the " tainted rebel stain the soldier." I here utter an apothegm, and recommend to rigid application ; whenever a general has become popular with the enemy, it is time that we were done with him. The American Nation mean to conquer treason, and will view as enemies those who stand between them and the foes of our flag. We cannot conquer without being deeply in earnest ; for our enemy is determined, numerous, and brave, and your superior numbers and resources will not save you unless you bring them to bear. Xo man will think ligutly of this contest, who stood, as I did, at Fair Oaks, and saw the enemy for six hours pour their masses into the very jaws of death ; for I saw them march boldly into the open field, as near as the outskirts of this assemblage, where every discharge of our cannon marked a deep gulf in the advancing mass, who still advanced, literally over heaps of the dead, till that bloody arena was so covered with prostrate confederates, till at nightfall, it was like a ghastly bivouac, terribly significant of the desperate energy of the rebellion. Yet we will triumph ! I feel assured in saying this, from the evidence of my senses, of the indomitable valor of the individual soldier in the Union ranks. And I will confess to some surprise at the bravery and efficiency of mere boys on the battle-field. I saw young Americans in the Union ranks, so light aud frail, as to preclude their acceptance as soldiers, having been mustered as drumers, shoulder rifles and rush into the fight, loading and firing with a rapidity and tact, that brought many a brown uniform to the dust. And when, after a conflict of over six hours' duration, in various duties and parts of the field, I found myself surrounded by nine members of my command, whose devotion found expression in voluntarily remaining by my side, two of the nine were drummerboys, their faces begrimed with powder, but lit up with an inspiration that showed they felt the majesty of their mission. How can such an army be finally conquered ? is there not a sublimity in that comparatively little band of Spartans making a Thermopyte of Harrison's Bar, and holding their clinched hands in defiance at the rebel hosts around them. Shall these men cry in vain for a sufficient number to join their decimated ranks, to give them a proximate equality of numbers for the last grand contest, where all the hopes of our hearts are at stake? Is not this blood too precious to shed in contests where nothing is determined, except to show the world that our country is a nation of soldiers ? Then promptly furnish the three hundred thousand bayonets that will end this contest with the lasting triumph of Liberty and Union. And my word for it, that if this be promptly done the cadence of three hundred thousand marching on the rebel capital will shake with their earthquake tread the centre of the rebellion, and there will be no more battles in the sense of Pittsburg Landing, Fort Donelson, Fair Oaks, and the contests of the last two weeks. Then what we -\vant is, that you, your lathers, brothers, friends, join in every movement calculated to haste the consummation by a rapid reinforcement of the army on the James River. Let no man or boy who can bear a rifle mistake or neglect his duty in this hour of our country's peril. In this great contest there is not a man in this broad land so humble as to be removed from the consequences of the issue. I have sometimes, while pacing outside of my tent under the beautiful starlio-ht of a Virginia sky, the quiet and darkness inspiring a reflective mood, tried to 3 grasp the momentous interests involved in this struggle. I have looked in imagination into the dark gulf of disintegration and ruin upon the verge of which our country seemed to stand upon a trembling base, and contemplated the possibility of the splendid temple of our Liberties and Nationality broken into as many conflicting fragments as there are States and Territories, with rival interests, institutions, policies and prejudices, prescriptive passports, postage and commercial laws, contiguous territory and consequent necessities for ponderous military establishments, with the perpetual danger and tendency of a combination of a portion against the remainder, and the temptation to foreign invasion, till, with rapid pace and throbbing brow, I have wondered if these reflections are a secret, or how men can be so dead in the midst of a storm so portentous.
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