The meeting was called to order by O. C. Bell, chairman of the committee, who introduced Hon. George L. Sheldon, Governor of Nebraska, as master of ceremonies.

O. C. Bell: -
Comrades, Fe1low-citizens, Ladies, and Gentlemen:
   We have assembled this afternoon of this sacred day to perform a duty which has been designated by an act of the legislature. For fear that you might not all know just why we are gathered together, I will explain a few facts relative to the occasion. Last winter there originated in the Post room of Farragut Post No. 25 the idea that a monument should be erected to the memory of General John M. Thayer. The duty of effecting this purpose was imposed on a committee consisting of five. They prepared a bill for the legislature asking an appropriation of $1,250. This bill was presented to the legislature by our friend and comrade, Mr. W. B. Raper of Pawnee City. It was carried through both the house and senate without a dissenting voice. The same act provided for a committee of five to select and erect the monument. That duty has been performed. We have assembled today for the purpose of dedicating and unveiling that monument, and now, at this time, I wish to thank the officers of the state of Nebraska and the members of the legislature of 1907 for their kind act in bringing about this result.
   Governor Sheldon, who will act as master of ceremonies, gave his aid in many ways that the committee might accomplish this work. I have the honor now of presenting to you Governor Sheldon, who will act as master of ceremonies. [Applause.]

     13

Governor George L. Sheldon: -
Ladies and Gentlemen, My Fellow Citizens, and Friends of General Thayer:
   It is peculiarly fitting that we should assemble here this afternoon to again pay our respects to a man who devoted his life to the welfare of Nebraska and her people. General Thayer was a farmer, a school teacher, a lawyer, a soldier, and a statesman, but above all, a most patriotic American citizen. He, as you well know, came to this territory the same year that it was organized as a territory, and cast his lot with the people, the pioneers who were here, who came here at that time. For six years, under a commission from the territorial legislature, as brigadier-general, he guarded the pioneers against the outbreaks and ravages of the hostile Indians. When the war broke out, as a colonel he went to the front, and soon was made a brigadier-general. He was a friend of General Grant, and the valuable services that he rendered his country are so well known that it is not necessary at this time to recount them. Back again to the State and the people that he loved, he advocated earnestly the admission of the territory into the Union, and was then fittingly elected to represent the young state in the United States Senate. Again, as governor of this great commonwealth, he exercised the functions of that great office, always for the best interests of the people of this state. A conscientious servant of the people, he died like every unselfish man who devotes his whole life to the service of his people, a poor man so far as material wealth was concerned; but, thank God, the man who conscientiously serves his people through his life will have his reward from and by their gratitude. And I am glad to know that the people of this state have appreciated the services of such a grand and good man. When House Roll 438 was presented to me last winter I signed it with a great deal of pleasure, and at the same time with considerable regret-a great deal of pleasure because the legislature had seen fit, in this modest way, to pay tribute to a worthy man who loved his state and who gave his life work for the better-

ment of the people within it; with regret, because it seemed to me that a man who had devoted so much of his time in such an honest way for the people of this State should have a more worthy tribute and a better monument to mark his last resting place than could possibly be secured for $1,250. I hope, however, that the day will not be far in the future when this state will erect in commemoration of that grand old man a monument on the Capitol square proportionate to the great services that he rendered this State during his lifetime. [Applause.]
   I am glad indeed to know that there are so many old comrades of General Thayer here this afternoon; those men of the early days who sacrificed, who gave up their time and their services, that we might have a better and a freer country in which to live.
   I am glad, indeed, that these men are here this afternoon to pay, with us, their respects to this gallant soldier, statesman, and patriot. I do not want to take up a great deal of your time this afternoon, because there are others who know from a life's association with this man more of his sterling qualities, and are therefore better fitted to speak concerning him.
   I have the pleasure now of introducing the Rev. J. W. Jones, pastor of Grace M. E. Church, who will offer prayer on this occasion.

INVOCATION, by Rev. J. W. Jones.

