SOLDIERS REUNION
North Vernon Sun - October 16, 1879
 

A Gathering of Heroes 

  The meeting of soldiers on Saturday awakened many memories. Of the companies at first organized but few remain. Some have found homes in other parts of the country, but a majority perhaps fill graves which the hosts who marched under the State's Rights banner prepared for them. The Heroes of Jennings county, those who gave their lives to save the integrity of our common country, are buried in every State of the solid South, where they fell in a hundred battles or where death sought them in hospitals or prison pens. These were conspicouously absent from the reunion, but were remembered in the speeches made and in the mottoes displayed. They were present in the recollections of their comrades who still live and while they live can never forget. 

  There is ever sadness in the thought of death, of the long separation, of the cheerless churchyard, or the more cheerless battlefield where the lost fell and lie buried. Yet there is pleasure in the thought that the fallen soldiers died the death of heroes, and that their graves are honored by their countrymen and by the friends of humanity and of liberty in every land. There is pleasure too in the thought that they did not fall in vain, that the cause for which they died prevailed and the flag beneath which they marched and battled, floats to day from the lakes to the gulf, the legacy of the heroic dead to their posterity. No grave could be more honorable. The tawdry ornament of Westminister which adorn the field where royal families have decayed are commonplace' when compared with the nobler monuments erected in the hearts of generations to honor those who died that the stars and stripes might not fall, that human liberty might live and prevail, monuments of love, of affection, of thanks giving, which time can neither efface nor dim. 

  The living met, perhaps with many the last meeting, conscious that they are the heroes of the earth today. As men are taught in our time that the fathers of our country were true to duty in declaring and maintaining American freedom which they transmitted to the keeping of their posturity, so in the future claim that the people of 1861 were worthy to have descended from a race so illustrious as that of 1776. 

  DECORATIONS
     A magnificent arch was erected from Doll's corner across Fifth street to Wilkerson's and trimmed in red, white and blue, evergreens, wreaths, &c. The mottoes on it in large letters were: "Our Dead Heroes," "Our Living Defenders," "All Honor to the Brave," "Stand Firm, Boys," and on the columns supporting the arch were names of battles and incidents pictured. In front of the post office another arch was made having on one side the words: Preservers of Our Union, Welcome," and trimmed handsomely in the national colors and flags. On the south side of the arch were the words "One Country," made in flowers by Tom Brolley. 

  Stretched from Odd Fellows' hall to Adams' store and arranged by Andrews and Cone were mottoes; "Honor to the Brave" and "One Flag, One Country," with evergreens and flags. Another motto "You were Right," was hung between the Universalist church and the mottoes, names of Generals, battles, &c. Of course there was much more decoration on the grounds and in the city than we could here enumerate. 

The Crowd of Visitors
    Was variously estimated at from 8,000 to 10,000, and it was an enthusiastic one. Before daylight wagons and carriages were coming in from every point, making their way at once to the Fair Grounds, and this continued all through the morning. Among the visitors were a number of the Pap Thomas Guards of Greensburg. When the trains arrived there came on them soldiers and citizens and the town was in a hubbub of excitement. 

Issuing of Arms
    As soon as the soldiers arrived they were directed to the point where were being distributed guns and badges, and in issuing which Ordnance officer C. D. Shank did noble and hard work until every man who wished to carry a musket was equipped. 

The Procession
    Early in the morning the battalions of cavalry and infantry from this place marched to Vernon to escort from there the Vernon battalion and other companies coming by that route, and together returned to this place in time to take their place in the procession, which was formed and moved at 10 o'clock as per programme. While forming, various exercises in drill were gone through with, among them a drill of the German soldiers, orders in their own language, by Capt. Ranft. At the appointed time the procession moved,carring the tattered and torn colors of regiments as follows, as well as we could learn; 27th, 52d, 66th, 140th, 145th, 12th, 54th, 38th, 8th, 70th, 9th, 93rd, 7th cavalry, 81st, 19th. Everywhere the troops were greeted with happy cheerings, so different from those of the times of 1861, when they went out f rom their homes and families to do real battle for their country. The line of march as published was followed out entire, the arches passed through and on to the fair grounds and the speakers stand and the and the seats which had been provided in sufficient numbers for all who wished to rest on them. Prayer was offered by Chaplain Johnson, and no speakers from a distance being present Mr. Thomas C. Batchelor, himself a wounded soldier, was called on for an address. His talk was short but pleasant and well received. Mrs. Leavitt was then called on to read a poem written by her for the occasion. We give it here: 

