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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 JOH n Alexander Logan, 
 
 (A SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS), 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 February 9 and 16, 1887, 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE FUNERAL SERVICES AT WASHINGTON, D. C., 
 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1886. 
 
 fl.Q. 
 
 Prepared in accordance with joint resolution of Congress, and by authority 
 of the Joint Committee on Printing, 
 
 BY 
 
 W. B. TAYLOR, 
 
 Clerk Committee Military Affairs , U. S. Senate. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 
 1887. 
 
THE FUNERAL SERVICES. 
 
 At Washington, D. 0., Friday, December 31, 1886. 
 
 John Alexander Logan, tlie senior Senator from Illinois, died 
 at Ins home in Washington, D. C., a few minutes before 3 o’clock, 
 on Sunday, December 26, 1886. 
 
 Congress having adjourned for the holiday recess, the Presiding 
 Officers of the Senate and House of Representatives took the accus- 
 tomary action in arranging for the funeral. 
 
 President pro tempore John Sherman, of the Senate,, appointed 
 the following committee of Senators to arrange for the funeral: Sen¬ 
 ators Cullom, Stanford, Cockrell, Allison, Beck, Hawley, 
 A oorhees, Hampton, and Manderson. 
 
 Speaker Carlisle appointed the following committee to co-op¬ 
 erate with those appointed by the Presiding Officer of the Senate: 
 Representatives Thomas, Springer, Henderson, Townshend, Pay- 
 son, Worthington, Hitt, Riggs, Rowell, and Neece, of Illinois; 
 Reed, of Maine; Curtin, of Pennsylvania; Burrows, of Michigan; 
 Symes, of Colorado; and Cary, of Wyoming Territory. 
 
 A conference of the committee was held and the following-named 
 gentlemen were selected as pall-bearers : Hon. Roscoe Conkling, 
 Hon. Simon Cameron, Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, Mr. C. H. An¬ 
 drews, Col. Fred. Grant, General Lucius Fairchild, General M. 
 D. Leggett, Governor Jeremiah Rusk, General W. T. Sherman, 
 General William F. Vilas, General John C. Black, and Dr. 
 Charles McMillan, of the Loyal Legion, Washington. 
 
 The body of the dead Senator remained in the death chamber at 
 his lesidence, under military guard, until the day set for its removal 
 to the Capitol, Thursday, December 30, 1886. 
 
 Befoie the casket was removed, the family and their immediate 
 friends gathered around the mortal remains of the heroic dead, and 
 the voice of the Rev. Dr. Newman was raised in prayer. 
 
 (3) 
 
 SC <1?/ 
 
4 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 After these brief services the casket, borne on the shoulders of com¬ 
 rades of the Grand Army of the Republic, was removed from the 
 death chamber and conveyed to the Capitol building, preceded by 
 the committees representing both Houses of Congress, a guard of 
 honor from the various Grand Army of the Republic and civic organ¬ 
 izations of the city, followed by the family and friends of the deceased. 
 
 At the Capitol the casket, wrapped in the American flag, was placed 
 in the rotunda, resting upon a bier which had served a similar pur¬ 
 pose for the remains of President Lincoln, President Garfield, 
 Chief-Justice Chase, Senator Sumner, and Thaddeus Stevens. 
 During the afternoon and night and until 11 o’clock on Friday, thou¬ 
 sands of people viewed the remains of the dead Senator, general, and 
 patriot. 
 
 At 11.45 a. m. on Friday the casket was carried to the Senate 
 Chamber where appropriate funeral services were held. Judges of 
 the Supreme Court, members of the Cabinet, Senators and Repre¬ 
 sentatives, and diplomatic representatives were present. Seats im¬ 
 mediately in front of the casket were reserved for Mrs. Logan and 
 family and relatives. 
 
 Rev. Dr. John P. Newman, Chaplain Butler, of the Senate, 
 Bishop Andrews, and Rev. Dr. Tiffany were the officiating clergy¬ 
 men. 
 
 The ceremony was beautiful, impressive, and touching. Fragrant 
 flowers with endearing mottoes, the contribution of admiring friends 
 throughout the country, occupied all. the available space around 
 .about the casket. 
 
 Bishop Andrews read the XC Psalm. Rev. Dr. Tiffany offered 
 the prayer, after which Rev. Dr. Butler, Chaplain of the Senate, 
 read the 15th Chapter of Corinthians. 
 
 Rev. Dr. John P. Newman then delivered the funeral sermon. 
 He said: 
 
 Again is this Senate Chamber the shrine of a nation’s dead. 
 Around us are the emblems of national grief. Once more is heard 
 here the measured step of those who mourn the departure of the 
 illustrious soldier, the faithful public servant, the honored private 
 citizen, the abiding friend, the devoted husband, the loving father. 
 Only those are thus honored at this shrine of the Republic whose 
 
Funeral Services, 
 
 virtues, whose talents, whose services have secured for them the dis¬ 
 tinguished position of Senator of the United States. 
 
 Death is no stranger to this place of supreme legislation. Six 
 times since 1859, when this Chamber was first occupied, has death 
 thrown its shadow here. Here rested in peace Senator Hicks, of 
 Maryland; here lay the form of Foot, of Vermont, once the Pre¬ 
 siding Officer of the Senate; here was laid the majestic form of 
 Sumner, learned, eloquent, philanthropic; hence was borne by 
 friendly hands Wilson, who came forth from obscurity to occupy 
 the second place in the Government of a free people; and but as yes¬ 
 terday we stood here around the bier of Miller, patriot and soldier, 
 who sleeps in peace in the State he loved so well. 
 
 And where else than here, in this place of honor, the arena of his 
 greatest civic services and triumphs, where he displayed his eminent 
 talents in statesmanship, where he was respected by all for the 
 purity of his intentions, the ardor of his patriotism, the courage of 
 his convictions, the power of his logic, and his unselfish devotion to 
 the public good—where else than here should Logan be honored 
 with the rites of burial ? 
 
 His was an honorable parentage. His father’s genius and his 
 mother’s beauty blended in sweet harmony to bless his childhood. 
 Irish brilliancy and Scotch solidity combined in his temperament, 
 while he stood forth the true American and the typical man of the 
 West, of whom his nation is justly proud. From them he inherited 
 his splendid physique, his capacious intellect, his loyal, loving, gen¬ 
 erous heart. In that Christian home his young intellect was devel¬ 
 oped, and his young heart was taught that divine religion from which 
 he never wavered; and when the homestead was broken up, all he 
 claimed and all he took was the old family Bible. 
 
 That Logan was a potent factor in our national life there can be 
 no question; that his death has left a vacancy not easily filled, is 
 without dispute; that his departure has changed the political direc¬ 
 tion of his country for the next decade, perhaps for the next quarter 
 of a century, seems probable. 
 
 Standing here in the presence of the Almighty, and in the shadow 
 of a great sorrow, let us leave eulogy to the fellow-Senators of the 
 honored dead, and content ourselves with adducing those great les¬ 
 sons from Logan’s life and character which should make us truer 
 citizens and purer Christians. 
 
6 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Macaulay lias said that “ Men eminent in learning, in statesman¬ 
 ship, in war, are not fully appreciated by their contemporaries ; hut 
 posterity does not fail to award them full justice.” A greater than 
 Macaulay has said : “A prophet is not without honor save in his 
 own country.” It is difficult for those who have not had the special 
 advantages of the schools in early life to gain a reputation for men¬ 
 tal culture and intellectual attainments ; hut it is sufficient to say, 
 that whatever position Logan occupied, he was always in the front. 
 If a strong reason^ a sound judgment, a capacious and retentive 
 memory, a vigorous and warm imagination, and a comprehensive 
 understanding are essential to high intellectuality, then Logan 
 ranks among our foremost men. Others are great in scientific at¬ 
 tainments, in the polish of literature, in the acquisition of languages ; 
 hut who excelled him in the useful information of science, and liter¬ 
 ature, and law; in knowledge of his country, its history, its resources, 
 its wants, its possibilities, its hopes ? 
 
 Let his vast and well-cliosen library, rich in all learning, proclaim 
 his love for books. Like W ebster, he had the rare faculty to extract 
 by instinct the pith of a volume that came to his hand. Intellect¬ 
 ually, his rivals underestimated him, his friends never fully appre¬ 
 ciated him, his admirers never overvalued him. He was a prodig¬ 
 ious brain-worker, indefatigable in application, tireless in energy. 
 He called upon all sources of knowledge to aid him in his purpose. 
 His was a life of intellectual activity. From his admission to the 
 bar, at the age of twenty-five, to his place in his State legislature, 
 to his place in Congress, and to his position as Senator, he has left 
 the impress of his intellect upon the legislation of this country 
 which enters into its history for the last twenty-five years. What 
 great measure of Congress is without his honored name ? Future 
 generations will read his utterances with wonder and admiration. 
 His great speeches on the “Impeachment,” on “Education,” on 
 “The Army,” his eulogy on “Thomas,” his defense of “Grant,” his 
 arraignment of “Porter,” will be esteemed masterful among foren¬ 
 sic efforts. In all his legislative life he was never crushed in debate. 
 
 Some men have the flower of language ; Logan had the flower of 
 thought. He had the eloquence of logic, and could raise metaphor 
 into argument. He resembled not so much the beautiful river whose 
 broad stream winds through rich and varied scenery, but that which 
 cuts a deep and rapid channel through rugged rocks and frowning 
 wilds, leaving the impress of its power in the productiveness of the 
 
Funeral Services. 
 
 7 
 
 region through which it passes, which, hut for it, would remain des¬ 
 olate and barren. His was not the music of the organ, with its 
 varied stops and mingling harmonies, hut rather the sound of the 
 trumpet, waxing louder and louder, piercing the caverns of the earth 
 and resounding through the encircling heavens. 
 
 It is a venerable saying of Scripture, that the “Day of a man’s 
 death is better than the day of his birth.” When in the stillness of 
 the holy Sabbath his noble soul left our presence, Logan was the 
 foremost statesman of the mighty West. And hereafter and forever 
 Illinois will have her illustrious trinity of national greatness—Lin¬ 
 coln, greatest of statesmen; Grant, greatest of professional soldiers ; 
 Logan, the greatest volunteer General produced by this country. 
 
 But wherein consists that strange charm of his personality, that 
 falls upon our spirits to-day like a holy enchantment? Whence the 
 magic spell of his presence? Whence the secret of the power of that 
 one life upon fifty millions of people? Is it sufficient to say that his 
 parentage was honorable, that his intellect was rich in its acquired 
 treasures, that he was the foremost statesman of the West? Is it 
 sufficient to say that he was a great soldier who proved himself equal 
 to every command, that he was never defeated, that he defeated de¬ 
 feat, and achieved victory when all seemed lost, that from Belmont 
 to Atlanta, and from Savannah to Washington, when, at the head of 
 the victorious Army of the Tennessee, he marched through the 
 avenues of the Capital of a redeemed country, he gave evidence of his 
 martial prowess? 
 
 We must look deeper and search with keener insight for the secret 
 of his immense power over his countrymen. His was a changeless 
 sincerity. He was never in masquerade. He was transparent to a 
 fault. He had a window in his heart. He was never in disguise. 
 He was as you saw him. Never did geometrician bring proposition 
 and demonstration in closer proximity than was the correspond¬ 
 ence between Logan’s character and his appearance. He was 
 Logan every time. His was the soul of honor. He had an innate 
 contempt for everything low, mean, intriguing. He was an open and 
 an honorable foe. He had a triple courage, which imparted to him 
 immense strength. His physical bravery knew no fear. His moral 
 heroism was sublime. But above these was the courage of his intel¬ 
 lect. Some men have brave souls in cowardly bodies. The cheek of 
 others is never blanched by physical danger. But few rise to the 
 
8 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 highest form of courage. Logan never committed treason against 
 his intellect. He thought for himself, and spoke what he thought. 
 He was loyal to his own conclusions. Friendship could not deter 
 him, enemies could not make him afraid. A great name could not 
 daunt him. He had more caution than was accorded to him, but it 
 was the caution of intellectual courage. 
 
 He was the soul of honesty. He lived in times of great corruption, 
 when the strongest men of both parties fell, either blasted by public 
 exposure or by ignorant denunciation. But Logan was untouched. 
 He was above suspicion. The smell of fire was not on his garments. 
 Others made fortunes out of the blood of their countrymen, hut after 
 five years in war and twenty-five years in Congressional life, Logan 
 was poor in purse, hut rich in a good name. To his only son, who 
 bears the image and name of his honored father, he could have left 
 ill-gotten fortunes, but he left him that which is far above rubies. 
 Like Aristides, Logan could say, “These hands are clean.” 
 
 He had a self-abnegation which asked no other reward than the con¬ 
 sciousness of duty done. Loyalty to duty was his standard of man¬ 
 hood. When another was appointed to the command which his 
 merits and victories entitled him to have, he did not sulk in his tent 
 of disappointment, but fought on for the cause which was dearer than 
 promotion. When duty demanded the exposure of corruption in his 
 own party, he preferred his country to partisan ties.' When he was 
 convinced that a distinguished officer was unworthy a nation’s con¬ 
 fidence, he did not hesitate to incur the displeasure of friends and the 
 denunciation of enemies. 
 
 When in 1862 his friends in Illinois urged him to leave the Army 
 and re-enter Congress, he made this reply : 
 
 No, I am to-day a soldier of this Republic—so to remain, changeless and immutable, 
 until her last and weakest enemy shall have expired and passed away. I have en¬ 
 tered the field to die, if need be, for this Government, and never expect to return 
 to peaceful pursuits until the object of this war of preservation has become a fact 
 established. Should fate so ordain it, I will esteem it as the highest privilege a 
 just Dispenser can award to shed the last drop of blood in my veins for the honor 
 of that flag whose emblems are justice, liberty, and truth, and which has been and, 
 as I humbly trust in God, ever will be for the right. 
 
 Oh ! brave and unselfish soul! how thou hast been misunderstood, 
 misjudged, misrepresented, defamed, and wronged by those who, 
 to-day, are the beneficiaries of thy noble life! These defamations 
 wounded his proud and sensitive spirit. 
 
 There were times when his ardent temperament mastered his self- 
 
Funeral Services. 
 
 9 
 
 control. If he seemed to take affront when assailed in debate, it 
 was for the cause he represented and not from personal pride. 
 He was a sensitive, high-spirited, chivalric soul. He had pride 
 of character, and power of passion. He knew his power, but he 
 was a stranger to vanity. His passionate nature was intense. 
 His emotional being reserflbled the ocean. The passions of love, 
 joy, hope, desire, grief, hatred, and anger were strong to him. He 
 could love like a woman, sport like a child, hope like a saint. His 
 grief was intense, his hatred inveterate. His anger burned like a 
 mountain on fire. He reminds us of the great reformer, Luther, wlm 
 alternated between profound calms and furious storms. His calms 
 were like embowered lakes, their placid bosoms mirroring the over¬ 
 hanging foliage of the grassy banks. His agitations were like 
 mountain torrents, leaping, dashing, thundering down their rugged 
 courses, sweeping all before them. When coipposed, the ocean of 
 his emotions was so placid that a little child might sail its fragile 
 boat thereon; but when agitated, the great deep was troubled, the 
 heavens scowled, thunder answered thunder, ethereal fires gleamed 
 and burned, wave mounted wave, and whole armaments were scat¬ 
 tered before the fury of the storm. This is the key to the warmth 
 of his friendship and the bitterness of his enmity. 
 
 He had an honorable ambition, but it was above corruption and 
 intrigue. In his manliness he did not hesitate to proclaim his de¬ 
 sire nor disguise his noble aspirations. From his very nature he 
 became the soldier’s friend. It was his tenderness of heart that 
 made him the friend of every soldier in the war. In “ these piping- 
 times of peace” we forget those who fought for us. Not so with 
 Logan. He carried the years of the war through each receding dec¬ 
 ade and lived among its stirring memories. He maintained close 
 relations with the veterans. Thrice he was elected commander-in¬ 
 chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. As chairman of the 
 Committee on Military Affairs he was in a position of power. To¬ 
 day the three hundred and fifty thousand veterans in the Grard 
 Army of the Republic, from six thousand posts, feel that they have 
 lost a friend. To-day the six hundred and twenty-two thousand 
 pensioners bless his memory. To-day two hundred and thirty thou¬ 
 sand widows and orphans breathe a prayer to Heaven for the peace 
 of his soul. And now the spirits of three hundred and fifty thou¬ 
 sand patriot soldiers, slain in the war, gather around the gieat soul 
 
10 
 
 Life and Character' of John A. Logan. 
 
 of Logan and thank him that on each returning 30th of May their 
 graves are not forgotten, hut are covered with flowers. The desig¬ 
 nation of that day for memorial service was suggested by Logan, 
 and he was wont to say : “It was the proudest act of my life.” And 
 could the three hundred and fifty thousand patriotic dead rise from 
 their graves, each with a memorial flower in his hand, there would 
 rise a floral mountain to the skies, the perfume of which would 
 ascend in gratitude to the God of battles. Logan deserves such a 
 mountain of flowers. He himself is a martyr of liberty. Let me 
 show those five scars of the wounds he received in battle for the 
 love of his country. 
 
 Would you know him in his happier estate of gentleness, tender¬ 
 ness, and affection, as husband and father- go to his home, where 
 purity, peace, and love reigned supreme. There his inner life was 
 displayed without restraint. There was his retreat from the vexa¬ 
 tious cares of public life. There was wedded love of thirty-one 
 happy years. She of his youthful pride and choice was his supreme 
 and constant delight. He was her tower of strength; she was the 
 joy of his soul. He was her honorable pride; she the confidant of 
 his secret thoughts. He was faithful to his bridal vows; she recip¬ 
 rocated his undivided love. Such a home was the dream of his life. 
 Upon the western hills that overlook our national capital he found 
 that sweet, sweet home, where he had hoped to spend yet many a 
 happy year, and with Goldsmith sing: 
 
 In all my wanderings round this world of care, 
 
 In all my griefs, and God lias given me my share, 
 
 I still had hopes my latest hours to crown, 
 
 Amid these humble bowers to lay me down, 
 
 To husband out life’s taper to its close, 
 
 And keep the flame from wasting by repose. 
 
 Around my fire an evening group to draw, 
 
 And tell of all I felt and all I saw, 
 
 And, as a hare whom hounds and horns pursue, 
 
 Pants to the place from whence at first he flew, 
 
 I still had hopes, my long vacations past, 
 
 Here to return, and die at home at last. 
 
 But, 
 
 No more for him the blazing hearth shall burn, 
 
 Nor busy housewife ply her evening care, 
 
 Nor children lisp a sire’s return, 
 
 Nor climb his knee the envied kiss to share.' 
 
 It is not possible for us to suppose for a moment that a life so 
 magnanimous and unselfish, and so beautiful in its domesticity, 
 
Funeral Services. 
 
 11 
 
 should be without the element of religion. Bluff, sturdy, honest, 
 Logan was a Christian in faith and practice. Here is his Bible, 
 which he read with daily care. Sincere and humble, he accepted 
 Christ as his personal Saviour. When I gave him the sacrament of 
 the Lord’s Supper, too humble in spirit to kneel on the cushion 
 around the altar, he knelt on the carpet, and, with his precious 
 wife by his side, received the tokens of a Saviour’s love. His manly 
 brow shone like polished marble, for he felt that he was in the 
 presence of the Searcher of all hearts. It was his last sacrament on 
 earth. Let us hope that he will have a eucharist in the skies. 
 
 Standing by the tomb of Grant on last Memorial Day, Logan de¬ 
 livered an oration on immortality. He called upon the sphinxes 
 and the pyramids of Egypt, upon the palaces of Sennacherib and 
 Nebuchadnezzar, upon the philosophers of Attica and the Cam- 
 pagna, upon the mystic worshipers of the Druids and the pictorial 
 monuments of the Mexicans, upon the poets and orators of the 
 world, to witness that “ hope springs immortal in the human breast,” 
 and demanded of them, “Why this longing after immortality?” 
 And, rising above all these in glory and authority, he turned to the 
 Divine Prophet of Nazareth, and from His blessed lips received the 
 sweet assurance : “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in 
 God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; 
 I go to prepare a place for you.” 
 
 Logan has entered into the fruition of his immortality. He has 
 answered the morning call of eternal life. He has translated his 
 oration into a deathless experience. He has heard the Master say : 
 “ It is enough; come up higher.” 
 
 At the conclusion of the sermon Rev. Dr. Newman pronounced 
 the benediction. 
 
 Immediately following the funeral exercises in the Senate the pro¬ 
 cession which was to convey the remains to the Hutchinson vault 
 at Rock Creek Cemetery, selected as a temporary resting place for 
 the dead Senator, was formed by Sergeant-at-Arms William P. 
 Canaday, the honorary pall-bearers first, and followed by the active 
 pall-bearers with the casket. Then Mrs. Logan, family and rela¬ 
 tives, the Congressional committee, Justices of the Supreme Court, 
 Senators and Representatives and officers and employes of Congress 
 
 followed in the order named. 
 
12 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 The procession marched down the north side of the Capitol and 
 formed in the following order : 
 
 Lieutenant-General P. H. Sheridan, marshal; chief of staff, Brevet Brig. Gen. 
 Albert Ordway, United States Volunteers, headed the line ; platoon of mounted 
 police; aids-de-camp, Lieut. Col. M. V. Sheridan, U. S. A. ; Lieut. Col. Sanford 
 C. Kellogg, U. S. A.; Lieut. Col. Stanhope K. Blunt, U. S. A.; Brevet Major 
 Emmett Urell, U. S. V. ; carriage containing Dr. Newman. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 Division of Marine Band ; battalion of U. S. Marine Corps, with arms reversed ; 
 battalion of Third U. S. Artillery, Col. H. G. Gibson ; Light Battery C, Third U. 
 S. Artillery, Capt. J. G. Turnbull. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 Division of Marine Band ; detachment of United States seamen from United 
 States Steamer Albatross, Lieut. Commander W. W. Rhoades ; District militia ; 
 Union Veteran Corps ; Wilson Post, of Baltimore ; Grand Army of the Republic ; 
 colored veterans. 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 Detail of ten Capitol police, commanded by Captain Allabaugh ; G. A. R. guard 
 of honor ; hearse, drawn by four black horses ; G. A. R. guard of honor ; carriages, 
 two abreast, containing Sergeant-at-Arms Canaday, Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms 
 Christie, Senate and House committees of arrangements, family of General Logan, 
 Senators, Representatives, officers of the Army and Navy, committee Mexican 
 war veterans, committee Military Order Loyal Legion, committee Grand Army of 
 the Republic, committee Army of the Tennessee, and citizens of Illinois. The 
 rear was brought up by 500 clerks of the Pension Office. 
 
 An immense throng of people lined the walks on both sides of the 
 street as the procession proceeded on its way to the cemetery. 
 
 Just before reaching the cemetery several hundred old soldiers 
 from the Soldiers’ Home were formed in line with uncovered heads 
 to pay their last tribute of respect to their dead herp and com¬ 
 mander. ' 
 
 The procession moved on to the vault selected as a temporary rest¬ 
 ing place. Here representatives of the military and artillery of the 
 Regular Army, the Grand Army of the Republic, in uniform, civic 
 organizations, and hundreds of people were assembled. 
 
 General W. T. Sherman with orderly, General P. H; Sheridan 
 and staff, and General Albert Ordway took up a position in front 
 of the tomb. 
 
 While the casket was being removed from the hearse to the vault 
 the Marine Band rendered “ Hearer, my God, to Thee.” The widow 
 and children of the illustrious Senator remained in carriages imme¬ 
 diately in front of the tomb. Standing near the head of the casket 
 
Funeral Services . 
 
 13 
 
 Department Chaplain Swallow read the burial service of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic. Surrounding the casket stood members of 
 the Cabinet, Senators and Representatives, Army officers, and old 
 veterans of the war, who listened attentively to the beautiful burial 
 service of the Nation’s defenders. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Newman then impressively repeated the Lord’s 
 Prayer. A trumpeter of the Regular Army then, standing at the 
 entrance to the tomb, raised the instrument to his lips and broke the 
 solemn silence with the last farewell “taps” (lights out)—a brave 
 soldier’s rest. And thus all that remained of the once fearless, 
 patriotic soldier; the incorruptible, high-minded, honorable states¬ 
 man; the loving, affectionate, devoted husband and father, was laid 
 away to rest among those who had gone “before.” 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 
 
 WEDNESDAY, FEBKUAKY 9,1887. 
 
 \ 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Blessed be tbe God and Father of onr Lord Jesns Christ, who, 
 according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten in us a living hope 
 by the resurrection of Jesns Christ from the dead to an inheritance 
 incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadetli not away. 
 
 Let the words of our lips and the meditation of onr hearts be 
 acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, onr strength and onr Redeemer. 
 And as we turn away from the open grave with sympathizing hearts 
 may we ever be filled with the spirit of Him who is touched with 
 the feeling of our infirmities, the great Redeemer, the conqueror 
 of death, who livetli and reigneth forever. 
 
 Inspire us, we pray Thee, with courage and with faith, as from 
 day to day we meet the responsibilities and trials and temptations 
 incident to this mortal life. Fill us ever with Thy Good Spirit, sanc¬ 
 tifying Thy providences, comforting those who are in sorrow, O Thou 
 judge of the widow and Thou father of the fatherless ones, enabling 
 us to meet the duties of each day with courage, with fortitude, with 
 faith, and with patience, so serving our generation that when we 
 shall fall asleep we may enter upon the everlasting rest. Blot out 
 all our transgressions, and grant us grace and peace. Our Father, 
 who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come, Thy 
 will be done upon earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our 
 daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who 
 trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us 
 from evil; for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for 
 ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 ( 15 ) 
 
16 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 DEATH OF SENATOR LOGAN. 
 
 Mr. Cullom. Mr. President, I ask leave to introduce resolu¬ 
 tions at this time. 
 
 The President pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois pre¬ 
 sents resolutions, which will be read. 
 
 The Chief Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Resolved by the Senate, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of 
 John A. Logan, long a Senator from the State of Illinois, and a distinguished mem¬ 
 ber of this body, business be now suspended, that the friends and associates of the 
 deceased may pay fitting tribute to his public and private virtues. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be directed to communicate these res¬ 
 olutions to the House of Representatives and to furnish an engrossed copy of the 
 same to the family of the dt ceased Senator. 
 
 Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. President: For the third time within a year we are called 
 upon to raise our voices reverently in speaking of our dead. For 
 the third time within a year death has laid his icy finger on a brother 
 .Senator and beckoned him to the unknown realms of eternity. 
 
 To-day we lay our tribute of love upon the tomb of Logan. 
 
 Suffering from a sense of personal loss too deep to find expression, 
 1 despair of being able to render adequate praise to his memory. 
 
 But yesterday, as it seems, he stood among us here in the full flush 
 •of robust manhood. A giant in strength and endurance, with a will 
 of iron, and a constitution tough as the sturdy oak, he seemed to 
 Fold within his grasp more than the three score years and ten alloted 
 to man. No one thought in the same moment of Logan and death— 
 two conquerors who should come face to face, and the weaker yield 
 to the stronger. It seemed as if Logan could not die. Yet, in a 
 moment, almost in the twinkling of an eye, “God’s finger touched 
 him, and he slept.” 
 
 Almost without warning he passed from strength to weakness; to 
 death and decay, from life pulsating with vigor to dare and to do. 
 The physician’s skill, the loving, agonized, devotion of those most 
 dear, his own invincible will, were alike powerless to resist the ap¬ 
 proach of the grim destroyer who stole upon him “as a thief in the 
 night,” and has given us another striking warning of the fact that 
 "“No king nor nation one moment can retard the appointed hour.” 
 
Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 
 
 17 
 
 John Alexander Logan was born on a farm located in what is 
 
 now the town of Murphysborough, in Jackson County, Illinois, on 
 % 
 
 February 9, 1826. Had he lived until to-day, sixty-one years—event¬ 
 ful, glorious years—would have rested their burden as a crown upon 
 his head. Life is a crucible into which we are thrown to be tried. 
 How many but prove the presence of alloy so base that refining “ seven 
 times ” can not purify. But here was a life generous and noble, an 
 open book from which friend and foe alike might read the character 
 of the man. 
 
 General Logan was the eldest of a family of eleven children. His 
 father, Dr. John Logan, was born in the north of Ireland of Scotch 
 ancestry, and came to this country early in this century. He first 
 settled in Maryland and then in Missouri, afterward moving to Illi¬ 
 nois and locating in Jackson County. There he met and married 
 Miss Elizabeth Jenkins, who was a native of North Carolina, but 
 came of a Scotch family. Dr. Logan was a man of marked charac¬ 
 teristics, and a physician and surgeon of unusual skill. 
 
 He was noted for his integrity, his sturdy independence of charac¬ 
 ter, his devotion to his friends, and his recognition of the equality 
 of all men who were honest and upright, without regard to their so¬ 
 cial position. His wife was a woman of determined courage, strong 
 in her prejudices, who never swerved from the path she had once 
 marked out for herself. The characteristics of the father and mother 
 were conspicuously combined in the son, who owed his success in 
 life largely to the possession of the traits most prominent in the 
 character of both his father and his mother. 
 
 The professional services of Dr. Logan were in such demand that 
 he had little time to devote to the care of his farm or the education 
 of his children, but he was an educated and studious man, and gave 
 his children the best educational facilities he could command. In 
 those days money and schools were scarce in that new country, and 
 the education of the youth was not considered so essential as it is 
 to-day, but Dr. Logan managed to secure the services of a tutor who 
 resided in the family and trained the children in the branches not 
 taught in the schools of that day, including the rudiments of Greek 
 and Latin. While young Logan failed to receive such a classical 
 training as a regular college course gives, he was eager and quick 
 to learn, and made the most of his opportunities. 
 
 Reared upon a farm under such circumstances, his character was 
 2 L 
 
18 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 unconsciously molded and formed by surroundings similar to those 
 which gave to Lincoln that strength and steadfastness which served 
 him so well in later years. The men with whom young Logan came 
 in contact during his boyhood were generally without the refinements 
 of life, but they were rugged, sturdy, and self-reliant, of powerful 
 physique and healthy intellects. His association with these vigorous, 
 hardy pioneers of civilization imbued the young man with uncon¬ 
 querable energy, indomitable will, and a stern sense of honor which, 
 through his manhood to the end of his life, made him a master spirit 
 among men. 
 
 At the age of sixteen he was sent to Shiloh College, and subse¬ 
 quently added to the education obtained there whatever he could 
 glean from the books within his reach. When barely of age he 
 made his entrance into manhood upon the field of battle. 
 
 When the Mexican war broke out young Logan plunged into it 
 with all the fire and enthusiasm of his nature, enlisting in the First 
 Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Though then but twenty years of age, 
 he served with distinction, and by the end of the war had become 
 quartermaster of his regiment. This beginning of his career might 
 
 have been to him an omen of future fame to be won on fields of 
 
 • 
 
 blood. On returning home he was received as a student in the law 
 office of Alexander M. Jenkins, his mother’s brother, but, being an 
 ardent admirer of Stephen A. Douglas, Logan soon became fasci¬ 
 nated with political life, and in less than a year was elected clerk of 
 Jackson County. 
 
 In 1850 he became a student in the law department of Louisville 
 University, graduating in the spring of 1851, and entering upon the 
 practice of law at Murphysborough in partnership with his uncle. 
 In 1852 he was elected to the State legislature, and soon afterwards to 
 the office of prosecuting attorney for the judicial district in which 
 he resided. In this position he was called upon to prosecute some 
 remarkable criminal cases, and it is a notable fact that he secured a 
 conviction in all the cases which he prosecuted and tried. 
 
 On the 27th of November, 1855, he was married to Miss Mary S. 
 Cunningham, a daughter of Capt. J. M. Cunningham, and estab¬ 
 lished his home and law office in Benton, in the adjoining county of 
 Franklin. In 1856 he was again elected to the State legislature; 
 and it was during the session of 1857 that it became my privilege to 
 become acquainted with this remarkable man, who at that time 
 demonstrated his power as a leader. 
 
Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 
 
 19 
 
 In 1858 Mr. Logan was elected to represent his district in Con¬ 
 gress, and from the time he took his seat in the House of Repre¬ 
 sentatives his rise was rapid and his public career became known to 
 the country. 
 
 He had not been cradled in luxury. Fortune had not been espe¬ 
 cially kind to him, but he had been bred honest to the core, was in¬ 
 capable of meanness, and among the strong men of that Congress 
 the young, resolute, courageous representative from Illinois held 
 his own. He was again elected to Congress in 1860, when Abraham 
 Lincoln was elected President. Logan was elected as a Douglas 
 Democrat, and had advocated the election of Douglas to the Presi¬ 
 dency with all his power before the people. When Lincoln was 
 elected and mutterings of rebellion and whisperings of secession 
 were heard, the fire of patriotism began to burn in his breast, and 
 on the floor of the House of Representatives, on the 5th of February, 
 1861, before the inauguration of President Lincoln, he defined his 
 position upon the burning question of the hour in the following un¬ 
 mistakable terms: 
 
 I have been taught— 
 
 He said— 
 
 that the preservation of this glorious Union, with its broad flag waving over us as 
 the shield of our protection on land and sea, is paramount to all parties and plat¬ 
 forms that ever have existed or ever can exist. I would to-day, if I had the power, 
 sink my own party and every other one, with all then’ platforms, into the vortex 
 of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save the Union, or even to 
 stay the revolution where it is. 
 
 What a declaration of unselfish patriotism! Placing party and 
 platforms under his feet, he was first of all for the Union and the 
 flag, which were dearer than all else to him. With the flash of the 
 first gun which thundered its doom upon Sumter he was up and in 
 arms. Consecrating all the energy of his ardent nature to the cause 
 of the Union, he left his seat in Congress, saying he could best serve 
 his country in the field. Falling into the ranks of the Union Army he 
 took his part as a civilian volunteer in the first battle of Bull Run. 
 
 To describe the part he took in the late war after he raised the 
 Thirty-first Illinois Regiment and took the field would be to recite 
 the history of the war itself—a story impressed as in letters of fire 
 upon the memory of the American people. The record of his bravery 
 at Belmont; of his gallant charge at Fort Donelson, where, as a 
 colonel, he was dangerously wounded; of his service as major- 
 
20 Life and, Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 general commanding the Army of the Tennessee; of the memorable 
 siege of Vicksburg, when, with the great leader of the Union armies, 
 he stood knocking at the door of that invincible stronghold; of his 
 service with the gallant Sherman in his famous march to the 
 sea _all are written on the pages of history to lend undying luster 
 
 to the name of Logan. 
 
 It is said that poets are born, not made. So it may be truly said 
 that General Logan was a natural soldier. Every instinct within 
 him was inspired with fervid love of his country. His figure was 
 massive, his shoulders broad, his presence commanding, with his 
 swarthy face and coal-black hair, and “eye like Mars to threaten or 
 command,” he was every inch a warrior. The soldiers of the late 
 war believed in him as a leader in the field, and those of that great 
 Union Army who survive him mourn his loss to-day as their nearest, 
 most earnest, ablest, and most devoted friend. 
 
 During the war General Logan rose by regular promotion through 
 every grade from colonel to the highest rank, save that of lieutenant- 
 general, that the nation could bestow in recognition of his bravery 
 and great capacity as an officer. How appropriately the words 
 which, on April 6, 1870, he pronounced in eulogy of that other great 
 soldier, General George H. Thomas, can now be applied to himself. 
 On that occasion General Logan said of General Thomas, as we can 
 now say of him : 
 
 He has gone. Grief sits visibly on every soldier’s brow and pervades every loyal 
 heart of the nation. His noble form lies low, ready to be committed to its kindred 
 dust. Earth never received into her bosom a manlier form or a nobler breast. The 
 halo of his deeds and brilliancy of his achievements may almost be said to illumi¬ 
 nate the grave into which his body descends, and the fragrance of his acts of kind¬ 
 ness perfumes his sepulcher. He has gone from our sight, but not from our hearts 
 and our memory; he must live on, embalmed by our love and garlanded with our 
 affection, his name growing brighter and brighter as time rolls on. The cold 
 marble bears in mockery a name forgotten but for the letters chiseled on the icy 
 slab. It can not be so with the name of General George Henry Thomas, which is 
 chiseled on the tablets of too many hearts to need the aid of marble or bronze to 
 perpetuate it. 
 
 Is it enough to say of General Logan that he was the greatest vol¬ 
 unteer general of the Union Army ? By no means. A quarter of a 
 century and more has passed since that terrible struggle, and civil 
 honors were won by him during that period as rapidly as military 
 ones were won during the war. When gentle peace, which “ hath 
 her victories no less renown’d than those of war,” returned, he was 
 
Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 21 
 
 at once called to again take his place in the councils of the nation. 
 Twice elected to the House of Representatives since the war and 
 three times chosen by the legislature of his State to represent it in 
 the Senate, it may be truly said that General Logan spent his life 
 in the active service of his country. He was a man of high honor 
 and singular boldness and frankness of character. He made no con¬ 
 cealments. He always fought openly and above board. His integ¬ 
 rity was beyond the whisper of suspicion. 
 
 He was aggressive and impulsive with the courage of his convic¬ 
 tions. Eager to do, tireless in effort, persistent in purpose, by his 
 indomitable will be made each obstacle in his path d stepping-stone 
 to greater things. The more he was antagonized the stronger he 
 became, and, as in battle, he pushed on until his enemies gave way 
 and left him master of the situation. Goethe has said that “ he who 
 is firm in will molds the world to himself”; and so it could be said 
 of Logan, who had become recognized as one of the most prominent 
 factors in national affairs. 
 
 As a Senator he devoted himself steadfastly to the duties which 
 crowd a Senatorial life, never turning a deaf ear to the appeals of 
 his constituents, or from whatever quarter of the country they came. 
 He was a ready speaker, full of energy and forceful in manner, and 
 when aroused by debate and the importance of the subject he would 
 pour forth thoughts that breathe and words that burn into the ears 
 of his hearers. 
 
 Many passages may be selected from General Logan’s writings 
 and addresses which exhibit his ardent patriotism and love for the 
 Union. In a letter to his friend, General Haynie, a gallant Union 
 soldier, on December 31, 1861, he said : 
 
 I am for the Union, and for maintaining it, if such a thing is possible, and am 
 uncompromisingly opposed to any man or set of men that countenance disunion, 
 with its horrible consequences. There is no sacrifice I would not make for it. I 
 have no opinions that I am so wedded to that I would not modify them in any way, 
 consistent with the honor of my constituents and myself, to give peace to the country. 
 
 Again he said, in an address to the people of Chicago, on August 
 10, 1863, while fresh from the field of battle : 
 
 I do not propose to discuss party politics or questions with a view to the advance¬ 
 ment of any party organization, but desire only to speak to you with reference to 
 the troubles that now environ the country and threaten the perpetuity of the Gov¬ 
 ernment. * * * In this war I know no party. * * * Although I have always 
 been a Democrat, and cherish the doctrines of that old and honored party, yet in 
 this contest I was for any man, let him belong to whatever party he might, who 
 was for his country. 
 
22 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Being criticised for being an Abolitionist, General Logan said : 
 
 If it makes a man an Abolitionist to love his country, then I love my country, 
 and am willing to live for it and willing to die for it. 
 
 General Logan’s devotion to his country was the moving impulse 
 of his heart, and he was willing, from the hour in which he saw the 
 danger threatening the perpetuity of the Union, to give his life to 
 save it. When the war was over and the integrity of the Union had 
 been maintained, when he had laid aside his victorious sword, he 
 used the following language in a speech at Louisville, Ky., on July 
 21, 1865 : 
 
 Peace has come at last. * * * The dark clouds of war that have been piling 
 in terrific grandeur along the southern horizon for four long years, and ever and 
 anon bursting with fatal and fearful fury upon the land, have at last, heaven be 
 praised, rolled away. “ The trumpet clangor and the cannon’s roar resound no 
 longer from embattled plains.” God grant that they never may again ; that it may 
 be as literally true of the soldiers who survive as it is bound to be of those who 
 “ sleep then- sleep ” that they have all “ fought their last battle.” 
 
 Like his great and true friend, General Grant, while General 
 Logan was a great soldier, he did not love war, but with a heart full 
 of human sympathy he loved peace and preferred her victories to 
 those of war. Logan had a tender and sympathetic nature. His 
 heart was full of sorrow for the sick, the wounded, and the dying 
 soldiers who were constantly around him He regarded the institu¬ 
 tion of slavery as the cause of the war and all its attendant distress, 
 and in the address at Louisville already referred to he used these 
 graphic words: 
 
 Oh, that I had the power to bring together all the slaveholders of the land, and 
 have them look on in solemn silence while the cripples, the widows, and orphans 
 that have been made by this war could pass before them in grand review and tell 
 their tales of misery and woe that slavery has brought upon them. Were their 
 hearts not made of stone they would melt while gazing at such a scene, and with 
 one voice they must cry out: “ Let the land be at once rid of the curse that has 
 caused such a dreadful scene as this. ” 
 
 General Logan’s earnest feeling in regard to those who fought to 
 preserve the Union are illustrated by a statement made in a speech in 
 the other wing of this Capitol in 1867, when, in speaking on the subject 
 of the reconstruction of the States that had been in rebellion, he said: 
 
 God forbid that the day shall ever dawn upon this Republic when the patriots 
 whose patriotism won them crutches and wooden limbs shall have apologies and 
 explanations to make for their public conduct! 
 
 Mr. President, I make these few quotations from the many strik¬ 
 ing passages that illuminate General Logan’s addresses in Congress 
 
Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 
 
 23 
 
 and to the people to show how earnest and undivided was his devo¬ 
 tion to his country, his love for his companions in arms, and his op¬ 
 position to slavery as the cause of the war. 
 
 General Logan was the idol of the volunteer soldiers of the late 
 war, and since the war closed no man in the nation has been so uni¬ 
 versally recognized by them as a friend upon whom they could con¬ 
 fidently rely for help as he was. His heart went out to them and 
 theirs to him. On one occasion he said : 
 
 My consent can never be commanded to ignore the claims that I feel the gallant 
 dead who fell fighting under our flag have upon my devotion to their fame while 
 I live. i 
 
 The death of no man since the war has been so sorrowfully 
 mourned by the volunteer soldiery of the Union as has been the 
 death of General Logan. The soldier of that grand army mourns 
 his loss to-day as “ one who will not be comforted.” 
 
 You will call to mind, Mr. President, General Logan’s speeches 
 on education, on the needs of the Army, his defense of General 
 Grant, and his arraignment of General Fitz John Porter. These 
 constitute an important part of the records of Senatorial debates, and 
 should be classed among the ablest and most exhaustive speeches 
 ever made in the Senate. As a political leader General Logan was 
 conspicuously successful. 
 
 He was naturally in the front rank, whether on the field of battle 
 or in political contests. Living in an era when corruption was not 
 uncommon, when strong men of both parties sometimes stood aghast 
 and saw their reputations blasted by public exposure, he remained 
 throughout his long public career above suspicion. Wealth could 
 not tempt him to soil his spotless name. He never used the oppor¬ 
 tunities of his official position as a means of obtaining gold. He died 
 as he had lived, a poor man. 
 
 Throughout his long and conspicuous public career he came many 
 times before the people, but there never was a ghost of dishonor in 
 his past to rise up and cry upon him shame. May his children “re¬ 
 joice and be glad” in the example of a father of whom the whole 
 nation could rise up and say, “There was an honest man.” 
 
 But let us not indulge in adulation. General Logan was not a per¬ 
 fect man. Faults had he, “child of Adam’s stem,” but they were 
 small, and served by comparison but to enhance his virtues. His 
 prejudices were sometimes narrow, but he was never a hypocrite. 
 
24 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 He never professed to be what be was not. He sometimes erred, for 
 he was possessed of like passions with other men. He sometimes 
 alienated a friend, as every strong, independent man must in the 
 course of a public career. He had his bitter enemies, but, in the 
 words of a revered and venerable friend of General Logan’s, ex- 
 Senator Simon Cameron, “ a man who makes no enemies is never a 
 positive force.” Logan was a positive force. He took his position 
 on questions as they came up, and was always ready to defend it with 
 all his power. 
 
 Mr. President, few men in American history have left so positive 
 an impress on the public mind and so glorious a record to be known 
 and read of all men as has General Logan. The pen of the historian 
 cannot fail to write the name of Logan as one prominently identified 
 with the great movements and measures which have saved the Union 
 and made the nation free and great and glorious within the last thirty 
 years. 
 
 Like Lincoln, his heart and hand were ever for the ,people. He 
 came up from the ranks of the people, believed in the purity and in¬ 
 tegrity of the masses, and was always ready and eager to speak for 
 them. He was a true republican and believed firmly in republican 
 government. He despised tyranny in all its forms wherever he found 
 it. He was always true to his convictions and to his friends, and no 
 power or influence could induce him to forsake either. 
 
 His sturdy character has been so often demonstrated upon this 
 floor and in his work and in his powerful speeches in every part of 
 the country, always showing his most earnest devotion to the Union, 
 his never flagging zeal in behalf of his comrades-in-arms, his love of 
 liberty and human equality, his belief in universal education as in 
 the interest of the happiness of the people and of the perpetuity of 
 republican government, his adherence at all times to his convictions 
 of duty, his unfaltering determination to stand by his friends—that 
 it seems needless for me to dwell upon it longer. 
 
 In his remarks in this Senate upon an occasion similar to this, in 
 speaking of a once distinguished member of this body, the lamented 
 Chandler, General Logan used the following language: 
 
 ’Tis true the grave in its silence gives forth no voice nor whispers of the morrow, 
 but there is a voice borne upon the lips of the morning zephyrs that lets fall a 
 whisper, quickening the heart with a knowledge that there is an abode beyond the 
 tomb. Sir, our lamps are burning now, some more brightly than others; some 
 shed their light from the mountain’s top, others from the lowly vales ; but let us 
 
Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 25 
 
 so trim them that they may all burn with equal brilliancy when relighted in our 
 mansions beyond the mysterious river. 
 
 I fondly hope, sir, that there we will again meet our departed friend. 
 
 Mr. President, he who uttered those tender words, thus giving ex¬ 
 pression to his faith in the hereafter and to his love of his departed 
 friend, has gone to join him in the mansions beyond the mysterious 
 river, may we not trust in that better land where there is no more 
 pain nor suffering nor sorrow, but in the mansions of eternal bliss. 
 
 As time passes and the men who did the most in the late terrible 
 civil war pass rapidly away one by one we have the consolation of 
 knowing that they leave to us a united country, with the Union of 
 the States restored and liberty secured to all the people, to be trans¬ 
 mitted by us to those who come after as a glorious inheritance. 
 
 Death is a good Samaritan, throwing the mantle of charity over 
 the faults of men, burying in oblivion the sins of the flesh, and bid¬ 
 ding their good deeds “live after them.” 
 
 And now we stand as at an open grave to say our last farewell. 
 Here was a man who could ill be spared to country, friends, or home. 
 “Our life is scarce the twinkling of a star in God’s eternal day,”yet 
 we bow in resignation to the Divine decree when the summons comes 
 to one weary with the burden of years and with labors ended. But 
 to see the darkness fall at noon-time, the sun go down while we look 
 for a brighter day, is a mystery of Providence too deep for human 
 comprehension. 
 
 When death claims the strong and great, those to whom we look 
 for help and strength, we ask, why, why was he taken, and cannot 
 understand the dealings of an Infinite Wisdom. As the autumn 
 leaves drop and enrich the soil, so are the great men of our nation 
 falling by the way, leaving a golden heritage of honored names and 
 fame to generations yet unborn. 
 
 Our friend and brother has crossed to the other shore to join the 
 immortal throng. He has left a desolate hearthstone, a loved com¬ 
 panion, prostrate in her grief, refusing to be comforted. His con¬ 
 flicts are over. He is at peace “where the wicked cease from troub¬ 
 ling and the weary are at rest.” 
 
 In halls of state lie stood for many years, 
 
 Like fabled knight, liis visage all aglow! 
 
 Receiving, giving sternly, blow for blow! 
 
 Champion of right! But from eternity’s far shore 
 Thy spirit will return to join the strife no more. 
 
 Rest, soldier-statesman, rest; thy troubled life is o’er. 
 
26 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama. 
 
 Mr. President: This is not an unmeaning ceremonial. The Senate 
 has not paused in its great labors and arrested its important service 
 to the people of the United States for the purpose merely of indulg- 
 ing’in passing eulogistic remarks upon the character of our brother 
 who has left us; but we consider that it is due not to him alone but 
 to this whole country that a man who was so marked in his grand 
 individuality and splendid characteristics should be spoken of here, 
 and that we should contribute what we are able to do to enhance the 
 value of his memory for the sake of posterity, as well as for the 
 present generation of men. 
 
 The pathetic remarks that fell from his lips, which were quoted 
 by the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Cullom], at the time that we were 
 holding obsequies over the departed Senator from Michigan, Mr. 
 Chandler, bring forcibly before my mind, as I have no doubt they 
 bring before the mind of the Senate, the question, whither has gone 
 this man so powerfully clothed with every element of strength, good¬ 
 ness, and greatness of character? Has the Divine hand that fash¬ 
 ioned a man like this, and made it possible for him to build himself 
 up through the toils and labors and vicissitudes of life, found no use 
 for him in the great economy of His providence, since that sad and 
 startling moment when he was taken, yes, snatched from our midst? 
 I think, sir, of John A. Logan to-day as a powerful factor in the 
 hands of his Creator, still working out diligently and faithfully the 
 good that he seemed so well designed to accomplish. I do not regard 
 him as lost or passed into a mythical land where there is no longer 
 use for the valuable services which he has been so conspicuous in 
 rendering to his race while he lived among us. I think of him as 
 a living, moving energy, still useful in the great purposes of the 
 Divine economy. 
 
 I do not come here, Mr. President, to pronounce about a man so 
 sincere as he was any word of eulogy or praise in which there will 
 be a coloring of insincerity. For twenty-five years I was opposed to 
 almost every measure of public policy that he espoused. It so turned 
 out that in the first battle of the war, and in the latest battle in 
 which I participated, we were confronted with each other. It so 
 turned out that, having our political principles cast much in the 
 
, Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama. 27 
 
 same mold in early life, we separated, as did the sections of this great 
 country, upon questions that it appears could not be settled or rec¬ 
 onciled otherwise than by war. 
 
 After we had again come in the presence of each other in this 
 Senate, he, with an absolute sincerity of purpose, which I claim for 
 myself also, took the opposite view from that which I held of most 
 of the great questions that have engaged the attention of this body 
 since that time. But in all that he did and in all that he said John 
 A. Logan was a thoroughly sincere and a resolutely upright man. 
 
 The differences of opinion that exist between men in this country, * 
 where freedom of speech and of debate are sanctioned and encour¬ 
 aged by the Constitution and by the traditions of our history, de¬ 
 velop men who oppose each other with great strength and power 
 frequently, and develop even in ordinary men a strength of will and 
 purpose that is honorable to them and beneficial to the people. Our 
 divisions of sentiment and opinion are altogether natural and indis¬ 
 pensable. They merely mean that the questions with which we 
 have to deal are debatable and often doubtful, and that they must 
 finally be settled in this body, as in all other legislative bodies in 
 this country, by the power of a majority, the minority always yield¬ 
 ing to the majority as being right in substance and in effect. So 
 that when I controvert with a man of the strength of Logan’s will 
 and a man of his ability, his learning, his enterprise, and his genius, 
 for he possessed all in a large degree, I feel that the combats in 
 which we engage are those in which men on either side may be ab¬ 
 solutely sincere. 
 
 John A. Logan was, more than almost any man in my remem¬ 
 brance, the typical American of the Western States. He was born 
 and reared in the West, that country of marvelous strength, power, 
 and progress. All of his efforts were given to the service first of 
 that particular section and afterwards to the niore enlarged service 
 of the general country. But Logan seemed to be the embodiment 
 of the spirit and power of that wonderful West, which has grown 
 and strengthened in our country as no other section of this Union 
 has within a given time. The energy of his nature, the fortitude, 
 the persistence, the industry, the courage with which he encount¬ 
 ered every question that arose seemed merely to exemplify the per¬ 
 vading spirit of the western part of the United States, and he so will 
 go down to posterity, not because we describe him in our speeches 
 
28 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan . 
 
 here to-day, but because he has described himself in every act of his 
 life as a man perfectly understood, the recognized exemplar of one 
 of the strongest and most splendid types of American character. 
 
 I confess, Mr. President, that I feel a certain joy in the power of 
 our country to develop men like this. I think it is greatly to the 
 credit of the country that a man can be brought from the bosom 
 of the people and lifted into the highest stations of place and power 
 without in the slightest degree losing his identity with them; re¬ 
 flecting here upon the floor of the Senate what they feel in their 
 ♦ hearts and what they believe and teach in their homes, keeping up 
 a perpetual bond of affectionate union between those highest in au¬ 
 thority in this land and those who are in the retirement of private 
 life. 
 
 Institutions that can produce men and results like these are 
 worthy of preservation, and no man more regrets than I do that 
 there was ever one moment of time in the history of this country 
 when it seemed to be necessary for the preservation of rights that 
 a large portion of the jieople of this country believed to be sacred 
 that these institutions of ours should have been put under a threat. 
 That time has passed away, and with it all the rancors of the occa¬ 
 sion. You can not point out in the history of any race of people 
 that degree of mutual magnanimity and forbearance that has char¬ 
 acterized the people of this great country in returning to unite 
 hands and hearts in the maintenance of its institutions, in the ele¬ 
 vation of its honor, and in the perfection of its glory. 
 
 In these efforts men who thought and felt as I have thought and 
 felt always gladly stretch forth the hand of honest brotherhood to 
 men like John A. Logan. We were never afraid of such men, be¬ 
 cause they were candid and true. No guile beset that man’s life, 
 no evasion, no finesse. No mere strategy ever characterized his 
 conduct in public life, or marred his honor in private life. He was 
 a bold, pronounced, dignified, earnest, manly, firm, generous, true 
 man, and I value the opportunity to express these sentiments about 
 such a man on the floor of the Senate on this solemn occasion. 
 
 Passing beyond the events to which I have alluded, where he and 
 I had adverse opinions, and taking this young man in company with 
 thousands of his confreres of like age who were in the army that 
 invaded Mexico, we find there the earliest display of those qualities 
 which continued in unabated vigor and distinctiveness down to the 
 
29 
 
 Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama. 
 
 very hour of his death. I have always felt that we had sent out 
 with the army to Mexico the very flower of American chivalry in 
 the persons of those young men who bore our banners in triumph to 
 the halls of the Montezumas. Scarce a man who distinguished him¬ 
 self in that war has not received great honors at the hands of his 
 country and has not proved himself thoroughly worthy of them. 
 We can scarcely recall an individual who had a prominent place in 
 that war—I do not mean official place, but who won his position by 
 dutiful service in that war—who has not received at the hands of 
 the American people a complete recognition of those abilities and- 
 that courageous manhood which enabled him to go out in this early 
 trial of his life and to prove himself upon those fields as a man of 
 valor and of power. 
 
 I believe that no man has died in this country in a half century for 
 whom the people of the United States at large had a more genuine re¬ 
 spect or in whom they had greater confidence than in General Logan. 
 The Senate has witnessed on various occasions his antagonism even 
 to his best friends when his convictions led him to separate from 
 them upon political and other questions that have been brought before 
 the Senate. Always courageous, always firm, always true, you knew 
 exactly where to place him; and when his manly form strode across 
 the Senate Chamber and he took his seat among his brethren of this 
 body this country as well as this august tribunal felt that a man had 
 appeared of valor and strength and real ability. 
 
 Though perhaps he could not handle the refinements of disquisition 
 and logic with as much skill as some, Logan did not want to use 
 such methods in his argument. He desired to have strong materials 
 out of which to build powerful argumentation. If the facts that ap¬ 
 peared before his mind convinced his judgment and his conscience 
 that his course was right, he seldom stopped to see whether the path 
 that he had marked out for himself was one justified by the doctrines 
 of any political party or had been explored by some great man. While 
 I feel that there is great attention always deserving to matters of the 
 kind I have been mentioning, it is nevertheless true that those strong 
 and earnest men who take hold of facts as they arise, and in handling 
 them follow the dictates of judgment and of conscience, oftener meet 
 the approval of the American people than those who refine too much 
 and, from timidity, fail to reach the results that the people themselves 
 have fastened their hearts upon. 
 
30 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 I am glad, Mr. President, of the opportunity afforded by knowl¬ 
 edge of his character to render to our late associate what I conceive 
 to be a merited tribute, and to extend my remarks further and to say 
 of him that in his domestic relations he was one of the fondest and 
 most lovable of men. In that crucial test of an honest character and 
 of a gentle and forbearing nature, no man excelled John A. Logan. 
 He was a true husband, a true father, a true friend, and when that 
 is said of a man, and you can add to it also that he was a true patriot, 
 a true soldier, and a true statesman, I do not know what else could 
 be grouped into the human character to make it more sublime. 
 
 Address of Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont. 
 
 Mr. President : I first knew General Logan about twenty years 
 ago. He was then a member of the House of Representatives, and 
 I had just come to the Senate. His fame as a soldier, of course, was 
 well known to me. His personal characteristics I then knew nothing 
 of. I soon met him in committees of conference and otherwise as 
 representing the opinions of the House of Representatives in matters 
 of difference with the Senate, and I was struck, as everybody has 
 been who has known him, with the very extraordinary characteris¬ 
 tics that he possessed. They have been stated by his colleague who first 
 addressed you and by my friend on the other side of the Chamber— 
 the characteristic of candor, the characteristic of simplicity of state¬ 
 ment, the characteristic of clearness of opinion, the characteristic of 
 that Anglo-Saxon persistence in upholding an opinion once formed 
 that has made our British ancestors and our own people the strongest 
 forces for civilization of which we have any account in the history 
 of the world. 
 
 There was no pretense about the man ; there was no ambuscade; 
 there was no obscurity. What he was for he understood his reason 
 for being for, stated it briefly and clearly, and stuck to it; and that, 
 as we all know, and as it always ought to be, means in the great 
 majority of instances success, and where success fails it is. an instance 
 of honorable defeat. 
 