   Oh God, our loving Father, it is right that we should pause for a moment here under thy blue sky, under the light of thy great sun, and talk with thee. Thou art the providence of nations. Thou art the father of individuals. We have come here today to remember one of the world's great men. He was the nation's man. He was Nebraska's man, but above all he was thine own man. He sought thy righteousness and made himself the channel of thy righteousness to men. He looked toward thy truth and tried to live the truth reflected in thy Son. He caught something of thy great love for man, and poured that love upon the world about him. He entered

into thy presence and caught the light of thy face and poured it back to his fellows. So, looking deep into thyself, his face was made to shine and all of his powers became to us thine own ministering angels. Grant us thy spirit. Be in every heart. May this shaft lifted here with thy fathomless heavens as its background picture the deed of the hour. May thy love bending over us all be ever the background of our activities and aspirations. Let thine own inspirations be the background of this deed of these, his friends, who lift this monument to his memory. Bless all men. Hasten the day when the whole world shall know thy love and shall realize thine own dream of the world to be. Bless our land. Bless our chief executive. Bless our governor of the Commonwealth. Bless our legislatures and courts, our army and navy, and all who are in power. Lead and crown America more and more, and may the whole world know how blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord. Let thy blessings be upon these old comrades of the hero we today remember. Guide them by thy truth. Uphold them by thy love, and may they know that their heroisms of dream and deed are as thine own word and shall bless millions yet unborn. How good it is to recall all that he was. We thank thee for his great love toward the unfortunate and oppressed. We thank thee for his unfaltering trust in thee. In the day of his strength he was thine, and when the shadows fell about him without fear and with great joy he turned toward the home-land and, smiling his, love, bade his comrades not farewell but good night, saying "In the morning we shall meet again." May thy blessings be upon his memory. May his love and trust, his loyalty and hope, be to us as guiding stars along this pathway, growing brighter and brighter even unto the perfect day.
   Let thy richest benediction be upon the hour and upon us all. Forgive us, lead us, and at last crown us with the larger life forever with thee. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

UNVEILING OF THE MONUMENT, by W. M. Gillespie and Wesley Barr, of the 1st Nebraska Regiment.

SONG by Professor Miller's Quartet.

Governor Sheldon: -
   The monument having been unveiled, it is particularly fitting and proper that on this occasion the dedicatory address should be delivered by the man who succeeded General Thayer as Colonel of the 1st Nebraska Regiment. 1 am glad indeed to have the pleasure this afternoon to introduce to you the Hon. Thomas J. Majors, who also his devoted the greater part of his life to the building up of Nebraska and defending her interests and her people whenever occasion called upon him. My friends, Colonel Majors will now deliver the dedicatory address. [Applause.]

DEDICATORY ADDRESS, by Col. T. J. Majors: -

Comrades and Friends:
   We are assembled here today to dedicate a monument to one who has been one of the foremost men in this great commonwealth; one who was patriot and statesman, a citizen, and a brave and gallant soldier in the War of the Rebellion: one whose excellency and true worth and ability of character have excited the keenest admiration of every citizen and inhabitant of our great state. It is fitting that a monument should be erected in this hallowed spot to perpetuate the deeds and virtues of our late friend - one of our great national leaders. I appreciate greatly the honor conferred upon me in being permitted in my weak way to speak of our deceased comrade and testify as to a personal knowledge of his sterling worth and character and recount some of his valiant deeds which this magnificent monument is erected to perpetuate.
   To you, Governor Sheldon, as a representative of this splendid commonwealth, I desire on behalf of a grateful people, especially the soldier element thereof, to thank you for this beautiful tribute erected by the state in commemoration of our dead hero and statesman whose memory we all revere. True, this monument, great as it is, sinks into insignificance

