{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-12:western-society-army-of-the-potomac",
  "slug": "western-society-army-of-the-potomac",
  "title": "Western Society of the Army of the Potomac Banquet",
  "subtitle": "Civil War veterans reunion.",
  "excerpt": "Civil War reunion address at the Western Society of the Army of the Potomac banquet.",
  "year": 1892,
  "volume": 12,
  "category": "After-Dinner",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/western-society-army-of-the-potomac/",
  "wordCount": 1444,
  "body": "Western Society of the Army of the Potomac Banquet\n\nChicago, January 31, 1894.\n  • Every soldier of the Army of the Potomac: remembers, the\n    colors that for two years floated over the headquarters of\n    Gen. Meade. Last night when one hundred and fifty men who\n    fought in that army gathered around the banquet board at the\n    Grand Pacific hotel a fac-simile of that flag floated over\n    them. It was a handsome guidon, on one side a field of\n    solferino red bearing a life-sized golden eagle surrounded\n    by a silver wreath of laurel; on the other were the national\n    colors with the names of the corps of the army.\n    The fifth annual banquet of the Western Society of the Army\n    of the Potomac will be remembered on account of the presence\n    of many distinguished men. The cigars had not been lighted\n    when Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, escorted by Gen. Newberry and\n    Col. Burbanks, came in. The bald head and sparse gray hair\n    of the famous orator were recognized by all, and he was\n    given a mighty welcome.\n    Save for the emblems of the Union and the fac-simile of Gen.\n    Meade's flag the decorations were simple. There were no\n    flowers, but the soldiers could read on little signs stuck\n    up around the tables such names as \"Petersburg,\" \"White\n    Oak,\" \"Mine Run,\" \"Cold Harbor,\" \"Fair Oaks\" and \"South\n    Mountain.\" The exercises began and ended with bugle call and\n    military song, and the heroes of the Potomac showed that\n    they still remembered the words of the songs sung in camp.\n    Col. Freeman Connor, the retiring president, acted as\n    toastmaster. Seated near him were Maj.-Gen. Nelson Miles,\n    United States army; Gen. Newberry, Col. Ingersoll, Thomas B.\n    Bryan, Col. James A.. Sexton, Maj. E. A. Blodgett, Fred W.\n    Spink, Col. Williston and Maj. Heyle.\n    The exercises began with the singing of \"America\" by all\n    Col. Conner made a few remarks and then Col. C. S. McEntee\n    presented the new-comer to the society. When Colonel\n    Ingersoll was introduced, the veterans jumped up on chairs,\n    waved their handkerchiefs and greeted him with a mighty\n    shout. The Colonel spoke only fifteen minutes.\n    At the conclusion of Colonel Ingersoll's speech he was again\n    cheered for several minutes. A motion was made to make him\n    an honorary member of the Western Society of the Army of the\n    Potomac. The toastmaster in putting the question said: \"All\n    who are in favor will rise and yell,\" and every comrade\n    yelled.\n    —Chicago Record, February 1, 1894.\n\nFIRST of all, I wish to thank you for allowing me to be present. Next, I\nwish to congratulate you that you are all alive. I congratulate you\nthat you were born in this century, the greatest century in the world's\nhistory, the greatest century of intellectual genius and of physical,\nmental and moral progress that the world ever knew. I congratulate you\nall that you are members of the Army of the Potomac. I believe that\nno better army ever marched under the flag of any nation. There was no\ndifficulty that discouraged you; no defeat that disheartened you. For\nyears you bore the heat and burden of battle; for years you saw your\ncomrades torn by shot and shell, but wiping the tears, from your cheeks\nyou marched on with greater determination than ever to fight to the end.\n\nTo the Army of the Potomac belongs the eternal honor of having obtained\nfinally the sword of Rebellion. I congratulate you because you fought\nfor the Republic, and I thank you for your courage. For by you the\nUnited States was kept on the map of the world, and our flag was kept\nfloating. If not for your work, neither would have been there. You\nremoved from it the only stain that was ever on it. You fought not only\nthe battle of the Union, but of the whole world.\n\nI congratulate you that you live in a period when the North has attained\na higher moral altitude than was ever attained by any nation. You now\nlive in a country which believes in absolute freedom for all. In this\ncountry any man may reap what he sows and may give his honest thought to\nhis fellow-men. It is wonderful to think what this Nation was before the\nArmy of the Potomac came into existence. It believed in liberty as the\nconvict believes in liberty. It was a country where men that had honest\nthoughts were ostracized. I thank you and your courage for what we are.\nNothing ennobles a man so much as fighting for the right. Whoever fights\nfor the wrong wounds himself. I believe that every man who fought in the\nUnion army came out a stronger and a better and a nobler man.\n\nI believe in this country. I am so young and so full of enthusiasm\nthat I am a believer in National growth. I want this country to be\nterritorial and to become larger than it is. I want a country worthy of\nChicago. I want to pick up the West Indies, take in the Bermudas,\nthe Bahamas and Barbadoes. They are our islands. They belong to this\ncontinent and it is a piece of impudence for any other nation to think\nof owning them. We want to grow. Such is the extravagance of my ambition\nthat I even want the Sandwich Islands. They say that these islands are\ntoo far away from us; that they are two thousand miles from our shores.\nBut they are nearer to our shores than to any other. I want them. I want\na naval station there. I want America to be mistress of the Pacific.\nThen there is another thing in my mind. I want to grow North and South.\nI want Canada—good people—good land. I want that country. I do not\nwant to steal it, but I want it. I want to go South with this Nation. My\nidea is this: There is only air enough between the Isthmus of Panama and\nthe North Pole for one flag. A country that guarantees liberty to\nall cannot be too large. If any of these people are ignorant, we\nwill educate them; give them the benefit of our free schools. Another\nthing—I might as well sow a few seeds for next fall. I have heard many\nreasons why the South failed in the Rebellion, and why with the help of\nNorthern dissensions and a European hatred the South did not succeed. I\nwill tell you. In my judgment, the South failed, not on account of its\narmy, but from other conditions. Luckily for us, the South had always\nbeen in favor of free trade.\n\nSecondly—The South raised and sold raw material, and when the war came\nit had no foundries, no factories, and no looms to weave the cloth for\nuniforms; no shops to make munitions of war, and it had to get what\nsupplies it could by running the blockade. We of the North had the\ncloth to clothe our soldiers, shops to make our bayonets; we had all the\ncurious wheels that invention had produced, and had labor and genius,\nthe power of steam, and the water to make what we needed, and we did\nnot require anything from any other country. Suppose this whole country\nraised raw material and shipped it out, we would be in the condition\nthat the South was. We want this Nation to be independent of the whole\nworld. A nation to be ready to settle questions of dispute by war should\nbe in a condition of absolute independence. For that reason I want all\nthe wheels turning in this country, all the chimneys full of fire,\nall the looms running, the iron red hot everywhere. I want to see all\nmechanics having plenty of work with good wages and good homes for their\nfamilies, good food, schools for their children, plenty of clothes, and\nenough to take care of a child if it happens to take sick. I am for the\nindependence of America, the growth of America physically, mentally,\nand every other way. The time will come when all nations combined cannot\ntake that flag out of the sky. I want to see this country so that if\na deluge sweeps every other nation from the face of the globe we would\nhave all we want made right here by our factories, by American brain and\nhand.\n\nI thank you that the Republic still lives. I thank you that we are all\nlovers of freedom. I thank you for having helped establish a Government\nwhere every child has an opportunity, and where every avenue of\nadvancement if open to all.\n"
}