldiers of the 
 Revolution, we have need to “Trusti in God and keep our 
 powder dry.” To confide in an arm of flesh, to trust ini the 
 ability of our government without seeking aid from God, 
 would be to deny him ; and on the other hand, to depend on 
 the interposition of Providence without huiman exertion, 
 would be to tempt God. 
 
THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 7 
 
 As Moses looked to God for counsel, calling him to 
 remember that 'the Israelites were his illation, and in reply 
 received from God the promise—“My presence shall go with 
 thee, and I will give thee rest,”—so if we look to him as a 
 nation, his presence shall go with us and at length he will 
 give us rest. But let us not deceive ourselvesj This rest 
 will not come this year. It is to be purchased with blood. 
 The issue has been forced upon the government by its 
 enemies. The proclamation has gone forth as from the 
 God of Israel. “Put every man his sword by his side, and 
 go in and out from gate to gate, throughout the camp, and 
 slay every man his companion and every man his neighbor/’ 
 
 When this proclamation was made to the Israelitish na¬ 
 tion, it was obeyed, and there fell that day about three thous¬ 
 and men. A portion had rebelled and worshipped a golden 
 calf. That rebellion was a crime which God did not fail to 
 punish, even though to execute the just punishment, it be¬ 
 came necessary for the men of Israel to take the sword against 
 their own kinsmen. A portion of our naitlion have been for 
 a long time worshipping also a. golden calf, otherwise called 
 the institution of slavery, and God has unsheathed his sword 
 to teach them that, He the eternal Jehovah, is the God of this 
 nation, and that he will not give his honor to another. So 
 long as they worshipped the calf themselves and did not in¬ 
 sist that the whole nation should do the same thing also ; they 
 were noit 1 disturbed in their idolatry, but when they came to 
 insist that the calf must be worshipped by the whole nation, 
 or they would leave the camp, God in his manifest Providence, 
 ordered the proud revolt to be put down at whatever cost. 
 
 Suppose when thait rebellion broke out amongst the 
 Israelites, the rebels had said—let us confederate together 
 and leave the camp of Israel, let us make a new ark and 
 new tables of the law modeled after the old tables, but es¬ 
 sentially different in the first article, so that instead of read¬ 
 ing—“Thou shalt have no other gods before me, thou shalt 
 not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of 
 anything that is in heaven above, or that is ini "the earth be¬ 
 neath or that is in the water under the earth, &c.,” it shall 
 read 1 —“The people shall be free to worship a golden calf 
 
8 THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 
 
 and shall have power to compel others to worship the same.” . 
 
 Would he who had chosen Israel as his own nation have 
 allowed such a secession? Would he have permitted such 
 a nation to grow up alongside his own? No never, never; 
 but instead of this he vindicated the honor of his government. 
 Through his people he proposed to give blessings to the 
 whole world. Hence he drove out the Amorites, the Hittites, 
 and the Canaanites from the land, and gave his pople an in¬ 
 heritance there. As he gave command to take possession of 
 the whole land, and so expel and subdue the heathen tribes in 
 order to secure to his nation rest, so all the miore, would not 
 He permit a new! nation, sprung from his own peculiar people 
 to share the land and corrupt it with their base idolatry. 
 
 May we noit learn a lesson from all this that will be 
 pertinent to our time? The rebellion in the Israelitish nation 
 was put down at the very outset. The rebels did not have 
 time to make a new ark, and new tables of the law. Would 
 that like promptness had been manifest in our American 
 rebellion at the outset; then we should not have been today 
 blushing with such unwonted humiliation amd shame. 
 
 But wie must, as a people, take things as they are. The 
 rebels have made a new ark, and new tables of the law. The 
 ark has been named The Ark of the Confederate States, and 
 the tables have been written out so that they read mot like the 
 old ones—“All men are created equal, they are endowed 
 by their Creator with certain inalienble rights, among these 
 are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But instead 
 of this, “Slavery is the chief corner-stone of this government.” 
 “Oppression of our fellow men is a Christian virtue.” Hear, 
 oh thou Lord of Lords! Can it be that the barbarism of the 
 dark ages is to roll back upon us, and blot out all that 
 Christianity has done for the human race? Methinks I hear 
 the answer from the excellent glory—No never! 
 
 Wars like offenses will come, but woe to them by whom 
 this war has come, God said to our Fathers, when they 
 achieved our national independence. “My presence shall go 
 with thee and I will give thee rest.” So he hath given rest 
 to our nation, and so will he do again. We are to have it 
 however only as we prove ourselves worthy to enjoy it. 
 
THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 9 
 
 III. In a report lately published by a religious convention 
 I am ashamed to say, called the “Southern Baptist Conven¬ 
 tion,” which met on the ioth of last month at Savannah, 
 Georgia, after a long list of the grossest misrepresentations 
 concerning the citizens of the Free States, I find the follow 
 ing—“While the two sections of the land are thus arrayed 
 against each other, ilt might naturally have been hoped that 
 at least the churches of the North would interpose and pro¬ 
 test against this appeal to the sword, this invoking of civil 
 war, this deluging of the country in fratricidal blood; but with 
 astonishment and grief we find churches and pastors of the 
 North breathing out slaughter and clamoring for hostilities, 
 which we would have supposed impossible among the dis¬ 
 ciples of the Prince of Peace.” As a pastor and as a church, 
 we repel this foul imputation of “breathing out slaughter.” 
 To it we would answer, we remember Fort Sumter; We have 
 not forgotten the repeated threats made, and the repeated 
 planls formed to capture and destroy our national capital. 
 
 Nor have we forgotten that self-defense, with nations, as 
 w ith individuals, is the first law of nature, a law which Christ 
 did not come to destroy;—that the wisdom that is from above 
 is first pure, then peaceable. That wisdom teaches us to ab¬ 
 hor evil and to cleave to that which is good. Obedient to the 
 precepts and taught by the genius of Christianity, then we 
 cannot but say that we hear in this crisis the voice of Christ 
 saying—“He that hath no sword let him sell his garment and 
 buy one.” 
 
 The cause speaks for itself; it excites feelings 
 which words are poorly able to express. The dispute is 
 brought to a short issue; it is not wheth'er the North shall 
 conquer the South, but whether this nation, built by so many 
 patriot hands, under the guidance of God; this nation whose 
 liberties were purchased at the cost of so many sacrifices, and 
 cemented by the blood of so many heroes; this nation under 
 whose banner we have enjoyed such manifold blessings 
 shall die. The answer comes as from every town and city, 
 saying: “We too have sent forth our offering, and our sons 
 have counted it an honor to die in defense o>f the liberties that 
 God has given us. , 
 
10 THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 
 
 War, at best, is terrible to contemplate. Would that I 
 could portray it, in all its horrors, if by so doing, I might 
 more effectually lead you, who are about to go forth as our 
 representatives to the field of conflict to contemplate the 
 sufferings that may await you, and the sudden death against 
 which no soldier is insured. Froimi the grave of that young 
 Patriot whose life was offered up, the first sacrifice on Vir¬ 
 ginia soil, to freedom, an|d from the streets of the Monumental 
 city, where the sons of Massachusetts were slaughtered, the 
 warning comes to you all. Stop a moment! Tomorrow may 
 find you on the march for the field of conflict! Where is the 
 goal of your best affections? Do' you march under the or¬ 
 ders of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings? Honored be 
 the “Star Spangled Banner,” but he alone who sees com¬ 
 mingled with its folds the blood-stained banner of the cross 
 of Christ, is fully prepared for the battle. It is such a soldier 
 that wins the well-fought day. 
 
 No title that earth ever knew is so to be honored as 
 the title—“A Christian Soldier.” No courage is so sustained 
 as that courage that is built on Faith in God, and no consola¬ 
 tion so full of sweetness, as the consolation which Christ 
 gives to them, who trust in Him, alike ini the quiet of home, 
 and in the noise and smoke of battle. To' go forth to battle 
 without armis, would, as every soldier knows, be proof of the 
 highest folly. 
 
 So there is need of weapons, both offensive and defensive, 
 in the spiritual battles which the Christian Soldier has before 
 him. These weapons are described in the sixth chapter of 
 Ephesians. The armor is the “armor of God;” the breast¬ 
 plate is “righteousness;” the shield is “Faith;” the helmet is 
 salvation,” an(d the sword is the word of God; Christ himself 
 is the Captain. He calls to night for volunteers in that war in 
 which there is no discharge, and whose reward is eternal life. 
 He invites you, not to the privations of the camp and to that 
 death where all is gloom, but rather to the self-denial of the 
 heart, and to that life, where all is light and everlasting rest. 
 
