MAJOR CALLAWAY PRESENTED WITH A SWORD
BY THE MEN OF THE 81ST INDIANA
The regiment had secured a fine sword to present to Major Callaway for his, skill, coolness and his gentlemanly deportment during, the few weeks he remained in command of our regiment. The presentation would have taken place at an earlier day, but soon after the battle he was prostrated by disease and for sometime his life despaired of. So on Thursday, March 10, 1864, was the day finally fixed upon, and at 1 p. m. the Eighty-first, preceded by the splendid martial band of the First Kentucky, which had kindly volunteered for the occasion, we proceeded to the camp of the Twenty-first Illinois, where, in the presence of the two regiments and a large number of ladies and spectators, the presentation took place. The sword and belt was presented by Orderly Sergeant Edmond T. Bowers, of Company I, in the following chaste and beautiful speech:
"Major Callaway , Ladies and fellow soldiers--We have met here today to participate in a scene seldom witnessed in this department. Our number is but small, a little more than a fourth of the number we had when we crossed the beautiful Ohio, seventeen months ago, and commenced our march to lend our feeble aid to our Government in crushing out the armed treason that had reared its hideous head in our once happy and prosperous country. Some have fallen on the field of battle amid the din and, crash of arms, many far from the loved homes of their happy childhood have wasted away by disease in hospitals until death placed his signet seal upon their brow. Others, mere wrecks of their former manhood, have been discharged and are now among friends at home, calmly waiting the summons of insatiate death, regretting that by sickness and disease they are deprived of the privilege of participating in the glorious and former scenes of their comrades in arms. But the few remaining will, while life lasts, remember your introduction to them on the glorious field of Chickamauga, made as it was under the roar of the cannon and the long roll of deadly musketry, while the groans of wounded and dying comrades resounded on every side. We then needed you to lead us in the terrible conflict raging around us, and for the gallant manner in which you discharged the arduous duty imposed upon you we tender you our sincere and heartfelt thanks, and as a token of our respect and esteem the non-commissioned officers and privates of the Eighty-first Indiana Volunteers have deputed me on their behalf to present to you this beautiful sword and belt. May you always be victorious in all the conflict, in which hereafter it may be your fortune to engage, and the flash of this sword serve as a rallying point for the followers and defenders of the glorious Stars and Stripes which now waves in triumph over the greater portion of the United States, and may you never sheathe it until the last traitor shall be driven from our once happy land and the star-gemmed banner of freedom floats proudly from every traitor's stronghold,
'For freedom's battle once begun,
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Through battle oft, is ever won.' "
Major Callaway , on receiving the sword, responded in the following thrilling, soul-stirring remarks:
"SOLDIERS OF THE EIGHTY-FIRST INDIANA VOLUNTEERS--It is with mingled emotion, gratitude, pleasure and embarrassment that I accept this beautiful testimonial of your esteem and confidence, and while tendering you my thanks for this very pleasant and unexpected compliment, and to you, Sergeant, for the kind and very flattering manner you have thought proper to mention my very humble name and yet humbler service in your eloquent address, allow me to express my own feelings of unworthiness to be the object of such distinguished regards. Most highly do I value your present, not for its intrinsic worth, but when I reflect it is bestowed by motives void of selfishness, not for vain glorious show or void and empty honors, but as coming from the non-commissioned officers and privates of a noble, brave and gallant regiment representing one of the greatest and best States; one that adds wealth, power, glory and renown to the glorious constellation of States composing the mightiest, the most liberal, free, virtuous and best government ever instituted among men, the gift to me is priceless. This is indeed no ordinary occasion. I feel its importance and acknowledge the obligation of this hour. It is to me a renewal of my vows to my country and the cause of humanity. The spectacle of soldiers of a regiment from one State presenting an humble officer from another regiment and State with this representation of power, an emblem of chivalry, of glory and virtue renowned, is perhaps without equal in the history of this eventful war. In the old days of knight-errantry the chivalrous lords raised their arm in defense of honor and virtue of the innocent and oppressed. May my right arm fall paralyzed and wither at my side if I raise this sword in other than the cause of justice, freedom and virtue, and with that sworn obligation yet lingering in your hearing let it be known that I today in your presence with the knowledge of my countrymen and with an uplifted hand toward the throne of "Him who judges all things well," receive this sword as an officer of the United States Army, now engaged in the most sacred cause known to the cherished hopes of a virtuous and intelligent humanity. There are other scenes than those of this hour immediately blended with this occasion, touching the heart strings, with patriotic pride and again with a note of tender sadness. It brings to the vision