 His industry, Mr. President, which I have so long had opportunity 
 to know and to know intimately, for later when he came to the Sen¬ 
 ate it was my good fortune to serve with him in one of the commit- 
 
31 
 
 Address of Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont. 
 
 tees of the Senate having a very large amount of work to do_his 
 
 industry, as well as these other characteristics that I have spoken of, 
 was of the greatest. He seemed never to tire, to be ready to stay 
 out and finish the things that were to he done, an example to us all of 
 that fidelity to the administration of public interests, the things to 
 he done and accomplished that I think were extremely conspicuous, 
 and I must say among the living are somewhat rare. 
 
 So speaking of him, Mr. President, as a Member of the House of 
 Representatives and as a Senator performing his public duty, I can 
 speak of him with the simplest sincerity and say that he was entitled, 
 in my opinion, to the highest praise for these qualities and these 
 things that he both had and did in performing important public 
 duties. 
 
 No more can be said, Mr. President, of any man, whether he have 
 the gifts of eloquence or the boundless resources of learning. He 
 who does his meed of duty in the place where he stands is the best 
 patriot, the best citizen, the best legislator, the best ruler, and the 
 best man. That he did. 
 
 For many years General Logan and I have sat here side by side. 
 His temper, like that of some of those who sat very near to him, 
 was not always of the most stolid kind, and he and I, sitting here 
 side by side, very often in our constant conversations and intercourse 
 differed and disagreed; we sometimes got warm and angry; but I 
 think I can say truly that the sun never went down on his wrath 
 toward me or any other man from occasions arising from differences 
 of opinion and warmth of words. 
 
 He was the gentlest of hearts, the truest of natures, the highest 
 of spirits, that feels and considers the weaknesses of human nature 
 and who does not let small things stand in the way of his generous 
 friendship and affection for those with whom he is thrown. And so 
 in the midst of a career that had been so honorable in every branch 
 of the public service, and with just ambitions and just powers to a 
 yet longer life of great public usefulness, he disappears from among 
 us—not dead—promoted, as I think, leaving us to mourn, not his 
 departure for his sake, but that the value of his conspicuous example, 
 the strength of his conspicuous experience in public affairs, and the 
 wisdom of his counsels have been withdrawn. 
 
 And so I mourn him for ourselves, not for himself; and so I look 
 upon an occasion like this not so much—far from it—for the regrets 
 
32 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 that belong to personal separations as the testimonial that a great 
 body like this should make for ourselves and for our people of a 
 recognition of the merits and of the examples and of the services 
 that are to be not only a memorial but an inspiration to us all and 
 to all our countrymen as to the just recognition of the worth of 
 noble deeds and honest desires. And so I lay my small tribute upon 
 his grave in this way. 
 
 Address of Mr. Manderson, of Nebraska. 
 
 Mr. President : As I stood a few weeks ago by the vault that re¬ 
 ceived within its gloomy walls the honored remains of John Alex¬ 
 ander Logan, and heard the impressive words of the solemn ritual 
 for the dead of the Grand Army of the Republic, it seemed to me 
 a most fitting ceremonial. The aged comrade of the order who in 
 tremulous tones read the lines that breathe in every word the spirit 
 of fraternity, charity, and loyalty, represented the three hundred 
 and fifty thousand companions in arms, comrades of the illustrious 
 dead, to whom he was endeared by much of self-sacrifice and a de¬ 
 votion to their interests that never knew fatigue. As the clear, 
 well-sustained notes of the bugle hung, as though loath to leave, 
 upon the wintry air, 
 
 And the dingle’s hollow throat 
 Prolonged the swelling bugle note, 
 
 sounding the call “lights out,” it was fit finale to the life of activity 
 and conflict so lately ended. It spoke of rest after fatigue, of the 
 peaceful camp after the wearisome march, of quiet after the din of 
 arms, of sweet sleep after battle. It meant the restful darkness 
 after the wakeful light, the covering of the camp-fire to retain its 
 warmth until the dawn, the promise of the coming day, the resur¬ 
 rection, and the life eternal. 
 
 The familiar bugle-call brought most vividly to my recollection 
 the first time I met our friend and brother, nearly twenty-five years 
 ago. The disaster to our arms on dread Chickamauga’s bloody 
 day—the only battle approaching defeat that the Army of the Cum¬ 
 berland had ever known—had been redeemed by the glorious and 
 substantial victories of Mission .Ridge and Lookout Mountain. 
 These battles had been won with \the aid of the Army of the Ten¬ 
 nessee, and Sherman, its leader, had come to fight by the side of 
 Thomas, “the Rock of Chickamauga.” 
 
33 
 
 Address of Mr. Manderson, of Nebraska. 
 
 With Grant, the great captain, to direct the movements of these 
 most able lieutenants, the victory was assured, and with the capture 
 of the rebel stronghold upon the frowning heights of Mission Ridge 
 and lofty Lookout the Georgia campaign, that ended in the capture 
 of Atlanta and the march to the sea, that “ broke the back of the 
 rebellion,” became possibilities. The fair fame of our brethren of 
 the Tennessee was familiar to us of the Army of the Cumberland. 
 We had fought by their side at Shiloh. We knew of their high 
 emprise at Corinth, Champion Hills, and Vicksburg. We had 
 heard and read of Sherman, McPherson, and Logan. 
 
 \ 
 
 I do not disparage the bright fame of either of the first two when 
 I say that the chief interest centered at that time about the name of 
 the third of these famous leaders of the Army of the Tennessee. 
 He was the great volunteer soldier . He came from civil life—was 
 without education in the art of war save that which came from a 
 limited experience during the war with Mexico. He resigned his 
 position as a member of Congress to enter the Army of the Union 
 as a private. With burning words of eloquence and lofty patriot¬ 
 ism he gathered his neighbors of his Congressional district about 
 his recruiting flag, organized and became the colonel of the Thirty- 
 first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. The baptism of blood came 
 to him at Belmont, where he led the charging column upon the foe. 
 
 At Fort Henry his regiment captured eight of the enemy’s guns. 
 At Fort Donelson, while impetuously urging his men to the assault, 
 he was badly wounded in the arm and hip but never flinched, and 
 by his intrepidity kept his men in place until they were re-enforced, 
 their commander leaving the field only when faint from loss of blood. 
 His regiment in this bloody fray lost fifty per cent, of its number in 
 killed and wounded. Promoted to be brigadier-general, he returned 
 before full recovery of health and strength, and at Corinth General 
 Sherman acknowledged his special obligation to General Logan, 
 and described how gallantly “he held the critical ground on the 
 right against a large force of the enemy.” 
 
 Advanced to the command of a division he saved the day at Ray¬ 
 mond, and the historian wrote of him: 
 
 He was full of zeal and wild with enthusiasm, and to his division belongs the 
 honor of the victory. Fearless as a lion, he was in every part of the field and 
 seemed to infuse every man of his command with a part of his own indomitable 
 energy and fiery valor. 
 
 3 L 
 
34 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 At Jackson and at Champion Hills his splendid division, as usual, 
 immortalized itself. He seemed a born leader, displaying “un¬ 
 flinching endurance, daring bravery, and determined energy.” At 
 the siege of Vicksburg, and particularly in the assault after the 
 mine explosion, he was the prominent figure. His division was the 
 first to enter the captured stronghold on that memorable fourth day 
 of July. A witness of the scene wrote: 
 
 The General rode at their head worshiped by his men—a man of iron will and 
 lion-like courage, who seemed under the blasts of war to change into a demi-god. 
 
 As a tribute to his gallantry and effective service during the siege, 
 he was made military governor, and in that capacity displayed won¬ 
 derful executive power in caring for the captured thousands of Pem¬ 
 berton’s army and the many other thousands of citizens who were 
 reduced almost to starvation. He brought “order out of chaos, re¬ 
 strained disorder, and treated the conquered with impartial justice.” 
 
 Having been made major-general of volunteers, he succeeded 
 General Sherman as commander of the Fifteenth Corps. 
 
 His parting address to the gallant division he had so frequently 
 led to victory is well worthy of remembrance. He said it “had 
 made for itself a history to be proud of; a history never to be for¬ 
 gotten; for it is written as with a pen of fire dipped in ink of blood 
 in the memories and in the hearts of all.” He besought his men in 
 these words: “Remember the glorious cause you are fighting for, 
 remember the bleaching bones of your comrades killed on the bloody 
 fields of Donelson, Corinth, Champion Hills, and Vicksburg, or who 
 perished by disease during the past two years of hardship and ex¬ 
 posure, and swear by these imperishable memories never, while life 
 remains, to prove recreant to the trust Heaven has confided to your 
 charge.” 
 
 This was the meteoric military career of the junior of the three 
 splendid soldiers who came from the great valley they had immor¬ 
 talized by their valor to the central West, to join with Thomas, 
 Schofield, and Hooker in the campaign against Atlanta—“the gate 
 city of the South.” 
 
 I first saw Logan in front of the Confederate position on Kenesaw 
 Mountain, when his corps made that desperate assault upon Little 
 Kenesaw—so fruitless in results, so costly in human life. The sight 
 was an inspiration. Well mounted—“he looked of his horse a 
 part.” His swarthy complexion, long black hair, compact figure, 
 
Address of Mr. Manderson, of Nebraska. 
 
 35 
 
 stentorian voice, and eyes that seemed to blaze “with the light of 
 battle,' 5 made a figure once seen never to he forgotten. In action 
 he was the very spirit of war. His magnificent presence would 
 make a coward fight. He seemed a resistless force. 
 
 The sword 
 
 Of Michael, from the armory of God, 
 
 Was given him, tempered so that neither keen 
 Nor solid might resist that edge. 
 
 The splendid record of achievements won along the Mississippi 
 was to remain unbroken. His name is written upon every page of 
 the Georgia campaign of over one hundred days of constant fighting. 
 Says one of the historians of the Army of the Cumberland: “As 
 the united armies advanced along the battle line, where for four 
 • months the firing never wholly ceased by day or by night, everybody 
 came to know Logan. Brave, vigilant, and aggressive, he won uni¬ 
 versal applause. Prudent for his men and reckless in exposing his 
 own person, he excited general admiration.” 
 
 When the lines were close his own headquarters were often scarcely 
 out of sight of the pickets, and he generally had a hand in whatever 
 deadly work might spring up along his front. 
 
 At Resaca, at Dallas, in front of frowning Kenesaw, at Peach Tree 
 Creek, and New Hope Church his corps under his leadership added 
 to its fame. When McPherson was killed Logan assumed temporary 
 command of the Army of the Tennessee, and “wrested victory from 
 the jaws of defeat.” We of the Cumberland heard the noise of the 
 cannon and the rattle of the musketry that told of the severe as¬ 
 saults made by the desperate foe on Logan’s line. I visited the field 
 the next morning and saw the terrible results of the deadly struggle. 
 
 The ground was thickly strewn with the slain, and the face of 
 nature had been changed by the conflict as though 
 
 Men had fought upon the earth and fiends in upper air. 
 
 Logan’s battle presence here is said to have been sublime. The 
 death of his beloved comrade in arms seemed to transform him into 
 a very Moloch. Bare-headed he rode his lines, encouraging his men 
 by word and deed, his battle-cry, “ McPherson and revenge.” Sher¬ 
 man’s official report of the battle says : 
 
 The brave and gallant General Logan pobly sustained his reputation and that of 
 his veteran army and avenged the death of his comrade and commander. 
 
36 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 I would fain speak of Ezra Chapel and Jonesborough, but lack of 
 time forbids. 
 
 On September 2nd the campaign of constant fighting that began 
 May 2nd closed by the occupation of Atlanta, and no one man did 
 more to bring about the glorious result than he whose death we to¬ 
 day deplore. Of his services during the march from Savannah 
 through the Carolinas I cannot take time to speak. He rode at the 
 head of the victorious veterans of the Army of the Tennessee at the 
 Grand Review. Long its leader, he had at last become its commander. 
 No more knightly figure appeared in the marching columns. No 
 braver or truer heart swelled with the lofty emotions of the hour. 
 
 Through all of General Logan’s military career it is evident that 
 he was far more than a mere soldier. Although terribly at home 
 upon the field of battle it was not love of the life that took him there. 
 His sensitive and sympathetic nature caused him many unhappy 
 hours as he saw the horrors war had wrought. He was no mere 
 seeker for ‘‘the bubble reputation.” The speeches made and letters 
 written immediately before and during the great struggle for national 
 existence show him to have been imbued with the spirit of loftiest 
 patriotism. In Congress he said : 
 
 I have been taught to believe that the preservation of this glorious Union, with 
 its broad flag waving over us as the shield for our protection on land and on sea, is 
 paramount to all the parties and platforms that ever have existed, or ever can exist. 
 I would to-day, if I had the power, sink my own party and every other one with 
 all their platforms into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a 
 tear, to save the Union. 
 
 In 1862, when solicited to represent Illinois as Representative at 
 large, he wrote: 
 
 A compliance with your request on my part would be a departure from the set¬ 
 tled resolutions with which I resumed my sword in defense and for the perpetuity 
 of a government, the like and blessings of which no other nation or age shall enjoy 
 if once suffered to be weakened or destroyed. In making this reply I feel that it 
 is unnecessary to enlarge as to what were, are, or may hereafter be my political 
 views, but would simply state that politics of every grade and character whatso¬ 
 ever are now ignored by me, since I am convinced that the Constitution and life of 
 this Republic, which I shall never cease to adore, are in danger. 
 
 I express all my views in politics when I assert my attachment for the Union. I 
 have no other politics now, and consequently no aspirations for civil place or power. 
 No! I am to-day a soldier of this Republic, so to remain, changeless and immuta¬ 
 ble, until her last and weakest enemy shall have expired and passed away. Ambi. 
 tious men who have not a true love for their country at heart may bring forth 
 crude and bootless questions to agitate the pulse of our troubled nation and thwart 
 the preservation of this Union, but of none of such am I. I have entered the field 
 to die if needs be for this Government, and never expect to return to peaceful pur¬ 
 suits until the object of this war has become a fact established. 
 
Address of Mr. Manderson, of Nebraska. 37 
 
 While deeply in earnest and desirous of serving his country in the 
 largest sphere, it cannot be said that he was ambitions. He never 
 sought promotion. It came to him as proper recognition of great 
 fitness and much service. 
 
 The trait in his character upon which my thoughts dwell with 
 fondness and emotion was his generous regard for the rights of others. 
 It shone out conspicuously in his treatment of that noble soldier and 
 true patriot, General George H. Thomas, whom all men loved. There 
 was impatience that Thomas did not move to the attack of Hood. 
 The fact that the rain, which froze as it fell, covered the earth with 
 ice, upon which man or beast could scarcely stand was really cause 
 sufficient for delay. 
 
 Logan was ordered to supersede the great leader of the Cumber¬ 
 land army. He proceeded west ward, without haste, although the 
 command of that splendid army of veterans was something greatly 
 to be desired. Reaching Louisville and hearing that the thaw had 
 come and Thomas ready to move, he delayed in that city. The glo¬ 
 rious news of the great victory at Nashville soon came to him. 
 Logan, with the order assigning him to supreme command in his 
 pocket, telegraphed the glad tidings to Washington and asked that 
 Thomas might remain at the head of the men who had followed him 
 for so many years, and that he might return to the inferior com¬ 
 mand. 
 
 No desire for self-advancement could prompt him to disregard the 
 rights of a comrade. Without a murmur he had before this time 
 seen the command of the Army of the Tennessee pass to another 
 when it seemed matter of right that it should be his as the natural 
 successor of the lamented McPherson. General Hooker, with less of 
 claim, wanted it, and in his grievous disappointment asked to be 
 relieved from duty. Logan did not sulk an instant, but, with 
 unselfish patriotism, went wherever duty called. 
 
 It is not my purpose to speak of the great dead in any other capac¬ 
 ity than that of a soldier. Let others speak of him as a citizen, 
 lawyer, legislator, statesman, and tell of his merits as a civilian, hus¬ 
 band, father, and friend. I was his recognized comrade, as was 
 every other man who wore the blue. He never forgot them. They 
 will never forget him. He made it impossible so to do by his devo¬ 
 tion to the volunteer soldiers’ interests. The statute books are full 
 of laws for the maimed and disabled, the widowed and the father- 
 
38 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan , 
 
 less, that he either originated or actively helped to pass. His life 
 here and in the other house since the war was one of constant devo¬ 
 tion to those with whom he had served. It was this strong feeling 
 of comradeship that prompted him to aid materially'in the organi¬ 
 zation of that great order—the Grand Army of the Republic. 
 
 He originated the ever-beautiful Memorial Day, and constantly 
 urged its observance. It was a revelation to many that this sturdy 
 soldier should have conceived the poetic idea that the graves of the 
 Union dead should receive their yearly tribute of flowers. The 
 thought was born of his love for them. There was much that was 
 refined beneath the bold, frank exterior. 
 
 The bravest are the tenderest, 
 
 The loving are the daring. 
 
 A friend who knew him well writes of him : 
 
 His domestic life was an exquisite idyh It was fragrant with faith and tender¬ 
 ness. It was a poem whose rhythm was never marred. 
 
 Our hearts go out in sympathetic love to-day to the lonely woman 
 who was his helpmeet all the days of his manhood life. Hers the 
 desolation of a great loss, but with it the consolation of a great love. 
 
 Peace be with her. 
 
 Address of Mr. Hampton, of South Carolina. 
 
 Mr. President: I understand and appreciate fully the motives 
 which prompt the tender and touching tributes paid here to the 
 memory of our late and distinguished colleague. I sympathize with 
 them as honorable alike to the living and to the dead. It is emi¬ 
 nently right and proper that the political associates and the comrades 
 in arms of the dead statesman and soldier should bear grateful testi¬ 
 mony to his services and pay homage to his virtues. This is his due; 
 it belongs of right to him, and none are more willing to accord this 
 to him than those who were his political opponents. For one, I join 
 gladly in every mark of respect paid to the memory of General 
 Logan. But, sir, in the few remarks which I shall make on this 
 mournful occasion which recalls a calamity that has filled, not only 
 the Senate, but the whole country with profound sorrow, I must speak 
 from a standpoint different from that occupied by the political friends 
 
39 
 
 Address of Mr. Hampton, of South Carolina. 
 
 and the comrades of him who has been stricken down in the prime 
 of manhood, and in the midst of his usefulness so suddenly and so 
 mysteriously. The political school in which my creed was formed 
 inculcated other doctrines than those held by General Logan, and 
 these necessarily not only arrayed me in the ranks of his political 
 opponents, hut in those which were opposed to the cause he espoused 
 and so bravely upheld in the late unhappy civil war. As a Demo¬ 
 crat, a Southern man, and a Confederate soldier, I am called on to 
 speak of him as a Republican in high and deserved honor with his 
 party, as a Northern man who offered his life and gave his blood to 
 prove the sincerity of his convictions, and as a Federal soldier whose 
 fame was as widespread as it was fairly achieved. 
 
 I therefore leave to others better fitted than myself the grateful 
 duty of portraying his remarkable military career which placed him 
 high in the ranks of successful commanders, and of tracing his no 
 less remarkable political career, which led him up to become an hon¬ 
 ored and recognized leader of his party. But I may say, in con¬ 
 nection with his brilliant military service, and it is due to him that 
 I should say it, that when war was flagrant, and the passions of men 
 were inflamed to their highest pitch, we of the South knew of no 
 act of cruelty, of barbarity, or of inhumanity to stain his record as 
 a brave and honorable soldier. 
 
 I shall speak of him as I knew him here, as a Senator and as a man, 
 and while we held opposite opinions on nearly all of the great ques¬ 
 tions which have divided parties in this country, I hope that I may 
 be able to speak with impartiality and with truth. His ability com¬ 
 manded my admiration; his many high qualities won my personal 
 regard, and every feeling of my heart prompts me to do full justice to 
 his merits. My acquaintance with General Logan began upon my 
 entrance into this body, and by a curious coincidence the first utter¬ 
 ances I heard in this Chamber were from him while he was criticising 
 my own State sharply. His language on that occasion, as may read¬ 
 ily be supposed, was not calculated to inspire me with friendly feel¬ 
 ings toward him, and it created in my mind a prejudice against him 
 which doubtless warped my judgment to some extent. It was in this 
 condition of things that I found myself placed on the Committee on 
 Military Affairs, of which he was a member, and over which he sub¬ 
 sequently presided as chairman for years, zealously and efficiently. 
 
 Our service together on that committee was continuous from that 
 
40 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 time until death, freed him from earthly labors, and my long asso¬ 
 ciation with him there taught me to respect his great ability and to 
 admire the many good and generous traits which marked his char¬ 
 acter so strongly. Thoroughly familiar with the Army rules and 
 regulations, earnestly desirous of promoting the efficiency of the ser¬ 
 vice, laborious and conscientious in the discharge of his duties, devoted 
 to the old soldiers, he was fully equipped to fill the arduous and re¬ 
 sponsible position he held. Of ardent temperament and strong will, 
 he was not free from the prejudices which always belong to natures 
 such as his was, but these were rigidly subordinated to his stern sense 
 of justice and of honor. And, sir, I can say truthfully that he fre¬ 
 quently tempered justice by mercy, and I acknowledge gratefully 
 that on many occasions the people of the South were the recipients 
 of his kindness. His words in the heat and conflict of debate were 
 sometimes bitter, but his acts, inspired by his generous heart, were 
 generally kinder than his words. But by his acts I prefer to judge 
 his character, and by them my estimate of him has been formed. 
 
 The characteristics which gave him such marked individuality as 
 chairman of the Military Committee were constantly illustrated on 
 the floor of the Senate. A strong adherent and supporter of his party, 
 he never failed to assert his independence of thought and of action 
 whenever he deemed that his duty demanded this. Frank, fearless, 
 and outspoken, he possessed in an eminent degree the courage which 
 springs from sincere convictions, and he had the ability to defend 
 these convictions. While doing this he dealt heavy blows, but they 
 were always delivered in an open, straightforward, manly manner. 
 He never fought in ambush; he asked only an open field and fair play. 
 Possessing as he did so many rare and generous attributes, it is not 
 strange that he found warm friends even among his political oppo¬ 
 nents, nor is it surprising that he was a tower of strength to his own 
 party. 
 
 His services, his talents, commanded the position of a leader, and 
 he filled that position ably. The ancient Romans, Mr. President, 
 regarded courage as among the highest virtues, and the word used 
 by them to express this quality has given to our language its beau¬ 
 tiful word “virtue.” If the Latin and the English words are syn¬ 
 onymous, as they should be, then surely we can ascribe courage and 
 virtue to John A. Logan. 
 
 No braver man ever lived, and the Almighty Creator endowed him 
 
Address of Mr. Allison, of Iowa. 41 
 
 with many other and great virtues. His work on earth is done, and 
 he is at rest. 
 
 And from heaven of heavens above 
 God speaketh with bateless breath: 
 
 “ My angel of perfect love 
 Is the angel men call Death!” 
 
 Address of Mr. Allison, of Iowa. 
 
 j ' i/ 
 
 Mr. President : Whosoever shall hereafter faithfully write the 
 annals of our country's history for the last quarter of a century will 
 have occasion to speak often and in words of high praise the name 
 of General John A. Logan. 
 
 His death came suddenly and unexpectedly to us all, as hut a few 
 days before he was in his seat, apparently in his usual health. When 
 it came it disclosed not only the warm affection, friendly devotion, 
 and high esteem of his associates in this Chamber, hut also the firm 
 and enduring hold he had upon the affections of his countrymen 
 everywhere. In public halls and churches and in other places they 
 assembled to give expression to their grief and sorrow by memorial 
 services and public addresses, recounting the story of his life. 
 
 The universal manifestation, spontaneous and sincere, did not 
 come by chance or accident, hut because his long public career ren¬ 
 dered him worthy of the great honors that were paid to his memory. 
 
 Others have spoken of his early history in Mexico, at the bar, and 
 in the State legislature, all preliminary to larger field opening up 
 to him in the National Congress and upon the great theater of war. 
 He first appeared in the National Capitol and took a seat in the 
 House of Representatives, to which he had been elected from the 
 State of Illinois, in December, 1859. He was elected as a Democrat, 
 and whatever part he took in the public discussions of that session 
 was in the line pursued ’ , the Democratic party. It is not fitting 
 here and now to speak of the momentous questions which then agi¬ 
 tated the public mind and sharply divided political parties. He was. 
 thrown into the midst of this terrific political conflict, which even 
 then threatened the country with war. He arrayed himself on the 
 side of the great leader of one faction of the Democratic party, and 
 in the Presidential struggle of 1860 he espoused the cause of this 
 great leader with all the zeal of his strong personality, and in his 
 
42 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 own State aimed heavy blows at the Republican party and the 
 Southern wing of his own. 
 
 That struggle ended in the election of President Lincoln, which 
 
 » 
 
 was soon followed by the opening of a struggle of a very different 
 nature. This conflict of arms, though long predicted by many, at 
 last came suddenly upon the country without preparation. It has 
 been said that ‘‘once to every man and nation comes the moment to 
 decide in the strife of truth with falsehood for the good or evil side.” 
 This supreme moment came then not only to the country, but to the 
 citizen, whatever his station. General Logan did not hesitate, but 
 at once, with his great leader, arrayed himself on the side of his 
 country. So deciding, he immediately resigned his seat in Congress, 
 surrendering for the time his political ambition, returned to his 
 native State, and with all the energy and impetuosity of his nature 
 proclaimed his purpose to enter the military service and remain in 
 it until the Union was restored. This among his constituents was a 
 courageous resolve, as from their location and political education 
 they were not easily persuaded to risk all, as he proposed, to save 
 the Union. Such was the force of his character and the persuasive¬ 
 ness of his arguments that in a very few days he found himself at 
 the head of a regiment largely composed of his political associates 
 and friends. 
 
 Here began that conspicuous military record which four years 
 later by common consent placed him foremost among the many 
 eminent civilian commanders of that great conflict. 
 
 I shall leave others to speak in detail of his military career, but 
 cannot refrain from saying that through it all he had the confidence 
 of his military superiors as one fitted to command a great army in 
 battle. Sherman assigned him to the supreme command on the 
 battlefield of Atlanta after McPherson was slain ; he justified that 
 confidence by leading the army to victory. Later on Grant did 
 not hesitate to select him as the jnan most likely to achieve a victory 
 at Nashville, when he was growing restless at the delay of General 
 Thomas. Here as everywhere he showed the magnanimity and 
 generosity of the true soldier by not wresting the command from 
 Thomas on the threshold of a great victory. 
 
 He not only held throughout the war the undiminished confidence 
 of the great chieftains I have named, but his great qualities as a sol¬ 
 dier also secured for him the respect, esteem, and confidence of those 
 
Address of Mr. Allison, of Iowa. 
 
 43 
 
 serving under him, which he held firmly and unreservedly to the 
 end; and the soldiers who served with him now grieve because of 
 the loss of a comrade, companion, and friend, and they will repeat 
 to their dying day around their camp fires, recounting the stories of 
 the war, “I fought with Logan at Atlanta,” or “at Jonesborough,” 
 or “at Vicksburg.” 
 
 General Logan reappeared in this Capitol as a Representative in 
 March, 1867, and from that time until his death, excejDt for a period 
 of two years, he was continuously a member either of the House or 
 of the Senate. 
 
 His ability as a popular orator and his great military reputation 
 gave him prominence at once in the House of Representatives. He 
 fully sustained himself in that great popular body by the earnestness 
 of his convictions, by his skill as a debater, and by his knowledge of 
 public affairs. He soon became one of the recognized leaders in the 
 consideration and discussion of the great questions before the House. 
 At that time, and by the vote of his associates in that body, he was 
 chosen to appear here as one of the managers in behalf of the House 
 to conduct the trial of the impeachment of President Johnson. 
 
 The questions then prominent were questions growing out of the 
 war, covering the entire range and scope of the powers of the Gen¬ 
 eral Government, the reorganization of the Army, the management 
 of the public debt, the reduction of taxes, changes in our tariff and 
 internal-revenue systems, the currency, specie payments, the new 
 amendments to the Constitution, and the restoration of the States 
 deprived of representation because of the rebellion. All these ques¬ 
 tions and many others were in a brief space of time forced upon Con¬ 
 gress for its consideration. General Logan had decided views upon 
 them all, and expressed his views fearlessly and with great force and 
 power. 
 
 General Logan was transferred to this Chamber in 1871. He was 
 then in the full vigor of his matured faculties, and brought with him 
 the valuable experience of a long service in the House, and at once 
 took high rank in the Senate, which he maintained undiminished to 
 the end, always taking an active part in the discussion of the great 
 questions constantly appearing here for action. His sympathy with 
 his old comrades and their devotion to his personal fortunes imposed 
 upon him unusual labor in caring for their interests and welfare. 
 
 He was assiduous and constant in the advocacy of all the measures 
 
44 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 which ho and they deemed of especial interest to them, whether 
 respecting pensions, bounty, back pay, or the reorganization of the 
 Army itself, and be became their conspicuous advocate and friend. 
 So that for all the years following the war whatever legislation there 
 is upon our statute books upon these topics bears the impress of his 
 advocacy. 
 
 He was a man of tireless activity and industry in the Senate. The 
 Fitz-John Porter case is a conspicuous example of these character¬ 
 istics. He found time in the midst of the multiplied cares of a seat 
 in this body to write an exhaustive history of the causes which led 
 to the conflict in which he bore so prominent a part. 
 
 This brief retrospect discloses that the life of General Logan was 
 one of ceaseless activity and exceptional usefulness to his country. 
 
 Few men of this generation in our country have achieved a more 
 illustrious career. 
 
 Coming into active political life at the beginning of the great civil 
 war, he has linked his name imperishably with the military achieve¬ 
 ments that resulted in the restoration of the Union. Coming into 
 the councils of the nation soon after the close of hostilities, he bore 
 an honorable part in the legislation which then seemed necessary 
 for the perpetuation of the Union. 
 
 General Logan was not, in the common acceptance of that phrase, 
 an eloquent man; yet he had extraordinary power as a popular 
 orator. There was something inherent in his character and method 
 and in his utterances intensely attractive to large assemblies. Few 
 men in our country could attract larger audiences, or hold them 
 more firmly, or direct them more certainly to the views he expressed. 
 This characteristic was well illustrated in the campaign of 1884, 
 when great multitudes gathered to hear him, and listened with in¬ 
 tense interest to every utterance, and were persuaded by his argu¬ 
 ments and eloquence. 
 
 Mr. President, this body in its organization is perpetual, and un¬ 
 less the Constitution shall be changed will endure as long as the 
 Government remains. It is now the same body it was when organ¬ 
 ized in 1789. Its members have the longest fixed term known to the 
 Constitution except the tenure of the judges of our courts; yet its 
 membership rapidly changes. When we met in December only six 
 Senators appeared in their seats who were in this Chamber fourteen 
 years ago, when I entered it. One of these was General Logan ; 
 
Address of Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut. 
 
 45 
 
 and of all the men who have come and gone in these intervening 
 years, none were more conspicuous and none will be more missed by 
 the country and by those of us who still remain. 
 
 My service with him began in the other House, in 1867, and since 
 that time we have been associated together continuously upon 
 important committees. So I had opportunity to know him well. 
 Like most of us, he was not free from faults and peculiarities of 
 disposition; his nature was sensitive; he was quick to resent an 
 injury, and as quick to forgive it. He never knowingly did an 
 injustice to his associates, and if he found that he had done so un¬ 
 consciously, he was swift and ready to make reparation. He was 
 conscientious in the discharge of his public duties. 
 
 In his death the nation has lost one of its ablest counselors, his 
 comrades in the army one of their most ardent and devoted support¬ 
 ers, we in this Chamber a valued co-worker and friend. 
 
 The arduous labors, the conflicts and struggles incident to high 
 public station with him are ended. Those who survive him here 
 will struggle on for a few brief years at most, and will then, like 
 him, be gathered to the world beyond, to receive the reward which 
 awaits those who perform faithfully and well all their duties here. 
 
 Address of Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut. 
 
 Mr. President: A stranger seeing General Logan for the first time 
 and observing him in these Halls a few days ago would perhaps have 
 said that the most prominent feature of his character was his com¬ 
 bativeness. He snuffed the battle afar off; he never lagged in the 
 rear of the column; he crowded to the front; he never shirked the 
 combat: he went out to look for it. 
 
 He was quick and strong in his likes and his dislikes. He scorned 
 double-dealing and meanness, but I do not think that he hated any¬ 
 body. 
 
 We have seen him in committee and here in this Hall, impetuous, 
 trampling down all obstacles to his cause, and perhaps trampling 
 upon the feelings of his associates. We have seen him then, upon a 
 protest, drop the point of his sword instantly, become gentle, quiet, 
 conciliatory, and evidently full of regret that he had even appeared 
 to be unjust to any one. 
 
46 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 He had a matchless courage, as everybody knows, a courage not 
 only upon the battlefield but a high courage and spirit of self-sacri¬ 
 fice in politics. He had a right to suppose from all that was said to 
 him by great multitudes that he was a fair and honorable candidate 
 for the Presidency, yet he cheerfully accepted a subordinate position 
 upon a Presidental ticket in 1884 in the belief, in which he was 
 strengthened by friends, that his influence and his acquaintance with 
 tens of thousands of soldiers would bring something of strength to 
 his political party. 
 
 We remember very well the famous Fitz-John Porter controversy. 
 He was well aware in what he was doing there that he was strength¬ 
 ening old animosities and creating new ones; but you know with 
 what a splendid courage he carried himself through, with what 
 power, with what indefatigable industry he accumulated his facts 
 and arguments, and renewed the battle again and again. 
 
 I remember with interest that during the controversy over the 
 famous anti-Chinese bill he was absent. He returned after a time, 
 and while he was under no obligation to say anything, he was op¬ 
 posed to the bill, and lest he might be even thought to shirk—no, 
 not that, but because he desired to share in whatever was being done 
 —he took an early occasion to rise here and manifest his vigorous 
 and determined opposition to that measure. He knew well what 
 chances he took then of losing political support. 
 
 Not a great while ago there arose here a very painful controversy 
 concerning the Senatorial representative from one of our great 
 States. He took his ground firmly ; he argued it with all his accus¬ 
 tomed vigor and energy. He recognized well that he was creating 
 again enemies and opponents—yes, more than opponents, bitter ene¬ 
 mies—in a great State that would be essential to the support of his 
 ambition. 
 
 I remember that General Logan was several times much annoyed 
 by a charge that about the time of the breaking out of hostilities, or 
 previous to it, he had been concerned in raising troops for the Con¬ 
 federate service. It was a charge that had not a shadow of truth in 
 it. He was a Democrat, of course, before the war, and, as he was in 
 everything else, intensely a Democrat, fierce, combative, bitter some¬ 
 times ; but as the contest drew near the fire of his patriotism blazed 
 up and consumed like flax all obstacles in his way, and he became, 
 as you have learned from some declarations of his made at the time. 
 
Address of Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut. 47 
 
 nothing but a defender of the Union. And not only as a soldier, 
 for he carried with him politically the people of Southern Illinois, 
 many of whom in their political prejudices and convictions were as 
 completely Southerners as the people of Alabama. He swept them 
 along with him by the power and fierce energy of his oratory. 
 
 He went into the war. After Vicksburg General Grant said that 
 McPherson and Logan had demonstrated their fitness to become the 
 commanders of independent armies. He had a right to suppose, 
 after the gallant McPherson had fallen, under the very feet of an 
 advancing and temporarily triumphant Confederate force, he had a 
 fair right to suppose that he would succeed to that'Officer’s com¬ 
 mand. He was second in rank. The soldiers desired it. They had 
 seen his great leadership on that battlefield as 011 many others. An¬ 
 other took the place, an honorable and gallant soldier. Logan never 
 wavered for a moment. 
 
 The manly generosity and high courtesy of his bearing when he 
 was ordered to relieve the noble General Thomas have been de¬ 
 scribed to-day. I .do not contrast General Logan’s action on that 
 occasion with the conduct of certain others in similar situations, 
 though there were examples of wonderful contrast; but he was as 
 obedient as a child, faithful as ever. His complaints were probably 
 uttered, for he could not disguise himself, but they are not upon 
 record. 
 
 He labored under the reproach that he was something of a politi¬ 
 cal soldier in those days, but he did not then disclose the fact that 
 he had received a suggestion he could not disregard, that he should 
 go to Illinois, another battlefield as important as the battlefield of 
 Atlanta. 
 
 He came to be the eminent figure among the volunteer soldiers. It 
 is so recorded ; it will be so remembered in history. There is no 
 volunteer soldier of the old Army, the most captious or the most 
 jealous, who regrets or carps at any of the great honors paid to 
 Logan ; for whatever is said of Logan as the chief of volunteers is 
 claimed to be the common glory of them all. 
 
 I heard General Grant say* once of him in private conversation 
 that he was uneasy in camp but all right when he charged. He 
 sulked in his tent, but it Avas because it was a tent. When the bugle 
 called him to the saddle he Avas exultant, happy. 
 
 He Avas classed as a political general. I do not know that it was 
 
48 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 altogether an unfriendly remark. He was, sir; he had the honor to 
 be a political general. It was a political war, and he was as strong 
 in one field of battle as the other; the political generals did double 
 duty. The anxiety during some of the great days of those four 
 years was not that the soldiers of the Union would be unable to put 
 down the rebellion in due time, but that the voters at the ballot-box 
 might put down the war too early; and some of the political combats 
 won by Logan and others at home were as useful to the cause of the 
 Union as the triumphs of Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Baker, match¬ 
 less as an orator, chivalrous and lovely in battle, was a political 
 .general. Garfield, giving promise of great generalship by an uncon¬ 
 querable industry and energy, and a brilliant courage in the face of 
 the enemy’s guns—Garfield, obeying what was almost a command, 
 went from the army to Congress. Frank Blair, with the trumpet 
 tones of his voice and the quiver of his uplifted finger, was worth a 
 corps of soldiers in his influence over Missouri, and he was a polit¬ 
 ical general. 
 
 Scandal spared General Logan from its insinuations of dishonor 
 in private or public life. Perhaps calumnious mud was thrown at 
 him, but nothing of it is recorded or retained in the memories of 
 men. 
 
 He loved his country. Why, sir, that is true of sixty millions of 
 people, I hope; but he loved it with a devotion immeasurable and 
 unfathomable. He believed in the justice, the equality, and the 
 liberty of its Constitution and its laws. He had no doubt whatever 
 ■of the wisdom of this great experiment, universal suffrage and all. 
 He was no agnostic; he had a creed and a purpose always, in every 
 contest. He did not assume all knowledge; but what he knew, he 
 knew he knew; and what he believed he was always ready to say. 
 Whatever he wanted, he greatly wanted; he was very much in ear¬ 
 nest. He trusted the great jury of twelve million voters and had 
 no doubt about the future prosperity, honor, and glory of the great 
 Republic. 
 
 He was an ambitious man, politically; he had a right to be, and 
 he won a high place. He was ambitious of a great place among sol¬ 
 diers, and he won it. 
 
 He was generous, he was frank, he was tender. Possibly that will 
 sound strangely to many people who did not know him as we did. 
 He had as tender a heart as entered these doors. He was one of the 
 
Address of Mr. Spooner, of Wisconsin. 
 
 49 
 
 bravest men physically and morally that ever lived. He was a brill¬ 
 iant and great volunteer soldier. He was an incorruptible citizen 
 and legislator. His patriotism was unsurpassed in enthusiasm, in¬ 
 tensity, and faith. 
 
 Address of Mr. Spooner, of Wisconsin. 
 
 Mr. President : The busy hand of death beckons us again to the 
 side of a new-made grave. Amid the tears and sobs of this great 
 people, to the music of muffled drums, and under the furled flag which 
 he loved, we tenderly bore John A. Logan to his rest. 
 
 It was to be expected that the words of tribute spoken in this 
 Chamber, still so filled with his presence, would come fresh and 
 strong from warm hearts, for his wonderful career was of our own 
 day and generation, and we were his colleagues and friends. 
 
 But, sir, no one need fear for Logan the cold analysis of the his¬ 
 torian yet to come. How little dependent is this man’s fame upon 
 the speech of his contemporaries. It rests upon the solid foundation 
 of glorious deeds and splendid public service. We may well say 
 ' that he was born for the service of the people, for the active years 
 of his whole life, with hardly an intermission, were spent in the 
 discharge of public duty. That life was an open book, read and 
 known of all men, and biographical details of it are for my purpose 
 quite unnecessary. It is said that “ history is the essence of innumer¬ 
 able biographies.” Logan’s life is of the essence of our history. 
 
 With him love of country was a passion, and with him the union 
 of the States was “the country.” He could see, save through the 
 perpetuity of that Union, nothing of any worth in the future of the 
 Republic. 
 
 Of strong convictions and prejudices, a stern partisan, reared 
 among those whose predilections and views of constitutional right 
 were distinctly of the Southern school, the friend and trusted lieu¬ 
 tenant of Douglas, it will stand forever to the credit of his clearness 
 of mental vision and of his independence of character, that when 
 the war cloud which had been so long gathering broke in fury upon 
 the country, he straightway took his rightful place by the side of 
 Abraham Lincoln, under the beautiful flag which, at the threshold of 
 his manhood, he had followed upon the plains of Mexico. 
 
 4 L 
 
50 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 His star shot into the sky at Belmont, to shine fixed and unobscured 
 forever. 
 
 It would he idle for me to recount the battles which he fought and 
 won, the precipitous charges which he led, the marvelous personal 
 magnetism and daring which, communicating itself to a whole army, 
 turned, as by the will power of one man, defeat into victory. It is 
 enough to say of him as a soldier that by common consent he stands 
 forth the ideal volunteer soldier of the war. He was, among a 
 million brave men, original, picturesque, and unique. There was 
 but one John A. Logan. What a pitiful combination of folly and 
 malignity was that which thrust at such a one the charge of disloy¬ 
 alty ! 
 
 The world loves, and easily remembers, the soldier. Tales of the 
 bivouac and the siege and the charge, of personal daring on the field 
 of battle, have had peculiar fascination for men in every age, and 
 doubtless Logan’s chief renown will be as a soldier. He would have 
 it so. 
 
 But, great as he was in war, he was great also as an orator of the 
 
 \ 
 
 people, and in the councils of peace. He won as an orator a reputa¬ 
 tion which, if he had no other claim to be remembered, would keep 
 his name alive and would satisfy any reasonable ambition. His pop¬ 
 ularity as a speaker was not ephemeral, nor was it peculiar to any 
 section. He was everywhere welcome. Listening thousands hung 
 in rapt interest upon his words. It is not at all difficult to account 
 for his power as a speaker. His evident sincerity and earnestness, 
 his commanding presence, the flash of his eye, the like of which I 
 never saw in any other face, the boldness of his utterance, the im¬ 
 petuous flow of his speech, and the trumpet tones of his voice, gave 
 to him as a popular orator a charm indescribable. Ho man could 
 catch more quickly than he the spirit of his audience, or more deftly 
 adapt himself to its fancy. 
 
 The law of his life was action. He could not rest. It is said of 
 him that as a soldier he was chafing and unhappy unless the army 
 was in motion and the battle near at hand. This characteristic was 
 quite as marked in civil life. 
 
 He was a student and a worker, and as the years went on he grew 
 in mental strength and stature and in oratorical power. 
 
 As the nominee of his party for the second great office in the gift 
 of the people, he added greatly to his civic fame. The dignity of his 
 
Address of Mr. Spooner, of Wisconsin. 
 
 51 
 
 bearing, tlie method and manner of his thought and speech, were 
 everywhere a revelation to those who then heard him for the first 
 time. Other orators have been more finished, but, sir, it is not the 
 language of fulsome eulogy to say that, taking John A. Logan all 
 im all, he was a great orator, and will be known as such. 
 
 He possessed, also, indisputable claims to high statesmanship. 
 Look through the statutes and the records of Congress, and you will 
 find there the same impress of his character and individuality. Many 
 acts of grave civic consequence he devised and drafted. As a legis¬ 
 lator he was broad-minded and fearless. Neither the love of com¬ 
 mendation nor the fear of criticism swerved him in tlie least from 
 the path blazed out by his convictions. He was ready in debate and 
 a dangerous antagonist on the floor of the Senate. 
 
 One cannot fail to notice, looking through the record of his work 
 in the National Senate, everywhere the evidence of service rendered 
 to the soldier, and to the soldier’s widow and orphan. Every thought 
 that loving comradeship and appreciation of great service and sacri¬ 
 fice could suggest for the soldier’s good you will find at some time 
 formulated into statute by his faithful hand. He took it upon him 
 as a sacred trust that he should look always to the interest of those 
 who with him had stood in the shock of battle. Well may the sur¬ 
 viving soldiers of the Federal Army—now, alas, fast falling by the 
 wayside—as they gather around their camp-fires, weep bitter tears 
 for the loss of Logan. 
 
 Though a chieftain of his party, he was not narrow or sectional as 
 a legislator. He met more than half way those who had but lately 
 been his adversaries on the field of battle. No man more desired the 
 restoration of perfect harmony between the sections or the upbuild¬ 
 ing of the waste places of the South or gave readier aid to that great 
 consummation. He demanded only in return that every man and 
 woman and child, of whatever condition, class, or degree, should 
 enjoy unobstructed and in the fullest measure every right given by 
 the Constitution and the laws. With less than this he thought it 
 moral treason to be content. 
 
 Logan was a leader by divine right. All the elements combined 
 to make him such. Of resistless energy, iron will, knightly daring, 
 lofty moral courage, quick and acute intelligence, fervent patriotism, 
 unselfish loyalty to principle and friendship, and unswerving honor, 
 it is impossible to conceive of him as other than a great leader in 
 
52 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 any field of human effort. Scan his eventful life however critically, 
 study the forces which moved him, analyze the characteristics which 
 marked him from his fellows, and you will find little indeed of ac¬ 
 cident or adventitious aid in the achievements which will glorify his 
 name. It is no marvel that he was a great soldier, or that he was an 
 orator of high repute, or that he was conspicuous among the leading 
 statesmen of his day, hut that he united in himself all of these is 
 conclusive of his genius. 
 
 He was, with all his rugged strength of will and bravery and for¬ 
 titude, a sensitive man, easily wounded by a personal or party 
 friend. In the retrospect we see now, with unavailing regret, how 
 keenly he may have suffered in spirit from what gave us little 
 thought or concern. Quick to resent what seemed to him a wrong, 
 he was, like all great natures, as quick to forgive and forget. He 
 was magnanimous. No manly man found it difficult to repair, with¬ 
 out loss of self-respect, a quarrel with John A. Logan. 
 
 He was, in many ways, a proud man. He carried for a quarter of 
 a century upon his body wounds received in battle. He bore, with¬ 
 out complaint, racking pains, horn of the privations of the soldier's 
 life, of the pelting storm, the comfortless bed upon the frozen earth, 
 the cold, wearisome march, the sleepless nights and toilsome days. 
 Standing in his place on the 16tli of March last, he said : 
 
 I could say—but I dislike to mention myself—that I was entitled to a pension 
 early in the war, and have been ever since the war, but I have never asked for it, 
 and never expect to. 
 
 Mr. President, we now know that there were times in his later 
 years when the days were dark, and when the stress of financial em¬ 
 barrassment pressed him hard, hut he was too proud and delicate to 
 claim the pension which was his due under the laws which he had 
 been so potential in fashioning and in enacting. I hope if the words 
 I am about to utter are a sin against the proprieties of this occasion 
 that I shall be forgiven; but I do not doubt that as he stood there, 
 announcing to the Senate and to the country his right to a pension, 
 he had abiding faith that should he, in the providence of God, be 
 first called, the people whom he had served so long and so well would 
 pay, not grudgingly, but as in cheerful payment of a debt of honor, 
 to the womanly woman who in all the years of his growth had kept 
 pace with him, who had been his love, his pride, his companion, that 
 which was his due, but which he had forborne to claim. 
 
 That is not a full tribute to the memory of John A. Logan which 
 
53 
 
 Address of Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri. 
 
 takes no thought of her whose life has been a part of his life and 
 whose fame is linked inseparably with his fame. What tenderer, 
 sweeter tribute can the American people pay to his memory than to 
 place above the calamitous vicissitudes of life the woman who was 
 ever by his side, not alone in the hour of triumph but in the hour of 
 pain and suffering; not alone in this beautiful capital city, but in 
 the rude hospital on the banks of the distant Western river where 
 he lay wounded nigh unto death ? 
 
 He died in the service of his country, and we know from him—for 
 he “ being dead, yet speaketh”—that his strength and vigor were 
 sapped and mined by the privations and the wounds of war. 
 
 How difficult it is to think of him as dead ! 
 
 Can that man be dead 
 Whose spiritual influence is upon his kind? 
 
 He lives in glory ; and his speaking dust 
 Has more of life than half its breathing moulds. 
 
 He will live, sir, in the hearts of men until the history of his time 
 shall have faded utterly away. With each returning May, wherever 
 there is a soldier’s grave—and where is there not a soldier’s grave ?— 
 the people now living and those to come after us will remember the 
 name of Logan, the patriot, soldier, orator, and statesman, and will 
 bring, in honor of his memory, the beautiful flowers of the spring¬ 
 time and the sweet incense of praise and prayer. 
 
 Address of Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri. 
 
 Mr. President: With profound sorrow and deep grief I join in 
 paying the last official tribute of respect, honor, friendship, and love 
 to the memory of our late distinguished colleague, John Alex¬ 
 ander Logan. 
 
 For the first time, in March, 1875, I had the pleasure and honor of 
 his personal acquaintance in this Chamber. 
 
 For the succeeding two years, and then from March 4, 1879, to the 
 day of his death, I was a member of the Committee on Military 
 Affairs, of which he was the honored chairman. Our official and 
 personal relations at once became, and uninterruptedly continued, 
 most intimate, cordial, and friendly. However widely we may have 
 differed upon many questions, I respected, admired, honored, and 
 
54 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 loved him for his many noble, manly, generous, magnanimous, and 
 chivalrous qualities of head and heart—the distinguishing attributes 
 of the true soldier and great man among all nations and tongues. 
 
 It was my sad privilege on December 26, 1886, at 2.55 p. m., to 
 stand at the foot of his bed, and, powerless for relief, to see him 
 quietly, peacefully, and unconsciously breathe the last breath of his 
 . life on earth. 
 
 His deathless soul, freed from its earthly body, racked, tortured, 
 and paralyzed by disease and pain, triumphantly passed through the 
 mystic veil intervening between the grievous afflictions and bereave¬ 
 ments of earth and the fullness of joy in the presence and the ever¬ 
 lasting pleasures at the right hand of our Heavenly Father, and 
 entered upon its glorious unending life'upon the beautiful shores of 
 the “bright forever,” far, far beyond the touch of disease, suffering, 
 or death. 
 
 Now beyond the reach of fulsome praise or eloquent panegyric, 
 we can calmly consider his life, and profit therefrom. 
 
 About the year 1823 Dr. John Logan emigrated from Ireland and 
 located in Jackson County, Illinois, and there married Miss Elizabeth 
 Jenkins. Of this union John Alexander Logan was the first born, 
 February 9, 1826, and inherited a robust physical constitution and 
 vigorous mind, the richest inheritance bequeathed by parents to 
 children. 
 
 In that section pf the then West educational advantages were very 
 limited, and young Logan was taught at home, and attended the 
 common schools of the neighborhood as opportunity offered, and a 
 neighboring academy; and by industry, perseverance, and self-reli¬ 
 ance obtained a fair education. 
 
 We see him a young man about twenty years old in his native 
 county, without wealth, family distinction, or influential friends to 
 aid him, having only the future and its possibilities before him to 
 inspire and nerve him for the battles of life, the architect of his own 
 fortune, free to plan and execute as he would and could. With 
 honesty, determination, and self-reliance he boldly moved forward, 
 conscious that “life gives nothing to mortals without great labor.” 
 He enlisted as a private soldier in the First Illinois Regiment for 
 service in the war with Mexico, and became a lieutenant, acting ad¬ 
 jutant, and quartermaster, faithfully discharging his duties. 
 
 Upon the conclusion of peace he returned home with a broader 
 
 V 
 
Address of Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri. 
 
 55 
 
 view of life and laudably increased ambition, and began the study 
 of law in the office of his uncle—Hon. A. M. Jenkins—and in 1849 
 was elected clerk of the county court of his native county; served 
 as such about one year, then resigned and attended the law school 
 of Louisville University, and graduated therefrom in 1851. 
 
 Returning home he entered upon the practice of law with his uncle 
 and was elected to the legislature of Illinois in 1852,’53,’56, and ’57, . 
 and to the office of prosecuting attorney for the third judicial dis¬ 
 trict in 1853. 
 
 In 1855 he was married to Miss Mary Cunningham, a, most happy 
 and fortunate union. In 1856 he was Presidential elector, and cast 
 his vote for Buchanan and Breckinridge. In 1858 he was elected a 
 Representative in the Thirty-sixth Congress, and in 1860 was re¬ 
 elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and served his term in the 
 Thirty-sixth Congress from March 4, 1859, to March 3, 1861, and en¬ 
 tered upon his term in the Thirty-seventh Congress, and attended 
 the called session in 1861. While attending that session he shoul- 
 deied his musket as a private soldier in the Second Michigan Volun¬ 
 teers, and marched to and participated in the battle of Bull Run. 
 He then resigned his seat in the Thirty-seventh Congress, entered 
 the Union Army, raised and was appointed colonel of the Thirty- 
 first Regiment Illinois Infantry Augusf 16, 1861, marched to the 
 front in the field, and there continued. 
 
 * 
 
 He was promoted to be brigadier-general in March, 1862, and then 
 major-general, and commanded successively a regiment, brigade, 
 division, an army corps, and the Army of the Tennessee. On Au¬ 
 gust 17, 1865, after full four years’ service, he resigned his commis¬ 
 sion as major-general, and was honorably mustered out. He was 
 then appointed by President Johnson minister to Mexico, and re¬ 
 signed. 
 
 Returning to the walks of civil life he resumed the practice of law 
 in his native Illinois. In 1866 he was elected a Representative at 
 large from Illinois to the Fortieth Congress, and re-elected to the 
 Forty-first Congress, serving from March 4, 1867, to March 3, 1871, 
 and was elected to the Senate of the United States for the term be¬ 
 ginning March 4, 1871; and was again elected to the Senate for the 
 term beginning March 4, 1879, and re-elected for the succeeding term 
 from March 4, 1885, to March 3, 1891. 
 
5G Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 In 1884 he was the nominee of the National Republican party for 
 Vice-President. 
 
 This bird’s-eye view of his life-record and services is just suffi¬ 
 ciently distinct and full to enable us to form correct impressions of 
 this great man—our lamented colleague in this Chamber. In all 
 these varied positions of trust and honor he was, and proved him¬ 
 self to be, honest, determined, self-reliant, faithful, and efficient, and 
 the worthy recipient of the friendship and confidence of the people. 
 
 For the length of time devoted to his profession he was a good 
 lawyer. 
 
 Among all the many, great, and distinguished volunteer officers 
 during the late war, it is no disparagement of any of them to say 
 that General Logan was the greatest and most distinguished. Cour¬ 
 ageous, fearless, energetic, untiring, generous, and dashing, he was 
 the beau ideal of the American volunteer soldiery. For four long, 
 weary years, during the greatest military conflict the world has ever 
 beheld, General Logan, as a private soldier, a commander of a reg¬ 
 iment, then of a brigade, then of a division, then of an army corps, 
 
 and then of an army, met and satisfied the highest expectations and 
 
 % 
 
 demands of the administration, the country, and the people. No 
 man could do more. As a Representative and Senator in the Congress 
 of the United States he was incorruptible, faithful, diligent, and la¬ 
 borious, and was earnest in his convictions and forcible and aggres¬ 
 sive in their advocacy. 
 
 His repeated re-elections to both the House and Senate by the same 
 constituency attested their continued friendship and confidence, and 
 their approbation of his character and services. In his personal in¬ 
 tercourse he was manly, generous, candid, and sincere. 
 
 As a husband and father he was devoted, faithful, tender, loving, 
 and warmly appreciative of the boundless love and undying devo¬ 
 tion of his noble wife and dutiful children. As a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church he was “not ashamed of the gospel of 
 Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
 believeth.” 
 
 The name, the fame, the life, and the illustrious and successful 
 achievements of General Logan are now the common heritage of 
 our great country and people, and will be cherished and remembered 
 by the present and coming generations. 
 
 Many poor, worthy, and honorably ambitious young men, just en- 
 
Address of Mr. Frye, of Maine. 57 
 
 tering the arena of active life, faint, weary, and despondent, will 
 remember the great disadvantages surrounding General Logan when 
 at their age, and then his subsequent illustrious and successful life, 
 attained by his honesty, perseverance, and self-reliance, and made- 
 possible to all by our unequaled systems of government—the best 
 ever yet devised by the wisdom of sages or attained by the blood of 
 heroes—and will take fresh courage and worthily imitate the illus¬ 
 trious pattern, and make themselves a blessing and honor to country 
 and people. 
 
 The life and achievements of Logan, cast upon the bosom of the 
 public life in the United States, have started waves of influence and 
 power for good which will widen and extend until they break against 
 the shores of eternity in the resurrection morning. 
 
 Address of Mr. Frye, of Maine. 
 
 Mr. President : Senators have brought to-day, and will brings 
 garlands and wreaths with which to decorate the grave of our dead 
 soldier and Senator. I shall content myself with offering a single? 
 flower. 
 