 Religion is interested in your success and proffers you 
 her aid—she will shed over the cause in which you have 
 enlisted, her selectest influences. While you are engaged in 
 
THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 11 
 
 the field, she will not forget to utter the prayer which has power 
 with God. Some of you may fall aimlidst the shouts of bat¬ 
 tle and the shock of arms. To such as yield your hearts to 
 her control, Religion will furnish a balm for every wound, 
 and fighting under her banner, you shall be victors. Let the 
 solemnities of this hour be fixed in all your hearts, and may 
 He who sits enthroned on high prove to- be the God of your 
 lives, and his Son the Captain of your salvation. 
 
 AFTERWORD. 
 
 On the 4th day of March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated 
 president of the United States. 
 
 At that time seven states had passed ordinances of secession from 
 the Union, to-wit: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, 
 Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. 
 
 The city of Washington swarmed with secessionists, and was sur¬ 
 rounded by a population in full sympathy with secession. 
 
 On Sunday, the 14th of April following, Major Robert Anderson, 
 in command of Fort Sumpter in Charleston harbor, with a force or 
 seventy-five men, after a bombardment of two days by a rebel force 
 under command of Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, evacuated the fortress 
 and marched out with the honors of war. 
 
 On the day following, April 15, President Lincoln issued a call 
 for 75,000 volunteers, to serve for three months, in restoring the 
 national authority, and at the same time summoned congress to 
 meet on the 4th day of July. 
 
 Pursuant to the call for volunteers, the Sixth Massachusetts regi¬ 
 ment on its way to Washington, for the protection of the national 
 capitol, was on the 19th day of April, attacked by a mob of ten 
 thousand secessionists, while passing through Baltimore, and three 
 of its members killed. This was the first blood shed during the 
 war of four years which followed. 
 
 For a week all communication was cut off between Washington 
 and the free states of the north. The fate of the Republic trembled 
 as in a balance, and all loyal hearts were stirred with the most de¬ 
 termined resolution to defend and preserve the Union, for which the 
 fathers had given the last full measure of heroic sacrifice. The first 
 invasion of the seceeded states by the National forces took place on 
 the 24th day of May. Previous to which time Virginia, Arkansas, 
 Tennessee, and North Carolina had seceeded and joined the Con¬ 
 federacy. On that day the Eleventh New York regiment of Fire 
 
12 THE ARM OF THE LORD THE SUPPORT OF THE NATION. 
 
 Zouaves, under the command of Col. E. E. Ellsworth, was the first to 
 enter Alexandria, Virginia, and take possession of the city. 
 
 The gallant young commander, discovering a rebel flag floating 
 from the top of the “Marshall House,” ascended and snatched it 
 from its place, and while descending the stairs with the trophy, was 
 shot and instantly killed by the rebel proprietor, Jackson. 
 
 His death, and the impressive funeral obsequies, which were 
 held in Washington, with President Lincoln as the chief mourner, 
 served to arouse the entire people of the northern states to the 
 highest pitch of patriotic devotion. 
 
 These incidents which marked the first three months of the new 
 administration, served to open beyond control, the doors of the im¬ 
 pending conflict. 
 
 The excitement of those early days of the rebellion can now 
 scarcely be realized. Piercing the mists of the future with a con¬ 
 fident glance, the men of 1861 rose to the occasion, and heroically 
 devoted themselves to their country’s service. 
 
 It was in the midst of all this excitement, with which the very 
 air was surcharged, that this sermon was prepared and delivered 
 
 The occasion which specially called it forth was an invitation 
 extended by Capt. O. H. LaGrange, of the “Jtiipon Kifles,” a local 
 military company, on the eve of its departure for the seat of war, 
 as a part of the Fourth Wisconsin volunteers, under command or 
 Col. Halbert E. Paine. 
 
 Captain LaGrange was afterwards transferred to, and commis¬ 
 sioned as Lieutenant Colonel of the First regiment of Wisconsin Cav¬ 
 alry, and continuing in the service to the close of the war, made a 
 record as a dashing cavalryman, and one of the most heroic leaders 
 on many a hotly contested field of battle. Of the eighty members of 
 that company, now after the lapse of forty-two years, few survive, 
 but among them Colonel LaGrange, in a vigorous old age, is now 
 the Superintendent of the Soldiers’ Home at Santa Monica, California. 
 
 To him I dedicate this re-printed sermon, in memory of the days 
 of 1861. 
 
 Springfield, Illinois, March 4, 1904. 
 
 E. S. W.