ORATION. 29 our people on land and sea, at home and in the field, have upheld the cause of their country. In gloomy hours I call to mind the heroic deeds with which the war has been filled, an^d I dare not doubt our final triumph. I think of the Cumberland going down with her flag flying, her mutilated gunner, firing one more shot for the honor of the country ; of that other gunner, who shut himself in the magazine of a burning ship, that he might not add to her danger by trying to escape; of the dying General, whose last wish was that he might lie with his face toward the enemy; of our heroic Bartlett, whose example shows that no wounds less than mortal can hold back a patriot from his country’s service, and whose courage stayed the hand even of Rebel sharpshooters, — a breath of chivalry wafted from the regions of old romance. I remember Sergeant Carney at Fort Wagner seizing the flag as the standard-bearer fell; maimed, crawling on his hands and knees, but holding it up from contact with the ground, and saving “ the symbol dear.” I call to mind the pilot of the Escort, who, with a bullet in his brain, steered the boat that bore General Foster to rescue our beleagured troops, living only to accomplish his work, with memory, judgment, reason * all gone, living twelve minutes on loyalty alone, shaming in those minutes how many of our useless lives. I remember all these noble men and noble acts and noble deaths, and I cannot believe that God
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