 Logan was an honest man. I do not mean by that simply that he 
 would not steal, that he would not bear false witness, that he had 
 not an itching palm for a bribe. If this were all, he would not be? 
 unlike every man I have been associated with in both Houses of 
 Congress during a sixteen years’ service, nor essentially different, im 
 my opinion, from a large majority of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 Sir, the press, very generally and occasionally an eulogist to-day,, 
 in assigning to General Logan this admirable quality of character,, 
 have contracted and dwarfed it, have seemed to make money its-- 
 measure, by producing as evidence in its support the fact that he- 
 had served long in public life and died poor. The Senator from 
 Missouri has just said that he was poor, that he was incorruptible. 
 I trust, sir, that the same honesty and incorruptibility may truth¬ 
 fully be ascribed to every Senator within the sound of my voice, to- 
 every member of the two Houses. Is there any necessary connec¬ 
 tion between honesty and poverty ? Is the one the logical sequence? 
 of the other ? Are dishonesty and wealth in copartnership ? I have 
 
58 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 been taught to believe, and do believe, that honesty is the broadest, 
 safest, and surest pathway to prosperity. 
 
 I do not regard it as eulogistic of this great man to say that he 
 was honest in that narrow sense. I do not cripple my declaration 
 by any such limitation, nor sustain it by any such questionable tes¬ 
 timony. I mean that General Logan had an honest mind, an honest 
 purpose, an honest habit of thinking. I mean that he never played 
 tricks with his mental machinery to serve his own ends and his own 
 purposes. I mean that he never attempted jugglery with it. I 
 mean that he permitted it, in spite of his - ambitions, his prejudices, 
 his jealousies, and his passions, to move straight forward in its opera¬ 
 tions ; and that the legitimate results were convictions—convictions 
 followed always by earnest, determined, intense action. In my 
 opinion that largely constituted General Logan’s strength in the 
 Senate, in the Army, and with the people. 
 
 Let me illustrate by a few brief incidents of his life. He was living 
 in Southern Illinois, where there was little if any anti-slavery senti¬ 
 ment, at a time when slavery was never more firmly established by 
 •enactment of law and judicial decision, at the time when it was arro¬ 
 gant and aggressive in its demands. Yet Logan stemmed the cur¬ 
 rent, disregarded his own apparent self-interest, and resisted the de¬ 
 mands. He was associated with a party whose shibboleth was State 
 rights, whose overshadowing fear was centralization of power in the 
 National Government; and when that doctrine culminated in seces¬ 
 sion he dropped it at once forever and tendered his sword to the threat¬ 
 ened and imperiled Republic. 
 
 War came on. He believed that war was a serious fact; that it 
 was to be waged for the suppression of rebellion and the restoration 
 of the Union. Hence in every council of war his voice was always 
 for battle, and in every battle he was ever at the front. 
 
 Some of the prominent officers were for temporizing, were studying 
 political enigmas, were nursing Presidential aspirations, were casting 
 obstacles in the way of supposed rivals. Logan never swerved to 
 the right nor to the left, but pressed ever straight forward to the goal 
 of ultimate victory. 
 
 When in the midst of the war preferment was offered him, aye, 
 more, urged upon him by his friends, he did not hesitate a moment, 
 but with emphasis declared to them that he had enlisted for the war, 
 and that, God helping him, he would fight it out on that line to the 
 
59 
 
 Address of Mr. Frye, of Maine. 
 
 end. When he was superseded, as he believed unjustly, as has been 
 well said to-day, he did not sulk in his tent a single hour, but marched 
 straight forward in the line of duty. 
 
 When the war was over, the Union was restored and peace was 
 enthroned, and a grateful people showered upon him public honors 
 he exhibited everywhere the same characteristics. Take the case 
 which has been alluded to here to-day of General Porter. Logan 
 believed, whether justly or unjustly is not for me now to say, that 
 this man was jealous of his superiors, that criticisms and complaints 
 subversive of discipline were made by him, that he neglected plain 
 and open duty, that he refused to obey peremptory orders, and that 
 his punishment was just. In this Chamber we listened to his match¬ 
 less, marvelous, powerful, convincing speech against his restoration; 
 and when his great captain, with a voice infinitely more powerful 
 with this soldier hero than the glittering bribes of gold or of fame, 
 called him to a halt he did not hesitate a moment, but with renewed 
 vigor, with redoubled power, urged his convictions upon the Senate. 
 
 We all remember perfectly well that Logan knew his comrades 
 saved the Republic, and in season and, as many thought, out of sea¬ 
 son, he was ready to propose and to advocate any measure for their 
 relief that commended itself to his judgment, not taking for a 
 moment into account any public sentiment that might be hostile. 
 
 When his great commander was for a third time urged by his 
 friends for the candidacy by the Republican party for the office of 
 President, and it was apparent to all thinking men that it was to be 
 a struggle fierce, full of intense bitterness, Logan went to the front 
 in that fight utterly regardless of any effect that it might have upon 
 his own political fortunes. 
 
 I have seen within a few days an item floating in the press that in 
 that ever to be remembered convention, when it was apparent that 
 Mr. Blaine could not be nominated, Senators Hale and Frye visited 
 General Logan and tendered to him the support of their friends for 
 the nomination if he would accept the candidacy. Of course it was 
 a myth. Senators Hale and Frye both knew John A. Logan, and 
 had known him for years, and even if they had been vested with 
 the authority, which they were not, they never would have dreamed 
 of undertaking to bribe him from his allegiance. They knew that 
 no gratification of personal ambition (and it is the greatest tempta¬ 
 tion to a man on earth) would move him from his allegiance to 
 
60 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Grant in that fight any more than a summer breeze would stir a 
 mountain from its base. 
 
 Sir, when subsequently Logan himself justly had aspirations for 
 the same nomination, I sat here in this seat by the side of that which 
 now is empty a curious observer, and I dare assert that I never saw 
 him trim his sail in the slightest. I never could perceive that the 
 fact made any change in his thought or word or vote. 
 
 About that time the Republican national committee met here in 
 Washington to determine upon the time of holding the convention 
 and to settle upon the basis of representation. Logan was present. 
 A delegate from one of the Territories raised the question about Ter¬ 
 ritorial representation, and insisted that his Territory must have 
 three delegates in that convention, and that it was the duty of that 
 committee to increase the representation of the Territories generally. 
 As he was closing his speech he turned to Logan and significantly 
 said, ‘ ‘ Candidates for the Presidency had better take notice. ” Logan 
 sprang to his feet in the twinkling of an eye and boldly denounced 
 the whole system of Territorial representation in national conven¬ 
 tions as unjustifiable, utterly oblivious of the fact that perhaps he 
 was hazarding that marvelous prize for which he was then con¬ 
 tending. 
 
 Mr. President, there is not a Senator within the sound of my voice, 
 and there are Senators here who have served in the councils of the 
 nation many years with John A. Logan, who ever knew him to hes¬ 
 itate or waver in or shrink from any expression of opinion as to any 
 subject under consideration; who ever knew him to avoid a vote; 
 who ever suspected him of taking any account whatsoever of what 
 effect his words or his acts would have upon his own personal or 
 political fortunes. There is not a Senator within the sound of my 
 voice who, when Logan had expressed his opinions, the result of his 
 convictions, ever dreamed that he was not entirely, faultlessly sin¬ 
 cere in the expression. 
 
 Mr. President, Logan was a fearlessly honest man. May our dear 
 Lord give him a blessed rest and a glorious immortality. [Mani¬ 
 festations of applause in the galleries.] 
 
Address of Mr. Plumb, of Kansas. 
 
 61 
 
 Address of Mr. Plumb, of Kansas. 
 
 Mr. President : It is one of the chief excellencies of our institu¬ 
 tions that no man, however exalted in station, great in intellect, or 
 rich in graces of character, is indispensable to their security, growth, 
 and permanence. Where rank comes by inheritance, and the es¬ 
 sence as well as the symbols of authority is transmitted from gener¬ 
 ation to generation, a single life often stands as the only barrier 
 against threatened revolution or anarchy. \ 
 
 How different here ! Great characters, in whom center the affec¬ 
 tions of the people and the forces of the State, pass from the current 
 speech of men into the repose of history, while the state itself, dom¬ 
 inated by the popular will and secure in the popular affection, gives 
 
 no pause to its beneficent progress nor relaxes the least of its neces¬ 
 sary functions. 
 
 Garfield—himself destined to succeed to the station as well as the 
 martyrdom of Lincoln—upon the assassination of his immortal 
 predecessor, gave utterance to a sentiment as significant as it was 
 eloquent: “The President is dead; but, thank God, the Government 
 at Washington still lives.” 
 
 This consideration by no means implies inadequate appreciation 
 of the illustrious men who have gone from among us. It is rather 
 an added tribute to them that the Government had received no detri¬ 
 ment at their hands, but had been so strengthened by their patriotic 
 solicitude, shared by the great average of their fellow-citizens, that 
 it was made capable of passing unharmed through the severest crises. 
 
 We do not honor Lincoln less because when his unrivaled author¬ 
 ity was paralyzed by death the good ship of state under other con¬ 
 trol and guided by Providence passed safely through the perils of 
 the time into the serene anchorage of restored peace and prosperity. 
 Grant, the greatest hero in our military annals, breathed out his 
 life amid the mountain pines, and the orderly progress of the great 
 affairs of state, over which he had so faithfully presided, was only 
 temporarily suspended by the universality of public and private 
 sorrow. 
 
 Logan has gone from among us to return no more. Another sits 
 in his place. The burden and responsibilities which he bore so well 
 and discharged with so much acceptance have fallen upon other 
 
62 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 shoulders. The Senate, permanent in its organization, and renewed 
 from time to time, continues its round of duties, sustained against 
 shock and disaster. 
 
 Yet Logan will not be forgotten. No individual, no association 
 of men is proof against the salutary teachings of example. Others 
 among us may have excelled our dead friend in some of the qualities 
 which are combined in true statesmanship, but who will deny to him 
 those rare gifts and virtues which make their possessor conspicuous 
 anywhere ? 
 
 His zeal was restless, his energy intense, his industry tireless, his 
 intellect clear and incisive, his courage unshaken in any and every 
 circumstance, his loyalty to truth and duty undoubted, and his fidel¬ 
 ity to friendships, in these days of self-seeking, almost phenomenal. 
 Always impetuous, sometimes impatient in controversy, his nature 
 was ardent without rancor, and in private and social life he was sunny 
 and persuasive. 
 
 General Logan’s speech was vigorous and forceful. He subordi¬ 
 nated the graces of rhetoric to the logical results sought to be com¬ 
 passed. The pith and marrow of his discourse was seldom embellished 
 by fanciful allusions or poetic imagery. His weapons of debate com¬ 
 ported with his rugged, practical nature, and challenged the judg¬ 
 ment rather than the fancy and the imagination. Beyond all and 
 above all his candor and sincerity were so evident that no one ven¬ 
 tured to question them. 
 
 He was a zealous friend and a sturdy opponent. His blows were 
 delivered in honorable fashion, and those he received in like manly 
 controversy were accepted in a chivalrous spirit. 
 
 It was the crowning felicity of his association with us that, as the 
 most conspicuous of our volunteer soldiery during the war of the 
 rebellion, he became the special champion of the interests of not only 
 his immediate comrades in the field, but of all who had helped to bear 
 the flag of the Union through trials and discouragements to final 
 victory. With what fidelity and energy this sacred trust was dis¬ 
 charged the Senate and the country alike bear witness. 
 
 It is given to but few to so happily unite in their own experience 
 heroic martial achievements with eminent civic successes. Yet he 
 bore his accumulated honors mildly, and delighted more in the calm 
 content of his home and fireside than in the loud acclaim of men. It 
 will be one of the most grateful remembrances of him who has gone 
 
63 
 
 Address of Mr. Evarts, of New York. 
 
 that what he became he owed to his own exertions. No man of his 
 time more strikingly illustrated the beneficence of a Government 
 which, looking for its support and maintenance to people of all con¬ 
 ditions, pursuits, and beliefs, offers its honors and its trusts to the 
 competition of all. 
 
 ( Logan fought his own way, won his own victories, made his own 
 fame secure. 
 
 Scrutinizing the list of those who, emerging from comparative 
 obscurity, have contributed the noblest service to the Republic and 
 made themselves a record for immortality, the name of Logan will 
 be found written not far below those of Lincoln and Grant. 
 
 Address of Mr. Evarts, of New York. 
 
 We are collected here to-day, Mr. President, neither to bury nor 
 to praise the soldier and Senator whose life, in its. full luster and at 
 its zenith, was so lately eclipsed before our eyes by the impenetrable 
 veil of death. Not to bury him, for his obsequies have been cele¬ 
 brated with all the observance that admiration of his career, applause 
 for his conduct, reverence for his love and labors for his country, 
 and affection for those humble, common traits that affect, as with a 
 touch of kin, all who love the character in the home which this our 
 friend manifested in all his life. Not to praise him, for we do not 
 need to display, and we have no power to enhance, his fame. 
 
 It is that we and the communities that we may speak for are to 
 associate ourselves and them, in this hour, to recall with new enforce¬ 
 ment his relation to the public life of this country, the benefits that 
 he has conferred, and the power he is yet to exert over them in the 
 future. 
 
 It cannot, I believe, be doubted that at every stage of General 
 Logan’s life he was a capital figure in his own share of public power 
 and influence, and in the recognized estimate of his countrymen of 
 that position. 
 
 If in the first few months of the opening struggle, after he had 
 taken his position in animating, arousing, confirming the movement 
 of this people to sustain the Government, if in the first battle a bul¬ 
 let had ended his life,. Logan would have been a capital figure in the 
 memory of that great scene and on that great theater. If in his 
 
<64 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 military career, commemorated and insisted upon so well, at any 
 pause in his advance he had fallen in this battle or that battle, he 
 would have been a capital figure in that scene and on that theater. 
 And if at the end of the war, when the roll was made up of the 
 heroes, and he then had not moved before this great people in any 
 .subsequent career, the angel of death had then taken away his life, 
 lie would have been a capital figure in the whole glory of that war. 
 
 And, Mr. President, in the great civic labors and dangers that at¬ 
 tended the rearrangement of our political and social condition in this 
 ■country, consequent upon the war, if that share and if that part of 
 his career had been the only one to be commemorated, he would have 
 been a capital figure in that. But when these strifes were composed 
 -and the country was knit together in allegiance and loyalty to the 
 Government he loved and served, he thenceforward in this Chamber 
 had presented for the record of his life only what should have been 
 manifested and known and observed here, he would have been a 
 capital figure in that single scene and theater. 
 
 We therefore must agree in what in his lifetime and so recently 
 now after his death meets a universal concurrence, that he was of the 
 citizen soldiers of this great nation the greatest, and that of that 
 class of citizen soldiers that were numbered among statesmen he was 
 the greatest of statesmen, and we must confess that on this larger 
 .area he still remains a capital figure which could be missed from no 
 .narrative of the story of his life. 
 
 Mr. President, it has been said by a profound political philosopher, 
 -applied to a condition of political life not far different from our own, 
 that by whatever path great places are to be gained in public life in 
 the opinion and support of the community, that path will be trod. 
 If it be an honorable path, if it be of uprightness and openness and 
 straightforwardness of conduct and of character that these high 
 places are to be gained, then that path will be trod. And what bet¬ 
 ter encomium upon his own path, what more creditable to our people’s 
 estimate and their own approval upon this or that path in public 
 life, than that General Logan by the path that he pursued, never in 
 ambush, never in devious paths, never agitated about his own repu¬ 
 tation, and never defaming that of others, led on in a path that 
 brought him up to the highest distinction and has left him this cap¬ 
 ital figure in the memory of all his countrymen. 
 
 In every form of popular influence on the largest scale, near to the 
 
Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 
 
 65 
 
 topmost of the culminating crown of a people’s glory to the fame of 
 one of their citizens, he was before us in the most recent contest for 
 the Presidency. He, at the moment that he died, was held, in the 
 judgment of his countrymen, among the very foremost for the future 
 contest. And this illustration of his distinction knows no detraction, 
 no disparagement, no flaw touching the yery heart and manhood of 
 his life and character. 
 
 Let us, then, applaud our people and applaud this great character 
 as being a just answer to much of the contumely and opprobrium 
 that is aimed at the public life of this country. I can find no capital 
 figure in the politics of other nations that more plainly shows that 
 this is a path of honor, and in the sunlight, that arrives at the final 
 glory of its consummation. 
 
 Mr. President, for some imperfection of our nature, which we can¬ 
 not lay aside, it is said that the fullness of the heart and of admira¬ 
 tion cannot wholly show itself, 
 
 Till the sacred dust of death is shed 
 On each dear and reverend head, 
 
 Nor love the living as we love the dead. 
 
 If it be so, nevertheless it is a part of our nature that when thus 
 liberated from the threat and fear and competition of the living, 
 nevertheless after this obscuration is removed, it is an honest and 
 not a vague and extravagant judgment that gives due prominence to 
 the life and character and removes the shade. 
 
 Mr. President, the looms of time are never idle, and the busy 
 fingers of the fates are ever weaving, as in a tapestry, the many 
 threads and colors that make up our several lives, and when these 
 are exposed to critics and to admirers there shall be found few of 
 brighter colors or of nobler pattern than this life of General Logan. 
 
 Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 
 
 Mr. President : The melancholy event which engages the atten. 
 tion of the Senate on this occasion accords with the course of nature, 
 and must in due time overtake us all. 
 
 While no man may hope successfully to contend against like con¬ 
 sequence, our interest therein but increases as we near it. 
 
 This interest, however, as it concerns another, is chiefly retro¬ 
 spective. 
 
 5 L 
 
66 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 The death of one having occupied so important a place in the 
 service and affections of the public as General Logan naturally 
 leads to a survey of his life, and an inquiry into those personal qual¬ 
 ities that molded his being into whatever fullness and roundness of 
 outline it possessed. And I am pleased to find so many members of 
 this body qualified with familiarity with General Logan’s public and 
 private life, and knowledge of the mainsprings of his conduct, who 
 are ready to venture into this field of inquiry with a spirit of generous 
 consideration to which his memory is conspicuously entitled. 
 
 Hence, I approach with great diffidence so delicate a task, offering 
 as my only excuse my personal admiration, esteem, and love for one 
 of the best of men and noblest of characters. I shall, therefore, at¬ 
 tempt to treat the subject more from a personal standpoint and my 
 own impressions and experiences. 
 
 The personal and public history of General Logan is of that 
 marked character, and so far-reaching in its proportions, that it is 
 impossible to encompass it within the tribute which the present oc¬ 
 casion permits. I leave especially the history of his marked and 
 brilliant military career, his devotion, services, and friendships to 
 his comrades in arms during and since the war, to those who were 
 with him in service during that long and sanguinary struggle, and 
 who know so well how to speak of his labors and his victories. 
 
 To follow the career of a life having within its bounds such a 
 range of developments, and marked by so many acts which stand 
 out in bold relief upon the panorama of our national progress, 
 would require a latitude embracing space and time only to be cov¬ 
 ered through the compilation of volumes. 
 
 This session of the Senate has been dedicated to the offering of a 
 tribute to him who but recently sat with us in council, and who, it 
 is entirely within the limits of moderation to say, has left a stamp 
 upon the public affairs of our country during the period of his life 
 which time will not efface while the Republic endures. The name 
 of General John A. Logan is at once a glory to the American peo¬ 
 ple and a natural heritage to future generations. He was a Colossus 
 among the giants of American history. The impress of his individ¬ 
 uality and genius must remain upon the institutions for the perpe¬ 
 tuity and perfecting of which the lives of Washington, of Hamilton, 
 of Jefferson, of Sumner, of Lincoln, and of Grant were dedicated. 
 
 Long before I had personal acquaintance with General Logan his 
 
Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 
 
 67 
 
 name and fame had become an object of interest and pride to me in 
 common with all other American citizens. 
 
 I think it was General Logan’s attitude at the outbreak of the 
 rebellion that first directed the attention of the public to him. A 
 Douglas Democrat, he shared the confidence of that great leader. 
 
 During the troublesome period intervening the first victory of the 
 Republican party in the election of Lincoln and the bombardment of 
 Sumter, Logan found his path of duty in companionship with life¬ 
 long political associates, struggling in the fruitless endeavor to resist 
 one of the greatest evolutionary movements of a people of which 
 history speaks—a movement characterized by those who participated 
 therein in terms appropriate to mere civil strife, but which, in secur¬ 
 ing for us a more perfect Union, may be discovered at this day to 
 have been an evolutionary development of the Constitution. 
 
 In those days the mists which lowered in the political sky obscured 
 the vision of our wisest men. But the fall of Sumter, like a fog¬ 
 horn at sea, determined the course of Logan. For him party 
 machinery had been a means of directing the united efforts of citi¬ 
 zens sharing the same views of public polity. To divert the mech¬ 
 anism to other purposes was to release him from party fealty. The 
 Union was to him the paramount good, and party but a means of 
 accomplishing it. 
 
 That great chieftain, with palsied speech, and death seeking to 
 arrest his hand, determinedly wrote the imperishable “ memoirs,” 
 and deliberately recorded the first results of General Logan’s exam¬ 
 ple upon the people of Southern Illinois. “As a result of Logan’s 
 speech at Springfield,” writes General Grant, “every man enlisted 
 for the war.” What a glorious tribute did that great man thus 
 render to the noble character whose memory we honor to-day. 
 
 Loyalty to the Union left Logan no alternative, and he accepted 
 it with a resoluteness of purpose not afterward shaken. 
 
 Logan’s life-current flowed a steady, strong stream; and once 
 directed' against the forces of disunion, nothing could satisfy his 
 ambitious courage but the heat and labor of the day in the forefront 
 of the battle. Here, to the fullness of every patriot’s hope, Logan 
 served his country. Here, amid all the horrors of four long years of 
 civil strife, Logan’s character received those deep impressions which 
 so intensified his subsequent utterances and lent vehemence to much 
 of his after life. 
 
(38 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Comradeship in the perils of battle was ever to him an all-sufficient 
 claim upon his utmost service, and the genius of our institutions so 
 molded his conduct toward all classes of people that his sympathy, 
 with an appreciative comprehension of their situation and wants, 
 secured for him their utmost confidence and esteem as a tribute of 
 the people. 
 
 Logan’s opportunity for serving his country was not closed at 
 Appomattox. 
 
 The restoration of the reign of law in those regions long domi¬ 
 nated by the force of arms, the readjustment o£ those communities 
 in their relations as members of the Union, the formulation of legal 
 enactments demanded by the elevation of the black man into the 
 light and liberty of American citizenship, the whole scheme of 
 national restoration and civil rehabilitation known as “the period 
 of reconstruction,” called for ability equal in importance to the 
 demands of civil strife. In this new field was General Logan found 
 the constant, effective, and honored representative of the people, and 
 the sturdy champion of the most effective measures calculated to 
 secure for the entire country the benefits of a restored Union. 
 
 For over twenty years the untiring industry and the genius of Gen¬ 
 eral Logan as a statesman is recorded on almost every page of the 
 records of the House of Representatives or of this Senate; and it is 
 a fact perhaps not generally known that General Logan originated 
 and introduced more public measures than any other member; and 
 we, his colleagues upon this floor, are familiar with that record, 
 which is destined to grow brighter and more legible with the lapse 
 of time. 
 
 Such was the openness and simplicity of his character, and the 
 candor of his demeanor, that those differing most from him in con¬ 
 viction were the first to yield him that respect and regard due and 
 given only to real nobility of character. 
 
 Logan’s character presents three distinct aspects—that which 
 relates to his career and services as a soldier, that which considers 
 his eminent ability and services as a statesman, and that which per¬ 
 tains to his whole career, from the growth of the boy to the lamented 
 death of an honored man. It is presented not only to the people of 
 America but to the whole civilized people as a bright example to be 
 held up to the illumination as well as emulation of every youth 
 beginning his struggle with the world. 
 
69 
 
 Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 
 
 But who shall be able to do justice within the limits of a few min¬ 
 utes’ eulogium to the brilliant record of a soldier who abandoned re¬ 
 lations of family, kindred, and friends, of party popularity, array¬ 
 ing bitter hostilities to himself, and throws his whole energy with all 
 the power of his vigorous young manhood and enthusiasm against 
 the armed enemy of his country. During the storm of misrepre¬ 
 sentation which always assails a man of such marked character, the 
 sublime heroism of General Logan’s first act in that dreadful ordeal 
 through which our country passed, has not yet received that appre¬ 
 ciation which time and a considerate people will give it. 
 
 The popular idol of his party in a State of suprenie importance 
 during that crisis to the Union cause, recently elected after conduct¬ 
 ing a brilliant campaign by a large majority over his party oppo¬ 
 nent, with youth and strength, rare intellectual endowment as his 
 heritage, let it be considered for a single moment what would have 
 been the consequence if he with all his power and enthusiastic fol¬ 
 lowing had clung to the party of disunion. No man at this day can 
 do more than form a conjecture of the terrible disaster which might 
 have followed such an event. 
 
 Happily for the American Union, no such contingency was possi¬ 
 ble in the character of General Logan. In elevating him to honor 
 and power the constituency then at his back had “sowed better than 
 they knew.” With a rare self-abnegation and devotion to his coun¬ 
 try, he resigned political position, and offered his services as a sol¬ 
 dier, in any rank, to his imperiled Government. Thousands upon 
 thousands rushed to the defense in that hour of national danger, 
 and every honor is due them all. While the brilliant military genius 
 of General Logan, confessedly the greatest volunteer soldier of his 
 or any other time, served his country with patriotic force upon the 
 field of battle, yet the influence of his example in its effects upon an 
 element which he undoubtedly turned from service against the Gov¬ 
 ernment seems, viewed from a dispassionate standpoint of subse¬ 
 quent developments, almost like a miraculous interposition in the 
 affairs of men. 
 
 Others upon this floor have touched in flowery words and beauti¬ 
 ful phrases upon these portions of our departed colleague’s career, 
 and I will only add the brief and feeling tribute of another to his 
 military genius : 
 
 Closing liis career as a solder at the end of the war in command of that army 
 he loved so well, g,nd whose devotion to him was so enthusiastic and unparalleled, 
 
70 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 in the temple of fame, in the great galaxy of heroes, pure and bright as the sun, 
 firm and solid as the foundation of freedom, will John A. Logan forever stand. 
 A soldier of transcendent military genius, a fearless, skillful, and accomplished 
 leader, a peer among the commanders of armies, his name will go down to history 
 the synonym of purity, loyalty, and patriotism. 
 
 Let me in brief terms refer to those traits of character which must 
 ever be held as shining examples to the youth of the land. 
 
 General Logan was born and reared under adverse circumstances 
 of an early Western frontier life. In his day there was none of the 
 educational advantages possessed by the youth of the present time. 
 Born in a cabin, his youth was passed in the hard labors of farm 
 life. The few months of winters’ schooling were assiduously utilized 
 by the boy whom nature had marked for a brilliant future. But the 
 ambitious youth was not content with these meager advantages. 
 After the toils of the day were over and when the youths of his age 
 were enjoying the pleasures of a social country existence young 
 Logan was poring over books in his father’s cabin and drawing 
 from the fountain of knowledge by the aid of a tallow dip and blaz¬ 
 ing fire in the old-fashioned log fire-place. 
 
 Less than a half century ago the man whose loss is now mourned 
 by the millions of America’s freemen might be seen as a boy lying 
 on the floor of his father’s cabin, illuminated only by a flickering 
 light, eagerly scanning his books in his thirst for knowledge, and 
 intent upon an education which fitted him for that career he after¬ 
 wards achieved. No more interesting picture can be placed before 
 the youths of America than that which is thus presented by the am¬ 
 bitions genius, asserting itself and achieving its destiny through 
 adverse conditions and surroundings. 
 
 Fixing a standard of excellence high in the ideas of men, our dead 
 colleague sought to reach the stars through almost insurmountable 
 difficulties. Through a long and useful life he maintained principles 
 which he had cultivated in youth ; and amid all the brilliancy of his 
 service in field and forum he left an untainted and unstained private 
 and public character. 
 
 What an eulogy is this brief and simple announcement ! A man 
 enjoying unlimited opportunities that place and power conferred 
 upon those of such strength of leadership, moving through an orbit 
 of public functions for a whole generation, resisting the blandish¬ 
 ments of wealth, faithfully serving his country, and in the end sink¬ 
 ing to his rest poor in purse, though enormously rich in all of the 
 
Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 
 
 71 
 
 virtues which ennoble humanity; indeed, this is a spectacle which 
 must claim the admiration of the pure and the good. General Logan 
 was a pure man and a good man. 
 
 A Christian gentleman, a man of temperate, simple, and frugal 
 habits, his private life was spotless. No man living ever dared to 
 approach him with a corrupt proposal. 
 
 It was indeed fitting that such qualities should have led the Repub¬ 
 lican party to honor itself by honoring him with the nomination of 
 Vice-President, a nomination that added great strength to the ticket, 
 and will ever be regarded as a wise and considerate act. 
 
 It is a common observation that General Logan was an ardent 
 partisan. If by that expression is meant that he ardently devoted 
 himself to the success of his party, it is doubtless true; hut he was 
 not a blind partisan. That he looked to his duty to the country, 
 sufficiently appears from his whole public life. Such partisanship 
 represents the high pride of American citizenship, and by it Logan 
 has been raised to an exalted place in the hearts of the people. It is 
 an open secret, but not a matter of public history, and therefore not 
 generally known, that General Logan left his command in the field 
 at the request of President Lincoln to bear a conspicuous part in the 
 political campaigns during the darkest days of our Republic. In the 
 light of these accusations of partisanship, let me ask you to observe 
 carefully his generous and kindly sentiments in the eloquent appeal 
 to his fellow-citizens in that famous speech at Chicago in 1863 : 
 
 Under circumstances of this character, and surrounded by the perils that have 
 heretofore been strangers to us, it behooves every citizen to pause and reflect; to 
 divest himself of all manner of prejudices, and to ask himself without regard to 
 former party associations what duty he owes to himself, to his country, and to 
 future generations. It makes no difference that you may have been a Democrat, a 
 Republican, or an Abolitionist, this Government was established by your fathers 
 for you ; it is a sacred trust committed to you; the laws have been enacted by the 
 people for themselves and their protection, and no one can escape the duty he owes 
 to the Government to reverence its Constitution, to yield a respectful obedience to 
 its laws. * * * 
 
 May our untarnished escutcheon kiss every breeze that is wafted from the balmy 
 waters of the South to the frozen regions of the North, or that comes from the 
 golden plains of the far West to mingle witli those in the East. May it be unfurled 
 in honor and pride upon every ocean where civilization has penetrated, and stand 
 side by side with the banners of the proudest empires of the earth. 
 
 An inscrutable Providence has removed a great and good man, and 
 tlie memories which cluster about his name as a member of this body 
 are so fresh and personal that we can scarcely realize the great loss 
 
72 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 which this Senate and country have sustained; but his useful life and 
 shining example are left to guide the feet of coming generations. 
 
 His form we shall see no more, but his work and his character are 
 
 * 
 
 ' ours forever; the body is dead, but the spirit lives— 
 
 For there is no death ; the stars go down 
 To shine on a fairer shore, 
 
 And bright in heaven’s jeweled crown 
 They shine forever more. 
 
 More fitting words cannot be said of our dear friend and lamented 
 associate than his own touching and eloquent tribute to the memory 
 of the immortal Lincoln : 
 
 Yes, his sun has set forever ; loyalty’s gentle voice can no longer wake thrills of 
 joy along the tuneless chords of his moldering heart; yet patriots and lovers of 
 liberty who still linger on the shores of time rise and bless his memory; and millions 
 yet unborn will in after times rise to deplore his death and cherish as a household 
 word his deathless name. 
 
 Address of Mr. Palmer, of Michigan. 
 
 Mr. President : When the news reached me many thousand miles 
 from here that General Logan was dead, I felt that something more 
 than a great man had passed away. I felt that a great impelling 
 force—a bulwark whose resistance had been never overcome—a co¬ 
 hesive power which bound together many atoms which otherwise 
 would have been unrelated—had been eclipsed. 
 
 Among the many prominent characters that have come before the 
 public gaze in the last twenty-five years he can be assigned to no 
 secondary place. Born in the then far West, where advantages were 
 few, he had developed from within. He had evolved what was in¬ 
 volved. All that he appeared to be he was. His nature could not 
 tolerate meretricious aids if proffered. If he had been caught in the 
 eddies and cyclones of the French Revolution he would have been 
 Danton’s coadjutor, if not Danton himself; Danton the furious, the 
 generous, the unrestrainable, the untamed. His motto would have 
 been as was that of his prototype, to dare, and by that sign he would 
 have saved his country if human power could have availed. Placed 
 in another environment, inspired by other traditions, his daring was 
 none the less conspicuous, and lie was none the less a factor in that 
 memorable conflict which unified his native land. 
 
73 
 
 Address of Mr. Palmer, of Michigan. 
 
 Born in Switzerland lie would liave been a Winkelried or an Hofer, 
 bad the exigencies of tbe times demanded. 
 
 If there is to be a type of the Caucasian race to be known distinct¬ 
 ively as the American, it will have as its substructure spiritually the 
 
 pronounced traits which have made the name of Logan famous_ 
 
 directness of aim, intrepidity of spirit, honesty of purpose, generos¬ 
 ity for the vanquished, tenderness for the weak, and catholicity of 
 feeling for all. Some of these qualities were at times obscured in 
 him because of the intensity of his nature, which subordinated all 
 things to the demands of the time and occasion. 
 
 He detested pretense. He denuded shams. He projected himself 
 with such force that to me he seemed to have the dual nature of the 
 catapult and the missile which it throws. 
 
 Others have spoken of his military career, of how he learned tac- 
 ics and the manual at the cannon’s mouth, of his legislative career 
 with all the honor that attaches thereto; all this has become history. 
 He enjoys the proud distinction not only of 'military leadership, 
 which he achieved in common with others, but of that of a leader 
 and controller of the minds of men. 
 
 The spirit, the lire, the intensity, the insight, the fortitude which 
 made him effective at the head of his legions were none the less 
 potent when the sword was turned into the pruning-hook and mate¬ 
 rial force had been supplanted by legislative methods. 
 
 My acquaintance with General Logan was confined to the last 
 three years of his life, but I had known him ever since that fateful 
 day when with his leader he was about to move on the enemy’s works 
 at Donelson. I had watched him at Vicksburg—on the march to 
 Atlanta. I had followed him to the field, when, recovering from his 
 wounds, he met his corps as it struck the sea on that dramatic march 
 which captured the minds of men by the mystery which hung over 
 it, the uncertainty of its outcome, the brilliancy of its execution, 
 and the plenitude of its results. I heard of him again in the Senate. 
 I saw him in defeat and always without variableness or shadow 
 of turning. His face as a subaltern was as firmly fixed on the objec¬ 
 tive point as if he had been in command. He was no Achilles, 
 furious in action, who could permit his bosom friend and thousands 
 of his fellows to perish that he in his tent might nurse and enjoy his 
 wrath. 
 
74 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 He was a partisan ; but lie was a partisan because he was a patriot. 
 He did not “ narrow his mind and give up to party what was meant 
 for mankind/’ but he stuck to his party because it was good his 
 sword Excalibar, with which he hoped to hew down giant wrongs and 
 to accomplish great results for his fellow-man. 
 
 He was direct; with the eye of a soldier, and not through the 
 lens of the schoolman, he saw the weak spot in the enemy’s line 
 and threw all he had and all he hoped for upon the salient point. 
 His purpose did not “lose the name of action” by collateral issues. 
 The side-tracks which divert or distract the philosophic or the less 
 earnest might as well have not existed as far as their effect on him 
 was concerned. 
 
 He was honest—not in the vulgar sense that he was nnpurchasable 
 with money—that goes without saying—but he had fixed views of 
 right and wrong, and before the tribunal of his conscience he deter¬ 
 mined his course where the ways divided. 
 
 He was intrepid ; his temper, iron-like, grew by blows, and in de¬ 
 bate, as in the field, opposing forces stimulated and sustained. 
 
 He was generous ; and although at times his indignation at real 
 or supposed wrongs spurred him to extremity, I never knew him 
 to treasure up a hatred. 
 
 I was thrown with him during the last Presidential contest for a 
 season in my own State. The canvass was bitter and exhausting. 
 His capacity for work then illustrated was marvelous. The methods 
 by which he reached the hearts of the people were spontaneous, 
 subtle, and effective. His progress was an ovation. He never ap¬ 
 peared without evoking the most rapturous applause, and he never 
 disappointed expectation. He carried about him an atmosphere 
 that attracted and cemented men to him. The secret was he was 
 en rapport with the heart of humanity. No man so low but felt 
 he was a brother, no man so high but felt he was his peer. 
 
 In the Senate he united the valor of the soldier and the temper of 
 the legislator to the tenderness of the child with its quick resent¬ 
 ments quickly set aside. 
 
 The last time I saw my friend he was at the head of a cavalcade at 
 one of the fairs of our country. He had been impressed for the oc¬ 
 casion and compelled to serve. He was the cynosure of all eyes. 
 The men cheered, the women waved their handkerchiefs, and the 
 children loaded him with flowers. It was as much a triumphal 
 
Address of Mr. Palmer, of Michigan. 75 
 
 march as ever went up the sacred way with captives from remotest 
 Gaul. 
 
 But one short year ago he helped to lay away his leader and friend 
 in his narrow cell mid all the pomp and circumstance which people 
 love to lavish on their heroic dead. Summoned by the same bugle- 
 call to duty upon earth—the trumpet that shall call the one to re¬ 
 newed effort in the great hereafter will rouse the other to share his 
 labors, his joys, and his triumphs. He has fought the good fight; 
 he has finished his course. 
 
 If in another age, under other conditions, he had died, like Danton, 
 on a scaffold raised by those whom he had helped to save, he would 
 have said, as Danton said to his friend when the mob were howling 
 for his blood, “ Heed not that vile canaille, my friend ” ; and again, 
 as he stepped upon the scaffold, “O my wife, my well beloved”; 
 and I believe the historian would have said of him, as of Danton, 
 
 “ Ho hollow formalist, deceptive and self-deceptive, ghastly to the 
 natural sense, was this ; but a very man—with all his dross he was 
 a man, fiery real from the great fire bosom of nature herself.” 
 
 If, like Sidney, wounded and dying, he had lain upon the battle¬ 
 field he would have been equal to the re-enactment of the story which 
 has made Sidney’s name a sweet savor unto Christendom. 
 
 But Providence had reserved him for a kindlier fate. The hand 
 of affection cooled his brow, and his eye had lost its speculation and 
 the ear its sensibility before the tears and moans of those he loved 
 attested that the strong man had at last met a power that was 
 silently, speedily, surely bearing him to the dark house and the 
 long sleep. 
 
 Amid the many heroic figures which stand out on the luminous 
 background of the past quarter of a century none will be regarded 
 with more affection and interest than that sturdy and intrepid form 
 portrayed in silhouette, clear cut and pronounced in its outlines as 
 in its mental traits. 
 
 Happy the State which has borne such a citizen. Thrice happy 
 the people who, appreciating his virtues, shall give him a place in 
 the Valhalla of her heroes for the encouragement and inspiration of . 
 the youth of the future. 
 
76 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Address of Mr. Farwell, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. President : After the many eloquent words which have been 
 said upon this mournful occasion, I feel that any word which I could 
 say would be idle and .vain. 
 
 General Logan was the bravest of soldiers, an able statesman, and 
 an honest man. 
 
 No higher tribute can be paid to man than this, and this is the 
 offering which I bring. The late President of the United States, 
 General Grant, said to me that General Logan’s great services to 
 his country should never be forgotten. In battle always brave, never 
 faltering, always ready. 
 
 He is greatest who serves his country best. And shall we not class 
 him as one of these ? 
 
 Mr. President, I second the resolutions of my colleague. 
 
 The President pro tempore. The question is on the adoption of 
 the resolutions. 
 
 The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 
 
 Mr. Cullom. I move, as a further mark of respect to the memory 
 of General Logan, that the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The motion was agreed to; and (at 4 o’clock and 2 minutes p. m.) 
 the Senate adjourned until to-morrow, Thursday, February 10, at 12 
 o’clock m. 
 

 
 PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRE¬ 
 SENTATIVES.- 
 
 Wednesday, February 16, 1887. 
 
 The House met at 12 o’clock m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. 
 W. H. Milburn, D. D., as follows r 
 
 Almighty God, as the Members of this House have now gathered 
 to pay the last tribute of respect and affection to the memory of a 
 man who for so many years filled a large place in the public eye both 
 in the field and in the Senate, and wrought with such indomitable 
 energy and courage, whose hand was ever unstained by pelf, we pray 
 Thee to impress upon us all the shortness and uncertainty of human 
 life, and the fleeting nature of earthly honors and dignities. Help 
 us to see that a man’s true rewards in life are found in his own soul, 
 self-enfolding the large results of experience, magnanimity, courage, 
 heroism, purity of purpose; and that thus, and thus alone, we can 
 attain glory, honor, immortality, eternal life. So teach us to num¬ 
 ber our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. We pray 
 through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen. 
 
 DEATH OF SENATOR LOGAN. 
 
 Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I now call up the resolu¬ 
 tions of respect for the memory of the late Senator Logan passed by 
 the Senate and transmitted to the House. 
 
 The resolutions were read, as follows : 
 
 Resolved by the Senate, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of 
 John A. Logan, long a Senator from the State of Illinois, and a distinguished 
 member of this body, business be now suspended, that the friends and associates of 
 the deceased may pay fitting tribute to his public and private virtues. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be directed to communicate these res¬ 
 olutions to the House of Representatives and to furnish an engrossed copy of the 
 same to the family of the deceased Senator. 
 
 Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. I now submit for present consideration 
 the resolutions I send to the desk. 
 
 77 
 
78 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That this House has heard with profound sorrow of the death of John 
 A. Logan, late a Senator from the State of Illinois. 
 
 Resolved, That the business of this house be suspended that appropriate honors 
 may be paid to the memory of the deceased. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk of the House be directed to transmit to the family of 
 the deceased a copy of these resolutions. 
 
 Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of the deceased 
 this House do now adjourn. 
 
 Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. There are a number of gentlemen who 
 have expressed a desire to speak or to print remarks upon this occa¬ 
 sion, and in their behalf I ask unanimous consent that permission 
 be given generally to print, and also to extend remarks which may 
 be delivered on this subject in the Record. 
 
 The Speaker. Without objection, that order will be made. 
 
 There was no objection, and it was so ordered. 
 
 Address of Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Logan is dead, and we, his friends, comrades, col¬ 
 leagues, and admirers, have gathered here to-day to bear testimony 
 to his worth; to stop for a few moments beside the new-made grave, 
 as it were, and cover with flowers his last resting place. Nations 
 have stood with uncovered heads in respectful honor of men whose 
 works and deeds have been as nothing compared to Logan’s. 
 
 For almost thirty years his official acts and personal doings have 
 formed a considerable portion of the woof and warp of our country’s 
 history, and for the last twenty-five years there has scarcely been a 
 day, and along the whole line hardly a point, where the form, the 
 voice, the footprints of Logan could not be seen, heard, and recog¬ 
 nized. 
 
 That Logan was a self-made man is, in a certain sense, true; but 
 if by the term “self-made” any one understands or intends to con¬ 
 vey the idea that he was born within the dark, cheerless, comfortless 
 valley of poverty, ignorance, and lowly social position, he was not 
 self-made. His father, Dr. John Logan, was a polished, cultivated, 
 educated physician, surgeon, and gentleman of large means for the 
 day and frontier country in which he lived. He occupied the high¬ 
 est social position, and was frequently honored by his people by 
 elections to the State legislature and other official positions. Gen- 
 
Address of Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. 79 
 
 7 \ \ \ 
 
 eral Logan’s mother belonged to one of the best families of the 
 South, being a sister of Lieutenant-Governor and Judge Jenkins, 
 formerly of Virginia, recently of Illinois. 
 
 While the old home wa^ not a palace, it was comfortable, ample 
 in size for the family, friends, and belated traveler passing that 
 way. It was the rendezvous for the gentry, the politicians, and the 
 best people of that country, who always found a welcome around 
 the bountiful and hospitable board of Dr. Logan. Amid such scenes 
 and surroundings, John Alexander Logan was born and reared. 
 Schools and colleges were few and far between in Southern Illinois 
 in those early days, and therefore an education was difficult to ob¬ 
 tain. In educating and preparing himself for the conspicuous po¬ 
 sitions, both civil and military, occupied for so many years by him, 
 he was indeed self-made. 
 
 Logan was a born warrior, full to overflowing with military ge¬ 
 nius, spirit, courage, and dash. His military record in the Mexican 
 war was creditable and honorable for one of his years, but it was 
 during the War of the Rebellion that his military ardor and genius 
 blazed forth in peerless splendor and glory. As colonel of the 
 Thirty-first Illinois Regiment he was almost worshiped by his offi¬ 
 cers and men; as the commander of a brigade, division, corps, and 
 army, he was the central sun of all his command, and stood in their 
 estimation as the invincible commander, the irresistible leader. 
 
 At the battles of Fort Honelson, Champion Hills, Vicksburg, Ray¬ 
 mond, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Decatur, At¬ 
 lanta, and Jonesborough he led his forces always to victory. He was 
 the most magnetic, romantically dashing soldier I ever saw upon the 
 battlefield. Who of those who witnessed it can ever forget the pict¬ 
 uresque splendor of his appearance and bearing as he dashed down 
 
 the line as the new commander of the Army of the Tennessee, just 
 after McPherson fell on that terrible 22 d day of July, 1864. 
 
 The impetuous Hood had launched his forces upon our lines with 
 the fury and power of an Alpine avalanche ; McPherson the chival¬ 
 rous had fallen; a half-defined panic seized our men, and they began 
 falling back, steadily, almost doggedly, at first; but with fast-expiring 
 couragmaiid rapidly increasing speed they shrunk before the eager 
 onslaught of the enemy. Just then Logan came tearing down the 
 line at full speed. He was superbly mounted upon a powerful black 
 stallion, a genuine charger, a war horse indeed; his long black hair 
 
30 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 floated out like a banner, liis fearless eagle eyes were two flaming 
 orbs, his face was as dark as the front of a storm cloud, and his voice 
 was like the battle-blast of a bugle. Instantly the retreating, half 
 panic-stricken soldiers changed front, reformed their line of battle, 
 fixed bayonets, and followed Logan in an irresistible charge against 
 the enemy, driving them in confusion from the field. 
 
 At the battle of Raymond it became necessary to change the posi¬ 
 tion of a battery of artillery on the field. In moving to the new posi¬ 
 tion the battery had to pass over a portion of the field where quite a 
 number of the dead of both armies lay. Logan halted the battery, 
 and, while in full sight of the enemy and under fire, dismounted and 
 helped with his own hands to tenderly remove the dead bodies, both 
 Federal and Confederate, from the road where the cannon had to 
 pass. 
 
 Such chivalry, such magnanimity, such tenderness in the fire, shot, 
 storm, and very hell of battle, has never been surpassed, nor equaled 
 since the days of Bayard, Sidney, and De La Hay, of each of whom, 
 and Logan, it could be truthfully said, “He was without fear and 
 without reproach.” Since the war he has been, and ever will be, 
 regarded as the ideal volunteer soldier by his old comrades wherever 
 dispersed. 
 
 Logan was a born leader in civil as well as in military life. As a 
 nisi prius lawyer he stood in the front rank of the profession, even 
 before he entered Congress the first time. As a member of the Illi¬ 
 nois legislature he was chairman of the judiciary committee of the 
 house. 
 
 In Congress, both in the House and Senate, his position and works 
 have been so important and conspicuous for almost a quarter of a 
 century that the country and the yhole civilized world must be fa¬ 
 miliar with them. 
 
 He was a partisan, both in religion and politics. While not a 
 conspicuous member of the church, he had a firm hold on his reli¬ 
 gious opinions, and believed with all his heart in the Christian reli¬ 
 gion and the doctrines and creed of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 Nothing would stir his wrath more quickly or effectually than a sneer 
 or gibe at the Christian religion. 
 
 And so in politics. While originally a Democrat, when brought 
 face to face with and being cednpelled to choose between a National 
 Government or a oonfederation of States, he at once unhesitatingly 
 
Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 
 
 81 
 
 chose the National Government, rejecting the idea that this Govern¬ 
 ment was a confederation of sovereign States, and at once became a 
 Republican of the most pronounced type. He had the courage of 
 his convictions and believed with all his soul in republicanism and 
 in the idea that “this is a Government of the people, by the people, 
 for the people.” While greatly maligned and much abused and mis¬ 
 represented by his political opponents, he was honored and beloved 
 by his old neighbors and friends without regard to politics. 
 
 Few men have held so many hearts in the hollow of their hand as 
 did John A. Logan. He was the most conspicuous political figure 
 in the West, if not in the country; and in Illinois the vacancy caused 
 by his death can never be filled. 
 
 His smile will ne’er again cheer comrade’s heart, 
 
 Nor voice fall sweetly on the eager ear 
 Of listening multitudes. The nobler part 
 Is his. With boundless trust, faith pure and clear, 
 
 He rests within the bosom of his Lord. 
 
 Farewell to thee, or to that part which dies ; 
 
 But to thy name and bright imperishable fame 
 We can not say farewell. Within our hearts their lies 
 A memory of thy glorious deeds and name 
 Which alone with death can die. 
 
 Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: I am deeply sensible that no words of mine can add 
 to the name and fame of General John A. Logan ; and yet, coming 
 as I do from the State in which he had his birth, and which at the 
 time of his death he so ably represented in the Senate, and having 
 for so many years had the honor of his acquaintance and friendship, 
 I can not, in justice to my own feelings, permit this occasion to pass 
 without paying some tribute, however humble it may be, to his 
 memory. My first acquaintance with John A. Logan began in 1840, 
 when we were yet but boys. His father, Dr. John Logan, whom I well 
 remember, and mine, were in that year members of our State legis¬ 
 lature, and we accompanied them to Springfield, the then new cap¬ 
 ital of our State; where we first met and formed an acquaintance 
 which a little later became intimate, and finally ripened into a friend¬ 
 ship which continued uninterrupted and unbroken to the day of his 
 death. 
 
 6 L 
 
82 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 I remember John A. Logan as a member of our State legislature 
 in 1853, and again in 1857, when he was a member of the house and 
 I a member of the senate. He was then an intense, an ardent Dem¬ 
 ocrat, and I was first a Whig and then a Republican. But, however 
 we differed politically, our personal intercourse was always pleasant 
 and friendly; and no man could know Logan without respecting 
 him for the strength of his character and for his frankness and his 
 manliness. 
 
 In 1853 he must have been, if not the youngest, among the youngest 
 members of the State legislature, and yet he was a leading, promi¬ 
 nent member of the house of representatives; took an active part in 
 all the proceedings, and exhibited at that early day the same charac¬ 
 teristics which, in the last twenty-six or seven years of his life, 
 made him one among the most conspicuous figures in our national 
 affairs ; that is, he was earnest, enthusiastic, fearless. He had opin¬ 
 ions and the courage of his convictions, and he maintained them 
 with an ability which I know made his then political friends regard 
 him as one of the most promising young men of the State. 
 
 Logan was a member of the Thirty-sixth and also of the Thirty- 
 seventh Congress. But in 1861, before the expiration of his second 
 term, he resigned his seat in Congress, went home to Illinois, raised 
 a regiment, and entered into the military service of his country for 
 the preservation of the Union. He served in the Thirty-sixth and in 
 the Thirty-seventh Congress with ability and distinction. The dis¬ 
 tinguished member * Judge Kelley) who sits before me served with 
 him in the Thirty-seventh Congress, and can speak more accurately 
 of his public service at that time than I can. But in 1861, in the last 
 month of that memorable Congress which closed with the inaugu¬ 
 ration of Abraham Lincoln as President, Logan uttered these patri¬ 
 otic words: 
 
 I have been taught that the preservation of this glorious Union, with its broad 
 flag waving over us as the shield of our protection on land and sea, is paramount 
 to all parties and platforms that ever have existed or ever can exist. I would to¬ 
 day, if I had the power, sink my own party and every other one with all their 
 platforms into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save 
 the Union, or even to stay the revolution where it is. 
 
 This was the language of sublime patriotism, and if Logan had 
 uttered no other words but these in that Congress they would of 
 themselves have entitled him to the highest distinction as a noble 
 citizen and a true patriot. 
 
 I was, Mr. Speaker, of Southern birth, and I loved my native land 
 
Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 83 
 
 as a man ought to love it. But I loved this great Republic better if 
 possible than I loved my own life; and knowing John A. Logan as 
 well as I did, with his strong political and party prejudices, I can 
 never forget how my heart warmed towards him when I heard of 
 the noble, patriotic stand he had taken for the Union and for the flag 
 of his country. Up to that time we had been politically opposed to 
 each other. But from that on until I stood by his bedside, on that 
 sad and deeply distressing 26th day of December, and saw him pass 
 away* I never ceased to love and honor him. 
 
 I shall not attempt on this occasion to follow General Logan at 
 length in all his brilliant and wonderful career after he entered the 
 Union Army in 1861. Uor is it necessary for me to do so, for his 
 military service at least is well known to all persons who admire 
 great deeds and love and honor the glory of their countrymen. The 
 story of the many memorable marches, battles, and campaigns in 
 which Logan participated and won a glorious distinction and a name 
 that will live forever fill the brightest pages of his country’s history, 
 and will be repeated by the children of the Republic, I trust, when 
 all who now live shall have passed away. 
 
 ' Logan was in the meridian of life when he entered the Army in 
 1861. He had served with some distinction as a soldier in the war 
 with Mexico, and was not therefore altogether without experience 
 in military life, and at once on again entering the military service 
 of his country, animated as he was by the loftiest patriotism, he dis¬ 
 played such marked ability and such high soldierly qualities that his 
 fame was assured in the very first battles in which he participated. 
 We can not well think of Belmont, of Henry, and of Donelson with¬ 
 out associating the name of Logan with them. At Donelson really 
 the first great victory of the war was won; and Illinois certainly had 
 her full share of the glory of that victory. Every patriot in the land, 
 and especially every citizen of Illinois, should ever feel a just degree 
 of pride in remembering the names of Grant, and Wallace, and Mc- 
 Clernand, and Logan, and Oglesby, and Morrison, and Ransom, 
 with all the other brave and gallant soldiers of Illinois who helped 
 to fight the battle and win the victory at Donelson. 
 
 Well might the governor of Massachusetts congratulate the gov¬ 
 ernor of Illinois on the gallantry of her troops in giving to the 
 country the first great victory of the war. And, Mr. Speaker, Logan 
 was a conspicuous figure in the battle of Donelson; and it was there 
 
84 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 he shed his first blood in defense of the Union and the flag of his 
 country. But at Corinth, at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Cham¬ 
 pion Hills, and Vicksburg, at Rocky Faced Ridge, at Resaca, and all 
 the memorable battles of the Atlanta campaign; on the march from 
 Atlanta to the sea, and up through the Carolinas to Bentonville, IV 
 C., where I believe he fought his last battle of the war for the Union; 
 and everywhere Avherever this brave, gallant, patriotic soldier went 
 at the head of his command, he upheld and defended the flag of his 
 country with a heroism and a patriotism absolutely sublime. 
 
 At Goldsborough, 1ST. C., I met General Logan for the first time, 
 during the Avar ; I called on him at his headquarters, and received 
 from him a cordial and .pleasant greeting. But I Avas strongly im¬ 
 pressed Avith the wonderful change Avhich I found in him since I had 
 last seen him. He was changed in his manner. He had none of the 
 rollicking air of his earlier years. He had manifestly grown Avith 
 his great opportunities. The great responsibilities Avhich had rested 
 upon him, first as commander of a regiment, then of a brigade, then 
 of a diA r ision, and finally of an army corps, in the field, and engaged 
 in active military operations, had developed in him a higher, better, 
 and nobler manhood. The fearful scenes through which he. had 
 passed had given him more sober vieAvs of life. There was nothing 
 of profanity or frivolity in his conversation. He spoke of the won¬ 
 derful war through which we had been passing, and Avhich, as Rich¬ 
 mond was then in our occupation, he fondly hoped would soon be 
 over. He expressed the belief that we would emerge from under the 
 dark cloud of war stronger and better as a nation and a people than 
 ever before. 
 
 It was a pleasure to me to hear him speak so hopefully of the future 
 of our country, for in the courage of his great soul he saw no serious 
 obstacles in the way of our future national greatness and glory. 
 There Avas no pride, no pomp, no ostentation in his manner ; and I 
 was deeply gratified to see that he bore the high rank and distin¬ 
 guished honors, which he had fairly won by his oavii gallantry, with 
 becoming modesty. And I can say to-day, Mr. Speaker, that I left 
 his headquarters at that time with a feeling of pride in John A. 
 Logan as a citizen of the State of Illinois, which has never dimin¬ 
 ished in all the years that have followed. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, Logan was a great soldier. He was not only a soldier 
 of great courage, but he had great ability to command men ; and he 
 
Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 85 
 
 fairly won for himself every promotion lie received, from the begin¬ 
 ning to the end of the war, by his valor, his ability, and his patriot¬ 
 ism. He richly deserves the reputation so universally accorded to 
 him of being the great volunteer general of the Union Army. And 
 from the time he drew his sword in defense of the Union until he 
 sheathed it at the close of the war, when peace was restored and the 
 Union saved, there, was no stain, no dishonor upon it. He served 
 honorably and faithfully in whatever capacity he was placed, and 
 by liis soldierly bearing in every battle he fought he inspired in his 
 men a confidence and courage which repelled all thought of defeat. 
 How many old soldiers I have heard say to me, “We always felt 
 safer and better when we knew Logan was near.” 
 
 W T as ever any general more beloved, more idolized by his men than 
 was Logan ? And did ever any general love and honor the soldiers 
 who fought under him, and I may say all soldiers who followed the 
 flag in defense of the Union, more than did John A. Logan? I think 
 I can safely say No! in answer to both these questions. He was at all 
 times and under all circumstances the soldiers’ friend. He was their 
 friend during the war, whether in the camp, on the march, or on the 
 battlefield. And ever since the war he has been their friend. In' 
 his active military service, marching and moving from State to 
 State, none knew better than he how much of suffering, how much 
 of exposure and hardship soldiers had to endure in fighting the bat¬ 
 tles of their country. He knew how they had impaired health and 
 periled life itself to save the Republic, and at all times and on all 
 occasions, when proper to do so, he insisted that justice should be 
 done the soldier, and I believe that his death produced a more pro¬ 
 found sorrow in the hearts of the old soldiers of the country than 
 that of any other man who has died since the war, unless it may 
 have been the death of that great soldier, General Grant. 
 