when compared with the still greater monument built by our comrade's incessant, intelligent, and unceasing life labors given to the upbuilding of this magnificent state, which is in integral part of this, the greatest republic on earth.
   I would first briefly call your attention to a few incidents in the early life of our departed friend and comrade. I find in the record published by the Nebraska State Historical Society the following: "John M. Thayer settled in Omaha, Nebraska in the fall of 1854, a few months after the territorial organization. He was born in Bellingham, Norfolk county, Massachusetts, January 24, 1820. Possessing a good education, and hopeful of the future, with a laudable ambition to succeed, he naturally challenged early attention, gained the confidence of his associates, and found a field of enterprise wide open for occupancy. Belonging to the legal profession, it was not strange that visions of legislative honor should have had an enticing influence, and that in 1857 he was found a candidate for Congress in a free-for-all before the organization of parties, in a case where four aspirants divided among them 5,600 votes, each receiving 1,009, but Fenner Ferguson having the highest number in the hundred. Again in 1859 and then in 1860 his name was placed before the Republican nominating convention, but Samuel G. Daily, an original Abolition Republican, became the nominee and delegate. He was elected to the territorial council of 1860 and 1861, and subsequently to a constitutional convention. In the council he was author of a bill to abolish slavery in Nebraska."
   And now, personally speaking of his record, I desire to say:
   Answering the first call of the immortal Lincoln, General Thayer was authorized in April, 1861, to raise the 1st Nebraska Infantry, which he did in less than ninety days, out of a territory that had less than 30,000 people within its domain. One thousand stalwart sons, or more than one-thirtieth of Nebraska's population, responded to the call and marched forth under the leadership of our dead Commander to do or die for their country. General Thayer, fearing that his regi-

ment might be required to remain on the frontier, planned and used every means possible to get his command into the South, and into the heart of the Rebellion. Getting out of Nebraska and into the jurisdiction of General Fremont, we were thrown south to Springfield, Missouri, but not in time to save General Lyon, who was killed at Wilson Creek. After driving Price out of Missouri we were marched to Sedalia, then the terminus of the Missouri Pacific Ry., and from thence proceeded south to St. Louis, where we boarded a transport and proceeded down the Mississippi, thence up the Ohio, and thence up the Tennessee river, arriving at Ft. Henry just as it had fallen into our hands. Before disembarking, Colonel Thayer received orders to turn back, and also to see that all transports carrying troops were turned back to the Ohio river, and to hasten up the Cumberland river to Ft. Donelson, which he proceeded to do, and inside of thirty-six hours we disembarked and marched on to the bloody field, and participated in the fight of Ft. Donelson. Then it was that our Colonel's heroism and gallantry earned for him the command of a brigade undying fame, and immortal renown. So conspicuously engaged was he and his command at that time that you have but to read the memoirs of General U. S. Grant, that. mighty soldier of the Civil War, to know his high estimate of our dead Comrade. Then it was that the immortal Lincoln, recognizing his, worth, adorned him with the stars; which he ever after wore with honor and distinction while the war lasted.
   Thence he proceeded with his command up the Tennessee river and engaged in the bloody battle of Shiloh, and there earned further commendation and promotion. If it were permissible I might tell of one fact that came under my own personal observation. On Monday morning, while the regiment was lying flat on the ground in front of a rebel battery, not one hundred yards distance, which was persistently pouring into our lines a most disastrous storm of shot and shell, and it did not seem possible, that anything alive could survive it, General Thayer was observed coming along the lines from

left to right alone on foot, his aids, his adjutant general, and his orderlies having been swept from him by this hostile fire. As he passed along the lines he gave the order that when the regiment moved, it was to "fix bayonets and take that rebel battery." It was then his courage showed forth, not a tremor in his voice, not a doubt in his form or face. His courage inspired the confidence of all and richly crowned the sacrifice. After the siege of Corinth we were then marched to the rear and into Memphis, and thence to Helena. My regiment was then detached and sent back to Missouri and fought General Marmaduke at Cape Girardeau. But our hero went south to Vicksburg, led his division against that stronghold, where thousands of the flower of the army fell under his inspired leadership. From thence he went to the southwest-Red River - always active, always hopeful, always confident of the outcome, and, thank God, he lived to see and fully realize the full fruition of every hope of a prosperous, happy, and united country, for which he ever prayed. Old Comrades, we, so few in number, are here today to do honor to the memory of our old Comrade and Commander. To the world such ceremonies as these may seem only formal, but to us who survive him they are the earnest tributes of devoted friends and a grateful state, duties saddened by painful loss and yet hallowed by delightful memories. Our commonwealth and our city have mourned his death and are not reconciled, while friends have refused to be comforted. Life is lonelier to us all since he has been taken away. "And he is gone who seemed so great -
   Gone; but nothing can bereave him
Of the force he made his own
   Being here; and we believe him
Something far advanced in state,
   And that he wears a truer crown
Than any wreath that man can weave him.
   Speak no more of his renown,
Lay your earthly fancies down,
   And upon the Father's bosom leave him;
God accept him; Christ receive him."