A Grateful Offering to the Soldiers
  What memories stir our hearts to-day,  Beneath these autumn leaves!  Their pantomime of changing tints  Is like what Memory weaves,-  Whose many tinted threads are spun  From the checkered days of Sixty-One
  All our fair Land of bud and bloom
  Bathed in the golden light  Of peace serene; and azure skies  Showed me not a cloud of blight  Through verdant wood, and flow'ry glade  Her summer air a music made.  Quick, o'er each sunny slope of life,  Our Country's air grew chill;  And over hill and valley fell  Foreboding sense of ill-  Deeper than any autumn haze-  The shadow of Rebellion's days!  Grown black with gloom, the War cloud rolled  Athwart the dark'ning air;  And sullen cannon thunders rent  The quaking cities there!  And down the tempest hurled its wrath  O'er every quiet vale, and path!  Oh there was hurrying to and fro!  And white lips breathed, "Farewell!"  And some went forth, who ne'er came back,  From many a hill and dell!  The battle smoke,-their winding sheet;  Their requiem, the drums wild beat!  Swept down by War's tempestuous breath  In manhood's bloom they fell;  And more than midnight pall fell o'er  The hearts, that loved them well,  Full many a fireside's gladsome light  Went out, forevermore, in night!  The summer-glory of the earth,  Swept by a tempest's wrath,  Is a faint picture of the blight  Which marked Rebellion's path;-  Strewn thick with mangled ones who gave  Their lives the UNION'S life to save  Shall TREASON walk a king to-day,  Crowned with a Nation's love?  Traitors, whose brows the Rebel flag  Once waved it "bars" above?  Shall hands, upraised against their own,  Wear Honor's signet ring and stone!  Shall they in regal robes of power,  Be throned in honor hight,  While Loyalty sits in the dust?  And none dare make reply?  Shall Justice fold her even hand  At Treason's impious demand?  If the Great Truths which underlie  Our Nation's life are fled,  If Right's eternal principles  Forevermore are dead,  If Union is an empty toy;  Let Treason laugh with Seccession's joy!  Let every loyal lip be sealed;  Let not a whisper low  Dispute Rebellion's right or power;  Let Truth and Honor go!  Let legal stamp the edict seal;-  "Put Loyalty 'neath Treason's heel!"  By every drop of loyal blood,  From th' Nation's heart outwrung,  Above her costly sacrifice,  Shall Treason's praise be sung?  O'er all the graves of th' loved and lost  Can we forget what Treason cost?  O'er Gettysburg? O'er Shiloh's slain?  O'er Richmond's hard-earned fall?  O'er Sherman's March down to the sea?  O'er Vicksburg's battered wall?  Sheridan's ride? and Grant's broad fame?  And-o'er our martyred LINCOLN'S name?  By th' marching hosts ULYSSES led-  Our gallant boys in blue,  Who bore our starry ensign on-  Thro' loss or victory, true;-  If Right is right eternally,  Let traitors quail, let freedom die!  In the brave fame of our loyal State  OUR COUNTY claims her share;  Her wounds, and sears, and shattered limbs  She well may proudly wear!  Tho' on her brow are laurel leaves,  The tear-wet cypress twines through these!  Her slain! Some 'neath an alien soil  Laid down life's early bloom  Where yearning Love no wreath may twine  Above their unkown tomb,  McKeehan, Sears, and Batchelor,  And Clinton,-when life's dream was o'er,  Came back, to her fond arms, no more!  Her slain! Some 'neath an alien soil  Laid down life's early bloom  Where yearning Love no wreath may twine  Above their unknown tomb,  McKeehan, Sears, and Batchelor,  And Clinton,-when life's dream was o'er,  Came back, to her fond arms, no more!  The Southern sky, bend soft above  The place where such repose!  Twine there your wealth of balm and bloom,  O jessamine and rose!  O morn's first blush, and eve's last glow  A tender halo o'er them throw!  To make their graves with us, some came,  Who in the conflict fell;  Green be the mounds, amid the vails  Their childhood knew so well!  Sweet be their sleep, and soft their rest,  Amid the scenes they loved the best!  A Veteran's fame is our proud claim;  He, 'neath the Army blue  Received the wound whose pains must last  Till all his years are through.  Entwined with all our hearts can give,  Let COLONEL TRIPP's brave record live!  To all who fought in our holy cause,  Deep as the flowing sea,  To all who fought in our holy cause,  Deep as the flowing sea,  A nations gratitude still flows,  Unspoken though it be!  Throbbing through all this offering,  Love's gratitude to you we bring!  The wood's once rent by war's alarms,  Are glad with golden leaves;  Nature has healed her wounds and scars;  And peace has bound her sheaves;  May you-in nature's sweet release,  Find for each wound exceeding peace!  And, unto Him whose hand hath led-  Even by His power alone-  Thy God. O glad America-  Our father's and our own,  To Him, whose mercies crown our days,  Let the whole Nation offer praise! 

