HISTORY OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY - CHAPTER 26


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Transcribed and contributed to the USGenWeb Archives by Timm
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Faithful Record of all Important Events, Incidents, and
Circumstances that have Transpired in the Valley of the
Chippewa from its Earliest Settlement by White People,
Indian Treaties, Organization of the Territory and State;
Also of the Counties Embracing the Valley, Senatorial,
Assembly and Congressional Districts, and a Brief
Biographical Sketch of the Most Prominent Persons in the
Settlement of the Valley. BY Thomas E. Randall 1875.  Free
Press Print.  Eau Claire, Wisconsin

CHAPTER 26

In the preceding chapter the writer endeavored to portray
the conditions of the public mind, and the causes that led
thereto, as the country found itself upon the verge of civil
war; and also to point out in some measure the evils of
blind subserviency to party, rather than devotion to the
claims of the country, liberty and justice. The rancor and
partisan hate which characterized much of the opposition to
the Government in its struggles to put down the rebellion,
and the fire in the rear, which, more than all other causes,
protracted the war and encouraged the rebels to hold out,
ought as a lesson of history to teach the American people
that our supreme duty and devotion are due to the country,
first, last and always.

These views are notable and forcibly set forth in the
powerful war speech of the Honorable Alex Meggett, in August
1862, referred to in my last, and delivered with great power
to an immense audience, and published in the papers of that
day; a copy of which he kindly furnished, from which I shall
make copious extracts, as expressive of the sentiments of
all loyal men at that period, whether Republican or
Democrats, and especially of the earnest, patriotic and
comprehensive faith of the speaker in the stability of
Republican Institutions.

Having introduced his subject with a few appropriate
preliminary remarks, Mr. Meggett said: "After nearly half a
century of peace - a period which has made us a splendid and
almost romantic history as a people - in an evil hour,
goaded by a love of despotism and an insatiable desire for
power, the viper of secession has reared it hydra head, and
plunged its fangs into the vitals of the Republic. It was
easy to indulge in speculations as to the causes, which
produced this untoward state of events, but this is no time
for such reflections. They should be left to calmer and less
perilous moments of our national life. Standing as we do on
the very verge of destruction to the American Experiment of
free government on this continent, we, each and all of us,
have far less to do with inducing causes than with the fact
that danger is at this moment upon us. What seemed at first
but a factious sectional resistance to the Federal
Government, easy to be quelled, has come to be a powerful
and gigantic rebellion against the Constitution and
liberties it guaranteed, calling upon us for the raising and
expenditure of vast pecuniary resources, the mustering of
millions of men, and the exercise of the highest military
skill, to crush its might power and thwart its fiendish
designs upon our once united republic."

"And for what cause, we may well ask, is this worst of all
wars wage? Has the Government become tyrannical, and
trampled upon the sacred and guaranteed rights of those who
wage it? Has it refused to enforce equal laws, and conform
to the Constitution? Has it imposed unequal and grievous
burdens upon them? Has it degenerated into a state of
corruption and imbecility, so that it has become unworthy of
their affections, effused to listen to their constitutional
demands, and turned away from them when they sought its
protection? No; not one of all these causes exists in the
least degree, but on the contrary, against the public
conscience, and yet in the spirit of concession, the
majority have long permitted it to extend a special
protection to their rights and peculiar institutions, Is
this war without a cause? Yes, in every way. Yet it has had
a deep-laid design. It is a war between two diverse
civilizations, between two diverse systems of labor. Strange
anomaly! It is the old conflict, which so often outcrops in
history - that of aristocracy and class power against the
people and the right, waged for the first time under a free
government. It is this old 'irrepressible conflict,' in
which the lust for power seeks to subvert public liberty and
tyrannize over the masses. In short, it is a war upon the
great experiment of free government upon these western
shores, and it must be apparent to every reflecting mind
that the triumph of this rebellion will determine at once
and forever against the success of that experiment…"

"Fearless and honest words in times like these are what we
need, and it may as well be proclaimed first as last to the
every of every loyal citizen, that this conflict is waged
for the purpose of destroying our government, and
inaugurating upon its ruins a political system, which must
sooner or later sweep away the liberties of the people, and
which, if established will seek:" "'To bind, to loose, to
build, and to destroy, In peace, in war to govern; nay, to
rule, Our very fate, like some Satanic being.'"