   After the battle of Shiloh General Thayer submitted a very minute, comprehensive, and accurate report of the participation of his command in that most important and sanguinary contest. After stating the circumstance under which it took position in the line of battle on that memorable Sunday night, he gave a graphic description of the steady retreat of the Confederate line from 5:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., before the steady advance of the Union Army reinforced by Buell's command. He said, "I can not speak in terms of too high praise of the officers and soldiers under my command; their conduct was most gallant and brave throughout; they fought with the ardor and zeal of true patriots. It gives me pleasure to speak of the different regiments and their officers. Nobly did the 1st Nebraska sustain its reputation well earned on the field of Donelson. Its progress was onward during the whole day. In face of galling fire of the enemy, moving on without flinching at one time being an hour and a half in front of their battery, receiving and returning fire, its conduct was most excellent."
   I make the foregoing quotation from his official report of that battle to show his kindness of heart in giving full credit to those of his command, however humble they might be, hence the extreme love of all those serving under him, who honor him and revere his memory.
   From this time on until July, 1865, when his active military career closed, he is seen commanding a brigade of Iowa troops and leading a storming party in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou; then in the battle of Arkansas Post, where his horse was shot under him; and then through the siege. of Vicksburg; with Sherman in the battle of Jackson, Mississippi, and with General Steele in Arkansas in command of the Army of the Frontier, and ending with a command at Helena, on the Mississippi river; then retiring to civil life, brevetted Major-General. In 1867 he entered the U. S. Senate for a term of four years, and in 1875 was appointed Governor of Wyoming Territory.

   When the entire eastern frontier of Nebraska bordering on the Missouri river was first settled, numerous Indian tribes had originally roamed at will; the peace and quiet, the lives and property of emigrants were often at the mercy of savage marauders. So, early as May, 1855, we find General Thayer one of a commission to hold a council with the Pawnee chiefs, under appointment of Governor Izard. In July of the same year the Governor commissioned General Thayer to raise troops and give protection to the settlers against the depredations of the Sioux. In the summer of 1859 he led a force against the Indians in what was denominated the Pawnee War, the results of which were reassuring to the emigrants, and a lesson of power and authority to them.
   An article by Major Dudley, in the second volume of the Nebraska Historical Society reports, contains the following:
   "One figure stands out prominently in all this history connected with every military affair or expedition, the first brigadier-general of the territory, colonel of its first regiment to take the field in defense of the Union, 'Brigadier and brevet-Major-General of U. S. Volunteers,' then, after the war, U. S. Senator and then Governor of our state, John M. Thayer."
   I can not help but recall that in March, 1867, some three weeks after General Thayer had been admitted to the Senate, that the Congressional Record Shows Mr. Thayer engaged in an Indian war discussion in which he had to arraign the report of a congressional committee, correspondence of the New York Tribune and Boston Journal, and an interview of the chairman of the Indian committee, together with numerous allegations made by senators in debate. With undisputed facts and invulnerable arguments he met all comers and charges, and then appealed to the sense of the Senate in the following compact sentences:
   "I stand here to say to the Senate, speaking in behalf of every community on the border, speaking in behalf of every industrial pursuit, that nothing can be more abhorrent, nothing more dreaded by them than in Indian war. Why, sir, until these hostilities upon the frontier everything was pros-