 But it is not for the military service of General Logan alone, 
 glorious as that has been, that we should honor his name. I have 
 spoken of his service in civil life before the war. But since the war 
 he has represented the State of Illinois in Congress, either as a mem¬ 
 ber of the House or the Senate, continuously from 1866 to the day of 
 his death, with an intermission of two years, and always with great 
 ability and fidelity. No man has ever been more faithful to public 
 duty than John A. Logan. He has been true to every trust con¬ 
 fided to him, and is entitled to quite as much distinction for his 
 
86 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan . 
 
 energy and industry, his integrity and ability in the councils of the 
 nation since the war as he was for his heroic courage, his gallantry, 
 and his patriotism in the military service during the war. John A. 
 Logan was one of the most untiring, energetic, industrious, fearless 
 men I have ever known in public life. I have often wondered how 
 he accomplished so much work as he did, for but few, if any, of our 
 public men have taken a more active part in all our important 
 national legislation in the last twenty years than Logan. And yet 
 he loved his friends devotedly, and when I have called upon him I 
 found him generally surrounded by a house full of acquaintances 
 and friends: and when he found time or opportunity to prepare 
 himself so well as he did for his public duties was to me a mystery. 
 
 But Logan was in many respects a remarkable man. He never 
 shirked either duty or danger. He never approached public ques¬ 
 tions or public duties limpingly or haltingly. On the contrary, he 
 met them boldly and without hesitation. He was as quick to form 
 an opinion as he was frank to express and bold to defend it after it 
 was formed. He was a man of positive character and convictions, 
 and always asserted himself in whatever position he was placed, if 
 it was in the performance of a public duty; but it was without ar¬ 
 rogance or an assumption of self-importance. It has been said that 
 he was ambitious to be President, and if he was it was an honorable 
 ambition, and many of us who knew him best and honored him for 
 his great deeds believed that his distinguished services both in civil 
 and military life fairly entitled him to that honor. But he was 
 manly and honorable in his ambition, and was never a trimmer nor 
 time-server; he never dodged or tried to dodge any question nor 
 avoid any responsibility for fear it might affect his Presidential 
 aspirations. He was always a true man, and you knew exactly 
 where to find him and what to depend upon. 
 
 It has been said that Logan was not without his faults, and so he 
 was not. If he had been he would not have been human. But he 
 had as few of them as most of men. Some say that he was impa¬ 
 tient at opposition, and that this was a weakness of his character. I 
 know, Mr. Speaker, he was sometimes impatient at opposition ; but 
 I have attributed it to the earnestness of his nature, the absolute 
 honesty of his convictions, and a strong belief that he was in the 
 right, and it was difficult for him to understand why others could 
 not see the matter in the same strong light in which he saw it. And 
 
Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 
 
 87 
 
 this impatience of opposition was not always an evidence of weak¬ 
 ness, but often of strength of character. Whatever faults, however, 
 General Logan may have had, he certainly had great virtues, and 
 many noble qualities both of head and heart. He was a loving, de¬ 
 voted husband, a kind, affectionate father, a generous, true friend, 
 and an honest, manly man. 
 
 But he has left us. This man of wonderful activity, of untiring 
 energy and industry, of earnest patriotism, of heroic courage and 
 distinguished ability—this illustrious citizen, soldier, and Senator 
 has gone out from among us to return no more forever. He has left 
 us, as many of us who knew him best and loved him most believed, 
 before he had reached the zenith of his usefulness, and when we 
 hoped higher honors were yet in store for him. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I stood at the bedside of John A. Logan when he 
 was dying and saw him pass peacefully away. And the scene, one 
 of the most affecting and I may say deeply distressing I ever wit¬ 
 nessed, can never be obliterated from my memory. To see this 
 strong man, this friend and brother, this distinguished and much- 
 beloved citizen and Senator of my own State, struggling with that 
 enemy of our race to whom we must all sooner or later surrender, 
 and to witness the deep anguish, the bitter grief of his heart-broken 
 wife and children, filled my heart with an inexpressible sadness, with 
 a depth of sorrow never felt before in the death of any public man, 
 however distinguished. And to-day my heart, and I trust all our 
 hearts, go out in tenderest sympathy for that noble woman, his grief- 
 stricken widow, and her children, who sit under the shadow of a 
 great sorrow. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, we shall miss Logan in the councils of the nation. 
 We shall miss him in the State which gave him birth, and where he 
 filled a large place in the hearts and affections of the people. Gen¬ 
 eral Logan has been greatly beloved and honored by the State of 
 Illinois, and in return he has shed honor and renown upon the State 
 by faithful and honorable service, and by the luster of his great 
 deeds. And to-day we deplore his death and mourn his loss as a 
 calamity to the State and to the entire country. But he leaves be¬ 
 hind him a brilliant record, a noble example, and a name and fame 
 which will live forever. 
 

 38 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Address of Mr. McKinley, of Ohio. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : A great citizen wlio filled high public stations for 
 more than a quarter of a century lias passed away, and the House of 
 Representatives turns aside from its usual public duties that it may 
 place in its permanent and official records a tribute to liis memory 
 and manifest in some degree its appreciation of his lofty character 
 and illustrious services. 
 
 General Logan was a conspicuous figure in war, and scarcely less 
 conspicuous in peace. Whether on the field of arms or in the forum 
 where ideas clash, General Logan was ever at the front. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, he was a leader of men, having convictions, with 
 the courage to utter and enforce them in any place and to defend 
 them against any adversary. He was never long in the rear among 
 the followers. Starting there, his resolute and resistless spirit soon 
 impressed itself upon his fellows, and he was quickly advanced to 
 his true and rightful rank of leadership. Without the aid of for¬ 
 tune, without the aid of influential friends, he won his successive 
 stations of honor by the force of his own integrity and industry, his 
 own high character and indomitable will. 
 
 And it may be said of him that he justly represents one of the best 
 types of American manhood, and illustrates in his life the outcome 
 and the possibilities of the American youth under the generous in¬ 
 fluences of our free institutions. 
 
 Participating in two wars, the records of both attest his courage 
 and devotion, his valor and his sacrifices for the country which he 
 loved so well, and to which he more than once dedicated everything 
 he possessed, even life itself. Reared a Democrat, as has already 
 been said, he turned away from many of the old party leaders when 
 the trying crisis came which was to determine whether the Union 
 was to be saved or to be severed. He joined his old friend and party 
 leader, Stephen A. Douglas, with all the ardor of his strong nature, 
 and the safety and preservation of the Union became the overshad¬ 
 owing and absorbing purpose of his life. His creed was his country. 
 Patriotism was the sole plank in his platform. Everything must 
 yield to this sentiment; every other consideration must be subordi¬ 
 nated to it, and he threw the whole force of his great character at 
 the very outset into the struggle for national life. To him no sacri- 
 
Address of Mr. McKinley, of Ohio. 
 
 89 
 
 fice was too great, no undertaking too difficult, no charge too des_. 
 perate, no exposure too severe, no siege too hazardous. He com¬ 
 manded, Mr. Speaker, on the battle line, and never ordered his men 
 to go where he would not lead. His skirmishers were never so close 
 to the enemy’s guns as to keep him away. He was every inch a 
 soldier, dashing and fearless, often exposing himself unnecessarily 
 against the earnest protest of his commanders and his comrades. 
 
 Wherever the lire was the hottest, wherever the line was most ex¬ 
 posed, wherever the danger was most imminent John A. Logan 
 was always to be found. He seemed the very incarnation of sol¬ 
 dierly valor and vigor. Belmont and Donelson, Champion Hills and 
 Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain tell the story 
 of his lofty courage, of his martial qualities, of his genius to com¬ 
 mand and of his matchless heroism, as these great battles tell to all 
 mankind the dreadful cost of liberty and the price of nationality. 
 
 Great and commanding, however, Mr. Speaker, as were his serv¬ 
 ices in war the true eulogist of General Logan can never pass un¬ 
 noticed the important services rendered immediately preceding liis 
 enlistment and afterward in arousing an intense, a deep, a profound 
 ,love for country and a strong and lasting sentiment for the cause 
 of the Union, not only in his own State, but in every one of the 
 Northern States; and the full measure and influence of his prompt 
 action and courageous stand at that time never can be estimated. 
 His patriotic words penetrated the hearts and the homes of the' 
 people of * twenty-t wo States. They increased enlistment. They 
 swelled the muster-rolls of the States. They moved the indifferent, 
 to prompt action, they drew the doubting into the ranks of the 
 country’s defenders. 
 
 His first election to Congress was in the year made memorable by 
 the debate between Lincoln and Douglas. In the Presidential con¬ 
 test of 1860 following he was the enthusiastic friend and supporter 
 of Douglas. But the moment secession was initiated and the Union 
 threatened he was among the first to tender his swofd and his 
 services to Abraham Lincoln and to throw the weight of his great 
 character and resolute soul on the side represented by the political 
 rival of his old friend. He resigned his seat in Congress to raise a. 
 regiment, and it is a noteworthy fact that in the Congressional dis¬ 
 trict which he represented more soldiers were sent to the front, 
 according to its population than in any other Congressional district 
 
90 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 in the United States. It is a further significant fact, that in 1860 
 when he ran for Congress as a Democratic candidate, in what was 
 known as the old Ninth Congressional district, he received a majority 
 of over 13,000; and six years afterwards, when at the conclusion of 
 the war he ran as a candidate of the Republican party in the State 
 of Illinois as Representative to Congress at large, the same old Ninth 
 district that had given him a Democratic majority of 13,000 in 1860 
 gave him a Republican majority of over 3,000 in 1866. Whatever 
 else these facts may teach, Mr. Speaker, they clearly show one thing, 
 that John A. Logan’s old constituency approved of his course, was 
 proud of his illustrious services, and followed the flag which he bore, 
 which was the flag of the stars. 
 
 His service in this House and in the Senate almost uninterruptedly 
 since 1867 was marked by great industry, by rugged honesty, by 
 devotion to the interests of the country and to the whole country, to 
 the rights of the citizen, and especially by a devotion to the interests 
 of his late comrades in arms. 
 
 He was a strong and forcible debater. He was a most thorough 
 master of the subjects he discussed, and an intense believer in the 
 policy and principles he advocated. In popular discussion upon the 
 hustings he had no superiors, and but few equals. He seized the 
 hearts and the consciences of men, and moved great multitudes with 
 that fury of enthusiasm with which he had moved his soldiers in the 
 field. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it is high tribute to any man, it is high tribute to 
 John A. Logan, to say that in the House of Representatives where 
 sat Thaddeus Stevens, Robert C. Schenck, James G. Blaine, and 
 James A. Garfield, Henry Winter Davis, and William D. Kelley, he 
 stood equal in favor and in power in party control. And it is equally 
 high tribute to him to say that in the Senate of the United States, 
 where sat Charles Sumner and Oliver P. Morton, Hannibal Hamlin 
 and Zachariah Chandler, John Sherman and George F. Edmunds, 
 Roscoe Colliding and Justin Morrill, he fairly divided with them the 
 power and responsibility of Republican leadership. No higher 
 eulogy can be given to any man, no more honorable distinction could 
 be coveted. 
 
 It has been said here to-day, Mr. Speaker, that John A. Logan 
 was a partisan, that he was a party man. So he was. He believed 
 in the Republican party ; but while he believed in the Republican 
 
Address of Mr. McKinley, of Ohio. 
 
 91 
 
 party, its purposes and aspirations, he was no blind follower of party 
 caucuses or of partisan administrations. The world knows how 
 Logan loved his old commander, General Grant. He loved him 
 with a simple faith; he had been his friend in all his active years; 
 he had presented his name for the first time to the Republican 
 National Convention in 1868 , as the candidate of the then dominant 
 party for the Presidency of the United States, and he had stood by 
 him and supported him with his utmost energy in every subsequent 
 contest that he made for that great office. But, loving Grant, he had 
 yet the independence and the courage to dissent from his judgment 
 and his policies on more than one memorable occasion, and I recall 
 one such occasion now, Mr. Speaker, which can not be remembered 
 by any of us without enhancing our admiration for the dead Senator. 
 
 It was when the contest between President Grant and Charles 
 Sumner was at its height; it was when the party caucus had decreed 
 that the veteran statesman of Massachusetts, the apostle of freedom, 
 must be deposed from the chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign 
 Relations of the Senate, a position he had so long and with such 
 marked distinction filled, a position for which he was eminently 
 qualified by education, ability, and experience. John A. Logan was 
 one of four Republican Senators who uttered earnest and emphatic 
 protest against that action, and his grand utterances on that occasion 
 should be remembered, for they are worthy of the hero of a hundred 
 battles. Here are his words : 
 
 Twelve years ago, when I came to Congress, I differed with the Senator from 
 Massachusetts in my political opinions. 1 had always recognized him as a man of 
 great ability, as a man of sterling integrity and worth. Yet I had no sympathy 
 whatever with his political views. But I was attracted toward him in my sym¬ 
 pathies and feelings because of the fact that I stood many times in this Chamber 
 and saw him stand like a Roman senator and hurl away the curs of slavery as they 
 snapped and snarled at him. I many times saw him disperse them in debate on the 
 floor of the Senate. I learned then to admire him, although I did not fully agree 
 with him. He then, sir, led the army of liberty in this country. He was its leader 
 in the Senate, its leader everywhere; as its orator, as its advocate, as the man who 
 advanced opinions, as the man who went far in advance and beckoned to others to 
 come forward with him and give liberty to all the people of this country. During 
 the terrible war through which we have passed he was one of the great leaders in 
 the Senate. Through all our trials and difficulties, through our misfortunes and our 
 triumphs, he stood at the head of the men in favor of liberty in the land. When 
 this administration came into power he still, as the great debater, as the great states¬ 
 man in the land, stood at the head of all. 
 
 So General Logan spoke of Charles Sumner; and, so feeling, he 
 could not consent to witness the humiliation of him who had stood 
 
92 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 on the advanced outpost of liberty and aroused public thought and 
 quickened public conscience in favor of freedom for all men. His. 
 sense of justice was very strong and very deep; his convictions of 
 fair play were of the kind that made him the prompt and ready 
 defender of those who were to be dealt with unfairly. He was always 
 an open adversary; he never fought under concealment; he never 
 fought in darkness or in ambush; he was always direct in his methods, 
 whether in war or in peace, and “the path of his thought was straight, 
 like that of the swift cannomball, shattering that it may reach, and 
 shattering what it reaches. ” 
 
 Mr. Speaker, he was not only quick to defend Charles Sumner, 
 but he was as prompt to defend his old comrade and leader, General 
 Grant, when a little later he was unjustly (as Logan believed) at¬ 
 tacked in the Senate, and the warp and the woof of the thought of 
 his defense both of Sumner and of Grant is exactly the same. He 
 puts the defense of both upon the ground of what they have done 
 for their country. In defense of General Grant he opened with this 
 simple but pathetic inquiry: “What has the tanner from Galena 
 done ?” And then, answering his own question, he said: 
 
 He has written his history in deeds which will live so long as pens are dipped in 
 ink, so long as men read, and so long as history is written. 
 
 The history of that man is worth something. It is valuable. It is not a history 
 of glittering generalities and declamation in speeches, but it is a history of great 
 deeds and great things accomplished for this country. 
 
 He reviewed his brilliant achievements at the head of the Western 
 army, and said: 
 
 General Grant was then brought to the Army of the Potomac. He made a suc¬ 
 cess, he won the battle, victory perched on our banner, we succeeded, slavery was 
 abolished, and our country saved. 
 
 The man who had done all that, Logan said, was worthy to be 
 commended, not condemned. Then he made a most telling appeal 
 to his associates to stand by the great captain who, at the head of a 
 million of men, had made perpetual the best government in the 
 world. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, General Logan’s military career, standing alone, 
 would have given him a high place in history and a secure one in 
 the hearts of his countrymen. General Logan’s legislative career, 
 standing alone, would have given him an enduring reputation, asso¬ 
 ciating his name with some of the most important legislation of the 
 time and the century. But united, they present a combination of 
 
93 
 
 Address of Mr. McKinley , of Ohio. 
 
 forces and of qualities, they present a success in both careers almost 
 unrivaled in the history of men. He lived during a period of very 
 great activities and forces, and he impressed himself upon his age 
 and time. To me the dominant and controlling force in his life was 
 his intense patriotism. 
 
 It stamped all of his acts and utterances and was the chief inspi¬ 
 ration of the great work he wrought. His hook, recently published, 
 is a masterful appeal to the patriotism of the people. His death, so 
 sudden and unlooked for, was a shock to his countrymen and caused 
 universal sorrow among all classes in every part of the. Union. No 
 class so deeply mourned his taking away as the great volunteer army 
 and their surviving families and friends. They were closely related 
 to him. They regarded him as their never-failing friend. He had 
 been the first commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Repub¬ 
 lic, and to him this mighty soldier organization, numbering more 
 than four hundred thousand, was indebted for much of its efficiency 
 in the field of charity. 
 
 He was the idol of the army in which he served—the ideal citizen 
 volunteer of the Republic, the pride of all the armies, and affection¬ 
 ately beloved by all who loved the Union. 
 
 Honored and respected by his commanders, held in affectionate 
 regard by the rank and file, who found in him an heroic leader and 
 devoted friend, he advocated the most generous bounties and pen¬ 
 sions, and much of this character of legislation was constructed by 
 his hand. So in sympathy was he with the brave men who risked 
 all for country that he demanded for them the most generous treat¬ 
 ment. I heard him declare last summer, to an audience of 10,000 
 people, gathered from all sections of the country, at the annual 
 encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic at San Francisco, 
 that he believed that the Government should grant from its over¬ 
 flowing treasury and boundless resources a pension to every Union 
 soldier who was incapable of taking care of himself, asserting with 
 all the fervor of his patriotic soul that the Government was unworthy 
 of itself and of the blood and treasure it cost which would permit any 
 of its defenders to become inmates of the poorhouses of the land, or 
 be the objects of private charity. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the old soldiers will miss him. The old oak around 
 whom their hearts were entwined, to which their hopes clung, has 
 fallen. The old veterans have lost their steady friend. The Congress 
 
94 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 of the United States has lost one of its ablest counselors, the Repub¬ 
 lican party one of its confessed leaders, the country one of its noble 
 defenders. 
 
 Address of Mr. Randall, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : I sincerely sympathize with the State of Illinois 
 and the entire country in the loss to the public councils of General 
 John A. Logan, whose valor and skill upon the battlefield were sup¬ 
 plemented and rounded out by a career of great usefulness in the 
 House of Representatives and in the Senate of the United States. 
 
 He was a child of the people, and he received at their hands almost 
 every honor that could be appropriately bestowed. He was a fair 
 and complete illustration of the justice and the resulting strength of 
 our form of government in this, that it gives to the worthy and indus¬ 
 trious citizen an opportunity to reach the highest positions known to 
 the laws. 
 
 The records of our public men are the indications of the destiny 
 of our country, either for weal or woe. They represent the moral 
 height to which the people grew in their time. They are examples 
 for the study of the generations which are to follow them. 
 
 Therefore, when a man like John A. Logan passes off the scene, it 
 is our grateful duty to recall every act of his which, whether in the 
 field or in the forum, was characterized by deep conviction and by 
 undoubted moral and personal courage. 
 
 The full story of his life will be told in truthful and loving words 
 by the members of the Illinois delegation and by his political friends 
 on this floor; but I can not refrain from expressing this brief tribute 
 of my respect to the memory of a public man who deserved so well 
 of his country. 
 
 Address of Mr. Butterworth, of Ohio. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : The time accorded me—ten minutes—is much too 
 brief to enable me to even glance at the history which records the 
 grand achievements of the illustrious dead in honor of whose mem¬ 
 ory we are met. John A. Logan sleeps with his fathers. The final 
 audit of his life’s account has been made up. 
 
 The record discloses nothing that invokes the charity and shield of 
 
ft 
 
 Address of Mr. Butterworth, of Ohio. 95 
 
 the maxim which constrains us to “speak nothing but good of the 
 dead.” No friend of the deceased need with pen or speech paint an 
 ideal man and call it Logan. His name and fame will stand the test 
 of searching scrutiny conducted in the light of truth. That Logan 
 was a leader among men is conceded. That he occupied a position 
 of commanding influence among his associates in public life and in 
 private station can not be questioned. To what he owed his position 
 as a leader, what elements in his make-up gave him commanding 
 influence, may not be so generally recognized. 
 
 He was a strong man morally and mentally. Not intellectually 
 great nor yet equipped with that rich store of mental furnishing sup¬ 
 plied by the universities which enables some of lighter mental caliber 
 to pass current before the world as profound thinkers, “men of pith 
 and moment.” Logan was born and reared on the frontier. 
 
 The strong qualities that made him a man of mark, a citizen of 
 controlling influence, were inherent, were God-given, not acquired. 
 
 They were not the result of training in the schools, nor yet due to 
 an o\ ermastering intellect. If upon these arsenals alone he had been 
 compelled to rely to equip himself for the contests in which he was to 
 ' engage, he might never have risen above the dreary level of plod¬ 
 ding mediocrity. 
 
 Along the highway of his public career, as in the walks of private 
 life, he daily met men who were in the matter of sheer intellectual 
 endowments his superiors, but such men too often present what 
 Logan did not, a mere accumulation of intellectual power, uncoupled, 
 and seemingly not capable, by reason of some lack, of being coupled 
 to useful purpose or great employment. As has been said, in the 
 inventory of his mental outfit there could not be found that wide 
 range of learning gathered in the schools which men on every side 
 of him could boast. 
 
 In fact he was constantly criticised by gentlemen the thin and 
 wasted soil of wdiose intellects had in colleges been cultivated to 
 exhaustion and were of depth so shallow that an idea that had 
 strength and vigor enough to require a tap-root would sicken and 
 die, and where only the pinks and pansies that tend merely to grace 
 and beautify the field of thought and action could be sprouted. 
 
 Let it not be inferred that he despised or was indifferent to ripe 
 learning. Far from it. .In just appreciation of its advantages Logan 
 gave to his children the opportunities of collegiate training which 
 
Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 the hard lines of the frontiersman denied to their father. I only 
 meant to say he held in merited contempt mere pedantic criticism 
 from that— 
 
 Set Qf dull, conceited hashes 
 
 Who confuse their brains in college classes, 
 
 Go in sterks and come out asses, 
 
 Plain truth to speak, 
 
 And hope to climb the steep Parnassus 
 By dint o’ Greek. 
 
 In judging of men he was accustomed to scratch through the 
 veneering that studied polish may put on, and ascertain the true 
 quality of the family timber. 
 
 No, sir, Logan could not justly claim great intellectual superiority. 
 He had not the grace and accuracy of diction which may be acquired 
 in the halls of learning. 
 
 What made this man a leader of men ? What gave him influential 
 prominence throughout the country? It was, I submit, due in the 
 main to the inherent qualities of heart he possessed; his uncompro¬ 
 mising devotion to what he conceived to be duty. With him, be¬ 
 tween right and wrong, there was no middle ground. Between right 
 and wrong there could not consistently with the high obligations of 
 
 » r 
 
 duty be any compromise. In him there was found coupled with the 
 unselfish and unequaled zeal of a Covenanter, Calvinist if you please, 
 Ihe chivalric bearing of a cavalier. 
 
 He was of the material of which martyrs are made. If a sense of 
 duty required, he would have suffered at the stake with Jolin Rogers. 
 And by the same token he might not have been seriously troubled 
 at the taking off of Servetus. John A. Logan’s highest ambition 
 was to be right. His stubborn and inflexible will anchored him 
 immovably to his convictions. Hence he never drifted and never 
 wavered. 
 
 It was never necessary to run the courses and measure the dis¬ 
 tances of his political career in order to fix his position. Once estab¬ 
 lish the base-line of right and you could find Logan. 
 
 To Avhat, to him, was duty he was as constant as a fixed star to its 
 course in the heavens. 
 
 Up to 1861 he was a Democrat in the strictest partisan sense. The 
 Democratic party was the agency through which all great good to 
 our country was to be worked out. 
 
 The party horizon came down all around him—he could not or did 
 
Address of Mr. Butterwortli, of Ohio. 
 
 97 
 
 not appear to see beyond it. Then came a time when that too narrow 
 range of vision was extended. The veil that obscured the more 
 enlarged view of portentous events was lifted by the conflict of 1861. 
 
 Logan stood for the first time to contemplate what stubborn ad¬ 
 herence to party lines meant. He saw portending in the near future 
 a Constitution overthrown and defied, the Union dismembered, a 
 Government disrupted and destroyed. 
 
 From that moment love of party was swallowed up in love of 
 country. His duty to him at least was clear. The integrity of the 
 Union, the supremacy of the Constitution, the acknowledged sover¬ 
 eignty of the flag were henceforth to him above all else. With what 
 uncompromising zeal, unselfish devotion, and undaunted heroism he 
 served the cause of his country in the field and in the councils of the 
 nation is known to all his countrymen. In that service, as in all 
 else, Logan refused to surrender his convictions for one moment. 
 His stubborn adherence to his own judgment sometimes made him a 
 disagreeable disputant. He would be inclined to consider the sound¬ 
 ness of his judgment and weigh correctness of his conclusions unless 
 the integrity of one or both was called in question. That done, with 
 him discussion was at an end; thereafter his yielding in any degree 
 was impossible, as he deemed the slightest concession might be con¬ 
 strued into admitting a trace of excuse for asserting that any motive 
 other than the highest good controlled his action. 
 
 The Calvinistic faith of his mother, the stern integrity of his father 
 blending in the son fitted him for a leader, and made him a man 
 whose influence could not but be healthful. He would have been 
 Moreau at Hohenlinden, but was incapable of being Moreau at 
 Dresden. He would have led at Malvern Hill, and marched toward 
 the sound of the cannon and the rising dust of battle at Bull Run. 
 
 He was ambitious to be President, but in the pursuit of that 
 worthy ambition he never practiced the small arts of the demagogue 
 nor resorted to the tricks which mere political expediency suggest. 
 Such an example and illustration of worthy political ambition may 
 not be without its use at this time. 
 
 These, in my judgment, are the crowning glories of Logan’s char¬ 
 acter : That in all his course he sought “to walk in the light.” 
 Inflexible adherence to duty, as that duty was revealed to him. Incor¬ 
 ruptible integrity in every field of action, and in every employment. 
 Unselfish devotion to country and friends. 
 
 7 l 
 
98 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 These attributes of his character shine more resplendent now that 
 he walks no more among us. 
 
 He seemed not to have lived the time allotted to man. But if his 
 last ambition was not gratified, it can truly be said that his fondest 
 hopes were realized in having lived to see the supremacy of the flag 
 established and recognized throughout all our borders, the Union 
 restored, and the Republic he so loved and served occupying the 
 proud position of “first among the nations of the earth.” 
 
 Address of Mr. Henderson, of Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : The nation lingers by the grave of Logan ! His 
 funeral sermon has been preached in the presence of the people and 
 by his coffin, but that was not enough for his memory. Every 
 church, every post of the Grand Army of the Republic, the United 
 States Senate, the House of Representatives, nearly every home and 
 every heart in this great land have offered tributes to the memory 
 of this mighty fallen chief. 
 
 Weeks have passed since the bells of the nation tolled him to rest, 
 and yet the people remain uncovered. 
 
 It is no common man whose fall shocks sixty millions of people. 
 
 I come to the sad duty of this hour not to speak for others, but to 
 render the heart offerings of a comrade and a friend. 
 
 A GREAT SOLDIER. 
 
 We first naturally think of General Logan as a soldier. So strong 
 was he at every post of duty that history must hesitate to pronounce 
 upon him as the greater soldier or the greater statesman. 
 
 Though not trained to arms,, he was a great soldier. The volun¬ 
 teers with one voice claim this. The leading generals of the country, 
 those schooled for war, admit it. 
 
 He fought as one who ever kept in mind the great cause that called 
 him to the field. 
 
 If true of any man, it can be said that danger and death had no 
 terrors for Logan. 
 
 Restless when the enemy was afar, he became eager and fired by 
 the approach of battle and a consuming whirlwind when the charge 
 was sounded. 
 
99 
 
 Address of Mr. Henderson, of Iowa. 
 
 His presence drove fear from the hearts of the soldiery. He was 
 inspiring, fearless, conquering. 
 
 The tumult of battle and the roar of cannon made him the impe¬ 
 rial personification of a great fighter. 
 
 In thinking of Logan as a soldier, forget not his greatest attribute 
 —not for ambition did he draw his sword, but for his country and 
 all his countrymen. 
 
 A GREAT STATESMAN. 
 
 But few men combine the qualities of a great soldiei* and a great 
 statesman— Logan was both. The courage and wisdom needed for a 
 great statesman are of a higher order than the courage and wisdom 
 needed by a great commander. It requires a higher, mightier courage 
 to face and control a sweeping Niagara of popular thought than it 
 does to face death or command an army of men. Logan was one of 
 the few men of his time who combined both essentials for these high 
 trusts. Most statesmen, like some generals, follow their forces. The 
 great statesman, like the great general, must lead. On any field 
 Logan was “a born leader of men.*’ On both fields he kept close to 
 the people. He was earnest, approachable, courtly, chivalrous. He 
 was intellectual, thoughtful, studious, and independent. He was 
 tenacious, stubborn, untiring, honest. He would strike back if 
 attacked, and strike at once, and his blow would be remembered. 
 He was sensitive as a child, but generous as a mother. He was 
 eloquent and profound. His range of vision and sweep of thought 
 took in the whole country. He was a strong partisan, but a stronger 
 American. He had peers as a statesman, but not one that could 
 look down upon him. 
 
 A MAN OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 He was a man of the people in an eminent degree. His devotion 
 to them was as sincere as was their love for him. He was too big a 
 man to be cramped or disturbed by the arbitrary laws of society, as 
 made up by the rich and those who talk of “family” and “blood”; 
 but he was most at home with those of simple manners, free from the 
 conventionalities that grow like weeds about the homes of wealth. 
 
 Seldom did wealth support the career of Logan. It was the 
 people who followed him from obscurity to the Senate. 
 
 But few men come out of the trying, cruel, searching conflict of a 
 national campaign stronger than when they enter it. This John A. 
 
100 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Logan did in 1884. When nominated his party knew him to he 
 strong with the people, hut the great strength and popularity that 
 he developed was a surprise to his party. In the moment of his de¬ 
 feat he was greater than he who wore the laurel. 
 
 It was in the country at large as in my own State in 1884. His 
 passage through Iowa was a triumphal march, and his pathway 
 could he traced by the surging, shouting masses of the people. 
 
 The historians will tell of General Logan and of Senator Logan, 
 but the living will remember him as the “Black Eagle,” “Black 
 Jack,” and “ Hon^t John. 
 
 He was an open, honest, brave, powerful tribune of the people. 
 He was one of the great commoners of his time. 
 
 THE SOLDIER’S FRIEND. 
 
 He was a warm, true friend of the old soldier. No soldier from 
 any part of the Union with a just claim for help ever appealed to 
 him in vain. He knew, and never forgot, what they had done and 
 suffered for the country. The fact that the money centers, most 
 benefited by his comrades’ blood, were daily turning a colder face 
 and a tighter hand to the old veterans enraged him. God grant 
 that his holy indignation may survive him! He resolved all doubts 
 in favor of the soldier, and entertained no doubts for the helpless 
 ones that the dead comrade left with his country. As a powerful, 
 kind, untiring friend of his old comrades he had no equal, and no 
 man can wear his mantle. 
 
 You need not seek a burial spot for John A. Logan. He is 
 buried in and can not be removed from the warm, loving hearts of 
 his old comrades in arms, 
 
 Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : The pen of history can only do justice to so great 
 a record as that which John A. Logan has bequeathed to his coun¬ 
 try. We can pay on an occasion like this only a brief tribute to his 
 memory. Other gentlemen have spoken not only of the public record 
 in civil life but of the great military career of this distinguished cit¬ 
 izen in very fitting language. I can not permit this occasion to pass 
 without at least adding a word to the record of this memorial service 
 in honor of the dead statesman and military chieftain. 
 
101 
 
 Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana. 
 
 John A. Logan came into this Hall as a member of the House at 
 one of the most anxious periods of our history, the beginning of the 
 Thirty-sixth Congress. It was a period of disquietude, a vague and 
 undefined belief was stealing into the minds of all men that the tre¬ 
 mendous issue which for half a century statesmanship had held sus¬ 
 pended was demanding a decision in a voice too loud and imperative 
 to admit denial. The hour of revolution was at hand ! While not 
 taking an active part in current business of the House, John A. 
 Logan displayed from the beginning qualities and powers that gave 
 promise of the great career in civil and military life which he was 
 destined to complete. The State of Illinois was then represented in 
 the House and Senate by an unusually able body of men. Stephen 
 A. Douglas and Lyman Trumbull were Senators ; Washburn, after¬ 
 wards so distinguished in this House and later as our minister to 
 France during the war between France and Germany ; Lovejoy, the 
 greatest of the anti-slavery leaders of the Northwest. McClernand, 
 Farnsworth, Fouke, Kellogg Morris, and Robinson, were his col¬ 
 leagues in the House—a very strong body of men. All of them were 
 either then men of national reputation or afterwards achieved dis¬ 
 tinction in civil or military life. McClernand, Farnsworth, and 
 Fouke won distinction in the Union Army ; and yet with such col¬ 
 leagues John A. Logan was a striking feature of the House from 
 the time he took the seat where my friend [Mr. Eden] now sits. 
 His manly deportment, the fire and vigor of his occasional remarks, 
 the resoluteness of his purpose as expressed in every gesture of his 
 hand and tone of voice, commanded attention and gave promise of a 
 great career if the occasion should arise, and of honorable distinction 
 under any conditions of human life. 
 
 John A. Logan entered this Hall in the flower and vigor of youth, 
 in a house composed largely of young men, but four of whom—two 
 from the South and two from the northern section of the Union— 
 still retain seats on this floor. He was a prominent actor in the House 
 from the beginning. He was the highest type of a strong, positive, 
 rugged, fearless man, whose opinions were absolute convictions, con¬ 
 trolling and mastering. As a politician and partisan he neither gave 
 nor asked quarter. He had been educated in a school of politics 
 where devotion to the Union of the States and the Constitution of 
 the United States was paramount to all else ; and impressed with 
 the belief that the Union could only be maintained by guaranteeing 
 
102 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 to every State of the Union the absolute and exclusive right to con¬ 
 trol its own domestic institutions, he resented with fiery indignation 
 any intermeddling of the citizens of one State with the local institu¬ 
 tions of another, and saw in the ascendency of his own political 
 party the only safety for the Union of the States. To him the Union 
 of the States was the fortress of free institutions, and at every hazard 
 it must be maintained. 
 
 He never hesitated in the expression of his political opinions, and 
 they were not modified during his service in the Thirty-sixth Congress 
 or the short called session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, which met 
 on the 4th day of July, 1861, and yet, I think, it was manifest when 
 Congress met in the month of December, 1860, that if what all men 
 feared, and yet no man expressed, should fall upon the country—the 
 horrors of civil war—that the force of opinion which had committed 
 him, in common with the great party of the North with which he was 
 then identified, to the policy I have mentioned, would impel him, if 
 war only could maintain the Union, to accept the appeal to arms 
 without hesitation whatever might be the result. If the Union could 
 not be maintained by the sweet influences of peace, it must be main¬ 
 tained by war. 
 
 He would have preserved the Union by compromise, by concessions. 
 He indorsed cordially, as I believe, not simply by his vote, but 
 cordially and earnestly, the declaration submitted to the House by 
 John J. Crittenden on the 22d day of July, 1861, declaring the objects 
 of the war, and did not modify his views upon that subject during 
 that session of Congress, and before the next session he had entered 
 upon his great career in the Union Army. But “ Avar legislates ” and 
 remolds and revolutionizes public opinion. Great public disorders 
 which shake the foundations of government have a mighty mastery 
 over the opinions of men. I am satisfied that General Logan did 
 not at any time hesitate in his devotion to the Union, hostile as he 
 was to the principles of the great party which obtained control of 
 the Government in 1860. No matter Avhat party was in power, he 
 was for the Union. 
 
 A meeting was held in this Capitol in the month of December, 
 1860. Most of the Democrats of the Senate and House from the 
 northern section of the Union Avere present, to discuss the pending 
 perils of the country. John A. Logan and, I think, all of his col¬ 
 leagues were present. Opinions were freely expressed. When it 
 
 
Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana. 
 
 103 
 
 came to the question of what should he done in the event that the 
 Union should he threatened and the calamity of war come upon us, one 
 of the most outspoken champions of the Union was John A. Logan. 
 He did not hesitate in the declaration of his opinion. In any emer¬ 
 gency, whatever should he the result to the institutions of the States, 
 the Union must he maintained. Yet he spoke as a Democrat, with 
 no attempt to conceal his hostility to the party soon to enter upon . 
 the control of the Government. 
 
 When at a subsequent period he became convinced that the Union 
 could not he restored with African slavery, that its continued exist¬ 
 ence would he ultimately fatal to our free institutions) he freely 
 avowed his opinions. He returned to this House after the close of 
 the war firmly impressed with the belief that every vestige of slavery 
 should be wiped out and that the policy of the party which controlled 
 the Government during the war could alone secure the peace and 
 safety of the Union, and with unfaltering fidelity adhered to the 
 fortunes of that party up to the hour of his death. 
 
 I believe General Logan, while a member of the House, and before 
 he resigned his seat here to take command in the Army, did not make 
 a definite expression of opinion on the questions of the pending war. 
 Perhaps no opportunity occurred when his views could be definitely 
 expressed; but I think I am justified in saying that General Logan 
 fully accepted the views of his political friends of the North, and 
 stood by them while he remained a member of the House and before 
 entering the Army, and that the school of politics in which he was 
 educated and the principles of public policy he had adopted led him 
 and them to but one result—the Union must be maintained, if not by 
 peace, by the dread alternative of war. 
 
 General Logan and all of his Democratic colleagues of the Thirty- 
 sixth Congress were devoted friends of Stephen A. Douglas. They 
 accepted his political views without question. They stood by him 
 without faltering. They had come into the House through that great 
 contest, to which reference has been made, between the two great 
 leaders, Douglas and Lincoln. When war became inevitable it is 
 well known that Mr. Douglas promptly gave assurance to his great and 
 successful rival—then President of the United States that in a 
 war for the Union the administration should have his undivided sup¬ 
 port. It was also in perfect harmony with General Logan’s opinions 
 and character, and his devotion to that great statesman, that he 
 
104 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 should espouse with his whole soul the cause of the Union. General 
 Logan was a man in many respects of the same type with Mr. 
 Douglas; both were devoted friends of their country, firm, confident, 
 and fearless. When war was inevitable, the declaration of Mr. 
 Douglas of his purpose to stand by the Union at every hazard thrilled 
 the country and animated his friends. General Logan and most 
 of his immediate associates adopted at an early moment the same 
 patriotic policy. 
 
 I have not spoken of the military career of General Logan. It has 
 been well presented by others—his associates in arms. It is of itself 
 a great and commanding record. I have only referred to General 
 Logan in his earlier relations to public life. While it may not be 
 claimed perhaps that in intellectual power and attainments he is to 
 be classed as one of the great statesmen of our country, yet there 
 were qualities of true greatness in General Logan that cannot be 
 questioned; his achievements, both in civil and military affairs, make 
 him a great character in our history. The rugged, fearless posi¬ 
 tiveness of his character, his indomitable strength of will, his manly 
 integrity, made him a great man. He had the qualities that gather 
 large bodies of men around a leader. His friendships were strong 
 and warm. He did not shrink from his enemies. No man ever had 
 more devoted friends, or those who would make greater sacrifices to 
 advance his interests. 
 
 In the judgment of the present generation General Logan has 
 made a great record both in civil and military life, in statesmanship 
 as well as in the field. That judgment, we may confidently believe, 
 will be confirmed by impartial history. He will occupy a large space 
 in the history of our country. To the generations that are coming 
 he will be a grand type of American manhood; his name — a syno¬ 
 nym of patriotism and honor — 
 
 One of the few, the immortal names, 
 
 That were not born to die. 
 
 Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : In the language of the resolution now pending, 
 the ordinary business of legislation is suspended that the friends 
 and associates of the deceased Senator, John A. Logan, may pay 
 fitting tribute to his public and private virtues. In the brief time 
 
105 
 
 Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. 
 
 allowed it will be impossible to even allude to the many important 
 acts of his busy and eventful life. Much has been said in the press, 
 in the Senate Chamber, and in public meetings held all over the 
 country since his death in reference to his character and public 
 services. I feel that I can scarcely add anything of interest on this 
 occasion. 
 
 I saw him for the first time in January, 1857, just thirty years 
 ago. He was then a member of the house of representatives of the 
 State of Illinois, and I was a student at Illinois College, at Jackson¬ 
 ville. I had visited Springfield to witness the inauguration of Gov. 
 William H. Bissell. When I entered the legislative hall, ihe youth¬ 
 ful and impetuous Logan was speaking. He at once arrested my 
 attention. I have never forgotten the scene. There was a great 
 interest manifested, and party spirit ran high. He seemed to move 
 upon his political foes as if charging an enemy upon a field of battle. 
 His speech occupied two days in delivery, and in severity of lan¬ 
 guage and vehemence of manner excelled, perhaps, all other efforts 
 of his life. He was one of the leaders of the Democratic party in 
 the legislature and had been selected by his friends as the orator 
 for the occasion. 
 
 Governor Bissell had been a prominent Democrat, but had differed 
 with his party on the Kansas and Nebraska bills, and became the 
 candidate of the Republicans for governor, and was elected. He was 
 a man of great ability, and his candidacy had resulted in a political 
 campaign of unprecedented acrimony and bitter invectives. The 
 heated discussions before the people were carried into the legisla¬ 
 ture. When the motion was made to print 20,000 copies of Gov¬ 
 ernor Bissell’s message, Logan moved to amend so as to provide for 
 printing but half the usual number. The debate lasted more than 
 a week, and was one of the most memorable ever witnessed in the 
 State, which is noted for great political contests. 
 
 The body was Democratic, and Logan’s motion prevailed. From 
 that time forward his reputation as a party leader was established. 
 During the thirty years which have elapsed he has occupied a prom¬ 
 inent position in State and national affairs. He passed at once from 
 the arena of State politics to the councils of the nation. He was 
 elected a Representative in Congress from the ninth Congressional 
 district in 1858, receiving 15,878 votes while his opponent, Daniel L. 
 Phillips, received but 2,796. The political contest of that year, 1858, 
 
106 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 was one memorable in the history of Illinois, and provoked the live¬ 
 liest interest throughout the whole country. 
 
 It was during this campaign that the joint debates between Abra¬ 
 ham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas occurred, the result of which 
 was the re-election of Douglas to the Senate and the election of Lin¬ 
 coln to the Presidency of the United States. In this great contest 
 Logan was a conspicuous figure and one of the staunchest supporters 
 of Senator Douglas. In 1860 Logan was a candidate for re-election 
 and his growing popularity was evinced by the increased vote he 
 received, namely, 20,863, while his opponent received but 5,207 votes. 
 He resigned his seat in Congress in 1861, and entered the army as 
 colonel of an Illinois regiment. 
 
 By regular promotions for gallant and meritorious conduct he 
 reached the rank of major-generaL His military record is one of 
 the most brilliant of the late war. Had he been educated at West 
 Point and thus relieved from the prejudice which existed in the reg¬ 
 ular Army against volunteer generals, there is little doubt that he 
 would have risen to the chief command of the Army. But he did 
 not need the training and learning of West Point to make him a 
 soldier. He was a born soldier. His practical training as a soldier 
 in the Mexican war, and his careful study of military history and 
 the science of war had peculiarly fitted him for a great military 
 leader. He could not only command men, but he could obey the 
 commands of his superiors. He believed in military discipline. 
 
 When General Sherman denied him the command of the Army of 
 the Tennessee before Atlanta, a position which his skill and bravery 
 had won for him, he cheerfully submitted and urged his friends to 
 make no complaints or protests. I can not follow him in all his 
 battles during the long and eventful war. Suffice it to say that he 
 shrank from no hardship, he feared no danger, he faltered in noth¬ 
 ing. Beloved by his men, and respected by his fellow-officers, he 
 won the admiration of the people, and his memory will be cherished 
 by his countrymen for all time to come. 
 
 He was a careful student of military history. Those whose pleas¬ 
 ure it was to converse with him were struck with his wonderful 
 fund of information in regard to the events of the war. He could 
 readily point out the positions of the opposing forces in every battle 
 during the late war. He could give the numbers and regiments en¬ 
 gaged in every important battle, and indicate the casualties on either 
 
Address of Mr. Springer , of Illinois. 
 
 107 
 
 side. He frequently conversed after the close of the war with the 
 leaders in the confederate army, and notably with General Long- 
 street, with whom he was on intimate and friendly terms. The last 
 book he ever read was the memoirs of General Lee. Much of these 
 memoirs were read to General Logan by his secretary during his 
 last illness. He never failed to detect an error and point it out at 
 the time. He read military history with the liveliest interest. In 
 his investigation of the Fitz-John Porter case he carefully read and 
 reread every scrap of testimony, every report, and all contempora¬ 
 neous history, in order to completely master the subject. 
 
 After the close of the war he was again re-elected as a Representa¬ 
 tive in Congress, serving in the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses. 
 He was three times elected a United States Senator from the State 
 of Illinois, and had served not quite two years of his last term when 
 he died. His career as a statesman is scarcely less brilliant than that 
 as a soldier. His was a busy life. Whether in war or in peace, he 
 was always doing something. His energy and power of endurance 
 were wonderful. The amount of mental labor which he performed 
 was enough to wreck the stoutest physique. In his Congressional 
 duties he was untiring and ever vigilant. His correspondence was 
 enormous, but he managed to give attention to every demand upon 
 him. 
 
 The soldiers of the late war had in Senator Logan a most faithful 
 and devoted friend. They never appealed to him in vain. They 
 seemed to look to him for all general and special legislation in their 
 behalf. In his death they lost their ablest advocate and truest friend. 
 
 I leave to others more in sympathy with his political views than 
 myself to speak more at length and more appropriately of his pub¬ 
 lic record. I desire to refer briefly to his private virtues. 
 
 He was a most devoted husband and father. His home was his 
 place of greatest happiness. He was kind to his wife, indulgent to 
 his children, and devoted to them all. His domestic life was a model 
 of simplicity. Freed from the cares of official duties, he hastened 
 to his home, always to receive the greetings of a beloved wife and 
 happy children. His greatest enjoyment was at his own fireside, 
 surrounded by his friends. Here he lost all of the cares of the world, 
 laid aside all the vexations of political contests, shut out the pomp 
 and circumstance of official station, and gave himself up to domestic 
 affairs. He spent his evenings at home. He rarely visited the clubs 
 
108 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 or places of public amusement. His family, his library, and fireside 
 were more attractive to him than the pleasures of the outside world. 
 
 General Logan’s devotion to his mother and family was a marked 
 characteristic. Inheriting his father’s warm heart and dauntless 
 courage and his mother’s unbending dignity, singleness of purpose, 
 and untiring energy, he was the embodiment of the finest qualities 
 that go to make up a truly noble character and one worthy of emu¬ 
 lation. His father had so high an opinion of his genius and ability 
 that he said in his will that he left “John nothing, as he knew he 
 would succeed in life and carve out his own fortune.” And right 
 well did he fulfill the predictions of his father. His powers of en¬ 
 durance were marvelous ; his sympathies easily touched. 
 
 Once during Grant’s administration among the numbers calling 
 one morning for help from General Logan to procure situations, &c., 
 was a little boy about fourteen years old. Upon General Logan 
 saying to him, “My boy, what can I do for you?” he replied, “Gen¬ 
 eral, I am a soldier’s orphan, and I wish to get an appointment either 
 as midshipman at Annapolis or a cadet at West Point.” The general 
 inquired, “Who have you to indorse you? I know nothing about 
 you.” The boy answered, “I have only my father’s record in the 
 war and my widowed and good mother. But, general, if you will 
 do this I will surely prove worthy. I am going to succeed or die.” 
 
 The general told the boy to meet him at the White House the fol¬ 
 lowing morning, and it is needless to add the boy got his appoint¬ 
 ment, and is now an officer in the Army. The boy’s vim and honesty 
 won the general’s confidence and sympathy. 
 
 Again, one morning a young girl presented herself with the num¬ 
 bers that came every morning during General Logan’s whole official 
 life. She said: “ General, I come to you without one single thing to 
 support my statements, and depending solely upon your kindness and 
 sympathy; but I am desperate. My mother is dying of consumption; 
 she formerly worked in the Printing and Engraving Bureau for the 
 support of herself, my little brother, and myself; but she has been 
 lying for weeks near death, and we have pawned almost everything 
 to get her medicine and food. I must do something, frail as I am, 
 and I beg you to help me. I could not see my mother die and not 
 have made this effort to help her. She could even die contented could 
 she know that I had something to do to earn something for brother 
 and myself.” 
 
4 
 
 Address of Mr. Springer , of Illinois: 109 
 
 The general’s great eyes filled with tears, and he told her to go to 
 the Printing Office the following morning and he hoped he could get 
 the Public Printer to give her work. It was done, and that frail girl 
 has ever since earned an honest living for that brother and herself, 
 having laid away that sainted mother soon after obtaining her posi¬ 
 tion. Among the first floral tributes laid upon Logan’s bier one bore 
 the modest card of that grateful girl, who feels that in Logan’s death 
 the best friend of the unfortunate had gone to his reward. Aggres¬ 
 sive, intense, and relentless in the discharge of every duty, justice 
 was so ground in his nature that it could not be warped by partisan¬ 
 ship. His magnanimity was one of the finest traits in his character— 
 ever ready to forgive and even forget an injury. Trustful and sin¬ 
 cere in all his friendships he was frequently called upon to regret the 
 bad faith of those he trusted. In such cases he grieved as if death 
 instead of treachery had robbed him of his friend. 
 
 There was nothing honorable he would not do to serve those who 
 had befriended him. But when those whom he had befriended 
 turned upon him or betrayed him his mortification knew no bounds. 
 Nothing seemed so base to him as ingratitude. This he felt as “ the 
 most Tin kindest cut of all.” It was to him “ more strong than traitors’ 
 arms,” and “ quite vanquished him.” Always.true to others, he ex¬ 
 pected and exacted fidelity in return. 
 
 He was sensitive to public criticisms. His last days were rendered 
 unhappy and his ailments undoubtedly aggravated by newspaper as¬ 
 saults upon his motives and official conduct. 
 
 When one reads the eulogies pronounced upon his life and character 
 by his colleagues in the Senate, it is almost incredible that such a 
 man as Logan had been so recently subjected to such cruel assaults 
 as were from day to day published by newspapers having large cir¬ 
 culation and great powers for inflicting wrong and blasting reputa¬ 
 tions. 
 
 In the Senate, on the 9th instant, his colleagues, who are best able 
 to speak of his true character and worth, bore testimony to his public 
 and private virtues. 
 
 Senator Cullom, of Illinois, said: 
 
 Mr. President, few men in American history have left so positive an impress on 
 the public mind and so glorious a record to be known and read of all men as has 
 General Logan. The pen of the historian cannot fail to write the name of Logan 
 as one prominently identified with the great movements and measures which have 
 saved the Union and made the nation free and great and glorious within the last 
 thirty years. 
 
110 
 
 Life and Character' of John A. Logan. 
 
 Like Lincoln, his heart and hands were ever for the people. He came up from the 
 ranks of the people, believed in the purity and integrity of the masses, and was al¬ 
 ways ready and eager to speak for them. He was a true republican and believed 
 firmly in republican government. He despised tyranny in all its forms wherever 
 he found it. He was always true to his convictions and to his friends, and no power 
 or influence could induce him to forsake either. 
 
 Senator Morgan, of Alabama, said: 
 
 He was a true husband, a true father, a true friend, and when that is said of a in an, 
 and you can add to it also that he was a true patriot, a true soldier, and a true states¬ 
 man, I do not know what else could be grouped into the human character to make 
 it more sublime than that. 
 
 Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, said: 
 
 His was the gentlest of hearts, the truest of natures, the highest of spirits, that 
 feels and considers the weaknesses of human nature and who does not let small 
 things stand in the way of his generous friendship and affection for those with whom 
 he is thrown. And so in the midst of a career that had been so honorable in every 
 branch of the public service, and with just ambitions and just powers to a yet longer 
 life of great public usefulness, he disappears from among us—not dead—promoted, 
 as I think, leaving us to mourn, not his departure for his sake, but that the value 
 of his conspicuous example, the strength of his conspicuous experience in public af¬ 
 fairs, and the wisdom of his counsels have been withdrawn. 
 
 Senator Manderson, of Nebraska, said: 
 
 He originated the ever-beautiful Memorial Day and constantly urged its observ¬ 
 ance. It was a revelation to many that this sturdy soldier should have conceived 
 the poetic idea that the graves of the Union dead should receive their yearly tribute 
 of flowers. The thought was born of his love for them. There was much that was 
 refined beneath the bold, frank exterior. 
 
 The bravest are the tenderest, 
 
 The loving are the daring. 
 
 A friend who knew him well writes of him : 
 
 “ His domestic life was an exquisite idyl. It was fragrant with faith and tender¬ 
 ness. It was a poem whose rhythm was never marred.” 
 
 Senator Allison, of Iowa, said: 
 
 He never knowingly did an injustice to his associates, and if he found that he had 
 done so unconsciously, he was swift and ready to make reparation. He was con¬ 
 scientious in the discharge of his public duties. 
 
 In his death the nation has lost one of its ablest counselors; his comrades in the 
 Army one of then- most ardent and devoted supporters ; we in this Chamber a valued 
 co-worker and friend. 
 
 Senator Hawley, of Connecticut, said: 
 
 He was generous, he was frank, he was tender. Possibly that will sound strangely 
 to many people who did not know him as we did. He had as tender a heart as 
 entered these doors. He was one of the bravest men physically and morally that 
 ever lived. He was a brilliant and great volunteer soldier. He was an incorrupt¬ 
 ible citizen and legislator. His patriotism was unsurpassed in enthusiasm, intensity, 
 and faith. 
 
 Senator Spooner, of Wisconsin, said: 
 
 He will live, sir, in the hearts of men until the history of his time shall have faded 
 utterly away. With each returning May, wherever there is a soldier’s grave — and 
 
Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. 111 
 
 where is there not a soldier’s grave? — the people now living and those to come after 
 us will remember the name of Logan, the patriot, soldier, orator, and statesman, 
 and will bring, in honor of his memory, the beautiful flowers of the springtime and 
 the sweet incense of praise and prayer. 
 
 Senator Cockrell, of Missouri, said: 
 
 As a husband and father he was devoted, faithful, tender, loving, and warmly 
 appreciative of the boundless love and undying devotion of his noble wife and dutiful 
 children. As a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church he was “ not ashamed 
 of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
 believeth.” 
 
 The name, the fame, the life, and the illustrious and successful achievements of 
 General Logan are now the common heritage of our great country and people, and 
 will be cherished and remembered by the px-esent and coming generations. 
 
 Senator Frye, of Maine, said: 
 
 Mr. President, there is not a Senator within the sound of my voice, and there are 
 Senators here who have served in the councils of the nation many years with John 
 A. Logan, who ever knew him to hesitate or waver in or shrink from any expi-es- 
 sion of opinion as to any subject under consideration, who ever knew him to avoid 
 a vote, who ever suspected him of taking any account whatsoever of what effect his 
 words or his acts would have upon his own personal or political fortunes. There is not 
 a Senator within the sound of my voice who, when Logan had expressed his opin¬ 
 ions, the result of his convictions, ever dreamed that he was not entirely, faultlessly 
 sincere in the expression. 
 
 Senator Plumb, of Kansas, said : 
 
 Logan fought his own way, won his own victories, made his own fame secure. 
 
 Scrutinizing the list of those who, emerging from compai*ative obscurity, have 
 contributed the noblest service to the Republic and made themselves a record for im¬ 
 mortality, the name of Logan will be found written not far below those of Lincoln 
 and of Grant. 
 
 Senator Sabin, of Minnesota, said : 
 
 An inscrutible Providence has removed a great and good man, and the memoi’ies 
 which cluster about his name as a member of this body are so fresh and personal that 
 we can scarcely realize the great loss which this Senate and country has sustained; 
 but his useful life and shining example are left to guide the feet of coming genera¬ 
 tions. 
 
 Senator Palmer, of Michigan, said : 
 
 Amid the many heroic figures which stand out on the luminous background of 
 the past quarter of a century none will be regarded with more affection and interest 
 than that sturdy and intrepid form portrayed in silhouette, clear cut and pronounced 
 in its outlines as in its mental traits. 
 
 Happy the State which has boirne such a citizen. Thrice happy the people who, 
 appreciating his virtues, shall give him a place in the valhalla of her heroes for the 
 encouragement and inspiration of the youth of the future. 
 
 Senator Farwell, of Illinois, said : 
 
 General Logan was the bravest of soldiers, an able statesman, and an honest man. 
 
 No higher tribute can be paid to man than this, and this is the offering which I 
 bring. The late President of the United States, General Grant, said to me that he 
 could never forget General Logan’s great services to his country. In battle always 
 brave, never faltering, always ready, 
 
 He is greatest who serves his country best. And shall we not class him as one of 
 these? 
 
112 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Such are the tributes paid Senator Logan by those who knew him 
 best. Such testimonials, coming from honorable Senators represent¬ 
 ing all sections and political parties, will form the aggregate judg¬ 
 ment of his times and fix the estimate in which he will be held by 
 future generations. 
 
 One would have supposed that a Senator from a great State, who 
 had been prominently before the public for thirty years, and whose 
 character, as set forth by his Senatorial colleagues and associates, 
 was well known to the country would have been free from the ordi¬ 
 nary abuse and reckless denunciation which is so frequently heaped 
 upon those who are less known and less appreciated. But not so. 
 