of the past the glorious field of Chickamauga and the heroism of those historic deeds, and with it there comes swelling up in our 'heart of hearts' the image of brave commanders who fought and fell with their faces to the foe, thus offering their life's blood to wash away the foul stain that traitorous hands have hitherto placed upon our fair escutcheon. We remember the patriotic fires in their eyes, and their stern unflinching bravery amid the thundering crash of loud-mouthed cannons and the rattling roar of the deadly musketry, that mockingly proclaimed to the world, 'Self-government is a miserable impostor, and we write on his false brow eternal banishment from among men. In that hour I learned to love and appreciate the officers and soldiers of your regiment as 'among the bravest of the brave.' The long hecatomb of the martyred dead and the sad list of wounded from your ranks are sufficient eulogies for your actions on that memorable field. But in our triumph and amid our blessings let us not forget the valorous deeds of the heroic dead. We remember them as true friends in peace, and on our wearisome marches and around the bivouac fires and how like true heroes they, amid rolling waves of furious battle, were swept under and were 'gathered to their fathers' around them. 'There now reigns a dark, cold calm which nothing can break or warm or brighten.' The majestic and mournful pine, the lovely cedar, and beautiful magnolia weep and sigh around and wave their evergreen boughs over the rude graves where our soldier brothers sweetly sleep, and 'when this cruel war is over' and you return to your pleasant abode of civil life, the many vacant chairs around the hearthstones of your homes will tell you in tones of love and sadness that their deeds, and names are still green and fresh in the secret precincts of your own hearts. Then love and cherish their undying names and deeds of valor as a legacy beautiful and invaluable. Croakers and sycophants have pretended to lament the age of heroes and heroines as among the things that were, but he who makes such a declaration illy understands the spirit of the age more than all the citizen-soldiery composing this magnificent army, nor would he record in history so false a libel had he seen what was witnessed on every field of battle. Nothing has ever impressed me with such deep and sublime admiration as the quiet and patient endurance with which the private soldiers have done the hardships of our wearisome marches; his cheerful self-denial, the sacrifices he daily offers at the altar of his country, his wondrous and cool courage on the red field of carnage, and the cheerful and unmurmuring quietude with which he bears himself, whether sick or wounded, in the hospital or on the field, with a rough blanket spread on mother earth for a bed and the vault of heaven for a covering; hence I would say, 'surely the age of heroes has not passed away?' Again when there came that example--delicious food for historians and to the imagination of the poet and novelist--when our little army, covered with laurels and wounds, was shut up among the rugged hills surrounding Chattanooga, and pressed back by the cordon of rebellious lines, I witnessed a spirit of determined endurance never surpassed in the annals of time. During those memorable weeks I saw many men of the gallant Carlin's old brigade subsisting for days on less than sufficient for a single meal; and often did I see them with patient and industrious care, picking from the dust and breaking the little bits of half-sound bread from the corners of spoiled crackers thrown away by the commissary, and when I would halt and with breast over-flowing with sympathy and say, 'boys this is a hard fate;' now you cowards and sycophants, think of the reply: 'Yes, it is a hard fate, but we will climb the mountains from Bridgeport to Chattanooga with boxes of crackers on our shoulders before the enemy shall have Chattanooga, if 'Old Rosy, says stay!' Then I said the age of. heroes has not passed away. This is not the age of trite heroism; these men are worthy to have fought with Washington. Such deeds of pure self-denial and such a spirit of patriotic resolve clothes our history with a luster unfading and gives our age a poetic beauty unequaled in all the romantic past. And, fellow soldiers, let me say there is no more grand, sublime, magnificent spectacle written on the scroll of time than the mighty uprising of a great, vigorous and free people in defense of their common birthright, their principle of action and their institutions and household gods of their fathers, exampled by this nation struggling to preserve intact the Constitution of the United States and the supremacy of the laws. It is indeed a mighty struggle for a nation's life, involving all the cherished hopes of our fathers, and of the down-trodden and oppressed everywhere. There is a principle of moral ethics as well as political economy involved in this war that few understand, yet fewer appreciate. It is whether solemn oaths and obligations shall be held as sacred or broken at pleasure; it is a conflict between free labor or slave aristocracy; between Union law and order on one side, division, malocracy and disintegration on the other. Most solemnly and faithfully, I do believe this wonderful contest will settle for all time the immutability and immortality of the heaven-born rights promulgated in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and that, if by any strange devilish or hell-born machination, this most accursed and treasonable of all rebellions should succeed, then all the sacred principles announced by