  The next speaker was Chaplain McCoy, and he talked of the boys in a way that all who heard him will be pleased to remember. While the visitors were coming the procession forming and moving, and the speakers being listened to by the vast crowd, Commissary officers Robinson and Balser, with their numbers of efficient aids in the persons of ladies from Vernon and this place, were hard at work preparing for the hungry soldiers and visitors the abundant supply of eatables furnished by friends of those who were holding the Reunion, and placing it upon the tables in readiness for the time of feasting. A stack of provisions were there, buckets, baskets, and other vessels full to over-flowng. The tables were two, each one hundred yards long and food was arranged on both sides, making 400 yards of substantials. Three or four stoves were used in the department in making hot coffee, and tin cups full of the old army drink boiling hot dotted the tables from end to end. The commissary department's work was well done was the expression by everybody. At about one o'clock the battery gave the signal for dinner and the soldiers marched in two files and in a few minutes had occupied all the available space along the tables, and were told to "fall to." They "fell to" and were satisfied to the utmost. When the first table had finished the following resolutions were read and adopted by a hearty "aye" from every soldier:  Resolved, That we, ex-soldiers of Jennings County return to our fellow citizens our heartfelt thanks for the munificent entertainment they have provided for us.  Resolved, That the ladies of our county have by their toil and labor, in so liberally providing this splendid reception for us-won our highest esteem, and we shall ever hold them in grateful rememberance.  Resolved, That we thank the editors of our county papers for the interest they have manifested in the Soldiers' Reunion. Let all the soldiers thank you and your papers.  Resolved, That we tender to the several bands who have discoursed such beautiful music for us to-day, our heartiest thanks.  Resolved, That the soldiers present tender to Mrs. M. A. Leavitt their sincere thanks for the beautiful poem with which she has so kindly and ably entertained us to-day. 

The Drill and Sham Battle
   At the time fixed the soldiers reparied to that part of the grounds where their guns were stacked and at once engaged in drill under command of Col. Tripp, Major Spencer, Capt's McGannon, Carver, Brougher, Ranft, Lieutenants Hill, Harding, Pearce and others, and Sergeant Gallagher. The crowd was so immense as to seriously impede the marching and counter marching, and for a time it was almost impossible to go through the maneuvers. The cavalry appeared and took its station at the east end of the grounds, a larger space was cleared, with some difficulty however, for all present were excited at the prospect of seeing a representation of a battle, and all was ready for a fray. The cavalry was commanded by officers F. W. Verbarg and Harmon Dixon. It had not been at all arranged which party-infantry or cavalry should acknowledge defear, which made the matter more particularly interesting to the soldiery. All at once, without announcement, a charge was made by the horsemen, the infantry prepared to meet them. As they closed in the crack of musketry, the shouts of command, the yells of the men, the tramp of horses, the rattle of steel bayonet against sabre made that an exciting moment as our people had ever seen. The opposing troops came to close quarters, made imaginery attack and defense, and the horse were routed, pursued, and several captures made. The shouts of applause from the multitude were uproarious. The surging mass was wonderfully excited and pleased. In the fight two or three men were unhorsed, and two horses slightly wounded by bayonet thrusts, and that was all the casualtes. Another attack would have been made, this time by the infantry but the crowd pressed around so closely that it was feared there would not be sufficient space for the recounter and the idea was abandoned and arms stacked. 
Music
   So far in our report of the proceedings we have said nothing about music. There was plenty of it. The two brass bands accompanied the soldiers in the procession and blowed and blowed until every soul was stirred and heart fired with enthusiasm. Military bands were here to the number of half a dozen or more and they made music by the wholesale. When the brass bands were not playing the military bands were, and music was heard from every quarter all day. 
The Artillery Company
   Carried out its part of the programme faithfuly by firing salutes at the different times appointed in the programme. 
Incidents
  Capt. P. C. McGannon exerted himself through the day so much that his old wounds troubled him seriously and for several days after he was almost disabled.

  Sergeant-Major Oliver played the part of an Absaolom (almost) during the moving of the procession, losing his plume and hat in a tree as he rode under it.

  H.C. Smith the architect of the arch on north Fifth street and the arch itself were serenaded on Friday evening after its finish, by the North Vernon Brass Band.

  Gasper Hemberger was one of the most patreotic boys in town. In building arches, &c., he was ever ready to offer help.

  Bigger township sent a represtative of the navy dressed in full uniform.

  The colored boys of North Vernon made over 2,000 blank cartridges for use in the sham battle.

  The arch at the postoffice was built by the individual efforts and expense of J.C. Cope, L.H. Hill and W.S. Prather. The arch over Fifth street was built by H.C. Smith, the expenses being footed by Wilkerson, Doll, Dickerson, Alley, F.W. and Gus Verbarg.


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