perous there; the commerce on the plains had risen to an immense magnitude; we could talk about the commerce of the plains as well as you could talk about the commerce of the seas and the lakes. These men went out on the plains and did business in the mountains. You could go in no direction across these wide plains that you did not see long caravans of trains hearing merchandise from all the points of the Missouri to all the territories in the mountains and away to the Northwest. It is the main source of our income; it is the market for our-productive industry; and to send it forth to this nation that we frontiersmen are in for a war to make money is the most atrocious calumny of the nineteenth century."
   Continuing in a more subdued and humorous strain, we have the following:
   "My dear sir, the very gamblers and thieves which Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Cincinnati, Boston, and Philadelphia fail to hang, dread in Indian war. We have some of that class of people there, I am sorry for it, but it is because you in the East have not done your duty and hung them. They fled out there to escape, but they do not represent the border. My friend from New York (Mr. Conkling) suggests that they do not come from New York. If so, it is because they treat them so kindly there, they do not have to run away. They vote the right way in New York city."
   Senator Morrill of Maine having been very active in the discussion and full of the poetic idea of "Lo, the poor Indian," and deeply anxious that at least some stray rays of civilization's light might dawn upon the far West, receives a cordial invitation to visit and be convinced:
   "I tell him as a friend, frankly, without prejudice, that he would come back with different ideas as to that section of country. He talks about Christianity and civilization. Why, sirs, from whence did the people of the border come? Many came from New England. Men have settled there, whom I have the honor now in part to represent, whom he has heretofore represented on this floor. The people of the border are 'bone of your bone, and flesh or your flesh.' Sir, I have seen

a Christian people there coming from their humble cabins, meeting at cross-roads or by-roads, in an improvised schoolhouse, and I have heard them raise the voice of Thanksgiving and the song of praise to Almighty God, and worship Him with as much feeling and as much sincerity as is manifested by those who worship in the gorgeous temples of your eastern cities. You will find there an humble Christianity, but it is as pure as that which dwells in the East."
   No one who ever resided in Nebraska could fall to appreciate this beautiful tribute to Nebraska's Christianity and advanced civilization.
   Thus at the end of the fortieth Congress, General Thayer had "won his spurs" on themes general to his condition as a western representative.
   I have quoted thus fully from his speeches to show that he was not only a soldier, but a true statesman, comprehending fully the needs of the great West, and he was indeed a true representative of the state of his adoption, kind and gentle in spirit but severe and determined in his conception of his sense of duty.
   May this beautiful monument erected to his memory be a lasting token of remembrance to the rising generation of our great commonwealth of the deeds of valor and statesmanship displayed by their forefathers in opening up this bountiful West with all its beneficent institutions of learning, and boundless areas of wealth for their mere asking and for their benefit.

SONG by Professor Miller's Quartet, "Where are the Boys of the Old Brigade?"

   Governor Sheldon: -
   We have listened to the splendid address by one of the comrades of General Thayer. We will now have an address by another veteran of the Civil War, a gallant son, and a man who cast his lot early in life with this state. A man who has been distinguished for his patriotism and for his love for Nebraska. A man whom we all admire and love for what he has

done for Nebraska. It gives me great pleasure, my friends, to introduce this afternoon Gen. John C. Cowin of Omaha, who will now address you. [Applause.]

ADDRESS by Gen. John C. Cowin:--
   After the battle is ended, and the thunder of the artillery has ceased to echo through the land; when the groan of the wounded is hushed, and peace with all its blessings has returned to a victorious people, the issues involved, the terrible struggle, the sacrifice, suffering, and death, are apt to be forgotten, effaced by the great tide of the conceits of the world.
   At the last session of our legislature, an appropriation was made for "erecting a monument at the grave of General John M. Thayer," a token of the memory and appreciation of a grateful people for one of their greatest sons. Comrades dear to him in life were appointed to the task, which they have faithfully and lovingly performed.
   And as we are met here today to unveil the monument, the past speaks to us. We hear again the sound of the gun echoing through the land, that ushered in the morning of open rebellion, and told the world that upon this continent a monster, civil war, was born.
   These ceremonies recall the momentous events following enacted more than forty years ago, before most of you, and before this great state, were born. The time "when darkness curtained the hills and the tempest was abroad in its anger; when the plow stood still in the field of promise, and briars cumbered the gardens of beauty; when the brave began to fear the power of man, and the pious to doubt the favor of God;" memories bringing in their train all the vicissitudes of a soldier's life, his suffering and agony, his defeats and his victories, life and death; making the history of a gigantic battle fought by a great army of patriots for national existence.
   General Thayer, a native of Massachusetts, there a farmer boy, a district school and law student, a son of a father and mother whose respective fathers were soldiers under Washington, in 1854, longing for a more active life, moved to the territory of Nebraska, thus transplanting in its soil, into its

