fathers' flags-the ensigns of all the worthy dead--your comrades, our relatives and friends-who for their preservation have given their blood to enrich the battle-fields, and their agonies to hallow the prison pens of a demoniac enemy. They are your flags and ours. How rich the treasure! They will not be forgotten and their history be left unwritten. "Their stories will be as household words; and the minds of those who come after us will dwell upon the thoughts of manly endeavor, of staunch endurance, of illustrious achievement, which their silent eloquence will ever suggest. They will ever typify the grand results accomplished by the loyal men of the Nation in this great rebellion; and should the flame of patriotism ever wane. upon our altar-stone, the halo from these mementos will kindle again the ancient fire that electrified the world. "Let us, then, tenderly deposit them, as sacred relics, in the archives of our State, there to stand forever, her proudest possession-a revered incentive to liberty and patriotism, and a constant rebuke and terror to oppression and treason." * * * * The ceremony concluded with a benediction by the Rev. Dr. George Duffield, when the veterans marched to the depot of the Michigan Central Railroad, where they partook of a substantial repast, prepared for them by the citizens, and where they were waited upon at tables by ladies and gentlemen of the city. Those old flags, fluttering proudly in the breeze, bearing the mark of many bullets, and the record of many battles, under which friends had fought, and loved ones fallen, strengthened the people in their love of country, and made them firmer in their faith of the lasting union of the republic. They were gladdened in heart at the presence of the veterans of the army of Michigan. Yet, alas! their joy was mixed with sorrow. Fourteen thousand and over of that army had joined the "Legion of the dead;" they had fallen under the flag, on many battle fields. Most of them, in a spirit of humanity and veneration, have been gathered by kindly hands into the beautiful cemeteries, provided by a beneficent government, and now sleep in their windowless palaces of rest, where they will lie in peace until the last reveille; but some of them yet lie where their comrades left them, by the way-sides, on the sunny brows of many hills, in the dense forests, in the valleys, and under the orange and palm trees, on the banks of rivers, under the deep, dark waters, and on the sea beach, where the restless waves forever chant their requiem. But they lie under the flag they defended and made stainless, and in the land they saved and made free. Thank God! there beams o'er land and sea, And everywhere from main to main, The Old Flag' flies and rules again." SOLDIERS' HOMES. At the session of 1867 the legislature most humanely and opportunely appropriated twenty thousand dollars to maintain for two years a temporary "Soldiers' Home" at the Harper Hospital in Detroit. At the session of 1869 an additional sum was appropriated for its support for two years more. This home was established for the maintenance of infirm, maimed, and destitute Michigan soldiers and sailors of the late war. Its management to be under the direction of the State Military Board, then consisting of Col. D. H. Jerome, of Saginaw, President; Col. Jerome Croul, of Detroit; Col. Alvin T. Crossman, of Flint; Col. Henry L. Hall, of Hillsdale; and Col. S. M. Cutcheou, of Ypsilanti. This institution is still under the direction of the same board, now composed of Colonel Charles E. Grisson, St. Johns, Colonel Henry M. Duffield, Detroit, and General Lewis W. Heath, Inspector General, Grand Rapids. It is still deemed a necessity as a place of shelter for destitute Michigan soldiers while preparation is being made for their admission to the National Homes. In the management of the "Home" judicious liberality has accorded to the disabled soldier the fullest benefit contemplated by the law, proving of great benefit to many who have found it necessary to seek its shelter; at the same time guarding with great care the State against unnecessary expense and imposition of the undeserving. In this connection it may not be out of place to state that since the establishment of these "National Homes," and up to the present time 560 Michigan soldiers have received admission, 345 at Dayton, Ohio, 178 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 17 at Togus, near Augusta, Me., and 20 at Hampton, Va. While asylums affording ordinary yet comfortable homes are provided by their governments for the disabled veterans of foreign armies, it has been reserved for America to take the advance in this field of humanity and right by placing the "National Homes" of our country, for her maimed veterans, on a scale incomparably high and infinitely superior. They provide all the ordinary comforts of a home, chapels for religious services, halls for concerts and lectures, hospitals with experienced surgeons and kind nurses, library and reading rooms, amusement halls, school rooms, post and telegraph offices, stores and workshops. Those who desire to fit themselves for active employment, may receive an education so as to take up almost any employment, or may learn trades suited to their peculiar disability, and compensation is allowed for profitable labor. It should be borne in mind by the soldiers