 In this land of ours which boasts the freedom of the press as one 
 of the chief characteristics of our free institutions there are those 
 who, for the sake of publishing sensational matter, or to gratify dis¬ 
 appointed ambition,or revenge imaginary neglect, are ready to assassi¬ 
 nate the characters of the purest and the best of our public men. But 
 such assaults only serve to attract attention to the baseness of their 
 authors, and can no more damage the character of a man like Logan 
 than they could fix a stigma upon Lincoln or upon Washington, the 
 father of his country. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, nothing can be said to add to the fame or greatness 
 of our departed friend. His work is done. His race is run. He 
 sleeps the sleep that knows no waking. But his deeds shall live after 
 him. Adown the pathway of time coming generations will read of 
 his deeds of courage, of his devotion to the public weal, of his love 
 for his mother, his wife, his children, and country, and wonder as 
 the years glide by whether they will ever behold his like again. 
 
 Address of Mr. Adams, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Logan will be regarded as the most striking figure 
 of our civil war. He was the greatest of the Union volunteers. As 
 such he will stand in history. As such he will be eulogized to-day. 
 His eulogy perhaps would come more fittingly from his comrades in 
 arms, of whom there are many in this House. But his fame belongs 
 to all of us ; and each of us who knew him, either in the army or in 
 civil life, may well desire to pay a tribute to his memory. 
 
 It might not be appropriate for me to attempt to analyze his char¬ 
 acter as a military commander. That he was great in tactics or 
 
113 
 
 Address of Mr. Adams , of Illinois. 
 
 strategy, I know too little of tactics or strategy to say. It may be 
 that his military career does not afford material enough to enable 
 even a military critic to judge whether he would have been a great 
 commander in the sense in which Cromwell and Napoleon were great. 
 His military fame will rest and rest securely on other grounds. 
 
 He was the loved and trusted volunteer leader of volunteers. The 
 citizen soldiers of the Northwest, enlisted in a war for the preserva¬ 
 tion of the Union, were ready to follow him to the death, because 
 they knew that his courage, like theirs, was neither contempt of life 
 nor disregard of danger, nor thirst for mere military glory. It was 
 the courage of patriotism, not less ardent because thoughtful, which 
 places the life of the citizen at the service of the State in peace as 
 well as in war, and regards military service only as a part of that 
 larger service which the citizen owes at all times to the Republic 
 which shelters him and his children. 
 
 41 Macaulay, speaking of the famous army of the Long Parliament, 
 says : 
 
 These persons, sober, moral, diligent, and accustomed to reflect, had been in¬ 
 duced to take up arms, not by the pressure of want, not by the love of novelty 
 and license, not by the arts of recruiting officers, but by religious and political 
 zeal, mingled with the desire of distinction and promotion. The boast of the 
 soldiers was, as we find it recorded in their solemn resolutions, that they had not 
 been forced into the service, nor had enlisted chiefly for the sake of lucre; that 
 they were no janizaries, but free-born Englishmen, who had, of their own accord, 
 put their lives in jeopardy for the liberty and religion of England, and whose right 
 and duty it was to watch over the welfare of the nation which they had saved. 
 
 Suck, in the main, were the volunteers of our civil war, and such, 
 in a high degree, were the regiments of the Northwestern States, 
 who made up the famous Fifteenth Corps. They were more effective, 
 perhaps, as a military force under the command of Logan than they 
 would have been under a merely professional soldier. They recog¬ 
 nized in him not merely an accomplished commander, but a fellow- 
 citizen and a friend, whose hopes, feelings, and purposes accorded 
 with their own. As they knew that he would spare neither them 
 nor himself in the service of the Union, so they knew that he would 
 expose them to no unnecessary danger, nor sacrifice their lives to 
 his own military ambition. Therefore it was that after his troops 
 had come to understand his character as a commander, a regiment 
 under his lead seemed sometimes to become a brigade, a brigade 
 seemed to have the strength of a division, and wheresoever Logan 
 thought it his duty to lead, 15,000 thinking bayonets were ready to 
 
 follow. 
 
 8 L 
 
114 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 History will take no leaf from the laurels which Logan won in 
 the civil war, "because he was reluctant to believe that civil war was 
 necessary. No man can impugn his patriotism, because at the time 
 when others were preparing for the conflict which they saw was in¬ 
 evitable, Logan still hoped against hope that some form of com¬ 
 promise might yet take away the bitter cup from the lips of the 
 nation. 
 
 Wendell Phillips said, in April, 1861: 
 
 Civil war is a momentous evil. It needs the soundest, most solemn justification. 
 I rejoice before God to-day for every word that I have spoken counseling peace, 
 but I rejoice also with an especially profound gratitude that now, the first time in 
 my anti-slavery life, I speak under the Stars and Stripes, and welcome the tread of 
 Massachusetts men marshaled for war. 
 
 It was not given to all in those dark days to look through the 
 rising clouds of civil war and see in the clear light beyond the slaves 
 enfranchised and the Union stronger than before by the removal of 
 the great cause of difference between the sections. 
 
 It was not given to Logan to see this. To him also civil war was 
 a momentous evil, and he did not see in civil war, as Wendell Phil¬ 
 lips did, a possible solution of the slavery question. Till the clash 
 of arms actually came, till the exultation and humiliation of a great 
 battle had inflamed all hearts, he thought he saw only a minority of 
 secessionists at the South and a minority of abolitionists at the 
 North striving to kindle their own frenzy in the hearts of the great 
 majority of Union-loving men in both sections of the country. 
 
 You gallant Union men at the South— 
 
 Said he— 
 
 who are standing against a fierce and bitter storm, if nothing be done to calm it, 
 and you are hurled over the precipice into the deep, yawning gulf of disunion, for 
 your heroic stand in this fearful crisis history will immortalize your names, and 
 your children will read with illuminated faces the faithful sketch of your patriotic 
 devotion to your country. 
 
 Perhaps we must admit that, for months after the fall of Fort 
 Sumter, Logan doubted whether the Union could be restored by 
 force of arms. He had said so in Congress : 
 
 The enforcement of the law at the point of the bayonet will not cement this 
 Union again, it will not make us friends, nor will it settle the slavery question. 
 
 He probably did not believe that the North would endure the sac¬ 
 rifices of a long war ; nor did he believe that the rebellion would 
 yield without a desperate struggle. 
 
 To him, therefore, the actual clash of arms between the Union 
 
Address of Mr. Adams, of Illinois. 
 
 115 
 
 and the rebel forces seemed to mark the beginning of an eternal es¬ 
 trangement between the North and South, which time would only 
 embitter. Influenced as he was by forebodings, felt at the same 
 time by thousands of others in all sections of the country, it was 
 not to be expected that he should give a cordial support to the war 
 policy of the Lincoln administration. 
 
 But the time came when Logan’s attitude toward the administra¬ 
 tion of Mr. Lincoln and his war policy changed as if in the twink¬ 
 ling of an eye. It was by no elaborate course of reasoning • it was 
 by a sudden flash of insight that he saw that the war was inevitable, 
 and that the North was resolved. He saw, he understood, he obeyed, 
 as unhesitatingly as did the apostle to the Gentiles when he beheld 
 the great light that shone on the way to Damascus and heard the 
 voice crying “Saul! Saul!” 
 
 He stood one morning in Washington and saw the regiments from 
 the Northwestern States, his own.section of the country, march by 
 hifn on their way to the front to take part in the impending battle 
 of Bull Run. The sight struck home upon his heart and his under¬ 
 standing like a revelation from Heaven. The volunteers of Wis¬ 
 consin and Minnesota made him think, perhaps, of the volunteers 
 of Illinois, then far to the front in the Mississippi Valley. Perhaps 
 he thought of the Mexican war, and the gallant part which his own 
 State had borne in it; of Shields at Cerro Gordo; of Bissell and 
 Hardin, and the steady valor of the Illinois line when they faced an 
 enemy for the first time on the plateau of Buena Vista. 
 
 In these raw troops now marching by, fresh from the farms of 
 Wisconsin and the lumber camps of Minnesota, he saw the loyal 
 North in arms resolved to maintain the Union, and he now knew, 
 for the first time, that the only way to enduring peace must be 
 hewed with the sword. 
 
 He saw his own duty also. He could thank God, as Wendell Phil¬ 
 lips had, for every word he had spoken counseling peace, but his 
 heart told him that henceforth the only place of honor and duty for 
 him, the only place where his spirit could be at peace with itself, 
 would be in the camp, or on the march, or in the line of battle with 
 the volunteers of Illinois. 
 
 He did not hesitate. To help to restore the Union he put upon 
 the hazard not only life and fortune as others did, but what was per¬ 
 haps far more to him. his darling popularity. 
 
116 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 He went into his district. He made as brave a charge upon the 
 prejudices of Southern Illinois as he ever made upon the confeder¬ 
 ate lines. He made his people see what he had seen on that July 
 morning in Washington, that the safety of the great Republic, the 
 freedom and happiness of millions yet unborn, in the South as well 
 as in the North, must be sought by the dreadful path of civil war. 
 
 Thus the first service which Logan rendered in the war for the 
 Union was a victory won by his eloquent tongue before he had drawn 
 his sword. 
 
 The very men— 
 
 Said General Grant— 
 
 who at first made it necessary to guard the roads of Southern Illinois became the 
 defenders of the Union. His district, which at first had promi ed to give such 
 trouble to the Government, filled every call made upon it for troops without resort¬ 
 ing to the draft. That Congressional district stands credited at the War Department 
 to-day with furnishing more men for the Army than it was called upon to supply. 
 
 I shall not try to recount Logan’s military services in the Union 
 cause during the next four years. There are many others in this 
 House more competent than I to recall the history of those stirring 
 events, of which they were themselves a part. Let me, however, 
 speak of that one of his many victories, the glory of which, brighter 
 and more enduring than mere military renown, he does not share 
 with any man, or regiment, or army corps. It was the victory which 
 he won over his own feelings of disappointment and personal wrong 
 when the command of the Army of the Tennessee, was taken from 
 him. He had served with that army from Belmont to the Atlanta 
 campaign. He had risen through all grades from colonel to corps 
 commander. He had taken command of the army, as General Grant 
 reminds us, in the midst of a hotly contested battle. His glance, his 
 voice, his magnificent bearing had infused courage and discipline 
 into dispirited and retreating troops. 
 
 Under the influence of his personal presence they became steady in 
 an instant. A few minutes more and they were moving to victory 
 like one of Cromwell’s brigades, with the precision of machines, and 
 the wild fanaticism of crusaders. At Logan’s call they pressed for¬ 
 ward to avenge McPherson’s death with such impetuous fury that 
 eight thousand of the enemy’s dead and wounded were left upon the 
 field. Logan had fairly won the right to command the Army of the 
 Tennessee. When this command, so fairly won, so eagerly desired, 
 was taken from him, merely because he had received his military 
 
117 
 
 Address of Mr. Adams, of Illinois. 
 
 training at the rude hands of actual war, and not amid the sheltered 
 walks and trim lawns of a military academy, his patriotism faltered 
 indeed, hut it did not fail. He was tempted to resign from the Army. 
 What West Point graduate could have blamed him if he had done 
 so ? But he was true to himself and to the Union he had sworn to 
 defend. Perhaps he remembered the words he had spoken in 1862 : 
 
 I have entered the field to die if need be for the Government, and never expect 
 to return to peaceful pursuits till the object of this war of preservation has been ac¬ 
 complished. 
 
 He returned to the command of his army corps. By his indefati¬ 
 gable zeal in a subordinate position he gave a living exaWple of 
 that doctrine of military fidelity which, many years afterward, he 
 was to urge so eloquently in the Senate, that neither personal dis¬ 
 like nor personal disappointment could excuse a subordinate officer 
 either for disobeying orders or for slackness in obeying them. 
 
 Of Logan as a legislator I have no time to speak. Faithful as he 
 was to all his public duties, it is not as a legislator that he will be 
 remembered. He accomplished much in Congress; but if he had 
 accomplished more, his fame would still rest on his military record, 
 and his military record, for this generation at least, is written not 
 only in the annals of the campaigns in which he took part but in 
 the hearts of tens of thousands of surviving volunteers of the war 
 who have so long looked up to him as the bright exemplar of their 
 own patriotism, the record of which they will hand down as an hon¬ 
 ored heritage.to their children and their children’s children. 
 
 One trait of Logan’s character has attracted the attention of all 
 who met him in public or private life. He was a sincere and de¬ 
 voted friend of his friends, and he was not the secret enemy of any 
 man. Open, straightforward sincerity in word and action was such 
 a prominent characteristic of his demeanor toward friend and enemy 
 alike that we may not unfairly apply to him the description which 
 Clarendon gives of the great Duke of Buckingham: 
 
 His kindness and affection to his friends was so vehement that it was as so many 
 marriages for better and worse, and so many leagues offensive and defensive, as if 
 he thought himself obliged to love all his friends and to make war upon all they 
 were angry with, let the cause be what it would. And it can not be denied that 
 he was an enemy in the same excess, and prosecuted those he looked upon as his 
 enemies with the utmost rigor and animosity, and was not easily induced to a 
 reconciliation. And yet there are some examples of his receding in that particular. 
 And in the highest passion he was so far from stooping to any dissimulation 
 whereby his displeasure might be concealed and covered till he had attained his re. 
 venge (the low method of courts), that he never endeavored to do any man an ill 
 office before he first told him what he was to expect from him, and reproached him 
 
118 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 with the injuries he had done, with so much generosity, that the person found it in 
 
 his power to receive further satisfaction in the way he would choose for himself. 
 
 • 
 
 When a great man dies in the maturity of his intellectual powers, 
 before he has even reached the threshold of old age, we are apt to 
 deplore not merely our loss, but his own. We are apt to regret as a 
 loss to him as well as to ourselves the many years of usefulness and 
 comparative comfort which he might yet have enjoyed. The feeling 
 is not always a reasonable one. Who can tell whether Logan’s old 
 age would have been a happy one ? Some men there are, like Wash- 
 ington at Mount Vernon, like Jefferson at Monticello, who, after a 
 life of active participation in public affairs, can quietly withdraw 
 from the current of events and spend their declining years in pri¬ 
 vate life, watching the gradual decay of bodily strength and mental 
 vigor with the same calm resignation, and even with the same sober 
 happiness, with which they watch the lengthening shadows at the close 
 of a summer day. Such an old age is not the common lot of public 
 men. It is possible only to a few. We can not be sure that it would 
 have been Logan’s lot had he been spared to live out his three-score 
 years and ten. 
 
 His life almost from boyhood had been one of political activity. 
 Would he have been content, like Washington, to resign life’s active 
 duties at the inexorable bidding of advancing age ? He was not 
 sure even of bodily health. The fatigues, the wounds, the exposures 
 of the war had begun already to tell upon his constitution. For him, 
 perhaps, it is better as it is. His death is our loss rather than his 
 own. Better, perhaps, for this keen, ambitious spirit to jjass from 
 life in the full maturity of his mental powers ; his career not yet 
 completed ; the last and brightest goal of his ambition still before 
 his eyes and almost within his reach. 
 
 Address of Mr. Rogers, of Arkansas. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: Integrity is the basic principle of all moral charac¬ 
 ter — integrity in its broadest sense, integrity of thought, integrity of 
 word, integrity of deed. 
 
 Laborious industry is the indispensable condition of all success 
 which is honestly achieved. 
 
 Ho less an important element in human greatness is courage. 
 
 Not merely that valor which asserts itself in the presence of danger. 
 
Address of Mr. Rogers, of Arkansas. 
 
 119 
 
 nor that fortitude which enables us to suffer and endure, nor that 
 resolution which falters not at difficulties, nor yet that heroism which 
 despises danger and overrides what to the more discreet and timid 
 seems insurmountable barriers, but rather that rarest of all virtues 
 among men, that moral courage which prompts the upright man to 
 sacrifice public favor, to accept defeat, to undergo humiliation, and 
 even public censure if necessary, in obedience to the dictates of con¬ 
 science and in the discharge of public duty. 
 
 My personal relations with General Logan were limited to a passing 
 acquaintance and a few meetings on matters of public business. But 
 I am persuaded from all I knew of him that he possessed all the qual¬ 
 ities I have mentioned and to a pre-eminent degree. 
 
 At a time when others holding similar positions of honor and trust 
 lived sumptuously and grew rich General Logan kept his frugal and 
 simple ways, and finally died comparatively poor. 
 
 In high stations of public trust, when others were falling on all 
 sides entangled in the meshes of public scandals and besmirched by 
 improper connection with corrupt legislation and doubtful enterprises, 
 General Logan steered clear of all questionable transactions, and 
 finally bequeathed to his family that which is better than riches, the 
 splendid legacy of a good name. 
 
 That he was indefatigably industrious, zealous, and scrupulously 
 faithful in the discharge of every public duty those who knew him 
 best cheerfully attest, and this I believe to have been the key to his 
 great success. 
 
 Few men are born great. The truest, the safest, the wisest are the 
 plodders. I do not believe General Logan was either brilliant or in 
 any sense what the world calls a genius. But he was more; he was 
 a great worker, an honest thinker, and a courageous actor. No man 
 ever doubted his courage, moral or physical. . His public record will 
 show separations from his party and friends on many public ques¬ 
 tions and a dogged pertinacity in the maintenance of his convictions 
 against all odds, and even in defiance of public opinion. 
 
 He was by nature self-reliant, but circumstances had wrought no 
 small work in the formation of his character. He had grown up and 
 lived his whole life in the great West, that part of our country the 
 wonderful development of which can scarcely be comprehended, a 
 development which it required courage, industry, endurance, patience, 
 and self-reliance to work out. 
 
120 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 General Logan was a prominent actor amid all the bnsy struggles 
 and changeful stages through which this great section passed from 
 its infancy until his death. He had imbibed its vigorous spirit in 
 his youth, and it was his strength and support while he lived. He 
 reflected its great energies and marvelous resources in his simple, 
 industrious, and abstemious habits, his powerful frame, his great 
 endurance, and determined resolution. 
 
 That great section of our country gives to history no better speci¬ 
 men of its productions than General Logan. Open, frank, without 
 finesse, his methods were direct and his purposes unconcealed. 
 
 He was ambitious, but it was a laudable ambition, guided by patri¬ 
 otism and inspired by a desire to benefit his fellow-men and promote 
 the welfare of his country. 
 
 I knew nothing personally of his domestic relations. Of the story 
 of his early love, his marriage, and the beautiful domestic life that 
 followed, others have spoken and are better qualified to speak. 
 
 I have ventured to speak only of his personal characteristics and his 
 private and public worth. All understand his public services, extend¬ 
 ing through a long, eventful, and honorable public life. These belong 
 to history and are the proud heritage of his country which he served 
 and honored and which in turn honored him. 
 
 It is difficult to determine whether his greatest achievements were 
 in war or in peace. They were great in both. His long and honor¬ 
 able career is a tribute to our institutions and an honor to our mar¬ 
 velous civilization. His life furnishes a bright example for the ambi¬ 
 tious youth of the Republic. 
 
 He went out from among us in the prime of his usefulness and in 
 the zenith of his influence and power. 
 
 In the great State of Illinois his place will not be easily filled. In 
 the councils of his party he will be missed. In the Senate of the 
 United States he will be long remembered. In the hearts of the citi¬ 
 zen soldiery of the Union he is already enshrined. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I esteem it a privilege, as it is a pleasure, to unite in 
 paying this last tribute of respect to the memory of the illustrious 
 dead. 
 
Address of Mr. Rowell, of Illinois. 
 
 121 
 
 Address of Mr. Rowell, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : With no hope of adding anything to what has 
 already been said in the way of correctly delineating the character 
 of General Logan, I am still unwilling to let this occasion pass 
 without paying my tribute to his memory. It was my fortune to 
 serve under him during the war of the rebellion for more than a 
 year, and in the same army—the Army of the Tennessee—for a 
 much longer period. \ 
 
 In that fiery furnace of war, which tries the metal of which men 
 are made, I learned to believe in him; not alone in his wonderful 
 leadership as a soldier, but as one who loved his country above all 
 other earthly things; who knew no divided allegiance, and who 
 counted no sacrifice too great when made in defense of the flag which 
 typified American liberty and unity. 
 
 Since the return of peace I have been one of those who believed 
 in him as a political leader—as safe in council as he was heroic in 
 war. The ways of Providence are mysterious ; we submit to them 
 because we must. Believing in a higher wisdom than that of men, 
 we are ready to say it is best when our cherished hopes are crushed, 
 our most earnest purposes thwarted. 
 
 I have felt that the annals of Illinois and her connection with the 
 grandest and saddest periods of our national history would not be 
 complete until the greatest of our volunteer soldiers should be called 
 to the chief magistracy of the nation, and so complete in that great 
 office the triumvirate, Lincoln, Grant, Logan —each with his own 
 peculiar greatness—Illinois’s contribution to the world’s great names 
 ‘That were not born to die.” 
 
 It has seemed to me that' the grand army of volunteers would 
 never be fully honored and rewarded until the whole nation should 
 do them homage by electing to the Presidency their recognized 
 chieftain. But Providence has ordered otherwise, and we bow in 
 humble submission, still protesting that one page of our history re¬ 
 mains incomplete and must ever so remain. 
 
 From early manhood Logan was inspired by honorable ambition 
 to deserve, and to take by so deserving, high rank among men. 
 
 For more than thirty years his name has been a part of the public 
 history of his native State and for nearly as long cf the nation. He 
 
122 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 lias received honors, military and civic, above most men, but for all 
 the honors conferred upon him by a grateful and appreciative people, 
 he has returned to them more than measure for measure, many fold, 
 in faithful and efficient service. We are and must ever remain his 
 •debtor, not more for what he has accomplished than for the benefi¬ 
 cent influence of his example which remains for the living and for 
 ■other generations. 
 
 General Logan was a man of convictions. He had no half beliefs. 
 With untiring industry he sought for knowledge, and was content 
 with nothing less than all that could be known about the great 
 questions upon which he was called to act. Having reached a con¬ 
 clusion, it became to him truth itself, it possessed him and impelled 
 to action. No man ever walked in the pathway pointed out by his 
 own logic more firmly than he, regardless of consequences to himself. 
 
 With unbounded faith in popular government and in the wisdom 
 which abides in the sober second thought of the people he had a 
 profound contempt for the spirit of demagogy which trims for every 
 passing breeze and seeks to make personal capital out of the ebulli¬ 
 tions of passion, the temporary crazes which affect our poor human 
 nature. Double dealing was impossible to him. He had no thoughts 
 which he feared to utter, no purposes he cared to conceal. 
 
 He was ever ready to give and take hard blows in open and hon¬ 
 orable contest. He never fought in ambush, nor sought success by 
 concealment of his purpose where fairness demanded openness and 
 candor. 
 
 A faithful friend and an uncompromising foe, he attracted strong 
 friendships and invited bitter enmities. Hot and hasty in temper, 
 he would always go more than half way in reconciliation. A strong 
 partisan by nature, yet he would not remain silent when he thought 
 liis party associates were going wrong. A native of Illinois and 
 loving his native State and her people with a passionate love, yet in 
 public life he was an American citizen, too large a man to be hemmed 
 in by State lines either in thought or service. 
 
 Among the soldiers of the “Grand Army” he was “Comrade” 
 Logan. It was a comradeship of personal regard, of strong and en¬ 
 dearing friendship, born amidst scenes of danger and death, made 
 sacred by the memory of the fallen, and cemented by his ever-watcli- 
 ful care of their interests in all his public life. 
 
 For four long, eventful years he had been to them the ideal leader 
 
Address of Mr. Rowell , of Illinois. 
 
 123 
 
 nearest to the rank and file. In all those years, to him and to them, 
 there never was hut one ending possible. And that ending the 
 supremacy of national authority over all the United States, an undi¬ 
 vided nation, freedom’s heritage and home. 
 
 There has ever been an abiding faith among his comrades that 
 whatever others might do he would never apologize for the part that 
 he and they took in that great struggle, and he never did. But they 
 knew he was as generous as he was brave, and they have held up his 
 . hands with ready sympathy and hearty support in all his efforts to 
 help rebuild the places laid waste by war, to restore everywhere a 
 love for the Union, to secure to all the people the fruits of peaceful 
 and honest industry, and the individual rights which belong to every 
 citizen of the Republic. 
 
 To his soldiers his death is a personal bereavement which others 
 cannot fully appreciate. I cannot dwell upon it. I dare not attempt 
 to lift the veil which shuts out the public from this personal sorrow. 
 Their leader in life, his death makes no vacancy for other leadership. 
 
 Dead! Ho longer standing in the Senate a representative of all 
 that was best and bravest, a voice comes from his tomb, the voice of 
 command, always with them, bidding them to remain faithful sen¬ 
 tinels on the watch-towers of American liberty. 
 
 The death of General Logan is especially mourned by Western 
 soldiers. The young men of the great West who sprung to arms at 
 the first note of impending war formed the nucleus of that great 
 division of the Army known as “the Army of the Tennessee.” That 
 army was almost exclusively composed of the men of ’61 and ’62 
 from the West and Northwest. It was the army that won the victo¬ 
 ries which made Grant commander-in-chief and Sherman his chief 
 lieutenant. With that army the knightly McPherson won his tri¬ 
 umphs and rode to. his death. 
 
 With that army was all of General Logan’s service from the be¬ 
 ginning to the end of the war. The injustice which kept him from 
 being its commander after McPherson fell gave him also the oppor¬ 
 tunity of showing to the country how great he could be in unselfish 
 patriotism. 
 
 At Belmont and at Fort Donelson he gave token of the future 
 great commander. But it was in that remarkable campaign in the 
 rear of Vicksburg, when Grant cut loose from his base, and by a 
 series of brilliant battles and victories, equal to any Napoleon ever 
 
124 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 won, forced Pemberton within the works at Vicksburg and finally 
 compelled his surrender, that General Logan became the idol of his 
 men and proved himself worthy to stand with Sherman and McPher¬ 
 son, safe on any field and equal to great occasions. 
 
 Thenceforth where Logan led his soldiers followed with implicit 
 faith. Remembering Raymond and Champion Hills, from that time 
 on they followed Logan into battle with full faith in a victorious 
 ending The war over, he remained their leader still. 
 
 I speak as a member of that old Army of the Tennessee—glorying 
 in its volunteer hero ; rejoicing in all his successes in the field, at 
 home, in this House, and in yonder Senate Chamber ; mourning his 
 too early death. 
 
 While Logan has been the leader of his party in Illinois for many 
 years he has never been a party dictator. He never resorted to the 
 petty ways of the mere politician. Believing in the righteousness 
 of his cause, he was always ready to give a reason for the faith that 
 was in him. He knew his position, feared no rivalries, and trusted 
 the people. Ability, integrity, courage of conviction, and indomit¬ 
 able will made of him a leader worthy of a great party. Let others 
 speak of his failings and foibles if they will. For me they are buried 
 in his grave, and Logan, the hero and the statesman, only remains. 
 
 Pure in public and private life, honest in thought as well as deed, 
 he has left to mankind an example worthy of emulation ; to the na¬ 
 tion, his untarnished name and fame—best of legacies. 
 
 The Christian gentleman, the stalwart man, the tender husband, 
 and the loving father has gone from our midst forever. His spirit 
 has crossed the dark river to the presence of the Omnipotent in 
 whom he trusted. His work is ended. 
 
 Be it ours to emulate his patriotism, to be watchful guardians of 
 his good name and fame, and to cherish that Union of States and 
 that universal liberty for which he died. 
 
 Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: In the full vigor of his life, in the rounded fame of 
 achievement, and in the high career of his distinguished office John 
 A. Logan has heard the Master’s call. 
 
 Yonder, in the Senate Chamber, we saw him when here we met in 
 December last, stout of heart and stout of frame—a figure militant, 
 
Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia. 
 
 125 
 
 foremost in the lists, his eye kindling with the fire of exultant life; 
 and now he lies with folded hands across his breast, and his white 
 face turned heavenward awaiting the opening of the mystery “when 
 this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put 
 on immortality.” 
 
 I envy not the feelings of the man who does not “ mourn with those 
 who mourn” the strong man stricken in his prime, the fearless chief, 
 the father, the husband, the statesman, the friend, whose life was to 
 so many the source of pride, and joy, and satisfaction. And with 
 those who knew him best and loved him most, I bow my head beside 
 the bier of Logan. 
 
 It is not for me to assume that I am the person to attempt critical 
 analysis of his character or the recital of his achievements, nor do I 
 conceive indeed that the time has yet arrived when calm-browed 
 history may assign to him the exact place to which he was entitled 
 in the ranks of America’s great men. 
 
 Descended through both ancestral lines of Scotch-Irish stock, he 
 inherited the frank, ardent, pertinacious,- and courageous elements of 
 character which have made that sturdy strain, wherever planted, 
 foremost in adventurous enterprise and hardy undertaking. A 
 partisan by nature, and living in times and situations that made 
 partisans of the coldest bosoms, we can not yet behold him in an 
 atmosphere calm enough and clear enough to draw his lineaments 
 with precision. But through the smoke of conflict and the haze of 
 passion, there was that in Logan so distinctive that his commanding 
 features will never be mistaken for another’s; and there were ele¬ 
 ments of his character and of his performances which made him 
 worthy the respect and admiration of all, whether they be counted 
 as his friends or foes. 
 
 Born myself under and following a different star from that which 
 guided his footsteps, and living my life in opposition to most of the 
 ideas which he pressed to the front with all the ardor and vigor of 
 his dauntless nature, my standpoint has not been such as to make 
 me the suitable eulogist of his deeds or render me capable of becom¬ 
 ing his impartial judge. But whatsoever may be the standpoint from 
 which we contemplate his remarkable career we can not look upon 
 him otherwise than a man singled out from his fellows by conspic¬ 
 uous traits, and by-many of those traits which are universally ac¬ 
 knowledged and honored as chiefest among manly virtues. 
 
126 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 As said of him in the Senate Chamber by one Avho confronted him 
 in the first and last battle which he fought, he was marked by ‘ ‘ grand 
 individuality and striking characteristics.” And by another not less 
 his opponent in the forum and the field: “ 1STo braver man ever lived, 
 and the Almighty Creator endowed him with many other and great 
 virtues.” 
 
 No glint is given us in these words alone of his long, varied, and 
 brilliant services; but they constitute an epitaph chiseled by the hand 
 of truth upon the marble tablet of enduring memory, and they will 
 live as the unaffected tribute of sterling men to one who was himself 
 a sterling man and leader of men. 
 
 The reason that Logan’s name is so universally honored lies in 
 the fact that he lived his life in the light, and had no cause to fear 
 the light. In his character and in his record there are no dark mys¬ 
 terious phases. In an era fertile in the production of distinguished 
 men, and that brought men to the front according to the strength that 
 was in them, he stands upon a pedestal high and erect, a clear cut, 
 magnificent individuality, purely American in its type, heroic in its 
 mold, marked by the masculine lines of power in thought and power 
 in action, bespeaking the will to do, eloquent of the soul to dare. 
 
 Did he accomplish much? Yes; he possessed a robust mind, he 
 knew that a straight line was the shortest distance between two 
 points, and he went that line, “ horse, foot, and dragoons,” from 
 purpose to object. He was a tireless worker, difficulties and dangers 
 did not deter him, and he has left behind him lasting memorials of 
 his work with sword and tongue and pen. 
 
 Was he a great orator? Yes; not in the grace of classic art, not 
 in the polish of rounded period, but in the earnestness of his utter¬ 
 ances, the cogency of his thought, and in the power to persuade. 
 
 Was he a great soldier? Yes; great in the personal prowess of the 
 brave knight who faces those not less brave with valor that does not 
 hesitate or flinch from the encounter, and great in abilities to inspire, 
 marshal, and lead hosts to battle. 
 
 Was he beloved by his soldiers? Yes; he was thoughtful of them, 
 he was reckless of himself, and he fought in front of them. 
 
 Was he a great political leader? Yes; he believed in his own 
 side, and espoused it with enthusiasm ; he stood up to it with fidelity 
 whether it won or lost; he never took two sides at the same time, or 
 wabbled between them ; he was strong in council, steady in the con¬ 
 flict, and powerful before the people. 
 
Address of Mr. Daniel , of Virginia. 127 
 
 Was he respected by his opponents? Yes; even though they 
 thought that he was severe in his judgments and hitter in his ex¬ 
 pressions, they sincerely respected him because they realized that in 
 him was the upright, fearless spirit that said its say and did its deed, 
 and left to God the consequence. They respected him because he 
 was candid and outspoken, and did not wreathe his sword in myrtle 
 boughs. They respected him because they knew he did not carry 
 political hostility into private relations; because he was often kind 
 and generous to his political opponents, as I personally know and 
 am pleased to testify, and because he never prostituted his public 
 place to private gain. 
 
 So high is honesty among the virtues that it condones all errors of 
 judgment. So splendid is courage that when it stands by honor’s- 
 side it makes the man seem god-like. 
 
 The man who has been laid by loving hands to his final rest was 
 honest and he was brave, and mankind will honor his name and 
 memory. 
 
 Mr. Speaker and Representatives, those of us whose middle life is 
 abreast of the living day have witnessed scenes as stirring as ever 
 blotted history with blood, and as decisive as any that ever turned 
 its currents. We have seen brothers fall by brother’s hand, States 
 upset with anarchy, the flames leap over lovely fields and stately 
 cities. Then out of chaos and misery and death and ruin we have 
 looked up again to the boundless heavens where the sun shown 
 new risen. 
 
 Down in Richmond by the James we have seen the men of Boston 
 wreathing with garlands the statue of Stonewall Jackson. Away in 
 the Shenandoah Valley, where tongues of fire once licked the clouds, 
 we have seen Federal soldiers amidst the Confederate graves upon 
 the heights of Winchester, strewing them with flowers, and on 
 bended knees offering prayers for peaceful home and happy country. 
 Amid such scenes as these the people of -the land have felt their 
 hearts new opened; and I thank God that the miracles of war which 
 American courage accomplished, and the miracles of material prog¬ 
 ress which have filled the wilderness with happy and industrious 
 populations, are now to be crowned with that miracle of divine love¬ 
 working through the hearts of men that makes us feel the tie that 
 binds to common humanity and common country. 
 
 With humble spirit I commune with you to-day who pronounce 
 
128 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 blessings upon the dust of him who was a chief amongst your chief¬ 
 tains, and who won by his valorous hand and upright heart the 
 honors paid him by the people. 
 
 If errors be committed, may the good ,God forgive them. His vir¬ 
 tues they were many and they were great. May they live forever, 
 the well-spring of pride and inspiration to all his countrymen. To 
 his memory, honor. To his ashes, peace. 
 
 Address of Mr. McComas, of Maryland. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: On the last evening he was in the Senate Chamber 
 I conversed with John A. Logan. 
 
 His business with the world was done. 
 
 I recall his face now, a noble image of the intrinsic Logan, as we 
 here to-day speak of his pilgrimage through life. 
 
 Sixty years of life, a brief section of swift-flowing time, but in it for 
 true, hard labor and valor of action there has been none truer or 
 braver than he. 
 
 A farmer boy, at school in Southern Illinois; before manhood, a 
 soldier in our battles with far-off Mexico, eager for glory, winning 
 honors. A lawyer, a prosecuting attorney, and, yielding to his bent 
 for politics, a member, a leader in the Illinois legislature. 
 
 At thirty-two, a Democratic member of this House, elected and re¬ 
 elected as a Representative of the States-rights party. In his place 
 here, true to it, until convinced that loyalty to party was disloyalty to 
 the Union, when he closed his desk, left his seat, though not mustered 
 in, fell in line with a regiment marching over the Potomac yonder, 
 and fought for the Union in the first battle as a private soldier. 
 
 Then, doing manifold victorious battle as he went along, he emerged 
 at the triumphant close of war from among a million volunteers the 
 foremost, the ideal volunteer soldier. 
 
 In the whirlwind of the passing time we saw him at Donelson 
 charging at the head of his decimated regiment and grievously 
 wounded. 
 
 At the close of the siege of Vicksburg we heard his Great Captain 
 declare that Major-General Logan was fitted to command an inde¬ 
 pendent army. 
 
 Before Atlanta, when McPherson fell in the early morning light, 
 
Address of Mr. McComas, of Maryland. 129 
 
 we beheld astride his black horse Black Jack Logan, leading an 
 army to victory, pointing the way from Atlanta to the sea. 
 
 At the grand review on yonder Avenue we saw him commanding 
 the Army of the Tennessee. 
 
 While his hand was still familiar with the sword-hilt, while the 
 habits of the camp were still visible in his port and swarthy face, he 
 was returned to his seat in this Chamber, a man who knew in every 
 fiber, who, with heroic daring, had laid it to heart, that it is good to 
 fight on the right side. 
 
 On this floor, and in the Senate, whither he was soW called, and 
 twice returned, his first care was for the Union volunteers, their wid¬ 
 ows and orphans. The wounds on his own body, the grievous pain 
 he endured with proud reticence for a quarter of a century, only 
 served to remind him of those who with him, or like him, suffered, 
 hungry or athirst, in heat or snow, the marches without rest, the 
 nights without sleep, the fevers or pestilence gathering over an army 
 in slumber, or the night-watches in rain that froze as it fell, as well 
 as the wounds in battle. 
 
 He was thus the nearest, best friend of the volunteer, the peer of the 
 highest officer, a brother to the humblest soldier, the sponsor of the 
 Grand Army of the Republic, the founder of “ Memorial Day.” 
 
 Faults and prejudices he had, but he was always loyal to truth and 
 duty. 
 
 Frank, impetuous, decisive, honest, he advocated his convictions 
 with a scorn of personal consequence, in peace as in war, whether as 
 a manager of the impeachment of President Johnson, defending Sen¬ 
 ator Payne, condemning General Porter, legislating for the recon¬ 
 struction, or laboring for the education of an enfranchised race. 
 
 The manliest of men, a marvelous leader of the people, a famous 
 popular orator, a great general, a statesman. 
 
 Unsullied he bore his crowding honors worthily in public life, and 
 rejoiced in the sweet contentment of an almost ideal home life. 
 
 The friend of Lincoln and Grant, with their greater names posterity 
 will associate Logan’s heroic face, painted now, as on the azure of 
 eternity, serene, victorious. 
 
 God grant that the light he leaves behind him may illumine the 
 path of those who may serve our country in her need for generations 
 to come. 
 
130 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Address of Mr. Weaver, of Nebraska. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : John A. Logan dead ; no, not dead! 
 
 There is no Death! What seems so is transition. 
 
 This life of mortal breath 
 
 Is but a suburb of the life elysian, 
 
 Whose portal we call Death. 
 
 The noble traits of character of John A. Logan have been indeli¬ 
 bly stamped npon the hearts of the American people. 
 
 His whole life as warrior and statesman was dedicated to giving 
 full force and significance to that affirmation of the Declaration of 
 Independence, “ That all men are created equal; that they are en¬ 
 dowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among 
 these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 
 
 When that mighty effort for the destruction of constitutional 
 liberty had well nigh sapped the foundations of this Republic; when 
 weak and wavering men, to avoid the terrible consequences of war, 
 were willing to make concessions looking to the separation of this 
 Union, then it was that John A. Logan, rising above all considera¬ 
 tions of party policy, inspired by a patriotism and love of country as 
 fervent as that which moved the heart of William Wallace to strike 
 mightily for freedom when he believed that the tyrant had invaded 
 the dignity of his home and that black treachery was torturing away 
 the freedom of his countrymen, then it was, I say, that this great 
 warrior and statesman breathed upon the discontented and wavering 
 elements of his own party utterances of such pure and patriotic de¬ 
 votion to his whole united country as will make his memory as last¬ 
 ing and imperishable as the Republic itself. 
 
 The noble traits of his character in his devotion to his country 
 were made more conspicuous because of his life-long affiliation with 
 a party that was now engaged in a war for the destruction of the 
 Union and a dedication of one part thereof to human slavery. 
 
 Before the bugle blast of war had called any of our country’s de¬ 
 fenders to the field, but when every movement of the discontented 
 elements attested to the fearful truth that civil war with all its dire 
 consequences was about to test the national bond, upon this floor, in 
 February, 1861, John A. Logan said : 
 
 I have been taught that the preservation of this glorious Union, with its broad 
 flag waving over us as the shield of our protection on land and sea, is paramount to 
 
Address of Mr. Weaver, of Nebraska. 
 
 131 
 
 all parties and platforms that ever have existed or ever can exist. I would to-day, 
 if I had the power, sink my own party, and every other one, with all their plat¬ 
 forms, into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save 
 the Union or even to stay the revolution where it is. 
 
 This was but a patriotic declaration before the clash of arms, but in 
 confirmation of his entire consecration and devotion to the preserva¬ 
 tion of the Union we have only to let impartial history bear witness. 
 Not content to serve his country in the Halls of Congress, away from 
 the exposure and danger of shot and shell, this brave man rushed 
 into the thickest of battle. 
 
 Where Logan went victory perched upon the Stars and Stripes. 
 He was the inspiration, and his soldiers followed him into battle 
 with a spirit of confidence and determination that knows no defeat. 
 
 From whatever cause that may be assigned by the faithful chron¬ 
 icler of events, yet no one will ever attempt to gainsay that where 
 John A. Logan went there was victory, there was fighting. He 
 was one whose presence meant a contest, a struggle to the death. 
 Let Belmont, and Donelson, and Vicksburg, and Corinth, and 
 Champion Hills, and other battlefields attest to the truthfulness of 
 this allegation. 
 
 In that contest for the preservation of the nation—for right against 
 wrong, for freedom against slavery, for all that was good and pure 
 and noble against all that was wicked and wrong and oppressive, 
 wherein from the beginning of the contest to the close more than 
 two and one-half millions of citizen soldiers placed their lives upon 
 the altar of their country in that contest—we do know that J ohn A. 
 Logan was the greatest volunteer soldier, the greatest commander 
 taken from civil life. He was the recognized leader of that great 
 army of volunteer soldiers, and from the close of the war has been 
 the defender and champion of the cause of the common soldier in 
 the Congress of the United States. 
 
 The defenders of our common country whose valor has been at¬ 
 tested upon a hundred battlefields have lost their greatest friend, 
 and our country has lost a great warrior and pure statesman. 
 
 John A. Logan has been in the public service, almost continuously, 
 for more than thirty years, and during all these years of faithful 
 service his conduct has been so pure that not even a suggestion of 
 corruption was ever associated with his name. 
 
 His mission in life was not a struggle for the accumulation of 
 gold; he sought not to pacify his conscience with the gilded bubble 
 
132 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 of wealth ; he neglected not the elements of intellectual and moral 
 
 greatness for the sordid and perishable things of time. His whole 
 
 life was dedicated to his country, to human rights, to making more 
 
 firm and lasting the foundations of this Republic. He has woven his 
 
 * 
 
 name in history with illustrious and praiseworthy deeds. 
 
 Oh, that we had more Logans in the public service ! More whose 
 every thought and every effort were given to the discharge of pub¬ 
 lic duty ; more who sought no opportunity from public position to 
 secure ill-gotten gains to the detriment of the general public ; more 
 who come to high public place because the public demand their serv¬ 
 ice and not because the place is made the subject of barter or to serve 
 some special interest. 
 
 Address of Mr. CuTCHEON, of Michigan. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : When on the 26th day of December last the intelli¬ 
 gence was flashed across the lands and under the seas that John A. 
 Logan was dead, to millions of men it brought a sense of personal 
 loss and bereavement. 
 
 There were men among us of greater learning than he, men more 
 famous in statecraft, more profound in the law, more eloquent as 
 orators, and some few greater as soldiers; but I greatly doubt whether 
 among the sixty millions of people in this Republic there was one 
 other man whose death would have touched the hearts of so many 
 persons with a feeling of individual loss as did the death of Logan. 
 
 This is a phenomenon worthy of our study. Here was a man who 
 was neither greatly learned, nor polished, nor rich, nor aristocratic; 
 but he had made himself felt across this great continent and his name 
 familiar among all English-speaking people. 
 
 Whatever other traits he may have possessed or may have lacked, 
 he was a forceful man. Wherever he came, throughout his whole 
 life, men became conscious that a new force had entered into the 
 problem to be solved, a force that was positive and could not be 
 ignored. 
 
 His was a masterful nature that bent circumstances to his will, and 
 brought men around him to work with him and for him. It is given 
 to but few men in a generation to become so positive a force among 
 his fellow-man as Logan was. 
 
 I said “as Logan was I might have said as Logan is; for char- 
 
Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan. 
 
 133 
 
 acter does not die witli the mortal frame, and his character, his influ¬ 
 ence, and his achievements have entered into the forces that are 
 developing- our national and individual life. 
 
 There seems to he an epoch in the formative stage of all new states 
 favorable to the growth of strong men. 
 
 I was struck recently, in reading the life of Abraham Lincoln, 
 with the remarkable group of men that sprung up in the early his¬ 
 tory of Illinois. 
 
 When the seat of government was first removed to Springfield there 
 were found at that young capital at one time Lincoln, whose name 
 stands second to none in American history; Douglas, “ the Little 
 Giant,” Lincoln’s great competitor for the Presidency; Davis, justice 
 of the Supreme Court, Senator and acting Vice-President; Brown¬ 
 ing, Senator and Cabinet officer; Trumbull, Senator and jurist; 
 Baker, Senator and general; and Shields, general and three times 
 Senator from as many different Commonwealths. 
 
 It was while all these men were still upon the stage, and, in fact, 
 in the very prime of their early manhood, that Logan first appeared 
 in political life, in 1852, as a member of the Illinois legislature. 
 
 He was an admirer, and became a follower, of Stephen A. Douglas. 
 I am impressed with the belief that in many respects his character 
 was more largely formed upon that of Douglas than of any other 
 man. They had the same strong, dominant will, the same courage 
 and fearlessness in following out a conviction, the same pugnacity 
 and persistence in fighting their contests to the finish. They were 
 alike exceedingly forceful among men, and natural leaders. Under 
 the influence of the example of such men as I have named Logan 
 began the career which was to be so potential for his country and 
 for humanity. 
 
 A character is the product of all the forces that enter into it, and 
 the first great formative force is heredity. Logan was of Scotch- 
 Irish descent, a very sturdy and very vigorous stock, which has 
 given us some of the strongest men that have blessed our countr y. 
 
 The next great mold of character is the environment of childhood 
 and youth. Logan was born upon a farm in the comparative isola¬ 
 tion of a newly-settled region. 
 
 The men around him were of the large, strong, generous type that 
 develops upon the frontier, and he inevitably partook of the spiiit 
 of the boundless prairie and the freedom that has never felt the fet¬ 
 ters and constraints of aggregated humanity in cities. 
 
134 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan . 
 
 Just as he was emerging from youth came the war with Mexico, 
 and a union of patriotism with the spirit of adventure swept him 
 into the ranks of the army in that struggle. It was a mere episode 
 in his life, hut it was an index to the character of the coming man. 
 
 Then came the study of the law, and at the age of twenty-six we 
 find him in the legislature of his State, from which Lincoln had hut 
 four years before graduated into the Halls of Congress. 
 
 After being again elected to the legislature in 1856, Logan, in 1858, 
 was himself elected to Congress, at the age of thirty-two, where he 
 commenced that public career which only ended when, on the day 
 after the last Christmas-tide, he laid all his honors and all his burdens 
 down. 
 
 Meanwhile a new force and influence had come into his life. In 
 1855 he had married that devoted woman who thenceforth and 
 throughout his life became his helper and his good genius. We may 
 not speak more of her here. What his life would have been had he 
 never met Mary S. Cunningham it would be impossible to guess, 
 but it is safe to say that it would have been far less useful and less 
 illustrious than it was. 
 
 It was here in Washington that his real career began and his real 
 character shone forth. The nation was already entering the penum¬ 
 bra of the dread eclipse of war. 
 
 The chill and shadow of the coming event was already upon the 
 hearts of the people. 
 
 Born, as he was, in Southern Illinois, a promontory of the free 
 States projecting far down into the gulf of slavery, and peopled largely 
 with settlers from the adjacent slave States, his whole political edu¬ 
 cation was in sympathy with Southern views, and it was natural, 
 almost inevitable, that he should ally himself with the party which 
 had been the champion of Southern institutions. The great contest 
 of 1858 between Lincoln and Douglas had been already fought, and 
 the same political wave that carried Douglas back into the Senate 
 swept Logan into the House. 
 
 While serving his first term in this House, the whole country 
 was startled and shocked by John Brown’s raid upon Harper’s Perry. 
 It was a declaration of war by one man. It was a small affair in 
 itself—just a fanatical old man and a few devoted followers hurling 
 themselves to death upon the jagged rocks of a continent of wrong; 
 it was but the flash of the meteor bursting from obscurity, lurid for 
 
135 
 
 Address of Mr. Cutcheon , of Michigan. 
 
 a moment, then plunging down to darkness and deeper night; it was 
 the low grumble and jar of the earthquake which tells that the “sure 
 and firm-set earth ” is swimming beneath our feet. 
 
 Old John Brown was summarily tried, convicted, and hanged, but 
 
 his scaffold became the scene of exaltation of a grand self-immolation 
 
 for the uplifting of lowliest man. 
 
 John Brown’s body lay moldering in the ground, 
 
 But his soul went marching on. 
 
 It marched to the South and it marched to the North, and every¬ 
 where it was a gleaming sword summoning the natiqn to the death- 
 struggle of Freedom and Slavery. 
 
 We said that the only question was between Union and Disunion, 
 but we knew in our hearts that the issue was broader than that— 
 that the real issue was Freedom or Slavery, and the hour had come 
 for the nation to choose. 
 
 Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, 
 
 In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side ; 
 
 Some great cause, God’s new Messiah offering each the bloom or blight, 
 
 Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right; 
 
 And the choice goes by forever ’ twixt that darkness and that light. 
 
 Perhaps few men were ever more strongly attached to a party than 
 Logan was to his, but when it came to a question between party and 
 country he knew no such thing as party allegiance. 
 
 The first shot that cleft the stillness of Charleston Harbor as it 
 boomed across the bay against Sumter severed the last tie that bound 
 him to a party he had loved and labored for until he had reached 
 one-half the allotted age of man. In the fierce heat of his patriotism 
 everything that might hold him back from supreme devotion to his 
 country was burned away—utterly consumed. 
 
 He at once resigned his seat in Congress and returned to his State, 
 that those who had looked to him as their political oracle might hear 
 his rallying voice and be held firmly to the cause of the Union. 
 With all the force and intensity of his nature he summoned his old 
 political friends to the standard of his country, and a short time saw 
 him at the head of a volunteer regiment, the Thirty-first Illinois. 
 
 It is no part of my purpose to follow him through the annals of 
 the war. It is a splendid record of patriotism, devotion, courage, 
 and magnificent leadership. 
 
 Belmont, Donelson, Corinth, Champion Hills, Jackson, Raymond, 
 and Vicksburg witnessed his valor and took reflected luster from the 
 gleam of his sword. 
 
136 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Resaca, Kenesaw, Atlanta, and Jonesboro’ are linked with his 
 fame, and in large part owe their glory to his prowess. 
 
 He never elbowed his way to promotion, but promotion came to 
 him almost of necessity. 
 
 The eagle of the colonel gave way to the star on his shoulders 
 after Donelson, and that again was replaced by the double stars of 
 the major-general, and these were but imperfect indices of his 
 growth. 
 
 As a soldier he was the very impersonation of intense energy. 
 Men followed him because they had no choice but follow him. 
 
 He was first of all intensely patriotic; he was as brave as patriotic, 
 and as magnanimous as he was brave. 
 
 He possessed the confidence of his superiors and the enthusiastic 
 love of his soldiers. 
 
 Of his return to Congress after the war and his career here for al¬ 
 most twenty years I have not time to speak. Others have done that 
 far better than I could. But during the four years that I knew 
 him here it seemed to me that his life as a Senator and statesman 
 was but the projecture into another sphere of the traits that made 
 him the splendid soldier that he was — intense patriotism, unlimited 
 courage, strong virile force, honesty that was unassailable, devotion 
 to duty that took little account of consequences to self. 
 
 My acquaintance with General Logan began almost immediately 
 on my arrival at the Capital. The first business brought before the 
 committee on which I had the honor to serve was the case of Fitz- 
 John Porter; and in that connection I was at once brought into con¬ 
 tact with General Logan. I was deeply impressed with the earnest¬ 
 ness of his conviction and the intensity of his feelings, and his utter 
 loathing of what he believed to be a betrayal of trust. As he would 
 speak of it his indignation would flame up, his form would seem to 
 dilate, and his eye would flash as if with the old light of battle, and 
 I could imagine how he would have ridden down the line as he did 
 at Peach Tree Creek, with his black hair streaming on the wind and 
 his battle-blade flashing before his rushing battalions. 
 
 Does any one doubt that Logan was great? Ho one but a great 
 man can fill a continent with his name, can hold a great common¬ 
 wealth in his grasp, can bind unknown millions to him who have 
 never seen his face, so that his loss shall seem to each a personal be¬ 
 reavement. This Logan did. But he is discharged the service of 
 this life—mustered out for promotion. 
 
137 
 
 . Address of Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the devoted patriot, the brave soldier, the courageous 
 statesman, the unsoiled Senator, the devoted husband and father, 
 the soldier’s friend, the peerless volunteer—he shall walk with us 
 here no more. 
 
 The tender flowers we laid upon his coffin on that last sad day of 
 the old year have long since withered and their fragrance passed 
 away. Neither their loveliness nor their perfume had power to hold 
 him back from the dissolution of mortality nor from the corruption 
 of the grave. 
 
 And so with our eulogies to-day. They will fade with the passing 
 hour. “ The world will little note nor long remember what we say 
 here, but it can never forget what he did here.” 
 
 If his fame depended upon this fleeting breath of eulogy it would 
 not be worth the having. His name may save our words from utter 
 oblivion, but all our praise will not prolong his memory by a single 
 day. His fame rests securely in the nation that he loved and helped 
 to save, in the millions of hearts that he taught the priceless lesson 
 of patriotism, in the thousands of homes that he made brighter and 
 happier by his life. 
 
 His voice is silent in your council hall 
 Forever; and whatever tempest lower, 
 
 Forever silent. Even if they broke 
 In thunder, silent; yet remember all 
 He spoke among you, and the man who spoke. 
 
 Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, 
 
 Nor paltered with Eternal God for power. 
 
 Address of Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: I can not speak of General Logan with the kindling 
 glow of personal friendship, or even of political sympathy, that has 
 been the inspiration of many tributes to-day. I knew him but 
 slightly in the occasional contact of public life, and not at all in the 
 intimate relations of private life. To me he was only what he was 
 to the great body of his countrymen—a fellow-citizen, a distinguished 
 fellow-citizen, who, in all the period covered by my memory of po¬ 
 litical affairs, had been a positive figure in the arena of American 
 politics. To give a sketch of his life, however brief, would be to 
 tread a path many times trodden already, and I possess no fund of 
 personal reminiscences from which, on an occasion like this, a speaker 
 
138 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 may appropriately fill in the soft and delicate traits of character 
 unseen in its general outline. 
 
 I must, therefore, speak of General Logan simply as the clear-cut 
 and distinct figure that has so long been familiar to the American 
 people, for I think no one will deny that he stood out with an indi¬ 
 viduality all his own, even in that small class of public men to whom 
 public service is a steady and unbroken career, and not, as it is to 
 most of us, merely a parenthesis in some other calling. What was 
 the trait in General Logan’s character that drew and fastened to 
 him as a permanent possession the favor of his fellow-citizens ? 
 
 Not broad and thoughtful statesmanship, for while there is a grow¬ 
 ing conviction that in this respect he was underrated, still he was not 
 prominent as the author of public policies or of great party measures; 
 not great power in Congressional debate, or magnetic oratory before 
 the people, although he was strong in both; not the unquestioned in¬ 
 tegrity that passed with clean hands through all the temptations and 
 opportunities of place and power, for this was shared by many others 
 among his colleagues both living and dead; not party leadership or 
 ardent party zeal that loved the fray and was happiest when in the 
 thickest of the fight. Concede to him all these traits, some in the 
 fullest, all in a respectable measure, and we must still look beyond 
 them for the chief source of General Logan’s hold upon the favor of 
 his countrymen, the warm attachment of friends, the hearty respect 
 of enemies. 
 
 The cap-stone and crowning virtue of his character was its brave 
 and transparent singleness. He did not walk the stage in the mask 
 of an actor. Men saw his robust virtues and admired them; they 
 likewise saw his faults and forgot them, because he wore them both 
 upon his breast. They believed him to be just what he seemed to 
 be, nothing more and nothing less. 
 
 And thus, Mr. Speaker, he had grown upon his countrymen as one 
 
 who might fitly use as his own the words which Homer puts in the 
 
 mouth of the hero of his Iliad: 
 
 For I hate with perfect hatred, 
 
 Hate him like the gates of hell, 
 
 Who within him one thought harbors 
 While his lips another tell. 
 
 This rare and noble virtue was the key to General Logan’s hold 
 on public favor and his ever-widening popularity. 
 
 But, Mr. Speaker, General Logan was not only, and perhaps not 
 
139 
 
 Address of Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia. 
 
 chiefly, known as a civilian and Senator. When the seed of discord 
 planted, or, rather should I say, consciously and helplessly left in 
 our Federal Constitution by its framers, had, before the lapse of a 
 single century of national existence, under the forcing heat of the 
 slavery struggle, burst into the blood-red flower of civil war, General 
 Logan was among the first, and most eager, to take part in the con¬ 
 flict. Of all the men that went forth from this Capitol, to range 
 themselves on the one or the other side in that Titanic struggle, of 
 all the men that entered either army from civil life, he came back 
 bringing the greenest laurels and having achieved the most unfading 
 glory, and, in the more than twenty years that have since elapsed, 
 the luster of that martial glory added much to his power and influ¬ 
 ence in the councils of his party and of his country. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it is a noteworthy fact that in the memorial services, 
 one week ago in the Senate, no heartier tributes were offered than 
 those which came from men who had met him, not only in the hot 
 contests of partisan strife, but in the fiercer combats of real war. 
 They were sincere tributes of manly men to a manly man. Ah, Mr. 
 Speaker, we glory in our material greatness, our unequaled empire, 
 with its sixty millions of freemen, our growth in wealth, the daz¬ 
 zling sweep of mechanical invention, our cities and railroads and 
 telegraphs; but, sir, let us remember that after all the man is greater 
 than all these, the man is more than the city, more than the rail¬ 
 road or steam-engine, more than the electric telegraph. 
 
