looking on, as was the case at Antietam and other earlier bloody, but badly fought, battles. Perhaps Sheridan's immortal fame as a successful military hero rests largely on his achievements at Opequon (Sept. 19, 1864), Fisher's Hill (Sept. 22, 1864), and Cedar Creek (Oct. 19, 1864). (T. 66 Buchanan Read's poem Sheridan's Ride" helped to immortalize Sheridan.) These battles each ended with the day, and each was a complete defeat of the Confederate army under Gen. Jubal A. Early, composed of experienced troops; its corps, divisions, brigades, etc., commanded by the most celebrated Confederate officers, such as Gen. John C. Breckenridge, John B. Gordon, Kershaw, Ramseur, and others. Victories in the Civil War in 1864 and later were not won by accident, but by skill and hard fighting and the sacrifice of much blood and life. Sheridan's career did not end in the Shenandoah Valley. The early spring of 1865 (March) found him again, with the army under Grant, and the army of the Potomac under General Meade, in command of the Union cavalry, confronting General Lee, fortified in front of Richmond and Petersburg, Va. At Five Forks (April 1, 1865), commanding both infantry and cavalry, under great difficulties and disadvantages he won the initial battle, against odds, that led to the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond; the flight of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, and his cabinet from Richmond, its capital; the retreat of General Lee's army; its signal defeat (April 6, 1865) at Sailor's Creek (the last field battle of the Civil War), Sheridan with his cavalry participating in the battle, and the capitulation of the Confederate army under General Lee (April 9, 1865) at Appomattox Courthouse, and the practical ending of the Civil War, the downfall of the Confederacy and the restoration of the Union of the States. Early on the morning of April 9, 1865, the encompassing Union forces, with battle flags and guidons leaning to the front while charging, under Sheridan's leadership and orders, upon the last stand of General Lee's gallant and well-commanded army, were halted by the display of a white flag; and the surrender at Appomattox followed. Sheridan thus participated in the momentous closing scene of the long, bloody, costly Civil War, which, in the providence of God, re-cemented the Union of the States of our great republic, in which harmony, peace and prosperity now universally prevail in a degree unparalleled in the world's history. Sheridan's personal characteristics, though peculiar to himself, marked him for leadership and success in war. He had no ulterior purposes to accomplish for himself. His devotion was to his country and to its institutions. He was honest and frank, even to bluntness. That he was ambitious to succeed and to win a name and fame for himself and those who served with and under him, is to his credit. True greatness is never attained unmixed with persona ambition and pride. He was not of the type or temperament of Grant, or of Sherman, or of Meade, or of Thomas, or of other great generals of the Civil War who fairly won renown. It is more than doubtful whether General Grant, the great leader of them all, could have filled General Sheridan's place in leading, personally, large bodies of cavalry in battle, or even by personal presence in the conflict of battle inspiring those under him to deeds of valor; and the same may be said as to General Sherman, whose fiery spirit more nearly corresponded to that of Sheridan. General Meade, who successfully, within five days of his succeeding to the command of the Army of the Potomac, met and overthrew General Lee's then confident army at Gettysburg, hardly possessed the essential and intrepid qualities of Sheridan to have filled his place and accomplished the same or equivalent results at the head of cavalry or otherwise. General Thomas, who, with his sturdy poise and inspiring steadiness, won, in the presence of disaster, the designation "The Rock of Chickamauga,” could hardly have attained the varied success accorded Sheridan. So of other great generals of the Civil War. On the other hand, it is fair to say that Sheridan might not, if he had been called on to perform the high duties and to fill the important places any one of these famous officers filled, have succeeded in the same degree each such officer did. This is not saying anything to lessen the fame and glory each and all these great heroes achieved. Together, with their diverse characters and attainments, they, in necessary cooperation, achieved that success this nation and all mankind will enjoy, let us hope, forevermore. I take occasion to again thank the commission, and all others in authority, for the honor of an invitation to be present on this occasion to meet the distinguished persons here assembled and to witness the unveiling of the statue to my friend and one-time commander, one of the most famous military heroes of the ages, a typical representative product of our country, developed from humble citizenship, possible only under the benign equal individual, political and civil liberty enjoyed and guaranteed by the constitution and laws of our free republic. REMARKS BY HON. BENJAMIN B. ODELL Benjamin B. Odell, former governor of the State, said: It is always a pleasure to meet the men who have had a large part in the history of our country; who have contributed by their valor and their courage in upholding that which is the cardinal principle of a true democracy and of a republican form of government. While many are still spared to gladden the hearts of the men of liberty-loving impulses by their presence, alas, the great majority of those who were the leaders in that great struggle between the North and South have long since answered the call and have joined the innumerable throng. While men may die, the memory of their deeds and achievements lives after them, and through a succession of ages those who are the beneficiary of their sacrifices should keep before them those deeds and achievements that serve to stimulate patriotism, as well as to mold American citizenship along those higher lines which were laid down and were the aims of the founders of our republic. Albany in all of the earlier periods of the colonial times, down to the present, has occupied a conspicuous place in the history of the United States. Perhaps no one, however, has imparted a greater luster to this city than he whom we love to call the hero of Winchester; that great leader of men whose mere presence was always an omen of victory upon the battlefields. We are not a nation that seeks renown in the cannon's mouth; we are slow to anger, maintaining at all times in our individual, as well as our national character, a poise that is often misunderstood, but when roused into activity knows no other end than victory, an absolute victory that brings to our country lasting and enduring peace. War is a terrible calamity; one in these latter days that brings with it greater horrors, more devastation and ruin. There is progression in the art of warfare, as in all other branches of trades, of science and of arts. The Civil War revolutionized, through the inventive genius of Americans, this art, just as today American genius is responsible for much that has occurred abroad, and for that which has made the mailed fist more terrible, the toll of death more appalling than ever before in the world's history. To keep alive all that goes to make up patriotic impulses, there is nothing so potent as in recounting the deeds of our great men, to measure their achievements and to keep ever before the young the example of their lives, to the end that the Republic may continue and exist in spite of pessimism of the weak, the anarchy of those who confound freedom with license, and in spite of that modern conglomeration of humanity - the genus pacifists. Memorials, such as we have dedicated today, would fail of their purpose were the object of the demonstration which we have witnessed the mere pandering to personal vanity rather than that there should always be something to command the attention of the young, that would serve to awaken within their minds a desire for not alone knowledge, but also to inspire emulation that leads people to gratefully commemorate in enduring bronze the deeds of men who unselfishly devoted their lives to the happiness of their fellow men. |