November 22, 1906
_____
11:35 A. M.
Music: Fifty-fifth
Iowa Regimental Band
“Battle Hymn of the
Republic”
Introduction of
speaker:
Colonel William B.
Bell
Governor Cummins,
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I have a few words to say on behalf of the Eighth Iowa
regiment on this memorial occasion. Colonel James L. Geddes commanded this
regiment during the first day’s fight at Shiloh. In the evening he was taken
prisoner. He is now gone to his reward.
I had expected to have Professor A. N. Currier of the Iowa
State University, who was a private soldier in this regiment, make some remarks
on this occasion. It was impossible for him to be here and I have selected
another private soldier of the Eighth Iowa regiment who is present here today
to make the address. Before introducing him, however, I am gratified to be able
to announce to the audience that two sons of General Prentiss are with us and
we will introduce them at the conclusion of the address.
Address:
Private Asa Turner, Eighth
Iowa Regiment
Governor Cummins,
Members of the Commission, Comrades and Fellow Citizens:
I have sometimes wondered what made Iowa’s troops
invincible. I have thought much over the matter, and I believe I can tell you
why. Drummond says, “The greatest thing in the world is love.” The Divinity who walked the Galilean shore
said, “Greater love hath no man than this: that he lay down his life for his
friends.”
When the call to duty came to the Iowa boys, they hurried
from the schools, from the farms and from the shops. They received the
benediction of those who waited behind — whose mission it was to love, to
watch, to wait and to weep. A farewell kiss upon the cheek from wife and mother
and sister and sweetheart. Do you wonder that having stood, they were able to
stand, with the eyes of the motherhood and the wifehood and the sisterhood and
all the sweethearts of the north upon them, backed by the greater love of
Divinity?
For the first time under fire right there (pointing) — a boy
of eighteen — what a flood of memories come trooping up when I think of those
days and of the boys who came with us. Was it hope of reward or fame or wealth
that brought them? No! It was this greater love, that coming at the
crucial period in the nation's history, made them willing to stand, and they
did stand, upon this very spot, laved in the blood of the forty who died here,
of the eighteen who died of mortal wounds, of the one hundred and thirteen
wounded; and we will say that all the rest were taken south. So today we
commemorate their deeds. Would that I had the power to send a wireless message
up through the ether blue to the comrades who have gone before. I would say,
comrades, though you are absent, you are not forgotten. We have kept your
memory green. We have told of your deeds of valor to the child and the
grandchild at our knees. At our firesides, at campfires, at gatherings, on
decoration days, we have remembered you.
Now we know that the eventide of life is coming. It is not
for long ere the reveille will sound for us the last time, for we are gathering
home, one by one; and then, comrades, we will join glad hands with you, feeling
that the men behind the guns acted well their part.
Governor Cummins, to you, who so ably championed the cause
of the two sister regiments whose cause was dear to us, we commit this
monument. I thank you.
Colonel Bell said:
“I have the pleasure of presenting to this gathering two
sons of General Prentiss who fought so nobly upon this field — Jacob H.
Prentiss and E. W. Prentiss.”
Mr. B, W, Prentiss said:
Governor Cummins,
Survivors of the Battle of Shiloh, Ladies and Gentlemen:
While we did not come here to talk we take this opportunity
to express our appreciation of this great privilege, of attending these
beautiful ceremonies. It is too bad that so few of the brave men of Shiloh
survive to see and hear these splendid tributes to their sacred memory and to
their bravery.
While the two Iowa regiments assigned to father's division —
the Fifteenth and Sixteenth — were not with him here in this Hornet's Nest;
these other Iowa regiments of which you have heard were very close to him and
to his command and the Eighth, Twelfth and Fourteenth were taken prisoners with
him. And as they were very close to him in the line of battle, so were they
ever close to his heart and lovingly treasured in his memory. They were with
him in prison and he loved them and never forgot them.
We thank you for the warm greeting that you have extended to
us for the sake of his memory, and accept it in the same spirit.
Benediction:
Rev. Dr. A. L. Frisbie
of Des Moines, Iowa
“We offer thee praise, Almighty One, because of the free and
generous gifts — an offering of love, the love of true hearts, the love of
homes and fathers and mothers, and of all who loved the young men who came
forth that they might champion the great cause for which they suffered and died,
that they might redeem their land from peril, that they might save the nation.
We thank thee for their success, for the nobility of their sacrifice, and the
love which animated them. And now, our Father, guide us still, and help us to
be worthy of all the sacrifice that they made for us, in the name of Christ. Amen.”
SOURCE: Alonzo Abernathy, Editor, Dedication
of Monuments Erected By The State Of Iowa, 234-6
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