 No prouder boast was ever made than that of the old Ithacan, 
 when he said that his little island was “a rough, wild, nurse land, 
 but its crops were men.” 
 
 Was there anything in his life more manly and more pathetic than 
 the prayer that mingled so often with the dying breath and dying 
 thoughts of the successful warrior, when at Mount McGregor he, 
 too, surrendered to a warrior stronger than himself, that prayer for 
 the complete return of harmony and good feeling among his once 
 divided countrymen? When after centuries of stubborn contest the 
 strife between the two orders at Rome had finally ceased, the strife 
 that so often threatened to dissolve the state and quench forever its 
 rising star; and plebeian and patrician, turning from the bitterness 
 of the past and remembering only its glories, joined in the career of 
 greatness that has as yet no counterpart in history, the old warrior 
 Camillus vowed a temple to Concord, and a later generation of Ro¬ 
 mans built that temple, whose remains are yet seen in the forum. 
 
140 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, was not the dying prayer of General Grant such an 
 inspiration, such an injunction, such a vow ? And will not some 
 generation yet to come, it may he sooner than we expect, a genera¬ 
 tion freer from the passions and prejudices of the strife than we dare 
 to he, huild a temple to Concord, and in it place the marhle statues 
 of Grant and Lee, of Stonewall Jackson and Thomas, of Hancock 
 and Stuart, of Hood and Logan, and others not named, some yet 
 among the living ? Then, when future generations of American 
 citizens shall view that temple, though they may possess a higher 
 civilization than we enjoy, a greater material prosperity, and a 
 wealth and invention heyond the vista of our imagination, yet, if 
 they are worthy of the heritage we transmit to them, and equal to 
 the responsibilities and duties which are theirs, they will stand un¬ 
 covered in that presence and exclaim: “We have much that our 
 fathers had not, we know much that our fathers knew not, hut in 
 this august company who can deny that their crops were men. ” 
 
 Address of Mr. Rice, of Massachusetts. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : I bring a tribute from Massachusetts and place it 
 reverently on the grave of Logan. He had not, I believe, a drop of 
 our blood in his veins ; I do not know that he was ever within our 
 borders excepting once or twice briefly in transit. His manners, his 
 method of thought and speech, his political ideas, were not always 
 by any means in accord with ours, yet I venture to say this soldier 
 and statesman of the West, at the time of his death, held the first 
 place in the hearts of the soldiers and common people of Massachu¬ 
 setts, who are her chiefest pride. 
 
 Few men in this age and country combined in so marked degree 
 the characteristics which go to make up personal popularity. His 
 massive frame, his glowing eye, his splendid strength, his undaunted 
 courage would have made a hero of him at any time in any land. 
 He would have “ held the bridge ” with Horatius, “ in the brave days 
 of old;” he would have led, amid clashing swords and spears, the 
 wild warriors who came down from the north to the sack of Rome ; 
 he would have couched lance in battle or in tourney with the tough¬ 
 est of Froissart’s knights. As a patriot soldier he was bravest among 
 the brave. At Belmont, at Donelson, at Vicksburg, at Atlanta, he 
 led where any dared to follow. He never dodged a bullet or turned 
 
Address of Mr. Rice, of Massachusetts. 141 
 
 his face from the front. Had he been called to do it, he would 
 have scaled Wagner by the side of Shaw, or have kept his saddle, 
 as Lowell did in the Valley, after his death wound, to lead one more 
 charge against the breaking but still stubborn foe. 
 
 To these splendid physical traits he added a self-culture, a cool¬ 
 ness of judgment, and a power and quickness of comprehension 
 which made him a consummate general. At the first signal from 
 Manassas he marched out of Washington as a common soldier with 
 a musket on his shoulder. Four years later, the war all over, he rode 
 back in triumph a major-general at the head of the proud Army of 
 the Tennessee. Had this been all, when he died a grateful nation 
 would have kept vigil at his bier, for a mighty.man had fallen ; the 
 beauty of the land lay dead in her high places. 
 
 But this was not all. By the sword peace had been won, but 
 peace as well as war was to have work and triumphs for Logan. 
 For more than twenty years he served in Congress, making his way 
 by force of will, by clearness of judgment, by appreciation of pop¬ 
 ular instincts, and by honesty of purpose and action in such a degree 
 that at his death his fame as a Senator was scarcely eclipsed by his 
 old fame as a soldier. 
 
 Logan was born poor and died poor. Perhaps he never knew the 
 grinding poverty through which Lincoln and Webster and Garfield 
 passed, but he had to make his own way in the world and earn his 
 own bread. He was not much versed in the learning of the schools, 
 but he learned readily with his eyes and ears, and few men in the 
 Senate knew how to use the English language more correctly and 
 effectively. Had he been born rich, had he been trained in the cur¬ 
 riculum of the universities, he could never have been Logan. Not 
 down from the heights, but up through tribulation and toil and suf¬ 
 fering come the leaders of a free people, the founders, the guardians, 
 the saviors of free institutions. Wealth is a good thing; we all want 
 it; education a better; all should seek it. But wealth and education 
 in these days have their dangers. The gilded youth who dawdle out 
 their little lives in the clubs and streets of city life either die unknown 
 and unseen or are rudely jostled when they come in contact with the 
 actualities of life. Let them take thought lest they be handicapped 
 by what ought to help. Only hard work of hand and of head will 
 make Logans. Unless ahalt is soon called in wasteful extravagance, 
 in servile imitation of foreign customs, in selfish living, the time will 
 
142 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 come when it will be easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye 
 than for a rich man to find a seat in the high places of popular confi¬ 
 dence and trust. Logan —the poor man, the hard-working man—was 
 full of popular sympathies. As a general he always cared for his sol¬ 
 diers; as a legislator the humblest and poorest were the ones he strove 
 first to serve. He never cringed to the wealthy and powerful that 
 thrift might follow fawning. He was a true gentleman, not polished 
 in the ways of the courtier, or refined in the finesses of social life. 
 Had he lived in the days of chivalry he would not very much have 
 graced his lady’s bower, or have sung very softly troubadour lays un¬ 
 der her lattice, but he would have leaped into the lion’s den or the 
 raging whirpool to win and wear her glove; he would have faced 
 any odds in defense of her honor. Bluff, hearty, honest, he never 
 sought to conceal, and he could not deceive. 
 
 Logan was a manly man. He knew his own merits, and that they 
 were not always fully recognized and rewarded; but he accepted 
 what came to him, not always, perhaps, quite patiently, but with no 
 abatement of patriotic ardor and effort. “ Greater is he who ruleth 
 his own spirit than he who taketh a city.” This fiery, passionate 
 man could control himself. He could watch and direct the move¬ 
 ments of a great army, forgetting none of the duties of a general, 
 while his blood was boiling with the excitement of a common soldier 
 in the fierce joy of battle. He could, and repeatedly did, accept the 
 second place when he felt that the first was his by right. 
 
 All his life he was a public man. From law, from all private busi¬ 
 ness, he turned away. He was not ashamed to seek and hold office. 
 In youth, clerk of courts, member of the legislature, member of 
 Congress, the army, and then legislator and statesman to the end. 
 He did not consider it a mean ambition to strive to gain favor and 
 distinction in the public service. I do not believe that he was ashamed 
 when called a politician, or that he thought it a thing for which to 
 apologize that he sought to be true to his friends and to help those to 
 offices for which they were fitted who had helped him to rise. I pre¬ 
 sume he felt that a man who is willing to do honest work has as good 
 a right to seek it in public service as elsewhere, and that he deserves 
 credit rather than ridicule and hostile criticism for being willing to 
 accept and perform the duties of public office. 
 
 He gave his whole life to these duties; not its dregs, not what was 
 left after he had achieved success in a profession, or a fortune in 
 
143 
 
 Address of Mr. Caswell, of Wisconsin. 
 
 trade, but accepted, as long as he should live, comparative poverty, 
 hard work, obloquy, the abuse of rivals, and the misrepresentations 
 of those who were incapable of comprehending his character and his 
 aims for the privilege of serving his country in the manner he had 
 chosen. I declare his life to have been quite as worthy and honor¬ 
 able as that of the men who follow their own selfish pursuits and 
 sneer at politics and politicians while they busily ply their muck¬ 
 rakes to make their piles of dirty wealth a little larger. All honor 
 and praise to the man who is ready to give to his country a life of 
 hard and honest work, and is not ashamed to be pointed at as an 
 office-holder and politician for so doing. Let the young men of the 
 country be encouraged by the example of Logan and learn that 
 there is no higher ambition than to fill worthily positions of public 
 trust. 
 
 Logan was a strong man. He never counted his friends or his 
 foes. He knew his own position, and if he could not win others to 
 it he was ready to defend it alone. 
 
 He is dead—dead in the maturity of his strength and the plenitude 
 of his powers—but his example lives. He has won a high place in 
 our national Pantheon; his name will live in history; his memory is 
 a precious legacy to those whom he has left behind him. Is this all? 
 Has the strong man utterly passed away? Stands he no longer as a 
 tower of strength for refuge and defense? Hot so. It can not be. 
 The bugle-call should not sound “lights out” at his tomb. His light 
 is not out; though invisible to us, it still shines. Somewhere in the 
 infinite realm of immortal life the great spirit still lives, clad in the 
 panoply of a rich and well-improved earthly experience, ready for 
 such service at any time and anywhere as opportunity shall offer 
 and Omnipotence appoint. 
 
 Address of Mr. Caswell, of Wisconsin. 
 
 s 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Again it has become our duty, as it is our pleasure, 
 to add a tribute of respect to the merpory of a distinguished public 
 servant—one whose name has long been engraven upon the history 
 of this country. We have put aside the business of the day that we 
 may bear testimony to his great worth and excellence. 
 
 John A. Logan was neighbor to the people of my State. He was 
 loved and esteemed by them as if he had been one of their number. 
 
144 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 His greai public service bad brought him. in contact with them, and, 
 in fact, with the people everywhere in the Northwest, where he 
 spent the most of his life. He had learned their wishes, and had re¬ 
 sponded in a way that met their approval. In one sense we are but 
 creatures of the present hour; it is but a question of time for most 
 men to pass away even from the memory of their contemporaries, 
 but such was not the destiny of John A. Logan. He lived for a 
 better purpose, and he will live on, while millions pass behind the 
 veil to be heard of no more. 
 
 God gave Logan a talent and force of character seldom found 
 among men. 
 
 Born in humble life, he passed through the school of experience 
 on his upward journey. He thus learned to feel the wants and ne¬ 
 cessities of the common people. His self-education taught him les¬ 
 sons not easily forgotten. The life he led in his early days gave 
 him much strength and popularity among his fellows. 
 
 Every country must have its leaders. The cares of state rest upon 
 official heads, but principle and sentiment are nursed and crystal¬ 
 lized by, those unburdened with official work. 
 
 A cohntry like this, where gather people from every nation of the 
 globe, uniting under one flag, having in view the formation of a 
 government for their mutual protection, must have leaders—men 
 who advise, direct, and command for the common good. 
 
 Logan was a natural leader, both as a soldier and as a statesman. 
 He had few equals in either sphere, and still less in the two com¬ 
 bined. It is difficult to determine in which character he excelled 
 most. In either he served his country nobly and well. 
 
 As a soldier he was fearless; was as gallant as he was brave, as 
 generous as he was firm. 
 
 In the House of Representatives, and afterwards in the Senate, he 
 was the author and advocate of measures of great national interest. 
 He took front rank as a legislator, always advocating whatever he 
 believed to be right and for the interest of the people. If he erred, 
 it was an error of the head and not of the heart. 
 
 When the late war broke out he was not politically identified with 
 the administration then in power. He was not in harmony with the 
 party that had its conduct and responsibility. But his love for the 
 old flag that had once led him to victory, his devotion and loyalty 
 to the country that had given him birth, lifted him far above party, 
 
Address of Mr. Caswell , of Wisconsin. 
 
 145 
 
 its ties or prejudice. It was enough for him that his country was in 
 peril. Whatever party could suppress the rebellion was the party 
 of John A. Logan. 
 
 The memories of his youth when he marched in triumph to the 
 capital of Mexico revived his love and devotion for his country, 
 and again he was found in the front ranks of our Army. He went 
 to battle not as a stranger, but with a practical experience that well 
 fitted him for duty. We had generals trained in the arts of war, 
 men of experience, educated for the purpose, men with commissions 
 and arms already in line. But these were not sufficient. Our coun¬ 
 try called for volunteers. With them and the millions behind them 
 everything was possible; without them, nothing. General Logan 
 was the representative of that element. He was early in the field. 
 Thousands followed him, and the Union Army was swollen to enor¬ 
 mous proportions. These were the soldiery that saved the Union; 
 without them it could never have been saved. It matters little 
 whether Logan was always right or seldom wrong, the ends which 
 he gained hide from view the manner in which they were accom¬ 
 plished. His military career was a success, and history will record 
 him as a great leader of men. 
 
 When the war was over he turned again to the pursuits of civil 
 life, but he could not long remain a student of his own affairs. He 
 saw before him a disordered Government and a suffering people, a 
 people who had claims upon the country they had saved. He obeyed 
 the summons that sent him to the national Capitol. Here he made a 
 record of which we are proud, a record that places him with those 
 whose names will be revered by generations yet to come. 
 
 As an orator General Logan had few superiors. His force and logic 
 gave emphasis to his easy flow of language, and he carried conviction 
 with marvelous success. He was industrious, a close student, and 
 deep thinker. Fearlessly he approached his subject and pressed it 
 upon his hearers with great force and eloquence. 
 
 For many years he has been the acknowledged friend of the Union 
 soldier. The man who had spent his vigor and was wasting away 
 or who was wounded or maimed found in him a most earnest advo¬ 
 cate. He treated such as the wards of the nation. His sympathetic 
 heart felt the sacrifice they had made that our country might live. 
 He believed in them and in their patriotism when they risked their 
 lives and went to the field. He would have placed the strong arm 
 10 L 
 
146 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 of the Government about them and stayed them up in their declining 
 years. For these men his liberality had no limit, 
 
 The year which has just passed has laid to rest some of the grand¬ 
 est men of our time. The angel of death has selected from the wisest 
 and the best. Among them no one will be mourned more than he 
 of whom we speak to-day. He was known and red of by all men, by 
 the young and the old. In every State, in every city and town, the 
 name of JoHif A. Logan is dear to those who love their country and 
 its defenders. 
 
 His death carries sorrow and grief into the homes of the millions, 
 and they join ns to-day in these words of praise. 
 
 His great service as a soldier in two wars, his distinguished ability 
 as a statesman, his power and eloquence upon the rostrum, his devo¬ 
 tion to the poor and the suffering have made him dear to the Ameri¬ 
 can people, and he will be remembered and loved as the great soldier 
 statesman by generations yet to come. 
 
 Address of Mr. O’Hara, of North Carolina. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : The man who so conducts the order of his life that 
 when the summons comes bidding him join the majority beyond, and 
 leave vacant his chair at the family board, the social circle, or the 
 nation’s council, where he was wont to be met, as to leave behind him 
 indelibly impressed upon his age marks or traits of character worthy 
 of emulation, that man has not lived in vain ; the world and his fel¬ 
 lows are benefited by his being. And such a life may fitly be said to 
 be like unto “ a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth 
 forth his fruit in his season, whose leaves shall not wither,” and 
 whom no evil can befall, whether he be alive or dead. 
 
 Sir, when the history of our times shall come to be written by the 
 just and impartial historian the order of a life as I have just de¬ 
 scribed will be accredited to the late General John A. Logan. 
 
 To-day the House of Representatives pauses and for the time being 
 sets aside the work of legislation that must for weal or woe affect 
 the living, and with bowed heads and hearts filled with sympathy 
 face the stern realities of death, and recognize that a great light has 
 gone out from among the nation’s counsellors, no more to raise his 
 voice in defense of right, or lift an arm to strike a blow in behalf of 
 justice and protection to the weak and humble poor, who from every 
 

 Address of Mr. O'Hara, of North Carolina. 147 
 
 city, village, and hamlet in the land bewail his loss, and join with 
 us at this hour in placing to his memory from the storehouse of 
 thought ointments of sweet-smelling savor, mingled with fragrant 
 flowers, plucked from the garden of kindness, sown by the noble 
 deeds of him whom they called friend. Sir, my acquaintance with 
 the late Senator Logan was not such an one as would entitle me to 
 speak of his many great and noble qualities as father, husband, or 
 friend, or soldier. This I leave for those who enjoyed a place in his 
 social circle, and whose contact with him in every-day life gave them 
 the opportunities to speak as they have of him in that regard. 
 
 Hence in the brief remarks that I shall submit I will speak of the 
 illustrious dead from that portion of his life that shines forth with 
 such effulgency as to strike the admiration of all, whether friend or 
 foe. Sir, if there was any one trait of that strong character that ap¬ 
 peared stronger than the other it was his great love for his country 
 and the deep and abiding faith that his country was destined by God 
 himself to be that country in which liberty in its broadest and most 
 comprehensive term should find its greatest fulfillment. It was, sir, 
 this love of country that made him search after truth, and when 
 found, according to the lights before him he disregarded party tenets 
 or dictation ; yea, even the counsel of friends if they in the least ap¬ 
 peared to jar with what his reason and his heart suggested to be for 
 the interest of his wdiole country. He may be charged by those who 
 are accustomed blindly to follow leadership, or to look only upon the 
 surface for results, of being sometimes harsh and impetuous with 
 those who did not agree with him. Yet, sir, such, if they would 
 delve deep for causes and effects, will find that such a nature as his, 
 accustomed to reach results by direct reasoning with truth, avoiding 
 ingenious methods, could have no patience nor tolerance for that 
 sophistry which would endeavor to make the worst appear the better 
 reason ; and having himself a strong and determined will, abject 
 submission to the will or dictation of others when in conflict with 
 what he believed right could not be understood or appreciated by 
 him. 
 
 No greater example of love for one’s country can be found than 
 Logan’s patriotic act when he exchanged a seat upon this floor for 
 a common soldier’s lot amid the stern realities and severity of camp 
 life wdien the well-being of his country was threatened, the Union 
 endangered, and sound to arms for the right was heard all over the 
 
148 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 land. How well lie kept that pledge he then made let the answer 
 be given by the fifty-two well-fought battles in which he was suc¬ 
 cessfully engaged from July 21, 1861, to April 26, 1865. 
 
 It was in that great struggle of arms, when reason had resigned her 
 throne to force, and slavery, with its attendant evils of prejudice and 
 malcontent, demanded a larger recognition .than it then shared, or a 
 dismembered Union, that General Logan saw that his country’s great- • 
 ness and happiness could only be permanently secured by plucking 
 from her escutcheon the degraded ensignia of human slavery. 
 
 As the effulgent blaze of this great truth flashed upon his mental 
 vision he quickly disregarded the teachings and erroneous doctrines 
 of his youth, and swiftly, without apology or excuse, espoused the 
 cause of liberty for all men under the Constitution of our common 
 country. Others might have halted to consider consequences, or 
 been laggards in the race, endeavoring for policy’s sake to find or 
 render excuses for a change in their opinion and action, but to 
 Logan’s noble nature excuse or apology was unnecessary ; to dare to 
 do right with the lights before him was enough, and none dared to 
 question the sincerity of his motives or action. General Logan 
 engaged in the conflict of arms to preserve the Union of States with 
 a belief that the Dred Scott decision was right and just; he came 
 from that conflict with a greater love for his country and the Union 
 of States, but with a firm belief that the black man should have the 
 same rights and protection under our Constitution and laws that all 
 other men had and enjoyed. As he loved his country when her laws 
 recognized property in man, he adored her with an infinite adora¬ 
 tion when all her children were acknowledged equals before her laws. 
 If in the ranks as an humble follower before, now he assumed a 
 leadership which was gladly accorded him. 
 
 From the day he doffed his military garb and assumed his position 
 in civil life he boldly proclaimed on every occasion by word and 
 deed that the nation’s strength was securest and best when all her 
 children enjoyed the full benefit of equal laws, justly and impartially 
 administered, and for his party he would discharge his full duty to 
 God, his country, and humanity. 
 
 Deeds like these will live in song and story and be recounted when 
 and wherever the bards or historians gather to recite noble deeds 
 for the emulation of the youth of this or any other land. Next to 
 General Logan’s great love for his country was his love and vener- 
 
Address of Mr. Goff , of West Virginia. 149 
 
 ation for his comrades in arms, a love and veneration so pure and 
 holy that it blessed both him that gave and him that received, so 
 that when the dread summons came that bade that noble soul sunder 
 the golden cord of life and leave its cerements of clay, to put off 
 mortality and put on immortality, every one of his late comrades in 
 . arms felt that not only their great volunteer leader had crossed the 
 river invisible to mortal view, but also that a friend, an advocate, 
 and, yea, almost a father, had been taken from them. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, this ceremony is not solely in honor of the dead, 
 for neither— , : 
 
 Can storied urn, or animated bust, 
 
 Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? 
 
 Can honor’s voice provoke the silent dust, 
 
 Or flatt’ry soothe the dull cold ear of death ? 
 
 • 
 
 But, sir, it is that the lesson of this noble life, ended so suddenly, 
 yet filled with honor and usefulness, may be emphasized and adorned 
 as far as we are able to emphasize and adorn it; that the same love 
 of country, love for one’s fellow, may be held up as a noble exam¬ 
 ple to those who may come after us, and that posterity may know 
 that the American Republic has and can produce heroes equal to if 
 not surpassing in valor, fidelity, and patriotism the fabled heroes of 
 ancient Greece or Rome. With full measure the lesson comes to ns 
 that— 
 
 The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
 
 And all that beauty, all that wealth, e’er gave, 
 
 Await alike the inevitable hour ; • 
 
 The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 
 
 Address of Mr. Goff, of West Virginia. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : We honor ourselves in honoring the memory of 
 John A. Logan. Nothing that we can say or do to-day can add to 
 nor detract from the renown of onr distinguished dead, for it is no less 
 than fame proclaims it, and it could be no greater than it is. Those 
 who knew him well will cherish their recollections of him through 
 life, and the nation in whose interests he lived, for whose supremacy 
 he contended, will, in chiseled marble and enduring bronze, cause 
 him to speak with lips that will move not, yet talk, to those who 
 loved him in life, who sincerely mourn him in death, and to millions 
 innumerable of those who, coming with the generations yet unborn, 
 
150 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 will honor his patriotism, his honesty, his sterling worth, and will 
 worship at the shrine of human liberty, at which he knelt with all 
 the earnestness of his grand manhood. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, General Logan was the idol of the citizen soldiery 
 of the war for the Union, and he was worthy of their admiration, 
 for he was as grand as his cause and as true as steel. It is not dis¬ 
 paragement to our grand galaxy of volunteer heroes to say that 
 among the many he was the one. As the magnificent image of the 
 Christ-God in the great cathedral of Monreale dominates the im¬ 
 mensity of the building, as Pallas ruled supreme in the Parthenon, 
 and Zeus in his Olympian temple, so does the name of Logan alone 
 transcendental stand among that throng of heroes, dominating as 
 with a single impulse the hearts of those who, neglecting all pur¬ 
 suits, abandoning all professions, leaving home, wife, children, all, 
 of every creed and all parties, marched under the banner of the 
 Union “into the very jaws of death” and tasted of the bitter dregs 
 of the cup of sorrow and of pain in order that republican institu¬ 
 tions might not perish from the face of the earth. 
 
 General Logan lived in an eventful period and died in the full¬ 
 ness of his glory. He was an active participant in the memorable 
 struggles that will render the ninteenth century famous in battle 
 and in history. He was no laggard in the strife, but he was always 
 to the front with the banner in his hands. He was determined in 
 his purposes, sincere in his convictions, and grand in his achieve¬ 
 ments. Contending for republican government, he lived to see the 
 Constitution of his country cleansed of impurities and firmly estab¬ 
 lished on the eternal principles of truth and justice. He was a dev¬ 
 otee at the shrine of human liberty, and he lived to see all men free. 
 He believed in the education of the people, and he lived to see his 
 country blessed with the grandest system of free universal educa¬ 
 tion that a propitious Providence has ever permitted the children of 
 men to enjoy. With all the earnestness of his impulsive nature did 
 he love the starry banner of our independence, the emblem of our 
 nation’s power, and he lived to see it typify, at last, all that is great 
 in human action, all that is grand in human thought. 
 
 It is not laudation for us to say that in all these stirring scenes 
 and wonderful changes he played a leader’s part and that he stamped 
 his strong individuality on these pages, so grandly written in the 
 book of our history. It is but common justice for us to concede it. 
 
Address of Mr. Osborne, of Pennsylvania. 151 
 
 He is dead; he has gone. It seems hut yesterday that he was here, 
 that we welcomed him with the cordial greeting he always received, 
 and to which he was always entitled, and now the places that have 
 known him so long and so well will see him not again forever, and 
 yet he will live here for all time. He will be with ns, Mr. Speaker, 
 while we tarry, and he will stay after we have gone. . His is one of 
 those illustrious lives that death can not destroy. 
 
 Loving husband, kind father, honored statesman, grand soldier, 
 true friend, honest man, may your sleep in the quiet city of the dead 
 be the rest of those who, 
 
 Sustained and soothed 
 
 By an unfaltering trust, approach their grave 
 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
 
 ^ About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams; 
 
 and may the boundless mercy of the lowly Nazarene, who gave us 
 the precepts of your true and Christian life, and who, as the Christ 
 King, washed all your sins away, save you to the eternal glories of 
 the heavenly kingdom; that such a life and such a death as yours 
 proclaim must be. 
 
 Address of Mr. Osborne, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: We come to pay tribute to the memory of John A. 
 Logan, whose name has rung through the world and won its meed 
 of praise. 
 
 Living men may contemplate his character and draw from it les¬ 
 sons of purest virtue and loftiest patriotism. His whole career was 
 a bright example of unselfish devotion to duty. 
 
 Indeed the Republic drew profit from his life. In centuries to 
 come, amid the grandeur of its power and the unclouded splendor of 
 its renown, the historian of our country will point to Logan as one 
 who did much in his day to save the Republic from death. 
 
 Sounding words can not tell the strength of mind, the physical 
 courage, the daring and fortitude that made up his character. When 
 he led our flag to victory and gave to glory and to fame the fields on 
 which armies struggled, when amid the carnage of the hour he rode 
 along his line, suffering with pain from bleeding wounds, inspiring 
 his troops with his own brave spirit, until like a restless wave they 
 swept away every obstacle, the selfish and ungenerous may have 
 spoken unkindly of him, but now that he is beyond the reach of am- 
 
♦ 
 
 152 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 bition the man does not live who would have the name of John A, 
 Logan forgotten. His is a name that the world will not willingly 
 let die. He needs no splendid arches of victory, no monumental pile 
 pointing toward heaven and covered all over with the story of his 
 deeds to perpetuate his memory, for he is enshrined in the hearts of 
 the people, there to remain as long as a sentiment of justice is felt 
 or a chord of sympathetic virtue vibrates in a human heart. 
 
 Address of Mr. Payson, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Death with equal pace knocks at the palaces of the 
 rich and the cabins of the poor. 
 
 So often, and oh! how sadly, has this Congress been reminded of 
 the uncertainty of human life in the removal of members; and how 
 many conspicuous in national affairs have been taken in a few brief 
 months! 
 
 Chief among them all was he whose death has occasioned this 
 meeting. It is held not as an exhibition of personal grief or sadness, 
 but as a formal recognition of, and a sincere tribute to, honest worth, 
 to duty well performed; due in justice to his memory, coming from 
 those who knew him in his public career, the record of which will 
 prove an incentive to emulation to those who are left and are yet to 
 come. 
 
 The time, therefore, taken in the pause in the hurry and bustle of 
 the business of legislation in stating estimates of the character and 
 eulogies—considerate always, if not tender and loving—of departed 
 brothers is not unprofitably spent. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, General Logan was my friend, and I perform a sad 
 duty to the memory of one whose good will and confidence was so 
 prized in his lifetime by me when I attempt to add a single leaf to 
 the garland of tribute which shall be rendered to him and his mem¬ 
 ory this day. 
 
 I am aware too, sir, that nothing that we say or do here will add 
 to the sense of the appreciation of the American people of General 
 Logan, of his excellent character, his splendid record as a husband 
 and father, a citizen, a soldier, a statesman, a friend. 
 
 The task of giving the details of his wonderful military career I 
 leave to those who know from personal experience its history and its 
 success. 
 
153 
 
 \ 
 
 Address of Mr. Payson, of Illinois. . 
 
 The fortune of assignment in these ceremonies absolves me from 
 the propriety of reciting the successes of his civil life, as these have 
 been so well stated by those who have preceded me, and further ref¬ 
 erence would be only repetition. And so I speak of him as my 
 friend; as I knew him; as he impressed himself upon me; as a man 
 whose life was devoted to the public good, as it was spent almost 
 wholly in the public service. 
 
 His chief characteristic to me was his earnestness in whatever he 
 was engaged. His devotion to his friends was conspicuous for its 
 intensity. His love for the soldiers of the civil war—his companions 
 in arms—was best evidenced by his labors for their interests and by 
 their affection for him. His affection for his State was as that of the 
 Roman for “the city of seven hills.” Duty, honor, and integrity 
 were Active principles in his daily life, and he squared his conduct 
 by their requirements. In his affections he was generous and ardent; 
 his bravery, his courage was always conspicuous; true in his nature 
 and of gentle heart, and magnanimous in all his dealings. 
 
 Patriotism with him was more than a sentiment; it was a deep- 
 seated principle. 
 
 Love of country, its institutions, its Constitution, and its laws, 
 was his inspiration from the days of his early manhood. 
 
 To insincerity he was a stranger; to him conviction carried with 
 it the sense of duty to follow it; and with his bravery, his frankness, 
 no one was ever in ignorance as to his position on any question. To 
 such a degree was this carried that at times his position in his party 
 was hazarded by fearless assertion of his ideas of right as opposed 
 to those of mere temporary policy or expediency. 
 
 His support of friend or measure was never half-hearted or grudg¬ 
 ing, and his opposition was always earnest, vigorous, and determined. 
 
 He was generous to a fault; though of strong will, sometimes 
 regarded as stubborn and imperious, yet this grew out of the intensity 
 of his nature, and was always subordinated to his keen sense of right. 
 
 General Logan was a born leader. He was endowed by nature 
 with all the attributes and qualities for such a position. Believing 
 that his party was right because its principles and policy were so 
 largely shaped by him, with his energy and dash, his vigor and ear¬ 
 nestness, his intellectual power and breadth of mind vested him with 
 the right, as well as the ability, to command the following which he 
 had in our State as well as in national affairs. 
 
 I 
 
154 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 He had the aggressiveness which always comes from a true courage. 
 
 Not gifted with the arts of the mere rhetorician, yet the masses 
 of the people were always deeply moved and largely controlled by 
 his earnest appeals; he had an eloquence which always accompanies 
 intense convictions, and which always made itself felt where smoother 
 phrases would have failed. 
 
 His intensity and devotion to his own party, leading to his vigorous 
 assaults upon the other, made him often the target of calumny, but all 
 shafts of slander fell idle and harmless, injuring only the originators. 
 
 He was above them all; the slanders of political campaigns ended 
 with them; no friend was ever weakened by them; he rested then, as 
 now, above them all, “in the eternal sunshine of a perpetual fame.” 
 
 He was ambitious; he was stimulated by the success which he at¬ 
 tained, because deserved, to reach the highest position of honor and 
 trust in the nation; and his friends cherished the confident hope 
 that, had his life been spared, he would have attained that. 
 
 His life was a success. Born of the common people, without early 
 advantages of education or scholarly association, earning successive 
 promotions by the favor of the people, with their confidences and 
 trusts he reached the Senate of the United States, the highest point 
 in political preferment in the nation but one. 
 
 He died the deserved possessor of these honors and left his family 
 that best of heritage, a reputation untarnished, an integrity unim¬ 
 paired, and a feeling on the part of the whole people that the loss in 
 his death was one common to all. 
 
 Of him it may be truly said : 
 
 » 
 
 Divinely gifted man, 
 
 W hose life in low estate began, 
 
 And on a simple village green; 
 
 Who breaks his birth’s invidious bars, 
 
 And grasps the skirts of happy chance 
 And breasts the blows of circumstance, 
 
 And grapples with his evil stars; 
 
 Who makes by force his merit known, 
 
 And lives to clutch the golden keys 
 To mold a mighty State’s decrees, 
 
 And shape the whisper of the throne ; 
 
 And moving up from high to higher, 
 
 Becomes, on fortune’s crowning slope, 
 
 The pillar of a people’s hope, 
 
 The center of a world’s desire. 
 
Address of Mr. Brady , of Virginia. 
 
 155 
 
 Address of Mr. Brady, of Virginia. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Tlie heart that would not be sad and the eye that 
 would not be dim while memory in its many forms clusters around 
 the dead patriot, soldier, and statesman in whose honor the nation’s 
 Representatives are to-day assembled must be hard and dry indeed. 
 
 Amid grief so deep and so universal no words of mine can fitly 
 portray the sorrow of the volunteer soldiers of the war for the main¬ 
 tenance of the Union over the irreparable loss of their grand chieftain. 
 The heart speaks loudest when the lips will not move. 
 
 John A. Logan was regarded as national property. His genius, 
 his virtues, his great services in peace and in war, were esteemed a 
 part of the inheritance of the whole people. Bold and direct in his 
 opinions and actions, however they were sustained or combated, he 
 was nevertheless admired by all for his great abilities as he was hon¬ 
 ored and respected for his purity of character. His fame was national, 
 and his loss has been felt as national. The whole country, not only 
 his State which loved and honored him, mourns over his sad death. 
 The evidences of genuine sorrow in all sections of our country, when 
 his demise was announced, indicates a strong national sympathy, a 
 bond of union which political differences cannot weaken, much less 
 destroy. 
 
 General Logan was at the top among the great heroes of the Union 
 during and since the war; he won immortality on the field and in the 
 forum; he had impressed himself upon the age, and he is missed as 
 a shining light extinguished in the darkest hour of the night. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, “the chevalier of the army of the West, without 
 stain and without reproach,” John A. Logan, was the son of an Irish 
 rebel of ’98. It has been said that he was of Scotch ancestry, but this 
 is a mistake. General Logan himself, at the reception given in his 
 honor by the citizens of Virginia City, Nev., on his return from the 
 last national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic held 
 at San Francisco, in answer to a question in relation to his ancestry, 
 publicly declared that there was not a drop of Indian blood in his 
 veins, that his father was a pure Irishman, and that although his 
 mother was born in the State of North Carolina, her father and 
 mother were both pure Irish. Dr. John Logan, General Logan’s 
 father, was very active as the associate in Ireland of Wolfe Tone and 
 
156 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 other Irish rebels in the organization of the United Irishmen of ’98, 
 and on account of this activity he was forced to leave the land of his 
 forefathers and come to this country. Dr. Logan and the other Irish 
 rebels of ’98 were inspired by the noble deeds of patriotic Irishmen in 
 our Revolutionary war. 
 
 The fame and the glory of their countrymen, Jeremiah O’Brien 
 and General Sullivan, Commodore Barry and General Pickens, 
 General Stark and the Rutledges, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, 
 and Anthony Wayne, Sergeant Jasper and General Richard Mont¬ 
 gomery, General Knox and Charles Thompson, and many others, 
 was upon the lips and deep in the hearts of the ’98 men at home, and 
 the Irish blood, so freely shed in America’s battles for liberty, had 
 taken root upon Irish soil. And so it was that John A. Logan in¬ 
 herited from his Irish father that love for the Union, patriotism, and 
 devotion to civil liberty which made him famous among Americans, 
 and which, at the outbreak of the recent war, naturally led him to 
 declare for the preservation of this glorious Union, and impelled him 
 to shoulder his musket and to fight for Liberty and Union to the 
 finish. 
 
 I shall not recount the splendid story of his life. His deeds in war 
 and in peace have gained for him imperishable renown. 
 
 I, myself, the son of an Irishman, may be pardoned for referring 
 to General Logan’s ancestry, and to the part the race from which he 
 descended took, not only in our Revolutionary struggle, but also in 
 our late terrible conflict for the Union. As Andrew Jackson fought 
 at New Orleans, McDonough at Lake Champlain, Shields and Rielly 
 in the Mexican war, so did the Irish regiments, the Irish brigade, 
 and the Irish legion perform deeds of valor unsurpassed in the recent 
 war. Who among the surviving veterans of the Union can ever 
 forget Logan and Sheridan, Harney and Mulligan, Kearney and 
 Hayes, Baker, French, McCall, Corcoran, Meagher, and thousands 
 of other gallant Irish and Irish-American soldiers who fought and 
 died that the nation might live. Alas! John A. Logan, the foremost 
 general of volunteers, is dead. I think I can hear some comrade say, 
 “ Would that he had fallen on the battlefield with the flag he loved 
 so well waving over him, and the shout of triumph ringing in his 
 ears.” No; his task at the close of the war was only half finished. 
 He has since bravely fought on other battlefields, and in the press of 
 the continued conflict he conquered peace, prosperity, and happiness 
 for his country. His journey from the cradle to the grave is done. 
 
Address of Mr. Hitt, of Illinois. 
 
 157 
 
 Brave, gallant, honest, noble-hearted Logan tenderly loved the 
 Boys in Blue. Beloved leader, faithful, steadfast friend, they will 
 never forget you. Veterans of the Union Army, and old soldiers of 
 the Mexican War, it is manly to weep and to mourn over the grave 
 of General Logan, for your most devoted, your most powerful friend 
 and advocate in the councils of the nation is no more. 
 
 He it was that originated the beautiful memorial services over the 
 graves of the soldier dead. Crippled veterans and stalwart soldiers, 
 aged mothers—ye, whose sons were sacrificed upon the country’s bat¬ 
 tlefields—broken-hearted widows, comrades of the Grand Army and 
 Loyal Legion, sons and daughters of the Boys in Blue, upon each ob¬ 
 servance of that day gather the most beautiful, the most fragrant 
 flowers of May and deck the grave of John A. Logan. 
 
 Address of Mr. Hitt, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: The death of General Logan has suddenly removed 
 the greatest of the volunteers who survived. The shock of surprise 
 and sorrow was scarcely greater here, where we suddenly missed him 
 from each day’s action, than it was throughout the whole country ^ 
 so closely was he knit to the hearts of tens of thousands who watched 
 from day to day all that he did — and he did more than other men 
 all the time. His abrupt taking off in the midst of greatest activity 
 was something akin to falling in battle; for there was no sign of 
 coming age or decaying strength in his thick jet-black hair, his keen 
 eye, and his powerful frame that stood four-square to all the winds 
 that blow. He was, as he looked, a hearty man, of sturdy, tenacious, 
 Scotch-Irish stock. He drew his blood from positive, independent 
 characters, both father and mother. 
 
 The surroundings in which his youth was passed tested and devel¬ 
 oped these qualities. He was of a good family. The people and 
 events where he lived were much like those around Lincoln, and the 
 two men had many qualities in common, owing largely to their sim¬ 
 ilar surroundings. One was an aversion to all affectations. Direct¬ 
 ness and simplicity in action, directness in expression marked both 
 these men. In all their utterances quotations, however pretty and 
 tempting, rarely had a place; and in their action, from first to last 
 in their long careers, each step was determined by an independent 
 and singularly clear j udgment. Discipline of mind had been attained. 
 
158 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 not in the great academies, but in tbe intensity of application to 
 affairs, to tbe problems of daily existence, that from tbe beginning 
 insured success in tbe constant struggles of life. They were bard 
 students, learning tbe lesson of each day perfectly to apply it at once 
 to action. 
 
 Logan commenced bis life in the fashion so common to ambitious 
 young men in our country — studying law and soon striking off into 
 politics. Within a year from the time be commenced studying law 
 be was so practical a politician, and so successful, that he was elected 
 county clerk. Still working at the law, studying for awhile in tbe 
 Louisville University, and still diverging into politics with each op¬ 
 portunity, he reached the legislature when just past his twenty-fifth 
 year, and then for awhile became prosecuting attorney. There are 
 several gentlemen on this floor who can remember well the reputa¬ 
 tion he so rapidly gained as a dashing, aggressive criminal lawyer— 
 the untiring energy with which he tried a case. He soon became 
 one of the Democratic leaders in the legislature, and, still a young 
 man, in 1859, came to this body. 
 
 I vividly remember him at that time when, I believe, he was the 
 youngest member of the Illinois delegation, full of strength and 
 youth, and of a hearty defiant nature, always ready for work, quick 
 to help in a measure with all his might, and prompt to meet blow for 
 blow with all his zeal and force in every contest. Logan did not 
 then take as wide views of public questions as in after life, but what 
 he saw he saw in complete clearness, and in his devotion to his po¬ 
 litical views accepting all their consequences with a boldness and 
 sincerity that looked like audacity. He had both moral and physical 
 courage, and he quickly showed it after he came here in that stormy 
 Congress. It was a turbulent time, foreshadowing the bloodier 
 strife soon to come. He was an intense partisan, a Democrat of t^ie 
 strongest partisanship in that angry hour. Suddenly when the at¬ 
 tack was made upon his country, and the Union was in danger, he 
 changed squarely. 
 
 Think how much such a strong nature had to give up and over¬ 
 come in his own heart when he abandoned his party and rushed in 
 with those whom he had not only opposed, but really had often de¬ 
 tested. And this he did, not by halves, but throwing away every¬ 
 thing at once, devoting his whole being to his country. It was a 
 noble and exalted patriotism in a soul tried and purified by a great 
 
Address of Mr. Hitt , of Illinois. 
 
 159 
 
 inward struggle, and then grandly consecrated to his country. In 
 that memorable hour there were many instances of men who de¬ 
 veloped great qualities before unknown to themselves. It is profit¬ 
 able now, in these prosaic days of politics, that run on lower lines 
 and colder questions when some of the chief party differences are mat¬ 
 ters of calculation, to refresh our spirits by recurring to that heroic 
 epoch when the shock of conflicting motives liberated the electricity 
 of life and revealed the recesses of men’s better natures. 
 
 Then he became altogether a soldier. He had a natural aptitude 
 for fighting. When hardly more than a boy he had had a dash of 
 military life in the Mexican war, where he acquitted himself well, 
 and, short as was the time he served, rose rapidly to honor and rank. 
 In the greater war that followed he was utterly absorbed and devoted 
 to the cahse for which he fought. He had no other thought. He 
 quit his seat in Congress and went out as a citizen volunteer to share 
 in the fight and the disaster of Bull Run. He hurried home and 
 raised a regiment and plunged into the struggle. From the first 
 fight at Belmont he was in the clang of arms, through marches, 
 skirmishes, sieges, battles; advancing, retreating, defending, attack¬ 
 ing, as perfect a type of the great and successful soldier as ever 
 lived. His strong frame and undaunted spirit was not subdued or 
 broken by exposure, exhaustion, or the wounds five times received 
 in battle. Pressing on continuously and upward, he rose higher in 
 command with each battle and campaign until he ran the whole 
 scale of military glory which he had begun a citizen without uniform, 
 and from which he emerged a corps commander. 
 
 His soldiers admired him with an enthusiasm that grew with the 
 war and with his glory. They followed him with trusting confidence 
 and they loved him then and always after. His warm heart an¬ 
 swered in generous sympathy this affectionate admiration from his 
 thousands of soldiers, and this was why he never for a moment for¬ 
 got them or their interests in all his public life through the more 
 than twenty years that have passed since the war. All the 
 world knows with what eloquence he pleaded their cause on this 
 floor and in the Senate. Patiently and persistently he contended for 
 them in a hundred parliamentary struggles over bills which con¬ 
 cerned them. He pressed with passionate earnestness the claims of 
 the broken soldier and the debt owing to him by that nation which 
 was so rapidly forgetting him in its hurry to greatness and riches. 
 
160 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 And when their Senator comrade died the soldiers lost a friend 
 whose devotion to them nothing hut death could diminish. There 
 has been sorrow in the countless homes of soldiers, especially in the 
 Northwest. 
 
 Every member from that region who sits about me has been 
 touched by the letters we constantly receive from constituents refer¬ 
 ring to the loss of Logan. Their sorrow is akin to the anguish felt 
 in his own family, by that silent fireside, where the honored lady 
 who shared his labors and his triumphs now weeps through desolate 
 days and nights for the noble husband so suddenly stricken down. 
 
 He was a plain and approachable man. The soldier class respected 
 him as a great captain, and they loved him because of his simple 
 way of life. Poor in purse but rich in manly qualities, they felt 
 that he was like unto them; that they could go near him as a com¬ 
 rade ; that he understood their troubles; that he appreciated their 
 services and their sacrifices; that their story never grew old to him 
 though the war was over long ago. 
 
 He was as bold and successful a manager in politics as in war. 
 His political campaigns were always aggressive. He had strong be¬ 
 liefs. His principles were clear to his own mind, and he pressed 
 them with vehement eloquence, meeting controversy half way by 
 fearless attack. When assailed he always turned his defense into a 
 fierce assault. He was a most effective stump orator. As early as 
 1858, in that famous campaign, led on either side by Lincoln and 
 Douglas, and so fruitful of great consequences, he was one of the 
 best speakers in the State. His voice was so powerful then, and for 
 ten years afterwards, that it reached the farthest limits of the enor¬ 
 mous gatherings that always assembled when the people heard that 
 Logan was to speak. His positive and direct style, and vigorous, 
 plain reasoning went .straight to men’s minds. He had a rollicking 
 humor at times, and often, especially in his speeches during and 
 after the war, a fiery rush of passionate appeal that swept great au¬ 
 diences into stormy enthusiasm. 
 
 In counsel with his party he inspired confidence by his own confi- 
 
 » 
 
 dence, and also by his caution and his boldness combined. He knew 
 Illinois politics even to the details of each county, and gradually 
 became the leading spirit in the Republican party there, whom all 
 consulted. The success that followed him like destiny through so 
 many struggles confirmed his supremacy. When he died he was 
 the representative Republican of that great State. 
 
Address of Mr. Hitt, of Illinois. 
 
 161 
 
 There was one specially manly trait in his character which all the 
 politicians in Illinois knew full well—his devotion to the interests of 
 a friend. No matter whether he was present to push his cause or 
 not, Logan did not forget him. He was not vindictive enough to 
 remember his anger long after a contest with an opponent, but he 
 was careful, even tenacious, in remembering a friend who had done 
 or suffered for him, and never failed to watch over all that con¬ 
 cerned him. 
 
 The minor features and details in the long story of his life and its 
 work will gradually lose some of their interest as those who have 
 known him pass away with advancing time. But there are some 
 immense facts which will last in history and preserve his name 
 through many centuries, keeping it fresh in the knowledge of men. 
 
 First. The great service he rendered to his country as a soldier in 
 the most critical period in the life of the Republic. 
 
 Second. His incessant labors as a legislator for over thirty years 
 in behalf of every measure that he believed to be for the elevation 
 of all the people. He made a mistake sometimes, but as soon as he 
 discovered it he promptly changed and frankly avowed it. His whole 
 life was progress. He wanted to see the children of the poorest man 
 educated. He encouraged love of country and care for those who 
 suffered for it. He strove to build up and develop every interest 
 and every industry that would tend to make the lives of poor men 
 comfortable, intelligent, and happy. He gave in his own life an ex¬ 
 ample of spotless integrity as a public man. He was full of ambi¬ 
 tion, but nothing in it was sordid or venal. His ambitions were all 
 noble. He gave the best years of his life to the cause of free gov¬ 
 ernment and human liberty. 
 
 Looking back to-day over his splendid career, cut off when he was 
 in his highest usefulness, every one feels the great loss the nation 
 suffered on the day when that incompleted life was abruptly termi¬ 
 nated. There seemed many years before him still to serve the 
 country he loved so well with his great powers matured by long and 
 varied experience. 
 
 But it is over. His work is done. The story of Logan’s life will 
 illumine the brightest pages of our history, and the fruits of his 
 incessant labors, all devoted to his country and his fellow-men, and 
 known to all the world, will preserve his name and perpetuate his 
 influence beyond his life through all the long hereafter. 
 
 11 L 
 
162 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Address of Mr. Cox, of North Carolina. 
 
 Mr. Speaker and Representatives : It gives me pleasure to 
 unite with you in this Hall to do honor to the memory of the dis¬ 
 tinguished soldier and statesman who was recently stricken down in 
 the pride of manhood and in the midst of usefulness. I discharge 
 this duty the more cheerfully as it is a manifestation of that broad 
 and comprehensive patriotism which underlies the American charac¬ 
 ter, and, in the presence of misfortune, unites us as one. We are 
 all citizens of a great and glorious country, having common hopes 
 and aspirations, and while it is still in early manhood, and with 
 material resources by no means developed, far surpasses in its ac¬ 
 complishments all similar creations of the past. We should and do 
 appreciate the blessings and unusual advantages we here enjoy, and 
 it is the inspiration arising from the freedom of our institutions and 
 the progress of our people that made possible the successful career 
 of John A. Logan. 
 
 Seldom in history, do we behold illustrious examples of success 
 achieved through individual efforts in more than one special calling, 
 and thus is made more emphatic the blended triumphs we in him 
 behold. Without the heritage of fortune or the prestige of an illus¬ 
 trious name, John A. Logan sprang from the loins of the people; 
 he claimed leadership among men, and by industry, integrity, and 
 high resolves the ranks were open to him ; he marched to the front, 
 and held his position until the last dread summons came. A man 
 of strong purpose, unyielding disposition, and fearless in the asser¬ 
 tion of his convictions, he was an adversary not willingly to be en¬ 
 countered. He was too much of a partisan to suffer the betrayal of 
 his party into the hands of those who would seek its advancement 
 by questionable means and ambiguous methods. When he believed 
 it necessary to assert the right and expose the wrong, his blows fell 
 as unrelentingly on the head of a party friend as on that of a politi¬ 
 cal adversary. To maintain a political leadership under such cir¬ 
 cumstances required commanding talents and distinguished virtues. 
 
 By the adjustment of his garments to suit the popular eye, by the 
 adaptation of his language to catch the popular ear, and by graces 
 of manner to win the multitude Cicero succeeded in securing ap¬ 
 plause for beautiful orations; but the impression was transient. 
 
Address of Mr. Cox, of North Carolina, 163 
 
 Not so with Demosthenes, the Athenian. He labored nnder a natural 
 impediment of speech which welling thoughts commanded to he 
 overcome; and when he arose to address an audience they bent upon 
 his words, their passions were aroused, and they cried out, “We 
 will march against Philip; we will conquer or die.” While I do 
 not compare the subject of these ceremonies as a debater to this 
 matchless orator, yet there was a resemblance between them. Lo¬ 
 gan was without the adventitious aid of a polished education by 
 which to express his thoughts, yet he drove directly to his subject, 
 and never despaired so long as there was hope of success. Upon the 
 battlefield, as in the forum, there was similarity of action. 
 
 A volunteer soldier, he looked not so much to the method as to the 
 ob ject to be accomplished. He wielded not the high-tempered cimeter 
 of a Saladin, but rather the trenchant, two-edged sword of Richard 
 the Lion-Hearted. That one of his ardent, sanguine temperament 
 should have presented only the dark side of his political shield to 
 the Southern people after the close of our unrelenting and pro¬ 
 tracted civil war was not unnatural. It was felt by us in the South 
 that he did not appreciate the sincerity and magnanimity of our pro¬ 
 fessions of patriotism, which we knew were honorable and patriotic. 
 Between those who dared and suffered upon the ensanguined field 
 there was no estrangement, no personal bitterness. Too many were 
 the deeds of fraternal kindness rendered upon battlefields and in 
 prisons, by those on either side, ever to be forgotten. 
 
 I well remember that amid the terrible carnage at Chancellorsville, 
 when the woods were fired by the discharge of artillery, as the wounded 
 Federal soldiers were in danger of being subjected to the most agoniz¬ 
 ing death by burning, others saw as well as myself men from the 
 confederate picket-line rush out under the fire of the foe and rake 
 away the combustible leaves from around those disabled by their own 
 shot. I also remember soon after the close of this bloody drama, 
 when the “pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction 
 that wasteth at noonday ” was desolating some of the fairest cities of 
 the South, the generous people of the North promptly brought ma¬ 
 terial aid and ministering hands to alleviate, if not to stay, the terri¬ 
 ble scourge. 
 
 Between such soldiers and such people there could be no enduring 
 enmity. The grand soldier of the South made possible the grand 
 soldier of the North, and their achievements are the common heritage 
 
164 Life and Character of John A. Logan . 
 
 of our common country. In this contest brother was often arrayed 
 against brother. They spoke a common language and were of a com¬ 
 mon origin. The mistakes of the earlier part of the war as to each 
 other’s courage had been dissipated upon many bloody fields. They 
 knew that this war was not of their own seeking, and being over, 
 desired to return to their father’s house, there to remain in peace. It 
 was natural, therefore, they should view with resentment the acts .or 
 declaration of any public man seeming to question their good faith 
 or impugn their motives. 
 
 The strong character and vehement nature of General Logan were 
 such as made him prefer to accomplish his ends by force rather than 
 through the suggestions of clemency. This was the side of his char¬ 
 acter which was presented to the Southern people, who, while they 
 had confidence in his integrity and believed that as a public man he 
 would fulfill every promise with the utmost fidelity, yet it inculcated 
 feelings of resentment in the minds of those who had not been brought 
 into contact with him. 
 
 In writing and speaking he was not always considerate of the feel¬ 
 ings of those to whom he was opposed in the war. Yet while they 
 would have preferred to applaud his magnanimity toward the van¬ 
 quished, they are not strenuous to condemn the natural impulses of 
 his ardent nature. 
 
 By his maternal side he was descended from a strong and patriotic 
 family of my own'State, and in appearance and manner partook of 
 their hardy and impassioned nature. Whether following the for¬ 
 tunes of his great leader, Stephen A. Douglas, before the war, or 
 battling for the cause of the Union, or as a stalwart Republican in 
 later days, he was always a fearless and vigorous fighter. Many 
 people had emigrated from the South to Southern Illinois who dur¬ 
 ing the early stages of the war bitterly opposed the coercive meas¬ 
 ures of the North. In their ranks were found many who had been 
 the most active and zealous political friends of General Logan. The 
 sacrifices which at the call of his country sundered these ties of 
 friendship left their ineffaceable impress on his character. He 
 burned his ships behind him and turned his face toward those who 
 shared his fortune upon the tented field. 
 
 In public life he was recognized as the great advocate and friend 
 of the Union soldier, and his efforts in their behalf apotheosized him 
 as their great political leader. My personal acquaintance with him 
 
Address of Mr. Symes, of Colorado. 
 
 165 
 
 was limited, and I speak only from impressions entertained by those 
 among whom I live. From Southern Representatives with whom 
 he served in Congress I have heard of his liberality, sincerity, and 
 honesty in dealing with Southern men and measures, and I was grati¬ 
 fied to know of this phase of his character. “ Passing away” is the 
 superscription written above the heads of all those who once wore 
 the blue and the gray. In a few years the long roll will be beaten 
 to summons hence all the survivors of this grand martial array. 
 
 When they are gone the flowers will bloom as sweetly, the sun 
 shine as brightly, tlie silent watches of the night move on as se¬ 
 renely, and the world prove as joyous as it was in their youth. Why, 
 then, dwell upon the past, with its hardships and resentments, when 
 our hopes and fears are now mainly with the future? 
 
 In conclusion I place this garland upon the tomb of General Logan, 
 and will add this—though he walked amid temptations his character 
 was stainless, and that while he served his country faithfully he died 
 poor. It is pleasing to reflect that in the hearts and abundance of 
 his appreciative countrymen his family are not forgotten. 
 
 Address of Mr. Symes, of Colorado. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: I do not rise at this time to pronounce any formal 
 or extended eulogy on the life, public services, and private virtues of 
 John A. Logan. The time allotted for the delivery of eulogies in 
 this Hall by his colleagues in Congress is so limited, and so many 
 gentlemen have spoken and so many still desire to speak, that further 
 elaborate discourse at this time would be inappropriate. 
 
 But, Mr. Speaker, extended eulogies in this place are unnecessary 
 to perpetuate the national name and fame of J ohn A. Logan. Others 
 may die while members of this Rational Legislature whose services 
 to their constituents and their country may better be preserved and 
 maintained in the future by the speeches of colleagues and the rec¬ 
 ords of these bodies than otherwise. It is not so, sir, with the fame 
 and renown and virtues of the great man we mourn to-day. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, we, his colleagues, can do but little toward upholding 
 or perpetuating the fame or glory of him whose reputation for ex¬ 
 alted patriotism, untarnished honor, unswerving courage, and for 
 all the public and private virtues have already become watchwords 
 with the great mass of the American people. 
 
166 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the story of John A. Logan’s life will be told and 
 dwelt upon, and told again, on all fitting occasions in the future all 
 over this country. They will be specially recited in orations deliv¬ 
 ered before the associations of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
 which he founded and loved so much. His comrades of the Grand 
 Army, all of whom acknowledge him as their greatest and most 
 valued friend, will memorialize his name and recite his virtues in 
 fraternity and loyalty so long as a sufficient number of them remain 
 on earth to pay honor to those who have gone before. The great 
 body of the American people who recognized John A. Logan as 
 their statesman, champion, and friend will perpetuate his name and 
 virtues in bronze and marble long after his colleagues, comrades, and 
 friends have followed him to the grave. 
 
