He needs no vindication from
mortal lips. Taught from his child
hood, as all American youth had been,
that in any event and under all cir
cumstances, his first allegiance and
whole duty was to his State, her call
for his services was his all-sufficient
justification, as it was his proudest
badge of citizenship. He did not
hate, but had always loved the Union,
and would have been ready, as his
fathers always were, to give his fortune
and his life in its defence against a
foreign foe ; but he loved his State
more, and to her appeal his heart
leaped responsive and his hand grasped
his sword.
Who shall frame in fitting words
the story of his career? Courage on
the battle field is the common attribute
of good soldiers everywhere, and if
that constituted his only claim to
admiration, he would be but an ordi
nary figure on the page of history.
liut it is the moral aspect of his
career that is sublime. It was his
magnificent struggle against over
whelming odds for the preservation ol
Constitutional liberty, for the right of
self-government, for all, indeed, that
was sacred in his heritage that has
made him a hero and a martyr for all
time. And this magnificent struggle
was made, not only against over
whelming forces, and resources, and
equipments, but in a country blockaded
at every port, gradually stripped of
the commonest means of subsistence,
unable to pay him for his services, and
finally reduced to rags and starvation.