"Then let us rise as good citizens to a true comprehension
of the work before us, for it is our own freedom that is
endangered. Shall confederate minions' triumph in such an
inglorious cause? Shall the old flag, the historic emblem of
just and equal government, fall before such a foe, to give
place to an ensign symbolizing tyranny and brute force?"
(Voices - "Never! Never!")

Up to this date the Government had not deemed it necessary
to order a draft, and it was hoped the patriotic ardor of
the people would fill up the ranks of the Union without
resorting to such measures; and the speaker, after referring
to the evils and hardships, which such a necessity would
impose, invokes the patriotism of his hearers in the
following eloquent and stirring appeal:

"Never let it be written in future history that Northern
freemen were subjected to draft to fight for the
preservation of their liberties. We today are making that
history, and let us by deeds and sacrifices gild its pages
with the living light of patriotic fire. Let it go down to
posterity, that when the imperiled liberties of our country
demanded action, sacrifices and blood, all was freely laid
upon the altar. Let it be told with conscious pride, by
those who come after us, that when the Republic was assailed
by ruthless traitors, and about to perish, the people with
spontaneous and patriotic devotion rescued it from danger,
by heroic deeds of valor on every battlefield, and never for
a moment faltered. In one loud and united refrain from every
local breast, let the sentiment come forth by the love,
which its citizens cherish for it: 'The Union must and shall
be preserved.'…"

"When a government like outs is in danger, there is but one
mode of making it effectual in the work of self-
preservation, and that is by every citizen taking his stand
fast by it in every position it may assume. We may not like
the President's policy in regard to the Negro, but I am one
who believes that those whom we elect to places of trust, as
a general who rule, are the best judges, for the time being,
of what should or should not be done. Hence, as a true
citizen, let us always stand where the Government stands,
and give it all the force of our individual support."

Referring to the long-talked-of intervention of other
powers, Mr. Mr. Meggett earnestly pleaded thus: "The work,
fellow-citizens, must be speedily done, or more fearful work
and more onerous responsibilities may be imposed upon us. It
may not be generally known to you, that nearly three years
prior to the war of 1812, when far-seeing statesmen saw the
approaching storm, one of the principle European powers sent
one of its secret agents to Boston to see upon what terms
New England would make a political alliance with it in case
of separation from the Union, and to foment discord between
its extreme sections. Now, is it less reasonable to suppose,
as the same power contemplates with jealousy that rapid
growth, national grandeur and increasing power and resources
of this Western Republic, that it will lose so favorable an
opportunity to humble it if possible. In every view of the
case, then fellow-citizens, we have not time to lose if we
would avoid such a calamity, and successfully crush out this
atrocious rebellion, and it can only be made successful by a
war that shall demonstrate by actual and thorough conquest
the superiority of Northern over Southern society and
civilization - of free over despotic institutions. Such it
should be, and by the help of the God of Battles such it
shall be. It should be a war sanctified and made holy by our
patriotic efforts to preserve and secure the perpetuity of
the Union, and maintain the honor of the Old Flag… Under its
graceful folds, still adorned with every star of the
Republic, hallows with Revolutionary memories and still
inspiring hope for the future, let us today, as loyal
citizens, renew our vows of fealty to the Union of these
States, and go forth to trample secession under our feet,
and teach rebellious States that peace and safety for them
lies only in the bosom of the old Republic." (Tremendous
cheering.)

Are these lessons such as we should soon forget? Should not
the memory of the scenes, suffering and sacrifices still
warn us to be ever watchful and vigilant? Are all those
enemies, then so powerful and dangerous, now peaceful, loyal
citizens, and worth supporters of the Constitution and
Union, that we should confide power to their hands? Or are
many of them still as rebellious as ever, and as ready to
wreak their hatred and detestation of the Old Flag upon any
and all Union loving men?