 And, Mr. Speaker, when some future Homer shall write the epic 
 poem of the nineteenth century and give a narrative of the heroic 
 period of the American Republic, John A. Logan will appear as one 
 of the characters in that drama. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I knew General Logan perhaps more intimately 
 than any of the members of this House outside of his colleagues 
 from the State of Illinois. I have known him well for over twenty 
 years. I knew him in the Army before that, when I served in the 
 Army of the Tennessee in the Atlanta campaign. He has done me 
 many favors. He has several times visited me at my own home. I 
 have conversed with him alone many summer evenings, in the cool 
 air of Colorado, upon the topics he had most at heart in this life, 
 until I not only admired and honored him, for every American did 
 that, but I learned to love him. Loving him as I did, I consider it 
 one of the happiest privileges of my life to have spent the last night 
 of his earthly existence by the bedside of my great and dear friend 
 assisting what little I could to smooth his last journey over the dark 
 river from the known to the unknown. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, if proving more than equal to the greatest emergen¬ 
 cies that can arise in life; if succeeding to the command of a great 
 army when its commander had fallen on the field and it was in con¬ 
 fusion and suffering reverses, and by the very force of his genius 
 and personal valor turning defeat into victory; if, when the pas¬ 
 sions of thousands of men were raging to and fro in the balance, 
 throwing himself into the midst of these turbulent masses and by 
 the power of his unconquerable spirit in action controlling and guid- 
 
Address of Mr. Symes, of Colorado. 167 
 
 ing them into the paths of right and duty are the acts that charac¬ 
 terize greatness, John A. Logan was a great man. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I have seen John A. Logan under the most trying 
 circumstances in which it pleases Providence to place poor mortal 
 man. I have seen him upon the dreadful field of conflict, where the 
 groans of the wounded and dying, the thunder of artillery, the crash 
 of rifled cannon halls through the trees of the forest, the whiz of 
 musket bullets, and the loud yells of the apparently, and for the 
 time being, victorious enemy made it seem a pandemonium indeed, 
 his piercing black eye penetrating the field of carnage, his streaming 
 black hair waving in the very wind of bursting shells with a cool¬ 
 ness and personal gallantry that made him seem more than mortal, 
 that brought order out of chaos and wrested victory from defeat. 
 
 Sir, I have seen him again and watched him grappling with his 
 political enemies on the field of debate upon this floor in 1868 , when 
 the old charges were made and reiterated that he had sympathized 
 with armed movements against his country in her time of need, 
 and he threw these charges back into the teeth of those who made 
 them with such patriotic indignation and eloquent invective that he 
 silenced his opponents and came out of the debate triumphant. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I have seen him again in the social intimacy of his 
 own and my own home, where neither war nor debate excited his 
 manly serenity, telling anecdotes for the amusement of all around 
 the domestic circle; and a nobler, kinder hearted, more patriotic, 
 courageous, or honorable man than John A. Logan never lived. 
 He was one of the greatest statesmen and the greatest citizen soldier 
 of America. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, many have denied that John A. Logan was a great 
 man. Some because in the heat of debate he sometimes articulated 
 language which was not perfect, when tested by the strict rules of 
 verbal criticism. Others said he was not great because he was not 
 learned and accomplished in belles-lettres, and others because he was 
 unlearned in the arts and sciences. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, great acquirements, learning, and accomplishments 
 in such things never made a great man. If, while General Logan 
 was battling to overcome the hardships of pioneer life his time had 
 been spent poring over books in Eastern colleges ; if, when the war 
 with Mexico broke, out and he was twenty years of age his own taste 
 or ambition or that of his parents had sent him to seats of learning 
 in Germany, to be filled with all the knowledge that books and pro- 
 
168 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 fessors could impart, instead of going to the battlefields of his 
 country ; if, during the years intervening between the Mexican war 
 and 1858, when he was elected a member of this House from South¬ 
 ern Illinois, his time had been divided between reading polite litera¬ 
 ture, traveling in Europe, visiting art galleries, and mixing in the 
 highest society, and the remainder of it only devoted to the profes¬ 
 sion of the law in some large city, it is certain he never would have 
 rendered the great services to his country in her time of need which 
 his countrymen now universally acknowledge ; and he never would 
 have died universally mourned as the champion and friend of the 
 American people. He never would have passed down to history as 
 one of the great statesmen and the greatest American citizen-soldier 
 of his time. As that brilliant orator and statesman from Virginia, 
 John Randolph, of Roanoke, once said in this House : 
 
 The talent for government lies in two things, sagacity to perceive and the decis¬ 
 ion to act. Genuine statesmen were never made by such training. * * * Let 
 a house be on fire and you will soon see in that confusion who has the talent to 
 command. * * * Who believes that Washington could write as good a book or 
 report as Jefferson, or make as able a speech as Hamilton? Who is there that be¬ 
 lieves that Cromwell would have made as good a judge as Lord Hale ? No, Mr. 
 Speaker, these learned and accomplished men find their proper place under those 
 w r lio are fitted to command and to command them among the rest. * * * Great 
 logicians and great scholars are for that very reason unfit to be rulers. Would Han¬ 
 nibal have crossed the Alps where there were no roads, with elephants, in the face 
 of the warlike hardy mountaineers, and have carried terror to the very gates of 
 Rome if his youth had been spent in poring overbooks? ‘ 4 Are you not ashamed,” 
 said a philosopher to one who was born to rule, “Are you not ashamed to play so 
 well upon the flute ?” There is much which becomes a secondary man to know, 
 much that it is necessary for him to know, that a first-rate man ought to be 
 ashamed to know. No head was ever clear and sound that was stuffed with book¬ 
 learning. * * * After all, the chief must draw upon his subalterns for much 
 that he does not know and can not perform himself. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the eloquent statesman and orator of Virginia has 
 here shown in a strong light the reasons why John A. Logan was a 
 great man, notwithstanding he was not a learned and accomplished 
 man in the common acceptation of the term. 
 
 In his domestic relations General Logan was one of the happiest 
 and most fortunate of men. In the early days of his manhood, I 
 may truly say in the beautiful language of another : 
 
 He found in the wilderness of this world one without whose participation his bliss 
 would have been joyless, but in whose sympathy even his sorrows could find a 
 charm ; whose smile has cheered his toil ; whose love has pillowed up all his mis¬ 
 fortunes ; and whose angel spirit has guided him through darkness and danger and 
 despair amid the world’s frowns and the friend’s perfidy and been more than 
 friend and world and all to him. 
 
Address of Mr. Symes, of Colorado. 169 
 
 The influence of this beautiful domestic relation over him was 
 great. That influence modified his stern and ardent nature in many 
 of the other relations of life. I attribute to this influence somewhat 
 the reason that during his bitterest, and what may have been said 
 his most ambitious, contests in life, he never lost sight of the do¬ 
 mestic, social, and other interests of the American people at the mo¬ 
 ment of his greatest triumphs. For home, after all, is where those 
 delicate feelings are to be cherished which gives to society its most 
 . attractive charms; and here must those affections take root which 
 spread their tendrils abroad and embrace the whole family of man. 
 
 We are told of Agamemnon, who sacrificed his daughter to war¬ 
 like ambition; of Yirginius, who with his own hands could slay a 
 daughter to produce a political revolution; of Cato, who divorced 
 or took back his wife as public affairs seemed to require; but the age 
 in which these men were considered great was not characterized by 
 the purity of conjugal relations and those domestic ties of social in¬ 
 tercourse which lie at the very foundation of our government by 
 the people. In these ancient heroes there may be much to admire, 
 but little that we can love. For, as has been said: 
 
 What more dreary than the prospects of a man who knows not the endearments 
 of domestic life. He may have all the sterner virtues. He may have power. He 
 may be tricked out with all the magnificence of wealth, elevated by the dignity of 
 office, or respected for genius and learning ; but what is all this worth ? What is 
 his greatness ? It is like the chilling grandeur of his own marble monument. 
 Travelers look with awe and pass it by in silence, for it contains no records of those 
 acts of private kindness and domestic virtues upon which men love to dwell. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, if John A. Logan’s life had been without the influ¬ 
 ence of these domestic charms he would not be so universally re¬ 
 gretted by all the American people ; and American history will point 
 to this portion of his life as one of the bright examples to be followed 
 by those Americans who wish to be universally admired and 
 mourned by the people of their country. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, John A. Logan was a great orator. His speech was 
 very eloquent. This distinction has often been denied to him. It 
 has been said that his rhythm was not finished and harmonious; that 
 his rhetoric would not stand the test of literary criticism; that some 
 of his strong and rugged apostrophes and illustrations did not suit 
 the taste of the accomplished schools of oratory or eloquence. In a 
 certain sense this may be true. But, Mr. Speaker, the true object of 
 eloquence is to persuade, and of oratory to produce conviction. 
 When we test the speeches of John A. Logan, delivered on public 
 
170 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 and important occasions, by their results, we can not deny to him the 
 distinction of being a great orator and an eloquent man. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, as has been said by Webster: 
 
 True eloquence indeed does not consist in speech. It can not be brought from 
 far. Labor and learning may toil for it, but they will toil for it in vain. It must 
 exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. * * * The graces taught 
 in the schools, the costly ornaments and studied contrivances of speech shock 
 and disgust men when their own lives and the fate of their wives, their children, 
 and their country hang on the decision of the hour. Then words have lost 
 their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory contemptible. * * * 
 
 Then patriotism is eloquent; then self-devotion is eloquent. The clear conception 
 outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the daunt¬ 
 less spirit speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature 
 and urging the whole man onward, right onward, to his object. This is eloquence ; 
 or rather, it is something greater and higher than all eloquence; it is action, noble, 
 sublime, God-like action. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, are not these words of one of the great masters, whose 
 eloquence and oratory adorned and influenced both Houses of Con¬ 
 gress for so many years, specially applicable to the oratory of John 
 A. Logan ? Have we a man in this generation who, at critical periods 
 in our country’s history, at times, sir, when the fate of our country 
 was at stake and “ the die seemed to spin somewhat doubtful,” threw 
 himself into the breach with a more dauntless spirit, with a more 
 firm resolve speaking on his tongue or beaming from his eye and 
 urging him on with a more sublime and God-like action than John 
 A. Logan ? It is matter of history that at such times he changed 
 the opinions and convictions of thousands of men by the power of 
 his oratory. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, ask that greatest chieftain and man of his time, U. S. 
 Grant, whether Logan was an orator, and he would tell you that in 
 1861, when he, Grant, was organizing the new recruits of Illinois 
 into regiments at the State rendezvous, and on account of a misun¬ 
 derstanding with them about the term of enlistment a large number 
 of them were threatening to go back home when asked to swear in 
 for three years, and were in a state of mutiny, he applied to Logan 
 for advice as to how to control them. Logan said, speak to them, 
 reason with them, and appeal to them. The great silent commander 
 replied: “I can not speak to them, I never made a speech in my 
 life; won’t you speak to them?” “Certainly,” said Logan. The 
 recruits were collected together on the parade ground, and Logan 
 appealed to their patriotism, their courage, their pride, and man¬ 
 hood and duty to their country in such an eloquent and impetuous 
 
Address of Mr. Symes, of Colorado. 
 
 171 
 
 manner that the cheer soon rang out, and the cry of “Union and 
 freedom” floated upon the evening air, and those, a short time before, 
 mutinous recruits all enlisted for three years or during the war, and 
 this was the result of the oratory of John A. Logan. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, many said Logan was ambitious; that he sought the 
 highest prize in the gift of the American people. And why should 
 he not ? Had not he who had dono so much to preserve the Union 
 of this Republic and its free institutions, who had spilled his blood 
 upon her battlefields and spent over two-thirds of his manhood days 
 in her service, a right to aspire to the Chief Magistracy? Yes, Mr. 
 Speaker, Logan was ambitious. But who will say that his ambition 
 ever caused him to swerve one iota from his convictions of duty and 
 his principles under any circumstances whatever. 
 
 The contemporaries of the great triumvirate of eloquence and states¬ 
 manship, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, often charged each of them 
 with deviating from some of their former convictions to avoid oppo¬ 
 sition from the people in their ambition for the coveted prize. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, here is where John A. Logan’s character and con¬ 
 victions stand forth in bold relief in the political history of this coun¬ 
 try. For, whatever may have been charged against other aspirants 
 for the Presidency, whether occupying seats in the Congress, or if 
 out of Congress writing speeches and letters on every promising 
 occasion, no one would presume to intimate that Logan ever evaded 
 any public question, ever avoided even expressing his convictions 
 boldly in debate upon any pending measure, or that he ever tried to 
 ride upon the crest of the popular wave or trimmed his sails to a 
 temporary or other breeze to aid in sailing into the Chief Magistrate’s 
 harbor. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, he has passed away, and we poor mortals can do 
 nothing more than mourn his loss and revere and keep the memory 
 of his many virtues for our own bright example. No American has 
 died in this generation who will be so universally missed by all classes 
 and conditions of men as John A. Logan. The Grand Army of the 
 Republic soldiers will miss him when endeavoring to obtain their 
 rights. The statesmen will miss his cool and unfaltering intrepidity 
 in the support of measures for the good of our country. The great 
 mass of the people will miss and mourn him when their rights require 
 courageous defense. 
 
172 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan . 
 
 Address of Mr. Lawler, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : The eloquent tributes to the memory of General 
 Logan recently pronounced in the other branch of Congress, as well 
 as similar eulogies delivered to-day by my respected colleagues of the 
 House of Representatives, admonish me that no words of mine can 
 add to the measure of profound grief expressed for the loss of so true, 
 tried, and honored citizen of the American Republic. But, sir, I 
 would be derelict to the constituency which I have the honor to rep¬ 
 resent, recusant to the impulses of my own heart, and unmindful of 
 the many acts of disinterested kindness received from the late distin¬ 
 guished Senator from Illinois did I fail to testify my brief but hum¬ 
 ble appreciation of his worth, not only as a statesman and wise con- 
 selor, but as a man among men. 
 
 I have not awaited the hour of death to praise John A. Logan, for 
 it was my fortune to know him, perhaps not intimately in the social 
 sense, but measurably as we were brought into contact and collision 
 in the various political conflicts in Illinois. He was a f oeman worthy 
 of the foeman’s steel, but withal generous and considerate in the hour 
 of victory, submitting to defeat without murmur or complaint. My 
 respect for John A. Logan augmented into admiration when the 
 grand spectacle was presented of his graceful acquiescence in the will 
 of the majority expressed adversely to his election to the Vice-Presi¬ 
 dency in November, 1884. 
 
 What most commanded my respect for General Logan, and doubt¬ 
 less the respect of others, was his entire freedom from pride of place, 
 and the uniform kindness with which the humblest and plainest citi¬ 
 zen was received by him, and not only by him but by his good wife, 
 his helpmeet and staff, and by every member of the Logan house¬ 
 hold. 
 
 His methods were the very essence of plainness and unostentation, 
 and though we all know from personal experience that public men are 
 importuned frequently beyond the pale of endurance, yet rarely, if 
 ever, did General Logan, impetuous as was his nature, permit him¬ 
 self to manifest impatience or annoyance when thus besieged. There 
 were none so poor, so lowly, or so obscure but who could find their 
 way freely to his presence. 
 
Address of Mr. Lawler, of Illinois. 173 
 
 Ingratitude, that superabundant vice of political life, from the 
 stings of which but few, if any, public men are free, gave General 
 Logan the greatest pain. Himself a grateful man, never forgetting 
 a kindness and holding himself always on the alert to repay a hun¬ 
 dred fold, he was keenly sensitive to ingratitude from persons he had 
 befriended, and he befriended many. Those who are familiar with 
 political events in the State of Illinois and elsewhere will doubtless 
 recall many pronounced instances wherein General Logan was made 
 to suffer grievously at the hands of pretended friends, who should 
 have been the very last on earth to turn against him. Even when 
 this wrong was laid upon his very threshold, he magnanimously held 
 his peace. 
 
 In General Logan’s composition, as it seemed to me, the qualities 
 of physical and moral courage were happily blended. His integrity 
 of purpose could not be successfully questioned, and I have noticed 
 that he vastly preferred to perform acts of kindness even to enemies 
 than to punish them. His sense of justice was acute to a degree, and 
 the realization that he had been unwittingly unjust wounded him 
 greatly. It frequently requires great courage to remedy an injustice, 
 but General Logan never shrank from nor avoided what he con¬ 
 ceived to be his duty in this regard. 
 
 I have often instituted a comparison in my own mind of similar 
 traits of character possessed by General Logan to some of those of 
 Samuel Adams, of Revolutionary fame. I can well imagine that had 
 Logan been a member of the Continental Congress, when that body 
 declared the colonies free and independent of England’s domination, 
 he would have boldly proclaimed with Samuel Adams: 
 
 I should advise persisting in our struggle for liberty, though it were revealed 
 from Heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to perish and only one of a 
 thousand were to survive and retain his liberty! On© such freeman must possess 
 more virtue and enjoy more happiness than a thousand slaves ; and let him propa¬ 
 gate his like, and transmit to them what he hath so nobly preserved. 
 
 Like Samuel Adams, John A. Logan combined in a remarkable 
 degree those qualities of firmness and aggressiveness that qualify a 
 man to be the asserter of the rights of the people. Like Samuel 
 Adams, he was superior to pecuniary considerations, and proved his 
 cause by the virtue of his conduct. Like Samuel Adams, the service 
 he rendered his country in the national councils was not by brilliancy 
 of talent nor prof oundnesss of learning, but through resolute decision, 
 unceasing watchfulness, and heroic perseverance. 
 
174 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 General Logan’s military achievements are written in living light 
 upon the pages of history. I was not a soldier, for it must be remem¬ 
 bered the various pursuits and necessities of life do not permit all to 
 follow to the tented field; but when a mere youth, serving appren¬ 
 ticeship at the trade of ship-carpenter and working at repairs upon 
 the Federal gunboats at Cairo and Mound City, my eyes were eagerly 
 strained toward the Federal lines where Grant, Logan, Mulligan, 
 Morrison, Henderson, Rowell, Black, Thomas, Plumb, Carr, and 
 other loyal sons of Illinois, heading their columns of brave men, were 
 upholding the cause of the Union at the peril of their lives. 
 
 From my own personal knowledge I am enabled to state that 
 General Logan deeply sympathized with the efforts made, not only 
 at the present period, but in days gone by, to free Ireland from the 
 yoke of oppression, to secure equal application of British laws and 
 afford that land a benign and friendly government, rather than afflict 
 her with the curse of landlordism and visit endless outrages upon the 
 Irish people without even the pretense of remedy or the confession 
 of injustice. It was but natural that the Irish blood coursing in his 
 veins should find outlet in sympathy for his kindred ; but apart from 
 this, had he derived the source of life from any other nationality, his 
 generous heart would have gone out to the weak and oppressed, vainly 
 appealing to tyrants for home rule, and surcease from persecution 
 from absentees who, owning the fruitful lands of the Irish isle, lived 
 riot elsewhere upon the sweat and toil of its wretched and dependent 
 farm-peasantry. 
 
 John A. Logan was not the man to learn without emotion and 
 indignation of women and children starving at the wayside of Irish 
 roads, evicted from their humble homes, their cow and pig, their beds 
 and bedding, seized by the constabulary on warrants of distress for 
 rent they could not pay because of failure of the crops. He drew 
 broadly the line of demarkation between free America, where the 
 honest settler is provided, through humane laws, with a homestead on 
 the public domain, and the endless horrors of tenant life in Ireland, 
 to which the English Government persistently closes its eyes and 
 denies every reasonable proposition of amelioration. 
 
 General Logan entertained the profoundest admiration for the 
 patriot Robert Emmett, and I have heard him say that it was a mar¬ 
 vel how a youth of but eighteen years could have so stirred Ireland 
 to the very core by the enthusiasm of his eloquence; Emmett, who at 
 
Address of Mr. Lawler, of Illinois. 
 
 175 
 
 the early age of twenty-three, a martyr to the cause of Irish inde¬ 
 pendence, met no mercy at the hands of the English Government 
 and perished on the scaffold, convicted of high treason, notwith¬ 
 standing the nobility of his demeanor at the mockery-trial, and 
 which evoked the pitying admiration of even those who clamored for 
 his execution for the alleged benefit of example. 
 
 Does any one in this age suppose that the blood of Robert Emmett 
 or the suicide of Theobald Wolf Tone to escape the scaffold have 
 yielded no harvest? England may have ignored the eloquence of 
 Richard Lalor Shiel, of Waterford, vindicating in the House of 
 Commons the Irish people from the aspersions of Lord Lyndhurst, and 
 turned a deaf ear to his impassioned plea for simple justice to his 
 countrymen, whose sacrifices, unmeasured and untold, had contrib¬ 
 uted the major portion of England’s supremacy among the nations of 
 the earth, only to find themselves thereafter the objects of persistent 
 ostracism and deliberate persecution. The closing words of Shiel’s 
 peroration— 
 
 The blood of England, Scotland, and of Ireland flowed in the same stream and 
 drenched the same field. When the chill morning dawned their dead lay cold and 
 stark together ; in the same deep pit their bodies were deposited ; the green corn of 
 spring is now breaking from their commingled dust; the dew falls from Heaven 
 upon their union in the grave. Partaking in every peril, in the glory shall we not 
 be permitted to participate! And shall we be told, as a requital, that we are 
 estranged from the country for whose salvation our life-blood was poured out!— 
 
 have found echo in many an American breast, and none more 
 responsive than in the big heart of John Alexander Logan. 
 
 During the period of Ireland’s later trials and tribulations, when 
 it was deemed fitting for Americans, Irish-Americans, and all others 
 who sympathized with the efforts of Irish patriots to secure home 
 rule and the enactment of humane laws for that land of long-suffer¬ 
 ing, to meet in various localities of our happy Republic and send 
 words of encouragement and cheer across the sea to those engaged 
 in this good work, and to advise them that, as the hearts of all true 
 Irishmen warmed to the people of the American colonies in response 
 to their memorials of grievance addressed to the Lord Mayor and 
 Burgesses of the city of Dublin, so the heart of free and independent 
 America went out in return to them, struggling to obtain like con¬ 
 stitutional rights from the hands of the same unnatural mother, it 
 was no less a duty than a pleasure to John Alexander Logan, a 
 Senator in the Congress of the United States, and the son of an Irish 
 
176 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 patriot of the Revolution of 1798, to preside over the deliberations 
 of several such assemblies held in the city of Chicago—his home. 
 And there were none present more fervid in eloquence nor wiser in 
 council than John Alexander Logan ! 
 
 When Logan died Ireland lost a firm friend and warm sympa¬ 
 thizer. A great American has fallen in the very plenitude of his 
 usefulness, and the Republic mourns the loss as deeply as it has 
 mourned the loss of other patriots gone before. The earth that enter¬ 
 tained him at his birth, fed and all along his life sustained him in 
 the performance of his duty, now that he has been abdicated by the 
 rest of nature, like a gentle mother embraces John Alexander 
 Logan within her lap, and protects his mortal remains until the 
 hope of resurrection shall be realized and the divine promise of a life 
 beyond the grave fully redeemed. “The body returns,” saith the 
 Scripture, “to the earth from whence it came, and the soul to the 
 God that gave it.” 
 
 His death was tranquil, surrounded by family and friends, and lov¬ 
 ing hands bore his body to the tomb. For this great boon we should 
 be thankful. His widow and children know that the nation shares 
 their deep grief, and to that extent only we can give them earthly 
 consolation. Our friend died as he had lived, honored and respected, 
 not alone by the people within the broad boundaries of the American 
 Republic, but by man and woman in all lands where liberty is prized 
 or the hope of liberty cherished! 
 
 Address of Mr. Perkins, of Kansas. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : “ Dust to dust and ashes to ashes ” is decreed to 
 all. Yet notwithstanding this common mortality, it has, since the 
 morning stars first sang together, been the habit of our race to pay 
 tribute to the honorable and chivalric dead, and with profound re¬ 
 spect and sincere sorrow do we pause in the busy activities of life, 
 suspend the business of this Chamber, and in saddened cadences 
 laurel with rhetorical offerings the grave of one the world respected, 
 the nation honored, the people loved, and patriots mourn—General 
 John A. Logan. 
 
 It was in this Chamber that John Alexander Logan first be¬ 
 came known to the people of this 'country, and it was from this 
 Chamber that he went as a volunteer to fight in the first battle of 
 
Address of Mr. Perkins, of Kansas. 
 
 177 
 
 Bull Run, as it was from this Chamber that he went to the capital 
 of his native State and tendered his services to its governor that he 
 might he enrolled as a defender of his country against the war of 
 treason and rebellion just precipitated upon it by his late political 
 associates. It required indomitable courage, sincere patriotism, and 
 
 A 
 
 intense unselfish love of country to prompt to all this. But these 
 were the distinguishing characteristics of this son of Illinois, and 
 how we from the prairies of the Great West recall the sensations of 
 that day. 
 
 How our hope w^s enkindled, our patriotism encouraged, our 
 enthusiasm strengthened, our spirits revived, and our cheeks made 
 to glow with new faith and animation as we learned that John A. 
 Logan was strong enough to strike down the prejudices that sur¬ 
 rounded him, the traditions that hampered hinmthe political affilia¬ 
 tions that had dominated him, and with a mailednand and matchless 
 eloquence declare for his country, her institutions, and her people. 
 
 That period of strife is only recalled that we may speak of the 
 grand achievements, of this illustrious man. 
 
 From his first enlistment until the last gun was fired he was the 
 incarnation of war. War to him was a terrible, a cruel reality, but 
 that lives might be spared, peace secured, and tranquillity restored, 
 he would make war with the heaviest guns, the strongest battalions, 
 the best equipped divisions, and prosecute it with all the energy and 
 earnestness that could be given to human organizations. Time will 
 not permit me to speak of his military record and achievements as I 
 would like, and yet it is a story known to all. 
 
 But when the belching of cannon ceased, when victory crowned 
 our arms, and peace was restored to our bleeding country, it saw 
 General John A. Logan crowned by the plaudits of the people the 
 greatest volunteer soldier of the Republic. He did not get at all 
 times that recognition from his superiors in authority that he thought 
 his distinguished services deserved ; but he never sheathed his sword 
 in discontent, he never refused in a spirit of insubordination to exe¬ 
 cute the orders of his superiors, and he never in the face of the enemy 
 refused to give battle, or to contribute by his heroic presence and 
 splendid bearing to the cause of his imperiled country and the suc¬ 
 cess of the Union arms. 
 
 In every council his voice was for battle, and in every battle his 
 strong arm, brave deeds, and impetuous words were for victory. 
 
 12 L 
 
178 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Many there are in this House who will recall that day in front of 
 Atlanta when the impetuous Hood hurled his gallant forces against 
 the Union lines. No more memorable contest occurred during the 
 war. McPherson had fallen and Logan was in command of the 
 Army of the Tennessee, and against his command came the almost 
 irresistible legions of Hood, determined to break the Union lines and 
 to crown their efforts with a victory that would carry consternation 
 to the Union forces and give hope and relief to the beleaguered city 
 of Atlanta. 
 
 Never did men fight with more gallantry, and never were men re¬ 
 pulsed with more daring and heroism than was witnessed that day 
 on that now historic field in the State of Georgia. 
 
 On both sides of their rifle-pits our boys struggled for the victory, 
 and hatless, fearless, impetuous, and invincible, their beloved com¬ 
 mander shared with them the danger, and by his magnetic presence 
 and intrepid daring was to them “ an inspiration, a prophecy, and a 
 success.” 
 
 But it has been said that Logan was a political soldier. Is that to 
 his detriment ? Is it not rather to his credit ? Shall it ever be the 
 settled policy of this Republic that no man shall be honored with 
 military rank at a time of war and of great national peril, except 
 those who have been trained to the profession of arms and educated 
 at the military schools of the country ? 
 
 As was so well said in the Senate Chamber last week by the dis¬ 
 tinguished Senator from Connecticut: 
 
 He was classed as a political general. I do not know that it was altogether an 
 unfriendly remark. He was, sir ; he had the honor to be a political general. It 
 was a political war, and he was as strong in one field of battle as the other. The 
 political generals did double duty. The anxiety during some of the great days of 
 those four years was not that the soldiers of the Union would be unable to put down 
 the rebellion in due time, but that the voters at the ballot-box might put down the 
 war too early; and some of the political combats won by Logan and others at home 
 were as useful to the cause of the Union as the triumphs of Vicksburg and Gettys¬ 
 burg. Baker, matchless as an orator, chivalrous and lovely in battle, was a politi¬ 
 cal general. Garfield, giving promise of great genera'ship by an unconquerable 
 industry and energy, and a brilliant courage in the face of the enemy’s guns—Gar¬ 
 field, obeying what was almost a command, went from the Army to Congress. 
 Frank Blair, with the trumpet tones of his voice and the quiver of his uplifted 
 finger, was worth a corps of soldiers in his influence over Missouri, and he was a 
 political general. 
 
 At the close of the war when the armies of the Republic were dis¬ 
 banded and martial strife had ceased, General Logan returned to his 
 home. But there was no repose for him. By divine right he was a 
 
Address of Mr. Perkins , of Kansas. 1 79 
 
 leader of men. At tlie forum, in the council chamber, and upon the 
 hustings it was his imperial right to lead as well as upon the field of 
 conflict and carnage, and after a short respite from public duties he 
 was returned to this Chamber as the representative at large from the 
 State of Illinois, and from that time on until the day of his death he 
 was one of the most distinguished figures in our political history. 
 
 At all times aggressive and impulsive, he had the courage of his 
 convictions. It cannot be said that his character was without fault 
 or criticism, but let it be recorded to his eternal honor that under all 
 circumstances and to all classes he was an honest man. Sincere in 
 his convictions, he despised shams and false pretense, and the glamour 
 of hypocritical professions never deceived or captivated him. 
 
 Persistent in purpose and tireless in endeavor, by his indomitable 
 will he overcame obstacles, converted embarrassments into oppor¬ 
 tunities, and made barriers but stepping-stones to greater things. 
 
 He was the first commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
 and was the first to suggest the beautiful custom of strewing with 
 the fragrant flowers of spring the graves of our heroic dead. Every 
 man who wore the blue was his comrade. For them his labors were 
 incessant, and the statute-books of this nation attest his constant 
 devotion to their best interests, and to the best interests of those that 
 were widowed or made fatherless by that merciless contest. He could 
 never forget those who shared with him the weary march, the bivouac 
 fires, the evening meal, the sanguinary engagements, and the glori¬ 
 ous accomplishments that finally brought victory to our banners and 
 peace and prosperity to our borders. For them in their misfortunes 
 in his judgment the coffers of the nation should be opened, and for 
 them his heart ever warmed in fraternity, charity, and loyalty. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, few men in American history have left such an im¬ 
 press of their individuality upon the public mind and such a brill¬ 
 iant record of grand and glorious achievements as General John A. 
 Logan. 
 
 Coming from the ranks of the people, he believed in the good 
 sense and honesty of the masses, and his heart and hand were ever 
 for their good. He was a firm Republican and believed in the genius 
 and institutions of our republican Government, and tyranny in all 
 forms and in all countries found an inveterate hater in him. 
 
 As citizen, as lawyer, as soldier, as legislator, as statesman and 
 orator, as husband, father, and friend, we honor him, and his glory 
 is a part of the resplendent and imperishable history of our country. 
 
180 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 On the last day of the old year, with muffled drums and drooping 
 flags, General John A. Logan was laid to rest. It was a raw, 
 cloudy, December day, and the snow lay white on the country hills 
 and mantled with the symbol of purity the silent resting place of 
 the lamented dead. A dull, gray sky hung overhead, and at times 
 the winter rain poured in freezing torrents upon the ground. All 
 nature seemed touched with sympathy at the nation’s loss, and joined 
 in the tears and sobs of the mourning multitude. He had died the 
 Sunday before, and hotv fitting that this closing scene in the sol¬ 
 dier’s life should come with the close of the year. John A. Logan 
 and the old year went out together. That dark but handsome face* 
 that manly bearing, will be seen no more on this side the “dark 
 river,” to whose cold tide we are all hastening. 
 
 But his memory will endure as long as the English language, and 
 the remembrance of his great deeds will be as imperishable. Hon¬ 
 est, incorruptible, and true, tender as a woman, brave as a lion, 
 
 0 
 
 trusting as a child, his life passed to its ending without stain and 
 without reproach. 
 
 In that beautiful home overlooking our capital city, where he 
 hoped to spend so many happy hours, sits the widow in weeds and 
 mourning. 
 
 A vacant chair, an empty uniform, medals of honor, and souvenirs 
 of affection tell of the loved one who was, but comes no more. 
 
 In her desolation how vividly is recalled her constant devotion to 
 the dead we honor. At home, abroad, in the field, in the forum, 
 here, everywhere, she was his encouragement and almost constant 
 companion, and the story of her services in the rude hospital on the 
 banks of the Cumberland, in nursing back to life him who lay bleed¬ 
 ing and exhausted from wounds and exposure received and endured 
 on the field of Donelson, is a grand tribute to this truly American 
 woman. 
 
 And with her tears and sobs are mingling to-day the tears and 
 lamentations of hundreds and thousands of the comrades of the late 
 war, who, appreciating the services of General Logan in their be¬ 
 half, mourn his death as a personal bereavement, and a loss to the 
 country that is irreparable. And when the voice that called him 
 hence shall summon those from whom it gave him grief to part, 
 may they join him in the world of rest and peace— 
 
 Where no storms ever beat on the glittering strands, 
 
 And the years of eternity roll. 
 
Address of Mr. Pettibone, of Tennessee. 
 
 181 
 
 Address of Mr. Pettibone, of Tennessee. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: Goldwin Smith, in one of his most brilliant lectures 
 delivered during the time of our civil war at the University of Cam¬ 
 bridge, speaking of that splendid Puritan corps known as tide Iron¬ 
 sides, which Oliver Cromwell organized and disciplined, uses in sub¬ 
 stance this language: “That splendid yeomanry, with high hopes 
 and convictions of their own, who conquered for English liberty at 
 Naseby, at Worcester, and at Marston Moor, in their native England, 
 are now seen no more. Here they have left a great, perhaps a fatal, 
 gap in the ranks of freedom.” “But,” he adds with something of 
 pride and enthusiasm, “under Grant and Sherman they still con¬ 
 quer for the good old cause.” 
 
 And what, sir, is that good old cause ? Do we not know that it is 
 the cause of Liberty against Slavery? That it is the cause of freedom 
 against privileged usurpation? 
 
 “That splendid yeomanry” which the historian thus eulogizes, 
 transferred over sea, became the fathers and founders of this great 
 Republic of the West. The heart and core, as we know, came from 
 England. It was reinforced from Scotland and from Ireland. In 
 later years it has welcomed German and Scandinavian auxiliaries. 
 When the time came to sever the political connection between the 
 colonies and Great Britain, a hundred years ago, it was the yeomanry, 
 informed and instructed by Franklin, and Samuel Adams, and Thomas 
 Jefferson, and led and disciplined by Greene, and Wayne, and Wash¬ 
 ington, who won the independence of these States and established 
 this Union. 
 
 And when, in 1861, the storm of civil war “blackened all our hori¬ 
 zon,” it was the yeomanry, we know, who furnished the volunteer 
 soldiers who filled the ranks of the Union Army, and in the most 
 desperate of campaigns, in the direst civil war of all time, by their 
 persistence, and steadiness, and valor, carried the starry flag to 
 victory and saved to the cause of civil liberty and forthcoming gen¬ 
 erations this land of our love and devotion, and by universal con¬ 
 sent first of these volunteers was John Alexander Logan ! To-day 
 we pause in this forum from our accustomed work, where he was 
 once a living force and where his resonant voice was, in former years, 
 
182 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 wont to be beard, to do honor to his memory and to mark onr esti¬ 
 mate of the powers and merits of this man. 
 
 It is difficult for me, as I doubt not it is to all his old comrades, to 
 think of Logan dead. He had so much virility, so much of real 
 manliness, such pluck and brave persistence, that he seemed to be 
 endowed with a kind of perennial youth. And so I doubt not he 
 will always seem — for his fame will not die -J- to those multitudes 
 who in the long years to come shall read the deeds of this splendid 
 gentleman and stout soldier of the Union. 
 
 By the common consent of all his old comrades, and by the acquies¬ 
 cence of all who were not his comrades, and never saw him with the 
 blaze of battle in his eyes, he was the typical and ideal volunteer sol¬ 
 dier of the Union army during those four tremendous years when 
 the stern question was, should the Republic live or die. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, John A. Logan believed with the faith which makes 
 heroes and martyrs that in the maintenance of the Union, in the in¬ 
 tegrity of its territory, and in the complete ascendency of its Consti¬ 
 tution and laws were bound up, not alone the interests and welfare 
 of one part of the nation, but the rights of all American citizens, the 
 birthright of untold millions yet unborn, the triumph of republican 
 liberty throughout the world, and, as a necessary sequence, the best 
 results and fairest fruits of Christian civilization. 
 
 He believed, as did the Union volunteers, in the rights of all men, 
 because they are men, and not “ dumb, driven cattle,” and he knew, 
 and his comrades knew, that the victory ought to be, and, in the 
 providence of Him who raises up and pulls down nations at His will, 
 would be, the victory of North and of South alike; that it would, in 
 its final beneficent results, be the common heritage and common 
 glory of their own, and of the children and children's children of 
 those then “wearing the gray,” who were arrayed in civil strife 
 against them, but for whose manly courage and stalwart energy in 
 a most mistaken cause they felt a stern respect and admiration like 
 that which, in the great Russian campaign, the Cossacks of the Don 
 felt for Murat, the great cavalry leader of France! 
 
 In this faith, when the day of wordy debate was past, when patch- 
 work compromises would no longer do, when the dread question was 
 put, Shall slavery or freedom be master on this continent? Logan 
 made his decision. We all know his antecedents. We all know how 
 loth he was to take up arms against his brethren. His mother was 
 
Address of Mr. Pettibone, of Tennessee. 
 
 183 
 
 born at Nashville, almost in sight of the Hermitage. But the decis¬ 
 ion had to he made. He resigned his seat on this floor. He spoke 
 with a tongue of fire to the yeomanry of his district and his State, 
 and his voice echoed throughout all the land. He rallied around him 
 a regiment. With his thousand comrades in arms he swore to main¬ 
 tain, to preserve, and to protect the Constitution of the United States, 
 and he went forth to the dangers of uncertain war animated by the 
 very spirit in which the angel of freedom speaks in the spirited verses 
 of Whittier: 
 
 Then Freedom sternly said, “ I shun 
 No strife nor pang beneath the sun 
 When human rights are staked and won. 
 
 I knelt with Zisco’s hunted flock, 
 
 I watched in Toussaint’s cell of rock, 
 
 I walked with Sidney to the block. 
 
 The Moor of Marston felt my tread, 
 
 Through Jersey snows the march I led, 
 
 My voice Magenta’s charges sped.” 
 
 It was to maintain, not to disintegrate ; to preserve, not to destroy, 
 that Logan donned his country’s uniform of blue. With reluctance, 
 and almost with heart-break, he took up the gage of battle. He 
 knew what war is. He knew its horrors, and all its blighting curses. 
 But he was a man of the people. He was simply and always one 
 of the plain people on whom Abraham Lincoln always relied. 
 
 Always affable, always approachable, careless of mere form for 
 form’s sake, he would brook no disobedience of orders or dereliction 
 of duty. His courage, which always rose highest when dangers 
 multiplied, was known to the humblest soldier in his command, and 
 in the old Army of the Tennessee he was more to us than a Cheva¬ 
 lier Bayard, for we always felt that in Logan we had not only a 
 gallant and splendid general, but we had a comrade and a friend, 
 tender, and helpful, and true, as well as brave and daring. Around 
 the camp fire we called him ‘‘Johnny,” or “Black Jack.” But it 
 was by way of endearment—as an expression of attachment and con¬ 
 fidence. 
 
 He was ever king of hearts. His comrades loved him because they 
 could not help it. And, sir, ever since the war-drum has ceased to beat 
 he has been enshrined in the very hearts of the old soldiers of the 
 Union. We loved him as we really loved no other great soldier of 
 the war, and we know how he loved the boys in blue in return. 
 
184 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 On the 3d of July, 1863, at Vicksburg, between the lines, it was 
 my fortune, as it was of thousands of others, to see the meeting of 
 Grant and Pemberton when the terms of the famous surrender were 
 agreed to. Accompanying his great commander was Logan, then 
 in the prime and very flower of his magnificent manhood. His 
 long, black hair, how it shone in that sunlight ! 
 
 I seem to see him to-day as he then stood on that open ground in 
 the clear light of that hot July sun. His every unconscious pose and 
 movement seemed instinct with his character and heroic purpose. 
 And so, sir, he will ever stand out in the clear perspective of his¬ 
 tory. As he stood that day, out against a background of clear blue 
 sky, the observed of all who saw that scene, so forever—fit comrade 
 of his chieftain Grant— 
 
 Let his great example stand 
 Colossal, seen of every land, 
 
 To keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure, 
 
 Till through all lands and through all human story, 
 
 The path of duty be the way to glory. 
 
 Address of Mr. Haynes, of New Hampshire. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : If I were asked what element in General Logan’s 
 character I most admired, I should answer his constancy and his con¬ 
 sistency. It was his high distinction to be generally recognized as 
 the most illustrious example the war produced of the citizen soldier 
 as distinguished from the professional; and when the great citizen 
 armies disbanded and turned their faces so joyfully to their homes 
 and the pursuits of peace, he maintained an equal distinction as the 
 soldier’s friend in the legislative councils of the nation. To the day 
 of his death his course was such as commended him to his old com¬ 
 rades as a champion who never swerved and never weakened in 
 defense of their rights and their interests. As a soldier he won by 
 bravery and skill the plaudits not alone of those whose cause was his 
 cause, but of those against whom his efforts were directed. 
 
 There is in the hearts of brave men who with their lives in their 
 hands battle for their convictions a chord which vibrates with admira¬ 
 tion and respect, and even with a sort of affection, for those among 
 their opponents who deal the hardest blows in honorable warfare. 
 Such a man was Logan the soldier, and it is a matter of common 
 
Address of Mr. Haynes, of New Hampshire. 185 
 
 knowledge and observation witb those of ns who wore the Union bine 
 that onr regard for the manly, soldierly qualities of our fallen chief 
 was shared in an almost equal degree by those who wore the confed¬ 
 erate gray. 
 
 As he commanded the admiration of his comrades in war, in peace 
 he won their love and their affection. On the battlefield he was their 
 trusted leader. In the council halls he was their steadfast champion 
 and friend. As a Senator he came to be recognized as the great pillar 
 of strength upon which they confidently leaned, and it was a confi¬ 
 dence which never Was misplaced. Probably no one man had so 
 great a part—certainly not a greater—in shaping, directing, and urg¬ 
 ing the legislation of the past twenty years in the special interest and 
 for the relief of the soldiers of the Union and their dependents. 
 
 In the first years of returning peace to stand by the soldiers was 
 only to float with the popular tide. The national heart was over¬ 
 flowing with gratitude toward those who with songs and hosannas 
 brought the wayward sisters back to their seats by the national altar. 
 Those were the days when the pulse was still beating with the ex¬ 
 hilaration of close contact with mighty deeds and great achievements. 
 It was not in the course of nature that the open generosity which 
 characterized those years should long continue. It could not be other¬ 
 wise than that gradually selfish considerations should assert them¬ 
 selves ; that we should with greater pertinacity dwell upon the cost, 
 and more frequently insist that “ we cannot afford it.” 
 
 With the growth of that sentiment which now stands appalled at 
 the magnitude of our pension-list and which shudders at every effort 
 to extend it, General Logan’s devotion to the soldiers’ interest asserted 
 itself in renewed efforts in their behalf. Oftener than otherwise the 
 pencil of the venomous cartoonist when using him as a subject cari¬ 
 catured his efforts in behalf of the soldiers. But it was by this sign 
 that a million men hailed Logan as a worthy leader, stood by him, 
 swore by him, and attached themselves to him by bonds of affection 
 which gave him a personal following such as but few of our public 
 men have ever been able to boast. 
 
 When the tidings of his unexpected death was flashed over the coun¬ 
 try it brought mourning to the humble home of many a soldier to whom 
 Logan was known only by name and by reputation. A million of 
 these, who never met him, who never saw him, felt that they had 
 suffered a personal loss which could never be replaced. It is a proud 
 
186 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 record that Logan has left as a soldier. It will he quoted that after 
 a long public career he leaves a name unstained even by a suspicion 
 of dishonor. But there will be no prouder monument to his memory 
 than the love and affection which so long as life shall last will dwell 
 in the hearts of those who were his comrades in the war which assured 
 the perpetuity of the Union and the grandeur of our common country. 
 
 Address of Mr. Buchanan, of New Jersey. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : It did not seem like Logan to die. That well-knit 
 frame, piercing eye, and elastic step, all spoke of life and vigor, and 
 added years of activity. But even as we looked with admiration 
 upon his strength and vitality, the conqueror came, strength became 
 weakness, and life was death. 
 
 Ah, well, the years sweep swiftly on; 
 
 Death’s sickle does not, may not, rest, 
 
 And shall not spare the brave, the best, 
 
 For any prayer, for any moan. 
 
 And to-day we cease for a little while from our wonted labor, and, 
 sinking all that would separate us, stand animated by one thought 
 and one fraternal feeling before the tomb wherein lies all that is 
 mortal of a brother who has preceded us by but a few short days— 
 God alone knows how few—to the other shore. 
 
 Others have spoken of his early life and its trials and triumphs, 
 of his deeds of valor as the citizen soldier, and his long and brilliant 
 career as a statesman. Mine the lot for a few brief minutes to speak 
 of him as an orator and a scholar. To those whose fortune it was to 
 hear him in debate or upon the platform it is not necessary to say 
 that Logan was an orator in the highest and best sense of the term. 
 
 He did not use the tricks or cultivate the cheap devices of the 
 mere declaimer. Life was too earnest for him, and his time was too 
 short for this. He had the best of all attributes of the orator, an 
 intense conviction of the truth of his utterances, and an earnestness 
 of manner born of that conviction. He spoke because he had some¬ 
 thing to say, and which he believed needed to be said. What he 
 believed he believed with all the intense earnestness of his nature, 
 and he uttered it with equal intensity and earnestness. However 
 much a listener might differ from him in sentiment, that hearer 
 always felt that Logan was sincere. 
 
Address of Mr. Buchanan, of New Jersey. 
 
 187 
 
 This it was which gave him such power as an orator. This it was 
 which enchained the attention of his fellow Senators and thronged 
 the halls where he spoke. The world will always listen to an earnest 
 and sincere man. Rhetoric and grace and sweetness, rounded period, 
 and swelling peroration, all these please the ear; hut Logan hurled 
 rugged truth, in impassioned utterance, at the mind and conscience 
 of his hearers. He did not stop to parley, hut thundered out his 
 thought and moved straight upon the enemy’s works. A dehate was 
 with him no dress-parade, hut a battle as real and earnest for the 
 time being as any he'diad helped to win as a soldier beneath his 
 country’s flag. 
 
 And yet when the occasion came he could he gentle as a child and 
 tender as a woman. Let a comrade fall by the way and no tenderer 
 or kinder voice spoke his virtues than did the voice of Logan. 
 
 Less than one year ago, standing beside the tomb of his great leader. 
 Grant, he uttered these words: 
 
 Friends, this noble man’s work needs no monument, no written scroll in order 
 that it may be perpetuated. It is higher than the dome of St. Paul’s, loftier than 
 S:. Peter’s, it rears itself above the Pyramids, it soars beyond the highest mountain 
 tops, and it is written in letters of the sunbeam across the blue arch that forever 
 looks down upon the busy tribes of men. 
 
 Logan was a scholar. Born far from the culture of city and 
 school, reared amid the surroundings of a new home in the then far 
 West, he heard in his boyhood days the ruder forms of speech often 
 incident to the frontier. Later he profited by the culture of the 
 schools, yet sometimes when warmed in debate or carried away by 
 his earnestness he would momentarily forget that culture and relapse 
 to the speech he learned in his boyhood days. 
 
 This did not happen often nor to any great extent, but slight as it 
 might be it was eagerly seized upon by those who would rather wound 
 a proud and sensitive spirit than miss an item, and it was sent out 
 to the world as his habitual custom. This was cruel and unjust. I 
 personally know that it caused many a pang not only to his heart but 
 to the heart of his noble and loving wife. 
 
 Logan was a scholar. Go to the library in yonder lonely home. 
 Look over the volumes which fill its shelves. The best thought of 
 ancient and modern times is there. The treasures of Greek and Ro¬ 
 man stand side by side with the gems of German, French, and Eng¬ 
 lish literature. His books were read, studied, mastered. No idle 
 ornaments these. Daily companions of the master were they. No 
 
 / 
 
188 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 delight so keen after his years of activity in camp and field as to sit 
 surrounded by these mighty minds and hold deep converse with them, 
 and as the years rolled by their influence was shown more and more 
 with each successive utterance, until his great “ oration at the tomb 
 of Grant ” showed how ripe a scholar he had become. 
 
 Human utterances pass away with the occasion and are forgotten. 
 Here and there one survives and passes into the world’s treasure- 
 house of thought. That oration of his will live. It contains the seeds 
 of immortality. None but the mind of a scholar could have conceived 
 it and wrought it into form with its wealth of illustration and allu¬ 
 sion. As he marshals the Pyramids of Egypt, the Tombs of Mexico, 
 the Sculptures of Yucatan, and the Mounds of North America as 
 mute witnesses of man’s yearning after immortality, we think with 
 what a wealth of effort these material structures were wrought, and 
 forget the years of patient thought and unwearied study which qualify 
 a mind to give to the world an immortal thought. 
 
 That patient thought, that unwearied study was his. Shall his 
 work survive the coming centuries ? The pyramid builder moldered 
 into dust almost ere history began, and his work yet stands. So, too, 
 the child rescued from “ the marshes of the Nile ” has left his impress 
 on thirty centuries of mind and thought. A yearning for immor¬ 
 tality, a desfre to leave an impress upon the thought of his age, seems 
 to have been upon Logan as he penned that oration, and it will take 
 its place among the works the world will not let die. 
 
 But time hastens, and one word more may be allowed me. That 
 busy brain is stilled, but somewhere in the broad universe of God 
 that spirit lives. One famous to-day, standing by the open grave of 
 a beloved brother, could only grope in the dark for some faint glim¬ 
 merings from the other shore. George Eliot, as her mighty brain 
 turned to things celestial, could only breathe a despairing wish to join 
 the “choir invisible,” but to the clearer faith of Logan the life be¬ 
 yond was real, and in that faith he crossed the river. The battle is 
 over and the soldier is at rest. God be thanked for his life. God 
 be praised for such rest. 
 
Address of Mr. Ward, of Illinois. 
 
 189 
 
 Address of Mr. WARD, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Where duty and veneration combine, even funeral 
 sadness is made lighter and less sad. In common with the Senate, 
 this House owes to the nation and to mankind the duty of recording 
 its estimate of a departed public servant. As a fellow-citizen of the 
 same city and State it becomes my duty to speak of the merits of our 
 departed Logan. His demise leaves a felt vacancy in the Senate 
 Chamber, where the drapery of sorrow woefully speaks the loss to 
 that body. 
 
 Hot less significant were the nation-wide acknowledgments of 
 that loss echoed back to these Halls in the chimes of funeral bells 
 across this continent. The North tolled their bereavement, the 
 South rang out the same sad dirge, and the clanging was repeated 
 from East and West. Such a man’s death is the nation’s loss, and 
 each citizen singly deplores it. The bank of human friendship is 
 invincible in its strength of deposit; but its great assets were lessened 
 when John A. Logan was removed to a higher sphere. 
 
 There is an immortality beyond this life. The power of a great 
 mind, the success of a superior human intellect, can not be buried in 
 death, and Logan will live forever in memory’s world. Upon our 
 own and the actions of coming generations his living influence is and 
 will be shown. The tracery of his character has become interwoven 
 with the nature of this generation, and can not die while our Repub¬ 
 lic exists. His stern personality has stamped itself upon much of 
 our abler legislation. 
 
 As we look upon his desk at the other end of the Capitol; as they 
 wait in vain his coming to the Senate Chamber ; as we tearfully ac¬ 
 knowledge that at his family gathering “ there is one vacant chair,” 
 we are forced to say “ Logan is dead” ; but other proofs bid us de¬ 
 clare the influence of his life still burns and beats in the pulses of 
 his surviving fellow-citizens. 
 
 As a private soldier in the United States Army in the war with 
 Mexico; as one of that army’s best staff officers ; as a colonel, and 
 finally major-general, in his country’s cause for the suppression of 
 the rebellion, the same marked characteristics governed General 
 Logan— a stern sense of duty that would admit of neither compro¬ 
 mise nor hesitation in performance. 
 
190 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 At the beginning of the war the republican idea in full had not 
 been completely developed. It was an evolution from the conflict of 
 two antagonistic opinions. An idea in government had yet to be 
 worked out. The idea of Hamilton and the idea of Jefferson, formu¬ 
 lated, as each believed, in the Constitution, were never appreciated 
 by the people of the different sections of this Union that of a central¬ 
 ized Government supported by independent local commonwealths 
 called States. The problems of State rights and National Govern¬ 
 ment were involved and had to be satisfactorily adjusted. 
 
 In that adjustment General Logan could see that it was Union or 
 no Union, fragmentary existence or a great nationality, and his 
 sword flashed quick for Union, and flashed in triumph for the great 
 and grand cause. The end which he sought was an undivided Union 
 and universal freedom. He threw himself far into the battle, and 
 never saw the rear until peace smiled over the Union restored and 
 freedom re-established. 
 
 If we scan the whole life of John A. Logan, his mature years— 
 those years which other men devote to the business of acquiring for¬ 
 tune—he consecrated to his country on bloody fields and in legislative 
 halls, in the dual service of soldier and statesman. In a long career 
 of usefulness and distinction in civil life he most efficiently aided in 
 those measures of reform legislation that do credit to this country. 
 At the close of the war, worn and torn by the strain of battle, with¬ 
 out stopping for rest, he threw all his strength into the breach the 
 war had made between the sections, to heal it by his statesmanship, 
 and when death closed his eyes he was a poor man. 
 
 His civil services began in 1849 as clerk of his county court. He 
 served his people in the Illinois legislature in 1852, 1853, 1856, and 
 1857, and served in the Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, Fortieth, and 
 Forty-first Congresses, and in the United States Senate from 1871 to 
 1877. Again he obeyed the people’s call and was returned to the 
 United States Senate in 1879, and was re-elected in 1885, where he 
 was found busy when the great summons came, “ Cease from labor.” 
 
 It would appear difficult to add to this lifetime of public service. 
 When the boy had barely merged into the man he left home and its 
 comforts, profession and its ambition, to enter the United States 
 Army as a private in the war with Mexico. Again with his loyal 
 fellow-citizens he volunteered to defend his country against internal 
 enemies. He served throughout that war, starting in as colonel, 
 
Address of Mr. Gcillinger, of New Hampshire. 
 
 191 
 
 coming out as major-general. His work was done amid the smoke 
 and iron hail of Belmont, Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Lookout 
 Mountain, Atlanta, and in the march to the sea. 
 
 By the brilliancy of his movements, by the chivalry of his conduct, 
 he unconsciously made himself the idol of American soldiery. The 
 peer of the highest, the friend of the humblest in the land, John A. 
 Logan was a model American citizen He was a statesman whose 
 purity of character prevented his being a mere politician. Firm in 
 his political convictions, as he was in all his opinions after due con¬ 
 sideration, he was also as invincible a warrior in the arena of politics 
 as when a soldier in the field of actual war, and as cowardice was im¬ 
 possible to him in the latter, so neither was he unjust or malicious in 
 debate. 
 
 Successful or defeated, he came out of his public contests without 
 the shadow of malice or revenge. In private life his character was 
 as unspotted as in public. His integrity was never impugned, his 
 motives never questioned, or his conduct charged with darkness. 
 The graceful symmetry of his daily life left not a single angle upon 
 which could hang the frosty breath of slander. The shafts of envious 
 or malicious traducement struck harmlessly against that character or 
 fell broken from its adamantine surface. 
 
 Viewing such a character in all its rounded grandeur, I may close 
 my remarks by holding that character up as a picture-lesson to the 
 young men of our country. 
 
 Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: When a few weeks ago, in the solitude of my own 
 home, bowed down by a great personal sorrow, the news of the death 
 of John A. Logan flashed over the wires I could not but feel that 
 another personal grief had come to my heart. For every man in this 
 nation who loves liberty and loyalty and law loved him in whose 
 memory these words of eulogy are being spoken to-day. 
 
 It was not my good fortune to intimately know General Logan, 
 yet when I came to Washington in December, 1885, it was my priv¬ 
 ilege to bring a letter of introduction from one of his warmest per¬ 
 sonal friends, and I shall never forget the warmth of the greeting 
 then received, or the kind request, frequently afterward repeated as 
 
192 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 we casually met, to visit him at his home. That pleasure was still 
 in anticipation when death so suddenly removed the noble man and 
 brave soldier, and carried to that household the darkness of desola¬ 
 tion and the overwhelming grief of crushed and bleeding hearts. 
 
 But it was not necessary for one to personally know General Logan 
 to gain a knowledge of his character and attributes. His record is 
 written on every page of the history of his country since the troub¬ 
 lous times commencing in 1860. When that great conflict came and 
 the nation needed brave men to defend it Logan threw all his energy, 
 strength, and heroism into the scale, and came out of that terrible 
 struggle with a record for bravery and military skill equal at least to 
 that of any man who fought on either side. Rapidly rising from a 
 private to major-general, he was the pride and glory of the men whom 
 he commanded. 
 
 His battles were nearly all victories, and in them he was a con¬ 
 spicuous figure, inspiring his men by deeds of daring unexcelled in 
 the military history of the world. What wonder that he was the 
 
 I 
 
 idol of the veterans of our late war! What wonder that the common 
 soldier, recalling the events of that great conflict, turned to John A. 
 Logan as his best friend! What wonder that wherever soldiers con¬ 
 gregated— around the camp-fire and at their reunions—the mention 
 of Logan’s name was always greeted with manifestations of delight! 
 And surely this record alone—the love and honor of the men who 
 left home and dear ones to do brave battle for the Constitution and 
 the Union—is enough to immortalize the memory of one of the 
 greatest generals of modern times. 
 