political and social life, the blood and patriotism of the American Revolution.
   When difficulties with the Indians arose, brought about, as was always the case, by lack of faithful treatment on the part of the government, and fraudulent treatment on the part of its grafting agents, General Thayer was selected by the territorial legislature to command the territorial forces in defense of the inhabitants, with the rank of brigadier-general. This position he held until the advent of the Civil War. In this command he gave evidence of that industry, loyalty, and ability which he afterward so conspicuously displayed in the battles of the Civil War. With the Indians he was successful, both in war and diplomacy, force when necessary, kindness when available.
   When the Union of the States was threatened, when the baleful doctrine of states rights, by long agitation, reached the point when it finally declared that state sovereignty was paramount to national authority, and the Nation's flag, by misguided hands, was pulled from the skies and trampled into the earth, General Thayer, with but a single thought, made straightway to its rescue and protection.
   From the small but strenuous population of the territory, he gathered to a regimental standard one thousand sturdy and patriotic boys, and with them, avoiding frontier duty, rapidly crowded his way to the front, and came face to face with those whose feet were upon the flag of our fathers. From this on, his services covered the entire period of the war.
   At the battle of Donelson, the result of which gave the first ray of hope to the Nation's cause, since the dogs of war were let loose, his star shot into the skies, there, to remain with ever-increasing splendor. In the midst of almost certain defeat, he was a tower of strength, a strong arm of the commander, the greatest captain of the age, General Grant. From him I received praise undying and thereafter, always and at all times, in war and tit peace, as soldier and statesman, possessed his confidence, esteem, and friendship.

   By his bravery, fearlessness, and enthusiasm, giving faith, courage, and spirit to his men, which he displayed in the mighty struggle on the bloody field of Shiloh, and in the brave charge for Vicksburg, he added new luster to his star, and to his fame. And so he continued in the ever-shifting scene to the end of the war.
   Returning with high honor and fame to civil life, General Thayer took an active part in the civil affairs of the territory. He was a member of its constitutional convention. He advocated its admission as a free state. Upon its admission as a. state, the legislature honored him with election to the United States Senate. In that capacity he at once took a place in the front rank of the great statesmen of that day, and rendered invaluable service in bringing forth legislation to adjust the serious conditions of the time, and settle the great questions resulting from the Civil War.
   For a time, at the request and under the appointment of his comrade and friend, General Grant, then President of the United States, he served as governor of the territory of Wyoming. Returning to his own state, he was twice elected governor, serving as such four years, from 1887 to 1891 inclusive. His administration was directed, with a singleness of purpose, to the welfare of the people, whom he always held dear to his heart.
   At the close of his second term, as there was it question respecting the citizenship of his successor-elect, Mr. Boyd, he felt it his sacred duty to administer the affairs of the office of governor until it should be determined whether his successor was constitutionally qualified to hold that office. I was attorney for Governor Boyd in that contest, and in frequent conversations with General Thayer I was impressed with the patriotism of his purpose. His only concern was that the governor of the. people of his state should be a constitutional executive. When the United States Supreme Court decided that question in favor of Mr. Boyd, General Thayer was satisfied, and I believe pleased. The office was at once turned over to his adjudged successor.

   General Thayer then returned to private life. He took patriotic interest in the old soldiers. A post of the Grand Army of the Republic bears his name. He was a State department commander. Colleges of learning conferred upon hint degrees.
   His wife, the loving and beautiful companion of a long life, to whom he himself paid the grand tribute, "She was a faithful wife and mother, and the most patriotic of women," was taken from her earthly home in September, 1892. The husband and father followed March 19, 1906. From the home they loved, from the land they worshipped, their great souls were wafted, to be reunited in the realms of eternal love and peace.
   He is greatest who serves his country best. Splendid in courage, and standing by honor's side, makes the main God-like. With these was justly classed General Thayer.
   Coming to Nebraska in 1867, then twenty-one years of age I soon became acquainted with the General. He was my inspiration in the days of my doubts and discouragement, and until his death he was my friend, and I his, and his admirer. A rather strenuous contest for the election of a United States Senator, in which we were both candidates, never strained a cord of that relation. His splendid ability won my admiration, and his high qualities, my personal regard.
   In the performance or the duties of all the high offices; he filled, military and civil, the path he trod was the path of righteousness. His character, his conduct, was never tainted even with the suspicion of the slightest wrong-doing. His leading traits were courage, integrity, loyalty, patriotism. Patriotism with him was more than a sentiment; it was a deep-seated principle. Loyal impulse, kind memory, and gentle hands of his comrades have placed here, a site of his own selection, this monument, to mark his last resting place, and commemorate a life that the public can not safely forget, the offering of a grateful people. And we, his former comrades, here christen it with our tears, and vitalize it with the love we bore our comrade, now silent in death; for when living,