our fathers and consecrated by their lives and virtues will be consigned to an 'eternal sleep.' Sage thinkers and 'students and political philosophers have reasoned with unbecoming pleasure that a republican form of government was a mere myth in the brain of enthusiastics and Utopians, a pleasing sophism, a beautiful and attractive but a worthless gem. Upon you, soldiers, and upon the loyal people of our country, devolve the responsibility of sustaining the only really republican government known to human code, by teaching the nations a lesson by which they may profit in all future cases. The world acknowledges today that our government was successfully instituted amidst revolutions, and for nearly a century has been successfully administered in days of peace and defended against foreign foes, and now alone remains for us to solve the problem whether, in days when treason stalks about, the government can defend itself against a powerful, treacherous and snakish monster within its own household. There is not another power among the nations of the earth that could have withstood for a single twelve months' period the foul stabs and blows at so gigantic and reckless a rebellion as that now waged against our government. The splendid monarchies of the Old World would have tottered and tumbled to ruin, and their beautiful crowns, with their sparkling jewels, would have rolled at the feet of some plebeian conqueror, with 'none so poor as to do them reverence.' But compare our government with itself now and when the first traitorous gun boomed around the walls of Sumter--who will say that it is not richer in all the elements of solid and enduring greatness today than then, though grown in the midst of war and the shedding of blood. The rebellion has brought forth our power, proving that in the cornerstone supporting our grand edifice are the imperishable truths and principles of justice, liberty, virtue and self-government. Let us remember that, as soldiers and defenders of such divine principles, we are engaged in the noblest cause that ever urged the lover of his country on to glory and honor. My faith teaches me that as the gold is refined by fire so will our country come forth from this dreadful ordeal, refined, purified, regenerated, 'revised and corrected.' Upon us and them rests a fearful responsibility, a trust as grand and sublime as it is righteous and just. You carry upon the points of your bayonets the dearest hope of all living freemen. The dear departed shades of our fathers point us onward, and posterity, from the womb of all future time, will hold this nation responsible for its actions in this day and age.
"I know of what I speak when I say the soldiers of this army will do their duty. Your cause is just. The great loyal heart is stanch, firm and incorruptible; and even the little children in all the loyal land are taught to invoke a blessing, upon their bended knees, from the hand of the Almighty, to descend on the loved ones in the tented field. Morning, noon and night, yea every hour in the day, offerings are laid upon the domestic altar for our success. My faith is those prayers, will be answered, and you will march on from victory to victory.
"When the last armed foe expires and the blood of our brothers are avenged, our rights maintained, and law and order reigns supreme, our government will stand forth purified and disenthralled, a splendid monument of human greatness, beautiful and imperishable.
"Now, fellow soldiers, my best wishes attend you, and, again tendering you my thanks for this grand token of your respect, let us remember there is much work yet for us to do and hardships to undergo before we reach that goal of safety and pluck the rich and delightful fruit of a sweet, blissful peace. And, in parting, let us adopt the sentiment, in view of future action, of Longfellow, one of the sweetest American singers:
'Let us then be up and doing With a heart for any fate,
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.' "
”The sword was an exquisite piece of workmanship. The blade was of the most superior quality and handsomely finished. The handle was of pure silver, and the hilt heavily plated with gold. On the blade was the following inscription:
"Presented to Major James E. Callaway Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers by the non-commissioned officers and privates of the Eighty-first Indiana Volunteers as a token of our respect and esteem for the gallant and skillful manner in which he commanded us at the battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 19 and 20, 1863."
On the blade is stamped "U. S." encircled in a wreath, and on the other side our national coat of arms. The scabbard is burnished gold. There are three plates of solid silver, each platen circled in a wreath. On the lower plate is engraved the goddess of justice with her scales meting out "Equal Rights." Upon the upper plate our national coat of arms, and on the center plate the figure of the goddess of liberty seated on a throne. Just along the upper plate, engraved in letters of gold, is the following inscription: "Major James E. Callaway, Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, Chickamauga, September 19 and 20, 1863. " The cost of the present was $170.
[The above excerpt from the book, which is taken originally from an article in the New Albany Daily Ledger shortly after the event, is provided courtesy of: Eighty-First Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry 1861-1865, CHAPTER X. The spelling of the Major's name was corrected in the above excerpt.]
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