 But Logan was not only a great soldier—he was equally a great 
 civil leader. Examine the long record of his public life, and not a 
 blot is on the page. Earnest, aggressive, and eloquent, his words 
 always reflected honest convictions and high purposes. The arts of 
 the demagogue were unknown to him, the tricks of the mere politician 
 were antagonistic to his ideas of public duty. As so many have tes¬ 
 tified to-day, he loved truth for truth’s sake and despised pretense 
 and shams of every kind. Loyal to his country, he was equally loyal 
 to his convictions on all public matters, and wherever the finger of 
 duty beckoned he followed fearlessly and triumphantly. 
 
 In every department of life—whether as soldier, legislator, coun¬ 
 selor, or friend—in the army, in the Senate, or anywhere among his' 
 fellow-men, he was the circle of profound respect and loving admira- 
 
Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire. 193 
 
 tion, while in the sacred precincts of his own home he was the light, 
 the joy, and the inspiration, and the deep and overwhelming grief 
 that to-day sweeps over the heart of the loving companion of his 
 life-work is, after all, the most eloquent tribute that can be paid to 
 his memory. 
 
 Logan was a great man in the best meaning of that word. He 
 was both physically and intellectually strong. He towered above 
 the masses as some great tree towers above its fellows. 
 
 In my own State, on a lofty mountain peak, is the perfect face of 
 a man, formed by the rocks without the aid of human intelligence or 
 human effort. Tourists from distant lands come to gaze upon “ the 
 great stone face,” and go away with feelings of awe and admiration. 
 It is a grand face—grand in its dignity and its impressiveness—a 
 face that haunts one in after years, and tells the story of nature’s 
 grandeur and glory. And so, too, there are men who tower to the 
 mountain tops of human experience and acquirement, and look down 
 upon their fellows in the valleys below. Such a man was Logan— 
 a great, strong, noble soul—a natural leader of men, and utterly in¬ 
 capable of the petty meannesses that mar so many lives. 
 
 But, notwithstanding his greatness, for him “ life’s fitful fever ” 
 has ended. His ambitions, struggles, anxieties, disappointments, 
 and triumphs are all equally at rest. Were it not for the greatness 
 of his achievements it might be said that— 
 
 Wealth and glory, and place and power, 
 
 What are they worth to me or you ? 
 
 For the lease of life runs out in an hour, 
 
 And Death stands ready to claim his due, 
 
 Sounding honors or heaps of gold, 
 
 Where are they all when all is told ! 
 
 But for a man like Logan, who left a legacy of good deeds and 
 honorable ambition, death only emphasizes the greatness of his life 
 and adds increased luster to his name. And so long as humanity 
 honors real worth and noble endeavor, the name of John A. Logan 
 will be a cherished memory in the heart of every true citizen of the 
 Republic. 
 
 13 L 
 
 r 
 
194 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Address of Mr. Plumb, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : The stream of human life flows on ceaselessly, its 
 tide never ebbs, the springs that support it are as unfailing as that 
 great fountain of purity and love which constitutes the soul of the 
 Universe, the Infinite Father of us all. To us who are but infinitesi- 
 mal drops in the eddying flood of humanity the death knell of our 
 fellows brings fitting occasions on which to fathom, if possible, the 
 deep meaning and the true object of the miracle of our existence. 
 
 The fell destroyer comes to all ranks and conditions and hurls his 
 fatal shafts at loved ones in the humble cottage and in the lordly 
 mansion. No position or place can enable us to elude his summons 
 when the appointed hour has fully come. 
 
 Since the commencement of the present Congress twelve members 
 in both branches have joined the “ silent majority,” and it is that we 
 who remain may pay proper tribute to the memory of the last of 
 these, General John A. Logan, United States Senator from Illinois, 
 that this hour is set apart. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it is but a few weeks since Senator Logan sat in his 
 honored seat in the other end of the Capitol in his accustomed health 
 and in the full possession of that mental vigor with which he was so 
 richly endowed ; but, alas, he can never again occupy that seat; the 
 funeral cortege has followed his mortal remains to the grave, and the 
 nation is in mourning. From the sparkling waters of the Aroostook 
 to the murky Rio Grande Del Norte, from the everglades of Florida 
 to beyond the Olympic Mountains to far-off Alaska, there is no city 
 or town, and scarce a rural neighborhood, where the thoughts and 
 emotions of people have not been profoundly moved by the event we 
 are here to contemplate. 
 
 Representatives, I appeal to you, what better use can we who for 
 the present are intrusted with official power make of the present oc¬ 
 casion than to seek here and now most earnestly for the secret of the 
 dead Senator’s stronghold on the confidence and affection of the 
 American people ? This seeking cannot be successful without a 
 broader view than any single life can furnish. 
 
 General Logan lived in a period of our national history replete 
 with remarkable events — a period in which men in public life en¬ 
 countered those crucial tests that not only developed characters, but 
 
Address of Mr. Plumb, of Illinois. 
 
 195 
 
 decided whether they were to live in the hearts of their countrymen 
 as benefactors of the race, or, on the contrary, to he either entirely 
 forgotten or remembered only to he execrated. In the brief time 
 allotted me I will only allude to a few of these tests as applied to 
 General Logan, and these only to show that had he failed to per¬ 
 ceive the right, or lacked the courage of his convictions, the name 
 that is now on the lips of all would not he known to-day, nor his mem¬ 
 ory fondly cherished by sixty millions of people. 
 
 Returning from the Mexican war, in which it was hut natural that 
 one full of intellect, courage, ambition, and physical strength, as was 
 young Logan, should enlist, we find him entering at once into poli¬ 
 tics, an active member of the dominant party, receiving promotion 
 at its hands, first to the legislature of his State, and then to Congress — 
 ready and anxious to enter upon any work which promised to him 
 political success. 
 
 At the period of which I am now speaking the storm which had 
 been gathering for a quarter of a century was ready to burst upon 
 the country. Lincoln, who up to this time was opposed by Logan, 
 had been inaugurated President. The slave power thus beaten at 
 the polls and defeated in its avowed purpose of extending the curse 
 of slavery to every acre of our territorial domain, to the end that 
 their darling institution might be made the corner-stone of the Re¬ 
 public, had already begun to move in open rebellion. 
 
 The great political party from which Logan had received recog¬ 
 nition and place, although stunned and shocked by the proposed re¬ 
 bellion, was still the champion of slavery; the infamous doctrine of 
 secession for the sake of slavery had no defender outside of the party 
 of which he was a member, and it was under such conditions that 
 the real qualities of John Alexander Logan were first put to the 
 crucial test that was to settle his political career. 
 
 The shock of the rebellion revealed young Logan to himself; it 
 found him a politician, it made him a statesman. The new light that 
 shone upon him “was above the brightness of the sun,” and in it he 
 saw as never before the fell purpose of the “Great Conspiracy” and 
 the dire consequences of its success. His eagle eye scanned the con¬ 
 flict as if it were a raging battle, and his mind was made up. To 
 him liberty and union were one and inseparable, and on their perpe¬ 
 tuity must advancing civilization depend; without them, he could see 
 no hope for “liberty enlightening the world.” 
 
196 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it is easy for us now to look back upon this trying 
 hour and in the light of history see that it was easy to ignore party 
 and stand by the flag; but, sir, I can well understand that to cut 
 loose at once and forever from the ties that had bound young Logan 
 (then but about thirty-two years of age) to his political associates, 
 and to consecrate himself from that hour to the flag and to freedom, 
 was to try him as by fire. The occasion was just such a one as 
 was in its nature calculated to call into exercise those qualities of 
 mind and heart that have made Senator Logan a conspicuous figure 
 in our national history. It was his ability to perceive what duty de¬ 
 manded and courage to do it that made him what he was. This, sir, 
 is the key-note to his character, this the secret of his power, this the 
 pathway that led him to renown. Having chosen the true path in 
 that trying hour, let us see how faithfully he followed it. 
 
 He knew full well that crushing the rebellion meant the emanci¬ 
 pation of the negro and his elevation to citizenship, but he felt that 
 it was right, and he dared to enlist all his powers to accomplish that 
 end. He knew that rebellion, such as that waged for the preservation 
 of human slavery by a government based solely on the idea of man’s 
 right to freedom was a crime, and he never failed to denounce it as 
 such. He knew that the true patriot would give his life, if need be, 
 to his country; and without hesitation or delay he entered the serv¬ 
 ice, was a true and gallant soldier, an able and successful com¬ 
 mander, always ready to lead his men where duty called, whether to 
 shelter and rest or to fighting and fatigue. Logan never turned his 
 back on the foe in the fight, upon an opponent in debate, nor upon a 
 friend anywhere. In all these things he was right, and dared to 
 stand there because it was right. 
 
 When the rebellion had been crushed, and Logan was once more 
 in his place in the councils of the nation, he met each question that 
 arose in the trying work of reconstruction in the same way that he 
 decided to change his political course—by choosing what was right, 
 and going straight forward to accomplish it. 
 
 He was the soldiers’ true friend, because he knew that the nation 
 owes to the army of the Union a debt that it can never pay. With 
 
 i 
 
 him it was no sham affection, it was a comrade’s love for comrades, 
 and in every speech and vote in Congress, and elsewhere, he never 
 failed to make his regard for the members of the Grand Army ef¬ 
 fective for their good. For the soldier, whether officer or private, 
 
Address of Mr. Plumb, of Illinois. 
 
 197 
 
 who through either cowardice or insubordination failed to obey the 
 orders of his superiors, he had nothing but earnest condemnation, 
 which no influence could induce him to withhold. 
 
 He was for protection for the sake of protection, and because the 
 principle is a right one it had his support. 
 
 He was for giving national aid to the cause of common-school edu¬ 
 cation, believing that illiteracy is the natural enemy of free institu¬ 
 tions and that its obliteration at whatever cost would be a saving of 
 money to the nation. He believed that the enfranchised negro by 
 being educated would better discharge his duties as a citizen, and 
 with it would vindicate his right to a recognition as a peer among 
 his fellow-men. It was by his especial championship that the bill 
 now before this House to aid the common schools in the States and 
 Territories was amended by an appropriation of $2,000,000 for the 
 erection of school-houses wherever the colored people are too poor to 
 erect them, so that all might secure the priceless boon of a common- 
 school education. 
 
 His firm adherence to the right went with him into social and 
 family life, and in these relations won for him the highest meed of 
 praise. He knew full well that the heart of a true woman naturally 
 furnishes to man a rich soil, which needs only his cultivation to 
 insure ample returns in all that is needed to make home happy. All 
 this he enjoyed in abundant measure, furnishing an example to 
 which all good citizens can point with pride and emulate with profit. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, if my time would permit I would touch briefly upon 
 more of the acts of the great soldier and statesman that go to show 
 that he owed his proud position as a public man to his fearlessness 
 in doing whatever he thought to be right, but I must forbear. 
 
 Sir, the State which I have the honor in part to represent on this 
 floor has furnished her full quota of the illustrious men who have 
 been great actors in the period in our national history to which I 
 have before referred. That grandest of Presidents (Lincoln) and 
 that greatest of captains (Grant) both matured their manhood as 
 citizens of Illinois; but Logan, worthy to have been the Chief Magis¬ 
 trate of the nation, the great volunteer general of the war, whose 
 name and memory will be linked with Lincoln and Grant as long as 
 history shall be read, Illinois proudly claims as her own son. 
 
 Whatever may be the conclusion of the philosopher or the faith of 
 the Christain as to the life to come, we can never again on earth 
 
198 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 look upon the manly form of John Alexander Logan. His voice, 
 so often raised in defense of the integrity of the U nion and of uni¬ 
 versal freedom, will never more he heard in this Capitol; the people 
 of the United States who have so often been moved by his earnest 
 appeal will never greet him again with their hearty cheers; the vet¬ 
 erans of the Union Army who loved him so well can never again 
 rend the air with their shouts at his appearance; but he can not be 
 forgotten. 
 
 Let monuments be erected to his memory, let orator and poet 
 chronicle his worthy deeds • but when the marble no longer depicts 
 to our eyes his manly figure, when eloquence and song can no longer 
 charm us with the recital of his noble qualities, coming generations 
 will speak of his worth and be influenced by his example. 
 
 Address of Mr. Jackson, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : I regard it as eminently fit and appropriate that 
 Congress should in this formal manner place upon its records the 
 testimony of the living to the worth, virtue, and high character of 
 the man who was* so recently one of its most distinguished members. 
 John A. Logan, to the honor of whose memory this House has ceased 
 its ordinary business and strives to pay a sincere and heartfelt tribute, 
 was much more than a distinguished Representative or Senator in 
 Congress. 
 
 He was a man who in a life half a score years shorter than the 
 Psalmist’s allotted time, demeaned himself so well as citizen, as vol¬ 
 unteer soldier, as commander of regiment, brigade, division, corps, 
 and army, as legislator in these Halls, that I am at a loss to say in 
 which position he did most to gain that pre-eminence he so justly 
 holds in the hearts of his countrymen. 
 
 His was an active life that from early manhood down to within a 
 few days of his death scarce knew a day’s repose. Endowed with a 
 strong constitution and unusual vigor of body and mind, he might, 
 so far as we can judge, with ordinary labor in the usual walks of life, 
 have lived to a good old age. 
 
 But he had a brain and will that would not endure rest and quiet, 
 and he literally “ wore his life away ” as a prominent actor in the 
 stirring, eventful, and, I may say in part, fearful and terrible, times 
 in which his lot was cast. It was his fortune to live in an age in 
 
Address of Mr. Jackson, of Pennsylvania. 199 
 
 which the greatest events of modern times have transpired. We do 
 not, perhaps, fully realize that we have ourselves been eye-witnesses 
 and, in part, humble participants in the most important part of our 
 country’s history. No matter how grand or glorious a future lie be¬ 
 fore us, to the generations yet to come, the history of our country 
 for the past thirty years must for all time be the most interesting 
 and important to the student and patriot. During all this time the 
 record of the life and services of John A. Logan is so blended with 
 
 j 
 
 the history of our country that they are inseparable. 
 
 It is not that in every quality of mind or capacity for service he 
 excelled each and all of his associates, but it is because in every 
 position he has occupied, from the lowest to the highest, he has 
 acquitted himself as one of the best representative citizens of his age. 
 Since the death of Grant, the great chieftain whose soul went up to 
 God from Mount McGregor, no citizen of the United States was so 
 well known as Logan. His name was in very truth a household 
 word throughout the land. His every act was open to inspection 
 and criticism. How honestly, how wisely, how modestly he has 
 borne himself in every condition and under every circumstance let 
 history answer ; yea, more, let those who were from time to time his 
 opponents be his judges, and his reputation is safe. 
 
 He will be remembered as a progressive statesman, who was prompt 
 to recognize the high responsibilities and duties that came in his day 
 upon this nation. He strove to garner the fruits of the war, that 
 coming generations might enjoy the benefits of the heroic sacrifices 
 that were made to save the Government. He was a sincere advocate 
 of the rights of labor, a friend of law and order, and, in favor of his 
 own countryjnen, consistently demanded the protection of American 
 industries from foreign pauper competition. 
 
 t • 
 
 Of his success as a leader in times of peace and in the broad field 
 of true politics I leave others to speak more at length. 
 
 As has already been well said here to-day, he sat in this Hall with 
 Thaddeus Stevens, James G. Blaine, and James A. Garfield, and 
 was accounted their equal in party control; that in the Senate of the 
 United States he divided leadership with Charles Sumner, Oliver P. 
 Morton, Roscoe Conkling, and John Sherman, and, I may add, that 
 but few men have ever lived in our country who had as many en¬ 
 thusiastic, devoted followers who hoped to see their chief fill with 
 honor the high office of President. 
 
200 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 It was my fortune to serve for four years as a soldier in the Army 
 of the Tennessee, of which General Logan was from the first a promi¬ 
 nent leader, and at last its commander, and I know I speak the gen¬ 
 eral sentiment of the soldiers of that army when I join in deep sorrow 
 and with full and overflowing heart to pay a tribute of honor, friend¬ 
 ship, and love to his memory. The Army of the Tennessee was suc¬ 
 cessively commanded by Grant, Sherman, McPherson, Howard, and 
 Logan. It has always been the boast of those who served in it that 
 it never had a commander that was not a success and never had one 
 removed except to be given a higher command. Yet it was as a sub¬ 
 ordinate and later as a successor to such distinguished and never-to- 
 be-forgotten men that Logan won and maintained the high place he 
 holds in the confidence and esteem of the soldiers of that Army. 
 
 Long before he became its commander he was as well known to the 
 men of the Army of the Tennessee as either Grant, Sherman, or Mc¬ 
 Pherson. I do not mean to say he was superior to either of them. 
 But he was a real soldier, a man of immense force and power, who 
 had the confidence of the army, and I can recall more than one occa¬ 
 sion when his presence on the field under fire was, in my judgment, 
 worth “more than a thousand men.” There is, perhaps, no soldier 
 who served in that army but who can recall incidents of the camp, 
 the march, and the field in which Logan was prominent and with 
 which he will always associate his name. 
 
 It would be a pleasure to here recount the battles, marches, and 
 campaigns in which he took a prominent part, but time will not per¬ 
 mit. To do so would be but to repeat the greater part of the story 
 of the four years’ gallant and heroic service of the Army of the Ten¬ 
 nessee. That story is a well-known part of our country’s glorious 
 history. It embraces Belmont and Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, and 
 Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. It includes 
 the terrible campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta, with its weeks 
 of unceasing battle, described by a private soldier in a letter to his 
 wife as “the battle of May and June,” the “March to the Sea,” with 
 Savannah, Bentonville, and Raleigh. 
 
 But the four long years of war ended. “ Glad was our army that 
 morning” when we heard the joyful news that Johnston had surren¬ 
 dered. Peace had come at last and visions of home and loved ones 
 were before us. 
 
 Soon the grand review followed at Washington, where the veteran 
 
Address of Mr. Jackson, of Pennsylvania. 201 
 
 armies of the Union were accorded a triumph unequaled in history. 
 Then the Army of the Tennessee, under the command of General 
 Logan, moved to Louisville, Ky., preliminary to its muster out of 
 service. I hold in my possession now, as one of the most valued 
 mementoes of the war, the order from General Logan directing me 
 to proceed with my regiment to the State where it was organized, to 
 muster it out of service, and send the men to their homes. 
 
 It is the wonder of the world that immense armies of veteran sol¬ 
 diers like we had at the close of the civil war could be disbanded at 
 once, and that men inured to long service in the field would make 
 peaceable, industrious citizens. But it should be remembered that 
 Logan and the soldiers he commanded entered the Army not for 
 military glory, nor for love of the profession of arms. The alarm of 
 war found them citizens busily engaged in the employments that 
 many years of peace made possible in our beloved country. The 
 threatenings of wicked men to destroy the Government had so long 
 fallen unheeded upon their ears that some said this people lack the 
 courage and the manhood to resent an insult or defend the heritage 
 of their fathers. 
 
 But when the first blow was struck by traitor hands, and the Chief 
 Magistrate called the citizens to arms, how changed ! Then it was 
 that the farmer boys left their homes, the mechanic his shop, the 
 student his books, organized themselves into companies and regi¬ 
 ments, tendered their services as soldiers to their country, and 
 marched to the front with an enthusiasm and a determination that 
 astonished the world. Nor was it an enthusiasm of the hour, to be 
 chilled by the first reverse or defeat. It was a settled determination, 
 born of the belief that they were right and their enemies were wrong. 
 It was a firm conviction that underlying the contest was a great 
 moral principle, and, appealing to the God of battles for His support, 
 they went forth to fight for their country as their highest duty. 
 
 No wonder that such soldiers as these, when the rebellion was 
 destroyed and the Government was saved with the blot of slavery 
 effaced, laid down their arms, went to their homes, and became the 
 best of citizens. 
 
 We yet see how uncomplainingly many of these men bear the 
 twinge and pain of wounds received in battle, which each year grow 
 more severe, and pass their declining days with broken health and 
 suffering with diseases contracted in their severe service. 
 
4 
 
 202 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 4 
 
 It lias been said here to-day, as it is often said elsewhere, that 
 Logan was the highest type of this class of volunteer soldiers ; that 
 he was the personification of that host of patriotic young men who left 
 homes and pleasant vocations at the call of their country. I think 
 there is much truth in this, and that it is one of the highest honors 
 that can be accorded to him. But I think there is too much weight 
 given to the idea that he attained his popularity among soldiers be¬ 
 cause he was a volunteer officer as distinguished from officers who 
 had been educated at West Point. 
 
 The Army of the Tennessee had for commanders Grant, Sherman, 
 and McPherson, all regulars, and the surviving soldiers of that 
 Army, much as they love and cherish the memory of Logan, would 
 not ask me to say here to-day that as a soldier and commander in the 
 field he stood higher in their esteem than either of the three others 
 I have named. 
 
 I consider that Logan’s conduct and services since the war had 
 much to do in giving him the pre-eminent place he undoubtedly holds 
 to-day in the hearts of the surviving soldiers of the Republic. After 
 the war he remained in full sympathy with them and has represented 
 them earnestly and fully in Congress and wherever they needed a 
 spokesman or friend. 
 
 He took great interest in all associations of soldiers; was an active 
 member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was justly esteemed 
 as a representative both in public and private life of the fraternity, 
 charity, and loyalty on which the order is founded. He died from 
 the effects of wounds received in battle and from disease contracted 
 by exposure in the service. In this respect he is a representative of 
 that vast host of soldiers who came home disabled and broken in 
 health, whose lives are shortened by the service they gave their 
 country. 
 
 How it must have grieved the generous, noble heart of Logan to 
 see such men as these neglected by the Government they had saved 
 and denied the assistance that just laws would have given them. 
 
 Hot for himself did he demand additional laws to do justice to the 
 soldiers of the country, for he denied himself a pension he so justly 
 deserved and could have readily obtained, only that he might better 
 serve his more unfortunate comrades. 
 
 When he died the disabled soldier and his dependent relatives lost 
 not only their best but ablest friend. But he is gone from earth, and 
 
Address of Mr. Jackson, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 203 
 
 his body is laid to rest among his kindred in the land that gave him 
 birth. A nation mourns his death. He has joined that grand army 
 of patriots whose lives went out in the shock of battle or wasted 
 away in hospital or prison pen. Henceforth he stands as a repre¬ 
 sentative of the fallen. 
 
 On Fame’s eternal camping ground 
 Their silent tents are spread, 
 
 And Glory guards with solemn round 
 The bivouac of the dead. 
 
 He died not of age or lingering decay. “ His eye was not dim, nor 
 his natural force abated.” Within a few days of his death he was 
 engaged in active work. We can recall his appearance almost like 
 those who fell in the field, whose lives went out in their young man¬ 
 hood. It is a pleasing thought that we always recollect those who 
 went to the army and came not back again as young and full of hope 
 and high resolve. They are our “immortals.” They never grow 
 old. To their friends and kindred the fallen are ever young, and in 
 memory live on in perpetual youth. 
 
 Such be the recollection of him we mourn to-day. 
 
 Logan was honored in his death by municipal and civil organiza¬ 
 tions, by Army societies, and Grand Army posts as few men have 
 ever been. From all over this broad land came resolutions of sin¬ 
 cere condolence to the afflicted family. 
 
 Each year hereafter on memorial day, in every cemetery, church¬ 
 yard, and God’s acre throughout our country, where a soldier’s grave 
 is made green, there will be a wreath for him. In every neighborhood 
 where they meet to “bedeck the soldiers’ graves with flowers and 
 bedew them with tears,” when they give a double portion to the 
 little mound that represents those who sleep in distant or unknown 
 graves, some one “most loving of them all” will strew the flowers 
 in memory of the man who instituted this beautiful ceremony. 
 
 The credit of inaugurating this custom is all due to John A. Logan, 
 who, as commander of the Grand Army, issued this beautiful and 
 now historic order: 
 
 The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or 
 otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country 
 during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, 
 and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is 
 presented, but posts and comrades will, in their own way, arrange such fitting 
 services and testimonials of respect as circumstances will permit. 
 
 We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose, among 
 
204 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan . 
 
 other things, “of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings 
 which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to sup¬ 
 press the late rebellion.” 
 
 What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of 
 our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its 
 foes ? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their 
 death the tattoo of rebellion’s tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with 
 sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth of the nation can add to their 
 adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defend¬ 
 ers. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant 
 paths invite the going and coming of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let 
 no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or 
 coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undi¬ 
 vided Republic. 
 
 If other eyes grow dull, and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the 
 solemn trust, ours shall keep it warm as long as the light and warmth of life 
 remain to us. 
 
 Let us then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and gar¬ 
 land the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of springtime ; 
 let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this 
 solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left 
 among us, a sacred charge upon the nation’s gratitude—the soldiers’ and sailors’ 
 widows and orphans. 
 
 It is the purpose of the commander-in-chief to inaugurate this observance with 
 the hope that it will be kept up from year to year while a survivor of the war 
 remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the 
 press to lend its friendly aid in bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of 
 the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith. 
 
 Give him the honor he so feelingly, so eloquently claimed for his 
 comrades, and let ns be proud we are such a nation and have such 
 examples among onr people as the life and services of John A.' 
 Logan. 
 
 Others have spoken of his domestic life better than I can do. He 
 was a kind father, a loving husband, and a sincere Christian ; a man 
 whose pure and exemplary conduct in private added additional 
 luster to his distinguished public record. But his course on earth is 
 finished. 
 
 Close his eyes, his work is done; 
 
 What to him is friend or foeman, 
 
 Rise of moon or set of sun, 
 
 Hand of man, or kiss of woman? 
 Leave him to God’s watching eye, 
 
 Trust him to the hand that made him ; 
 Mortal love weeps idly by, 
 
 Christ alone has power to aid him. 
 
Address of Mr. Anderson, of Ohio. 
 
 205 
 
 Address of Mr. Anderson, of Ohio. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Why is the gavel silent on the desk, the labors of 
 this House Suspended, and debate stilled in these Halls, and this pres¬ 
 ence in attendance ? A great man has fallen, John A. Logan has 
 been called to rest, and we are met to review his life’s work and re¬ 
 count his virtues. 
 
 General Logan was a true type of the struggling, courageous 
 frontiersman of the West. Endowed with a splendid physique, cour¬ 
 age, energy, and a strong will, he was well equipped for the boisterous 
 voyage of life on which he was launched. He was a typical Ameri¬ 
 can. A self-made man, he started a poor boy, he lived and died a 
 poor man. 
 
 He imbibed from the wide-stretching prairies surrounding his hum¬ 
 ble home broad views and the true idea of freedom. He was a man 
 possessed of profound convictions and of unbending will if he believed 
 he was in the right. All his personal and intellectual qualities were 
 positive. 
 
 In debate he was direct, intense, fearless. Bold in the assertion of 
 his convictions, impetuous in their vindication, he scorned evasion 
 and despised hypocrisy. 
 
 In the performance of duty he took no account of results and feared 
 no consequences. He was familiar with all the weapons of debate, 
 and he at times wielded the gentle power of persuasion, the convinc¬ 
 ing force of logic, and the strong blows of ridicule, often sweeping- 
 before him in a tempestuous outburst of eloquence all opposition to 
 the high resolves and earnest convictions of his mighty soul. 
 
 If he lost anything by neglected education his great genius sup¬ 
 plied the defect. He always had his armor on, and Logan, either 
 in the forum or on the battlefield, was ever ready for the rencounter. 
 
 .He was the advocate of liberty and the devoted friend of the hu¬ 
 man race. He loved his friends with unswerving fidelity and never 
 deserted them. He was a friend of truth, and hated treason whether 
 against his country or his friend. 
 
 He sought to preserve the Union and maintain the Constitution ; 
 he was the advocate of the universal freedom of man. He labored 
 to restore peace and amity between the sections of our country, and 
 
206 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 performed his full share in healing the animosities engendered by 
 the war. He sought to cherish industry and protect labor. He en¬ 
 couraged the settlement of our vast domain and the development of 
 our resources. He came from the humbler class and his sympathies 
 were always with the poor and the sons of toil. He was from them 
 and one of them. 
 
 Along the highway over which our country and people have jour¬ 
 neyed during the past quarter of a century John A. Logan may be 
 seen and traced. If he was your antagonist, he was an open one, 
 scorning to attack by stealth or fight from ambush. He struck 
 his blows in front and in daylight. Ready to forgive and forget a 
 slight or insult done him, he was as eager to repair an injury done 
 another. 
 
 Wherever he was found he was stolid, sincere, intense, firm,honest, 
 and courageous. If he was a brilliant figure in the political arena, 
 he was none the less so in the military. It mattered little to Logan 
 whether on the field of battle or in the Halls of Congress; whether 
 conducting his troops at the assault of Honelson or maintaining a 
 debate in the Senate of the United States; whether managing a great 
 Presidential campaign or leading his army through Georgia; whether 
 caressing his loved ones at home, or enduring the privations of army 
 life; whether trudging along the ranks as a private soldier, or riding 
 his charger at the head of his army. 
 
 When our civil war burst like a terrible tempest upon the nation 
 Logan buckled on his sword, rushed to battle and never halted until 
 slavery was dead, freedom reigned triumphant, and the union of all 
 the States secured. As resistless against the foe as an avalanche 
 rushing headlong from Alpine heights to desolate the plains below 
 he combined the desperation of Charles XII with the generosity of a 
 Csesar. 
 
 See General Logan and his troops storming the battlements at 
 Vicksburg, first to break down the enemy’s stronghold and lead the 
 advance into the captured city; and as long as the “ King of Rivers” 
 flows by those bluffs will the heroism of Logan and his men be 
 remembered. The memorable assault he led at Kenesaw will be 
 remembered while that mountain stands on its foundations of granite. 
 But he appeared most conspicuous on July 22, 1864, in front of 
 Atlanta. The confederate General Hood made a desperate assault 
 on the Union forces to free himself from the iron grasp of Sherman. 
 
Address of Mr. Anderson, of Ohio. 207 
 
 In this engagement the Army of the Tennessee was driven hack, and 
 General McPherson, its commander, fell. 
 
 Logan at once assumed command. He found the troops fatigued 
 and dispirited, the enemy enthusiastic and exultant in their tempo¬ 
 rary victory. 
 
 Cannon to right of them, 
 
 Cannon to left of them, 
 
 Cannon in front of them, 
 
 Volley’d and thunder’d. 
 
 Logan appeared upon the scene. He aroused the energies of his 
 men for battle, cheered the despondent, and rallied the faltering. 
 With head uncovered, his long black hair flying over his shoulders 
 as he galloped his foaming charger along the line, he looked the im¬ 
 personation of Mars. His voice was heard above the din and clangor 
 of battle shouting to his men, “Be brave and fear not; let your 
 watchword be McPherson and revenge.” 
 
 His troops caught the spirit of their commander, and hope and con¬ 
 fidence assumed sway; they sprang into the conflict, rushed upon the 
 enemy, and in an hour’s time regained all that had been lost, and 
 turned threatened defeat into a glorious victory. It was this Ajax 
 of the Army of the North who saved that day. The heroic deeds of 
 General Logan in this battle will not be forgotten while the name of 
 Atlanta is spoken by the children of men. 
 
 Although he had not the benefit of a military education, yet he rose 
 to the highest rank ever held by a volunteer officer in our country, 
 and he is justly entitled to the name of being the greatest general of 
 the volunteer army of the Union. He served his country because he 
 loved it. 
 
 During his military life he suffered much and endured much, was 
 torn and mangled by shot received in action, yet he declined to receive 
 a pension to which he was justly entitled. His services were not 
 rendered for bounty, nor was his patriotism to be measured by dollars 
 and cents. That his life was shortened by his exposures, sufferings, 
 and wounds there is no room to doubt, but a mighty, patriotic people 
 will cheerfully give to his disconsolate widow that pension which her 
 husband declined while alive. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, although I had but a limited acquaintance with this 
 great chieftain, yet I knew him as I saw him at the head of his troops 
 in Tennessee and Georgia, and as I read him in the history of the 
 
208 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 times. He was the idol of the volunteer soldier, who loved him for 
 his untiring devotion to their cause in peace as much as for his lead¬ 
 ership in war. 
 
 Logan had a heart that never ceased to beat in sympathy and re¬ 
 spect for the soldier that fought by his side, and to those heroic men 
 who battled against him he held out the hand of a generous foe. 
 
 In peace he had no fortune but his genius, courage, and faith ; in 
 war, no friend but his valor and sword ; yet we see him measuring 
 arms with men of experience, rank, and power, and write his name 
 high on the escutcheon of fame, leaving the world better for having 
 lived in it. 
 
 He is dead ; dead to his State, but he lives to the nation; dead to 
 the family, but he lives to every lover of freedom on the globe. 
 
 Where he will be buried is not yet determined. A dozen cities 
 ask for the honor of giving a resting-place to his ashes ; and I ven¬ 
 ture to express the wish that one place suggested for interment may 
 be adopted—that is Arlington. The place is so fitting, the surround¬ 
 ings so much in harmony with his great life. 
 
 In sight of the sacred urn at Mount Vernon an army of his dead 
 comrades bivouacked around him, overlooking the capital of that 
 nation he labored so hard in peace to build up and suffered so much 
 in war to maintain. There may he rest in peace, where the vine and 
 the wild rose will entwine their garlands over his grave ; where the 
 gentle evening breeze, through the sad pines, may sigh a dirge to 
 him, and the historic Potomac murmur a requiem as it hurries on to 
 the sea. 
 
 This great man will not be forgotten. His name and deeds are 
 enrolled in the history of his age and he lives in the affections of a 
 patriotic people. He will be remembered while liberty has a shrine 
 and freedom a votary. His name will be cherished until the clouds 
 forget to replenish the springs, the fountains to gush, or the rills to 
 sing. 
 
 In ages hence his lofty deeds will “ be acted o’er in the nations yet 
 unborn and accents yet unknown. ” 
 
 Mr. Speaker, from the tears which this day fall on the bier of 
 Logan the patriot, warrior, and statesman, there springs a rainbow 
 spanning our heavens giving hope and promise of the immortality 
 of the Republic. 
 
Adcb'ess of Mr. Brown, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 209 
 
 Address of Mr. Brown, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : The heritage of good deeds is mightier for a na¬ 
 tion’s defense than many armies with banners. It builds empires 
 and conquers the foes of freedom. In the dread time of Avar it cre¬ 
 ates armies and nerves them to battle for the right. The Republic 
 takes pride in her great names. Though but a century old, our 
 •temple of fame has garnered so fast and so well within its mystic 
 Avails that for every exigency Ave have our mentor and for every 
 peril our inspiration. Among the names there enshrined is now that 
 of John Alexander Logan. 
 
 I shall never forget the clear notes of the bugle blast that sounded 
 ‘“lights out” on the -31st of December last, when this hero and pa¬ 
 triot Avas left ‘ ‘ where the dead reign alone. ” There Avas a solemn 
 stillness in the air, and out upon the heights the clouds bended Ioav 
 and Avept icy tears. By the tomb where we laid him stood a com¬ 
 rade-bugler, martial and melancholy. “Earth to earth and dust to 
 dust” Avas said, and then the bugle touched his quivering lips, and 
 in a single breath told a story that bows a nation in grief. “ Lights 
 out,” is the closing epitome of all that tread the earth. I cannot tell 
 Avliat Avas in the mind of the author of “Lights out” when he set it 
 to martial music; but in it there is more to me than, its title indi¬ 
 cates. If it announces mortality it often proclaims immortality as 
 Avell. The better part of Logan is not in the grave—that can never 
 die. For if there be no home of the soul in the bosom of our God, 
 as our faith teaches there is, we know there is yet a realm wherein 
 deeds die not and where human sacrifices keep vigils with the cen¬ 
 turies and the cycles. When Avill the achievements of Washington 
 be forgotten? When will the deeds of Lincoln die? Hoav can time 
 efface the record of that valor which gave and preserved us a na¬ 
 tion? Will the thunders of the Declaration of Independence cease 
 amid the roll of the ages? And Avhile the earth stands Avill freed- 
 men forget “freedom’s proclamation”? 
 
 Ah ! sir, these shall all outstay the monuments that are of marble 
 and of bronze! So, too, in all generations yet to be, as they shall 
 read the story of Belmont, Donelson, Corinth, Port Gibson, Ray¬ 
 mond, Champion Hill and Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw 
 14 L 
 
210 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 and Lookout Mountains, and the mighty march to Atlanta and to 
 the sea, will not all these millions bless this warrior’s name and draw 
 fresh inspiration from the matchless valor he achieved on these bat¬ 
 tlefields for freedom and for freedom’s citadel ? 
 
 But there is more to challenge our admiration in the career of 
 Logan than his military renown. He believed that having 4 ‘let the 
 oppressed go free ” we should protect the freedman. He believed 
 that freedom without the panoply of citizenship is a mockery, and 
 hence he early championed equal rights and enfranchisement for the 
 colored man. To contend for these in behalf of an outraged and 
 despised race required as much courage in that transition period as 
 to meet the enemy on the field of carnage. 
 
 There never was an hour of greater peril to the Republic than when, 
 after the war, all the leading men in one of the great parties, and 
 many in the other, disclosed the purpose of leaving four millions of 
 people in the nation without status and without hope of ever attain¬ 
 ing unto citizenship. But there were “giants in those days,” and 
 none stood firmer or dealt more telling blows for the right than John 
 A. Logan. 
 
 I shall not attempt to explain what made Logan a leader among 
 men or by what “sign he conquered.” I am not certain that I could 
 should I try. I know, however, that he was mighty for the right in 
 every conflict in which he engaged, both in war and in peace, and I 
 know that with his rugged manhood he was yet gentle and sensitive 
 as a woman, and as loyal to friendship as the mother to her child. 
 Whatever then may have contributed to his greatness, we are sure 
 that these kindly qualities are not barriers in the highways to fame. 
 
 Logan in the United States Senate was as conspicuous to the whole 
 nation as he was to his soldiers in the day of battle. During his 
 career there no man ever made a pilgrimage to the national capital, 
 seeking to know her great Senators, who did not among the very 
 first regard with pride and satisfaction the figure of the “warrior 
 statesman from Illinois.” There are few men of our time whose in¬ 
 fluence as an orator has been so widely felt and admired as that of 
 Senator Logan. No man ever questioned his ability or his skill in 
 the use of the English language save the ignorant or the malicious. 
 His impeachment of Fitz-John Porter in the Senate and his oration 
 at the tomb of Grant are among the very best productions of this 
 generation. 
 
Address of Mr. Cannon , of Illinois. 
 
 211 
 
 No, we have not buried the glorious conquests in the field and in 
 the forum of John A. Logan. They live and speak, and shall live 
 and speak while true chivalry and exalted patriotism remain in the 
 earth. 
 
 Surely the actions of the just 
 Smell sweet and blossom in the dust. 
 
 ■/ 
 
 Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : Wlioever-pays a proper tribute to the memory of 
 General Logan must write the history of the country during the late 
 war and the years succeeding. 
 
 With Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Thomas he was a factor—and 
 not the least, in the settlement of those questions which determine 
 the fate of a nation, ay, of a civilization. 
 
 Southern Illinois was mainly peopled by immigrants from the 
 Southern States. It was natural that they should bring with them 
 the sentiments of the section from which they came. The prevailing 
 sentiment was one of sympathy with the South and its institutions. 
 
 Logan was born and nurtured in Southern Illinois, and it was nat¬ 
 ural that he should be affected by the sentiments and prejudices of 
 his surroundings. 
 
 In early manhood he became a leader among his fellows. He was 
 a soldier in the Mexican war ; later a member of the Illinois legisla¬ 
 ture. In 1860, at the age of thirty-four, he was elected for a second 
 term to the National House of Representatives as a Democrat. 
 
 The greatest popular leader in the ranks of the Democratic party 
 for a generation immediately preceding the war was Stephen A. 
 Douglas. Logan was his admirer, supporter, and trusted friend; he 
 gave him most earnest support in the contest in 1860 for the Presi¬ 
 dency. The session of Congress immediately preceding the inaugu¬ 
 ration of Lincoln was one of the most eventful and, it then appeared, 
 most disastrous in the history of the country. The secession of one 
 or more Southern States was of almost weekly occurrence. Fear, 
 uncertainty, and panic were abroad in the land. There seemed to 
 be no thoroughfare leading to the preservation of the Union. 
 
 An effort by force to preserve the Constitution and enforce the 
 laws seemed certain to not only involve the United States in a war 
 with the seceding States, but also to light the fires of civil warfare 
 
212 
 
 Life and Char actor of John A. Logan. 
 
 throughout the North. Especially was the danger imminent in the 
 West, and more especially in Southern Illinois and Indiana. 
 
 It was even suggested by the mayor of New York that that metrop¬ 
 olis should secede and form an independent city. 
 
 The blood of the people had not cooled between the time of choos¬ 
 ing Presidential electors in the fall of 18G0 and the inauguration of 
 Lincoln on the 4th of March, 18G1. 
 
 Many Democratic partisans claimed that the Union was destroyed 
 by the secession of States ; that there was no power under the Con¬ 
 stitution to preserve the unity of the Republic by force, and even if 
 such power existed, it would be wicked to use it. Some Republicans 
 pronounced in favor of allowing “the wayward sisters to depart in 
 peace.” 
 
 The people were anxiously asking what will Douglas do, and wliat 
 will be the position of Logan ? Many Democrats expected them to 
 take grounds against Lincoln’s administration, and against the use 
 of force in preserving the Union. Douglas, just before his death, 
 made that series of most effective speeches—the last one in Chicago— 
 in which he gave President Lincoln and the Government his hearty 
 and unreserved support. Logan, with entire devotion to the country, 
 united with him. To them there were only two parties, one for, and 
 the other against, the preservation of the Union. 
 
 When Douglas died Logan took his place as a leader, entered the 
 Army, and did not lay down his arms until the war closed. At the 
 commencement of the war, through the efforts of Douglas and Logan, 
 the North was saved from the ravages of civil warfare within its 
 borders. 
 
 Logan is universally acknowledged to have been the greatest vol¬ 
 unteer general of the late war. In effectiveness of service to the Re¬ 
 public history will accord him an equal meed of praise with any officer, 
 either regular or volunteer, in the late war. The regular Army is 
 trained in the profession of arms; it is set apart from the mass of the 
 people; its methods are arbitrary; in the very nature of its constitu¬ 
 tion it is without entire sympathy with the jjeople. It is the element 
 of force, to be set in motion after all other agencies have failed. 
 
 Our people boast that our principal reliance is upon a citizen sol¬ 
 diery for the defense of the Republic. Such an army, a block of the 
 people, called from the ordinary avocations of life, retains the hopes, 
 fears, prejudices, and sentiments of the people at large, from which 
 it is taken. With such an army public opinion is all-powerful. 
 
Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois. 
 
 213 
 
 Logan not only proved a great general in the field, but by plac¬ 
 ing his fingers upon his own pulse was enabled to count the heart¬ 
 beats of the whole people. 
 
 The people recognized that he was one of them. They gave him 
 their confidence; to confidence they added respect, and to respect 
 love. These he retained until his death. 
 
 He was a friend of the people, and the people were his friends. 
 Logan was criticised for his devotion to the well-being of his com¬ 
 panions in arms. He felt that the country could not give them too 
 high a meed of praise. He was convinced that the liberty of the citi¬ 
 zen—his security in the rights of property—in short, the very exist¬ 
 ence of the Republic itself, was owing principally to the sacrifices, 
 the bravery, the patriotism of the soldiers of the late war. He be¬ 
 lieved that gratitude and a sound public policy alike demanded that 
 the United States should be liberal in contributing to the support of 
 those Avho were disabled in the line of duty, and in caring for those 
 who are now disabled and dependent. 
 
 Time, no doubt, will demonstrate that in this policy he was cor¬ 
 rect. 
 
 After the close of the war he was twice elected to Congress as 
 Representative at Large, and three times as Senator from the State 
 of Illinois. Nature made him a leader, and he did lead—in civil as 
 well as in military life. 
 
 His death is the nation’s loss. His record is the nation’s inheri¬ 
 tance. He molded events in great crises. His achievements are 
 examples of the value of ability when coupled with convictions. 
 Whatever he did he did with all his might. His life will be a healthy 
 incentive to action to the millions who are to follow after him. 
 
 Logan dead will be a potent factor for good when those people who 
 drift without convictions, priding themselves upon their culture in 
 lieu thereof, are dead and forgotten. 
 
214 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 Address of Mr. GrOSVENOR, of Ohio. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: The news that flashed along the wires announcing 
 that Logan was dead smote painfully upon the hearts of more 
 soldiers than did any other news that for twenty years has been con¬ 
 veyed to the American people. Logan was peculiarly and especially 
 near to the volunteer soldier. He was without doubt the greatest of 
 them all. He was their leader, and was so recognized by them. He 
 was the highest type of excellence. 
 
 In war he had set them the example of a great leader of men; in 
 peace he had never faltered in the work assigned him as champion 
 of their interests. The strong individuality of the man shone out 
 on all occasions in war and in peace. In war, in the camp of in¬ 
 struction, he was patient and teachable. By the camp-fire and in 
 the society of his fellows he was the type of good-fellowship and 
 strong comradeship. In the hospital he was gentle and sympa¬ 
 thetic. On the march, persistent and indefatigable. In battle he 
 was a thunderbolt. 
 
 The pictures of heroic leaders drawn by the pen of word painters 
 are faint, pale, and unmeaning as compared with Logan as he rode 
 down the line of his men at Atlanta and assumed the responsibility 
 which the death of McPherson had cast upon him, and caused the 
 army to believe, and truly, that as great a man as McPherson was 
 there. I offer two pictures, one to show that Logan was a far-seeing, 
 wise man, the other to show that he was a modest and patriotic man. 
 
 He was ordered to command the great Army of the Cumberland 
 at the end of three years of its service and history. He was ordered 
 to supersede George H. Thomas, who was of that army, had grown 
 with that army, and was the pride and idol of that army. He was 
 to command the Army of the Cumberland, the army that had stood 
 in the cedar jungles of Stone River like an insurmountable wall of 
 blood and fire and patriotism when the serried columns of Bragg 
 had been hurled almost irresistibly upon- it, had won a glorious vic¬ 
 tory, occupied Murfreesborough and reorganized its plans, which 
 were carried out in proud triumph as the banner of America crossed 
 the Georgia mountains and flashed full in the faces of the grand 
 gathering of the confederates at La Fayette and Lee and Gordon’s 
 Mills. 
 
Address of Mr. Grosvenor, of Ohio. 215 
 
 The army that, retiring from the terrible battle of Chickamauga, 
 had preserved its honor untarnished, had occupied Chattanooga, 
 holding the key of all the future operations in the South; the army 
 that had scaled Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain ; the army that 
 for all those weary days, weeks, and months had marched and fought 
 over the blood-stained pathway it cut and hewed from Chattanooga 
 to Atlanta; the army that had never ingloriously turned its back upon 
 a foe—without a stain upon its escutcheon, proud of its achievements, 
 proud of its commander—was to be turned over to John A. Logan by 
 the mistaken judgment of thdgreat commander of the Army. Logan 
 saw all that I have described, and more. 
 
 He saw that the plans and procedure of Thomas had been faultless— 
 absolutely above criticism. He saw that in the hearts of the men of 
 the Cumberland Army there was enshrined and engraven the name 
 and fame of George H. Thomas. He saw that, for the first time, 
 Thomas was to have an independent command of a great army in a 
 great battle. He knew that before that army lay victory. He knew 
 that in the air that encircled Overton and the environments of Brent¬ 
 wood there was being sung a song of triumph. 
 
 In his mind’s eye he beheld the serried columns of Smith’s Corps, 
 joining with that of Steedman and Wood and others, scaling the 
 fortifications around Nashville, crushing the army of Hood, driving 
 it, starving and disintegrating, out of Tennessee; marking its path¬ 
 way with the blood of its brave men, and crushing and destroying 
 that great army; and he knew that around such a victory as that 
 would cluster the laurel wreaths of glory, and that they would de¬ 
 scend upon the brow of the commander. And he never doubted the 
 loyalty of the Army of the Cumberland to him should he become 
 their leader, for he knew the place he occupied in the hearts of the 
 men of that army; but he was a just man and he would not pluck 
 the ripe fruit that hung so tempting, which was the just due of the 
 great hero of Chickamauga and Nashville, the immortal George H. 
 Thomas. 
 
 Logan, then and there,by that act of self-abnegation demonstrated 
 his far seeing wisdom and foresight. He saw more keenly than Grant 
 that Thomas had not been slow, that Thomas had not faltered, that 
 Thomas had made no mistake; and his sense of justice, his love of fair¬ 
 ness forbade him to reap the victory that was due a commander. In 
 this he was a just man, a wise man, and a far-seeing soldier. 
 
216 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 But when McPherson fell, hv common acclaim Logan was entitled 
 to the command thus vacated. He had been to McPherson what Ney 
 was to Napoleon; he had been to McPherson what Yon Moltke was to 
 Kaiser Wilhelm. The strategy of the campaign was familiar to him: 
 the details of the army organization were like a primer to him. He 
 had never made a mistake in any movement that he had attempted, 
 and he passed through the bloody baptism of the first hours of his com¬ 
 mand with a keen intelligence and broad grasp of generalship and a 
 magnificence of execution which said to all the world Logan should 
 command. 
 
 But when he was superseded he modestly took his place at the head 
 of the old Army of the Tennessee. He would not leave his comrades 
 without his presence and advice and assistance. He would not leave 
 his country without the strong arm upon which she was relying. He 
 waived the question of rank, and modestly and faithfully supported 
 Howard as he had done his predecessor. He was a far abler man than 
 Howard, a greater man than Howard, a more able general than How¬ 
 ard, wiser in all except West Point tactics than Howard, many fold 
 more fitted to the command of that great army than Howard; and yet, 
 while others resented the assignment, left the flag, and sought other 
 service, Logan hammered away at the enemy. If he felt within him 
 a keen sense of injustice, he dealt the retaliatory blows upon the ene¬ 
 mies of his country. If he felt the injustice of the new assignment, he 
 struggled the harder to win battles to save the commander who had 
 superseded him from failure. In all this Logan was a modest man 
 and a patriot. 
 
 It has been said that a great general of the war spoke of Logan as a 
 “political general.’’ The statement has been denied, but the sugges¬ 
 tion was taken up and the changes rung on it all over the country. 
 It was used as a term of reproach. My opinion is, Mr. Speaker—and 
 I mention it modestly—that there was no successful general of the 
 war who was not, to a certain extent, a “political general.” The 
 war was a political contest. It grew out of two antagonistic systems 
 and principles of government, two widely adverse and different con¬ 
 structions of the Constitution, two distinct political interests, and 
 therefore the contest was a political one. 
 
 It was born and nurtured, had its growth and development, in 
 political platforms of political parties. It was a political movement 
 on the side of the attempted destroyers of the Union, and patriotic 
 
217 
 
 Address of Mr. Grosvenor, of Ohio. 
 
 resistance, without regard to party, on the other; and the man, 
 therefore, who best understood the nature of the contest, best under¬ 
 stood how to meet the emergency of the contest, was a politician. It 
 was a political general who assailed slavery in the very beginning of 
 the war and declared that there could be no successful prosecution 
 of the war until the Government accepted the issue. Time proved 
 his opinion correct. 
 
 It was non-political generalship that reversed his orders, prolonged 
 the war, and ultimately came climbing up upon the platform and 
 shouting about the keystone"of the arch that they had refused in dis¬ 
 dain. It was politics, a knowledge of politics and the deep-seated 
 political purposes of the men of the South, that suggested to General 
 Sherman in October, 1861, to say that there ought to be two hun¬ 
 dred thousand soldiers sent to Louisville to march against the rebels 
 at Muldraugh’s Hill, and so on down into the Confederacy. 
 
 It caused the report to go out and to be believed that he was crazy. 
 He based his judgment upon his intimate knowledge of the political 
 purposes, the political aspirations of the people of the South, and 
 when he marched liis victorious columns down through Georgia, 
 subsisting off the country; when the sweet potatoes “started from 
 the ground,” and the turkeys gobbled, “which our commissaries 
 found,” there was more politics than war in the movement. It was 
 a political suggestion by politicians, and not soldiers in the abstract, 
 that demanded the abolition of slavery and the enlistment of colored 
 men into the army. 
 
 The weak and the unpatriotic faltered; the Caucasian, in a few in¬ 
 stances, resigned his commission and went borne because the African 
 was about to shoulder arms. The Army grew no weaker for the 
 absence of the former, and immeasurably stronger by the presence 
 of the latter. It was a non-political and soldierly suggestion that 
 the soldiers of the Union Army should stand guard over rebel prop¬ 
 erty, preserve fences and cornfields and sweet-potato patches; it was 
 a political idea that lighted the camp-fires with the rails and fur¬ 
 nished the mess tables with the products of the country. 
 
 That was war, but it was political war. With the training of the 
 soldier the whole thing was over when the rebel flag was pulled 
 down; but with men like Logan and Garfield and their compeers the 
 amendments to the Constitution were conditions-precedent to the 
 fact of the restoration of the States. So, after all, there was a blend- 
 
218 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 ing of tlie knowledge and purposes of the politician with the knowl¬ 
 edge and skill and bravery of the soldier, and no one man in all the 
 long years of war and reconstruction consolidated and embraced in 
 one person so much that was right, patriotic, and wise of the politics 
 of the war, or war itself, the skill of the soldier and the politics of 
 reconstruction and the politics that grew out of the war, than did 
 John A. Logan. 
 
 I come to a matter of a very recent date, Mr. Speaker, and speak 
 frankly about it, for, because a man is dead, that is no reason why 
 the truth should not be told. Because a man is dead—a debt we all 
 must pay—that is no reason why a man in his lifetime should he 
 held up to scorn. Men differ in this country. They differ honestly, 
 bitterly sometimes. The death of one while the other survives does 
 not affect the criticism of the one nor the faults or foibles of the other, 
 if any such he had. 
 
 In the State which I have the honor in part to represent there was 
 last year a feeling of disappointment and sorrow because of one of 
 the acts of Logan. If history is to be written in this way, let it he 
 written truthfully. If facts are to be referred to, let them be facts, 
 and not attempt to substitute fiction for fact. The people of Ohio, 
 without distinction of party, had felt, and felt as they never before 
 felt upon a question like this, that a great wrong had been done to 
 them, and that a great stigma had been fastened upon them; and they 
 appealed to the Senate to right the wrong and efface the stigma. 
 
 It was not the clamor of partisan bitterness. It was the declaration 
 of honest men regardless of party. It had its original statements 
 and declarations of'fact from the mouths of distinguished Democrats. 
 Allegations of the most bitter character, illumined with satisfactory 
 details, were furnished by the Democratic newspapers of the State ; 
 and so it came. I stop not to discuss the right or the wrong of it. 
 Nine out of every ten people of Ohio earnestly demanded, in their 
 hearts at least, that the wrong should he righted, or at least, Mr. 
 Speaker, if there was no wrong the stigma should he removed by 
 proof and demonstration that the people were mistaken. 
 
 It became the watchword of civilization and public honor through¬ 
 out the State. It was taken up as the rallying cry of the young 
 men.' It was the household word of the Ohio man that this investi¬ 
 gation must go on. General Logan differed in opinion with this 
 cry and this demand, and no appeal could swerve him from what he 
 
219 
 
 Address by Mr. Grosvenor, of Ohio. 
 
 \ 
 
 believed to be right. I stop not here and now to argue against his 
 position, and I refer to it simply to point out the time and place and 
 
 the circumstances where, in my judgment, the highest compliment 
 was paid to John A. Logan that was ever paid to him by mortal 
 
 man. 
 
 In the hour of the people’s disappointment, and in the weeks and 
 months that followed it, smarting under the misfortune which they 
 understood had befallen them, and attributing the failure very 
 largely to him, bringing the blame to his door, never from the tongue 
 of one man or pen, never under any circumstances, did any Ohio man 
 attribute to J ohn A. Logan base or improper motives for his con- 
 
 i 
 
 duct. They may have shed tears of regret, they may have felt the 
 sting of disappointment that their plans and purposes had failed, 
 but at the door of the great soldier and patriot, Logan, they never 
 brought an insinuation of dishonor. 
 
 In times like those popular judgment is u ireasoning sometimes, * 
 and we are prone to ascribe base motives to the conduct of men; but 
 in this instance the shaft was too high, its surface was too solid, its 
 purity was too well established, and no archer hurled his arrow of 
 detraction against the character of John A. Logan. There was more 
 in this controversy to gratify Logan than to hurt his feelings, and 
 the men who, differing with him, yet ascribe no dishonest motives 
 to him, stand better to-day than they who seek to tarnish the repu¬ 
 tation of others by taking advantage of the public sentiment toward 
 a dead man. 
 
 So that, Mr. Speaker, I come as a representative in part of my 
 State, without hesitation, without reservation, reverently to lay upon 
 the bier of John A. Logan a tribute of our love, affection, apprecia¬ 
 tion, admiration. He is dead, and the world is the poorer for his 
 death. “ Earth may run red in other wars,” but the superior of John 
 A. Logan as a soldier will not appear. Revolutions and rebellions 
 may shake the foundations of government again, but a more unselfish 
 patriot than John A. Logan will not espouse the cause of his country 
 in future years. 
 
 Great political contests may disturb the people, but a wiser, cooler, 
 braver statesman will not arise in her councils. He is gone, and the 
 flowers of spring will shortly bloom over his grave and the song of 
 the birds will make melody in the air above him, but his example 
 will live while patriotism lives, his courage will be mentioned in 
 
220 
 
 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 
 
 song and story while courage is an attribute of humanity which the 
 people love and admire. Great leader, pure patriot, noble comrade, 
 farewell. May “the sunshine of Heaven beam bright on thy 
 waking,” and may the song that thou hearest be “the Seraphim’s 
 song.” 
 
 Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. I move the adoption of the resolutions. 
 The Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Dunham). The question is on 
 the adoption of the resolutions. 
 
 The resolutions were adopted unanimously; and in accordance 
 therewith the House (at G o’clock and 10 minutes p. m.) adjourned. 
 

 
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