the portals of his heart flew open to a comrade's approach, "like the Gates of Peter's prison at the Angel's touch."
   There are conditions in our country alarming enough to attract the attention and consideration of every man who pretends to a concern in the public welfare. No man can deny that we have ground for apprehension and anxiety.
   Great financial interests embodied in corporations and trusts have unlawfully lived, prospered, and ruthlessly ruled in our national life. They have sought power merely for power's sake. Their code of morals in corporation conduct and high finance has been infamous. They have paralyzed, they have destroyed the industry and labor of honest effort. Worse than this, they have poisoned the morality of business conduct.
   But there is a public mood, aroused by our fearless and patriotic President, come forth to meet this situation. As a man of great affairs lately said, "We are going to have in this republic a standard of corporate and financial morals that will square with the moral sense of the American people, in their private conduct, and we are going to have it at any cost." This may come at a terrible financial and industrial cost, but come it must.
   The great danger is that in coining it may bring with it mistaken and unjust methods. That officers of the law, without sufficient strength of character and purpose to abide safely by the law, and for their own ambitious purposes, may follow an outraged public opinion, which is often far from discriminating, and pursue costly and reckless methods, and arouse public opinion against corporations and financial interests, that are wholly innocent and within the law.
   I know of no greater danger to the efficacy of these reform laws than to seek to apply them so as to seriously impair, if not destroy, honest business affairs. The condition of public opinion is such, brought about by unlawful corporate and high financial methods, that it takes a high degree of sterling honest purpose to decide a controversy in favor of a large

corporation, no matter how absolutely honest that decision may be.
   Let the public assure its servants that he who intelligently and honestly decides in favor of a corporation shall have the same approval and support as when he intelligently and honestly decides against it.
   We must in this respect differentiate, for side by side with you who believe in honest methods, who believe in fair dealing, are nine-tenths of the corporations of the country. The other one-tenth, possessing the large part of the great wealth of the hind, pursuing methods in defiance of law, has been the curse of the country.
   But another cloud has appeared above the horizon. There has come forth from the land a voice that is a menace to our national welfare, preaching again that sermon of states rights that brought forth the tragedy of the nation.
   State conventions and state legislatures have adopted resolutions, proposing to abridge, and limit the power of the general government. I warn you that this tendency, so far as it impregnates the public mind, is dangerously near the sentiment for states rights, that resulted in the ordinances of secession in the early '60s.
   Limit the power of this national government and the hope of the liberty of mankind is gone. Limit the power of this government, given through the wisdom of our fathers, supported and maintained since by the blood of millions, and you will loosen the cords that bind these late entities into one, sheaves reaped and bound together in the harvest of death. Limit the national power and the permanency of Union will have departed forever.
   If this monument could speak today, with the inspiration derived from a patriotic fife, we would hear these sentiments: "In my life, love of country was a passion; to me the Union of the states was my country. I can not see, outside the perpetuity and strength of the Union, anything worthy in the future of the Republic."

