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Peaceful, rural, and simple in their tastes, her people, never forgetting the lessons learned by their fathers, not less of War than of Religion, are found in arms for their fathers' flag wherever it waves, from Boston to Galveston.
The troops of Massachusetts in Maryland, in Virginia, in the Carolinas, in Louisiana, in Texas; the details from her regiments for gunboat service on the Southern and Western rivers; her seamen in the navy, assisting at the reduction of the forts, from Hatteras Inlet to the city of New Orleans, or going down to that silence deeper than the sea, in the “Monitor” or the “Cumberland,” — all remember their native State as a single star of a brilliant constellation,—the many in one they call their country.
By the facts of our history, the very character of our people, and the tendencies of their education, industry, and training, Massachusetts is independent in her opinions, loyal to the Union, and the uncompromising foe of treason.
After recapitulating the many battle-fields, from Big Bethel and
Cedar Mountain to
Baton Rouge and
Antietam, in which
Massachusetts soldiers had borne a brave and gallant part, he says,—
How can fleeting words of human praise give the record of their glory?
Our eyes suffused with tears, and blood retreating to the heart stirred with unwonted thrill, speak with the eloquence of nature uttered but unexpressed.
From the din of the battle they have passed to the peace of eternity.
Farewell! Warrior, citizen, patriot, lover, friend; whether in the humbler ranks, or bearing the sword of official power; whether private, captain, surgeon, or chaplain,—for all these in the heady fight have passed away,—Hail!
and Farewell!
Each hero must sleep serenely on the field where he fell in a cause sacred to liberty and the rights of mankind.
On the twentieth day of January, the
Governor sent in a special message to the Legislature, calling their attention to the vexatious delays of the
General Government in the payment of the soldiers, which occasioned suffering both in the army and to the families of the soldiers at home.
He therefore recommended to the Legislature to assume the payment of the
Massachusetts soldiers, or such of them as would consent to allot a portion of their monthly pay for the support of their families at home, or to deposit on interest in the
State treasury subject to their order.
