The train carrying
the Seventh is now near Springfield; soon we expect to meet a grateful people,
who have already been informed of the hour of our arrival. The train moves
slowly across Sangamon river, and as it emerges from the timber and approaches
the city we hear the cannon's roar. The echoes roll across the prairie, telling
to us that the great loyal heart of Illinois still beats true for liberty and
its defenders. The train moves into the Great Western depot, and a vast crowd
is now moving towards us. The patriot fathers are here; mothers, sisters and
lovers, with anxious throbbing hearts whose pulses have ever beaten true for
Union and liberty, come like a beautiful sun-tinted wave against the Seventh.
Tears fall like dew drops for the loved and lost, who come not back, but when
the returning comrade says to that sister or that maiden, "your Willie
fought bravely on Shiloh's field, until liberty in her trying hours claimed him
upon her hallowed altar," their faces sparkle with holy light and they
reply: “How proud I am to know that they were thus brave soldiers in the war
for republican nationality.” Oh! how noble these loyal hearts that open so wide
for the boys in blue. The regiment sways back the crowd and forms in line.
Wheeling into company column, Colonel Rowett commences to move through the city;
a grateful people continues to follow the regiment wherever they march; the men
move firmly-their steps are even.
Some one says
"they are proud," and another replies, “and well may they be; for the
record they have made in this crusade for freedom is enough to create within
them a feeling of pride.” After marching through some of the principal streets
of the city, the colonel leads the regiment into the State House yard, where he
forms the regiment in divisions and closes in mass. Our old Colonel, now
Brigadier General, John Cook, commanding the military at Springfield, appears
at one of the windows, and with his loud and familiar voice says: "Colonel
Rowett, by the direction of Governor Yates, you will proceed with your regiment
into the Representatives Chamber.” The hall is now densely crowded with the
Illinois Seventh and her loyal men and women. Governor Yates now comes forward
and in behalf of the loyal people of Illinois he says: "Welcome! Welcome,
Seventh! to your homes and friends. The heart of this great commonwealth goes
out in love for you, starting tears to the memory of those of your number whom
you have left in the sunny south. Again I say in behalf of the loyal people,
welcome, welcome Seventh.” His big heart being so full he could say no more,
and was compelled to sit down. Brigadier General Cook now comes forward,
carrying on his arm the Seventh's old Donelson and Shiloh banner, and as he
unfurled it in that chamber, those men who stood around it amid tempest and
smoke, like a pillar of steel and fire, seemed to move towards it with all
their hearts, for men never appeared to love a flag more; they loved it because
of its associations, for when they gazed upon its shot-torn folds they
remembered the eventful past, remembered the terrible battle flames through
which it had been carried, remembered the loyal soldiers whose hearts ceased
their pulsations beneath its shadow. General Cook commences to speak, and for
one hour holds the vast audience spell-bound by his eloquence. He pays a
touching tribute to the regiment's fallen, and we dare say a more beautiful
tribute was never uttered in this chamber than this tribute delivered by
General Cook. He spoke to the loyal heart, and it seemed that every word as
fast as uttered entered there, for when he closed few eyes were dry in that
vast audience. After a few apt and appropriate remarks by Colonel Rowett and Major
Estabrook the audience disperses. The hotels are thrown open and the loyal
people invite the regiment to throw themselves upon their hospitality during
their stay in the city. Having free access, a portion of the regiment remains
during the night in Representatives Hall.
Remaining in
Springfield until the furloughs are issued the different companies on the 19th
day of January, leave for their homes. We will now for a while leave the
Seventh Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry with their friends, trusting that
the loyal people will lavish upon them their hospitality and love in
consideration of the noble part they have played thus far in the war for human
freedom.