   General Thayer believed with the faith that makes heroes and martyrs, that in the maintenance of the Union, with all its power, and the ascendancy of its Constitution and laws, were bound up, not only our welfare, but the birthright of millions yet unborn. The effulgent blaze of this great truth lighted up his intellect.
   President Lincoln said, "My paramount object is to save the Union," but I ask you, what would Lincoln have thought at that time if he knew that free states of the North in the near future would seek to deprive that Union of the power of self-preservation?
   Let us maintain, not disintegrate; let us preserve, not weaken; preserve, unimpaired in power, the Union forever.
   There is no menace from imperialism. There can be no imperialism without the support of the army and navy. But the history of this country shows that the surest safeguards against imperialism, the safest bulwarks for the protection of the liberty of the people, have been the soldiers and sailors. During the Civil War, speaking of the North and the South, Garfield said, "Our army is equally brave, but our government and congress are far behind in earnestness and energy," and he might have added, in patriotism. In the darkest hour of that dread time, when men of all political associations thought the war for the Union a failure, and advocated peace by separation, it was the soldier and the sailor that never doubted. It was the soldier and the sailor that had abiding faith. It was the soldier and the sailor that stood firm as the rock of Gibraltar, to the very end, and to victory. They were sure of the approach of the coming day. They had the faith and inspiration of the lark, singing his hallelujah to the coating morn.
   The great Lincoln, patriot, martyr, standing on the blood-stained field of Gettysburg, communing, as it were, with the souls of the patriot dead that went up front that consecrated spot, said, "Our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation," and in the out-pouring of his heart exclaimed, "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in

vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
   It was the soldiers and sailors that "brought forth" this nation. It was the soldiers and sailors that gave this nation "a new birth of freedom." It was the soldiers and sailors, with their blood and their lives, that saved this government of the people from perishing from the earth. And when Peace came at last, these soldiers and sailors, of the North and of the South, went out into civil life, and civil pursuits, the grandest body of citizens the world ever knew.
   It was Grant, the soldier, and by his side General Thayer, who, in the critical times following the close of the War, stood firm as the mountain for peace, justice to a brave but fallen foe, and the liberty of the people, against the imperialism and tyranny of Johnson, the executive.
   Grand and patriotic is another body of our citizens today, the national guardsmen. Our fathers provided by the Constitution for a militia to execute the laws, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion. This grand body of citizen soldiery is one of the most important factors in our national life, the right hand of the states and the Union, the nation's mighty guard when war shall come. Our people everywhere and always should give to this organization loyal support. The national guardsman is the teacher of the people in discipline and obedience to law. He is an example of self-sacrifice, loyalty, and patriotism; the highest type of our country's citizenship; ready, when the occasion comes (and who knows how soon it will come?) to condense his life into an hour, and crown that hour with death. He who is cowardly enough to belittle our citizen soldier will never be brave enough to face a soldier of an enemy. When the appeal of humanity came from our island neighbors, the response of the national guardsmen was prompt, patriotic, and effective.
   It is well to contemplate the domain of our sacred dead. Around their silent homes cluster our tenderest recollections. Let their memory shine resplendent with the glory of a nation

saved, and growing brighter and brighter as age follows age, it will teach generations yet unborn the sacrifices by which liberty was saved to mankind. Let their patriotism be poured out upon the land that it may influence the destinies or our nation. It will make us better and braver men and give its more faith in the future glory and greatness of our country. "And now to thee, oh! flag of truth!
To thee we dedicate anew
Our pledges, faithful, tried and true;
Again we swear by thee to stand,
Proud emblem of our ransomed land!"

   At the conclusion of Gen. Cowin's address a hearty applause was given, and upon request of Governor Sheldon the audience joined the quartet in singing "America."

   Gov. Sheldon: -
   I would like on this occasion, on behalf of the people of this state, to thank you, Mr. Bell, and thank the committee that was appointed by the legislature to secure and erect this splendid monument. The program that you have arranged we have appreciated. It was particularly fitting, that you selected those two grand veterans and citizens of this state, Colonel Majors and General Cowin, to deliver addresses upon this occasion. When we look at that beautiful monument we can not help but be thankful for your efforts in securing such splendid results from the small appropriation that, yen have had at your command. If this state could receive the same value for all money appropriated that we have received through that monument, we certainly would be thankful. (Applause.)
   We will now have the benediction by Rev. Jeremiah Mickel, Chaplain Farragut Post No. 25.

BENEDICTION:--
   May the love of God our Father and our Commander, the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ, our divine instructor, guide and protect its; May His spirit rest upon us now, and

make its more loyal to our God, more loyal to our flag, more loyal to each other, and Thy name shall have the glory, through time and all eternity. Amen.

   Governor Sheldon: -
   Taps by Mr. O. C. Bell.

TAPS were here sounded.

© 2000, 2001 Pam Rietsch, T&C Miller