and their friends that these Homes are neither hospitals nor alms-houses, but homes where subsistence, care, education, religious instruction, employment, and amusements are provided, and this provision is not a charity, neither furnished at the expense of the states nor of the general government, but being the stoppages from bounty-jumpers and bad soldiers of the war, is therefore a contribution by the vicious and unfaithful to the brave and deserving. Liberal pay and sometimes large bounties were the soldiers' benefits while in service, still it was but money, easily and soon spent. Pensions granted to the maimed and diseased may prove insufficient or may be improvidently wasted, but the National Home is the deserving soldier's "home," and is a complete and lasting competence which can neither be misspent nor taken. away, but remains a heritage from our country, not for a day but for all time. These "Homes" are the greatest boon conferred upon those who bared their breasts to the bullet and became crippled and infirm in the service of their country. Many of them will pass their last days in those quiet and beautiful retreats in peace and comfort, meeting death while imploring God's blessing upon those who in their warm and humane hearts devised so much of good for the aged and enfeebled soldier, and will then be borne by their friendly comrades to their graves in green and retired spots, beautifully improved and adorned in the shades of the native forest. ROLL OF HONOR. The legislature of 1869, with entire unanimity and much liberality, passed the following joint resolution, which was approved by Gov. Baldwin on the 3d of April: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Michigan, That the Adjutant General of the State be authorized and instructed to prepare or finish the preparation of a roll (to be called the Roll of Honor), upon which shall be inscribed the names of all such citizens of Michigan, not only as have fallen in battle, or died in consequence of wounds received during the late war of the rebellion, but also all who died in Southern prisons, hospitals, and all other places, even though they may have served in regiments or batteries organized in other states, said roll to be a complete list of all the casualties of war among Michigan men; and further, "Resolved, That a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars be, and the same hereby is, appropriated out of the general fund for the compilation of said roll and the engrossing of the same on parchment, and that the Adjutant General is directed to have the roll in parchment bound and placed in the State Library, and the original copy bound and retained in the office of the Adjutant General." This sum having been found too small, Governor Baldwin, at the next session, obtained an additional appropriation sufficient to complete the binding of the work, which was finished in the early part of 1872, and forwarded to the Governor, with the following letter: MILITARY DEPARTMENT, MICHIGAN, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE. To His Excellency, Henry P. Baldwin, Governor of Michigan: GOVERNOR :-I have the honor to transmit to you the "Roll of Honor" required under a resolution of the legislature, approved April 3d, 1869. Very respectfully, Your most obedient servant, JNO. ROBERTSON, The "Roll" contains 14,855 names finely engrossed on English parchment by John Radiger, occupying him constantly for two years. It is made up in two volumes, elegantly and substantially bound in Russian leather, with ornamental brass trimmings and fastenings, and has the following introductory: "Roll of Honor of Michigan Soldiers who died in defense of the American Union, 1861-1865. "Michigan, ever true to the flag of her fathers and her own honor, declared at the outbreak of the late civil war, that the American Union, the best government given by God to man, must be preserved in spite of unjustifiable secession, atrocious treason, and armed rebellion, and that the freedom of the people must be permanently secured. This declaration was most faithfully and heroically maintained, as evinced by the truthful loyalty, persistent energy, and unbounded liberality of her people, but especially by the faithful and brilliant services of her noble soldiery in the field, thereby establishing an unquestionable claim to a full share in common with all other loyal states of the honor of defending the Government, and of preserving the institutions of our country. "Michigan gratefully realizing and duly appreciating the noble sacrifice made by so many of her gallant and illustrious sons upon the altar of their country's liberty, who fell on many battle fields while bravely fighting for our national life, and honoring their State, is desirous of perpetuating their memory by inscribing their names on a roll of imperishable honor, to pass into the future as a bright and lasting record of their patriotism and true devotion to American nationality and freedom, worthy of the highest and purest veneration of their fellow countrymen for all coming time. "In order to effect this commendable purpose, the State, through her legislature, has caused the compilation of the roll of honor of Michigan soldiers who fell in battle or who died of wounds. "Though mixed with earth their perishable clay, Their names shall live while glory lives to tell; |