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 ^ THE FOLLOWOG ADDRESS, 
 
 Delivered at Albany, February 22, 1858, by the late 
 COL. WILLIAM A. JACKSON, 
 
 Of the Eighteenth Regiment of New-York Volunteers, 
 
 Is presented as a memento of him to the Officers and Privates of 
 tlie Regiment, by their friend Professor Jackson. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens : 
 I PROPOSE to speak to you of the Patriot Soldier. 
 
 I can conceive of no subject more appropriate 
 to the day, which the Union with a single voice 
 dedicates to the memory of one, whose life and 
 virtues pronounce him to be the Father of the 
 Republic. 
 
 The soldier acts an important part in the 
 destiny of nations. From time immemorial, the 
 supremacy of great principles, the progress of 
 reforms, the elevation of popular ideas, have 
 found their sustaining power in the sword. 
 
 The patriot soldier, thus reminded by history 
 of the part he may be called to assume, should 
 remember that he is the conservator of what is 
 right in the present, the guardian of truth yet 
 to be developed; and that he should so act, 
 think, and labor, as to render himself the man 
 of the times, prompt in thought, ready in 
 action, fearless in the discharge of duty. 
 
 JOH 
 
r3(^ 
 
 — 2 — 
 
 The first principle of the soldier's education 
 is the resolution of all individual feelings and 
 passions into the single idea of the full and 
 proper, discharge of the duties of his position. 
 He must learn that he is but a unit in the com- 
 position of a force. He must never forget that 
 efficacy and completeness of action are only 
 ensured by singleness of purpose. 
 
 To accomplish this result, the soldier must 
 forget himself, must banish all trivial thoughts 
 from his mind, and make duty the pole star of 
 his life. He, then, must be unselfish : his plea- 
 sures, his feelings, his passions, however stimu- 
 lated, must yield a graceful submission to the 
 imperative principle of duty. 
 
 To abnegate self is difficult, but it is equally 
 heroic ; and he who obtains the victory has 
 won but the first of a long series of battles, 
 whose procession accumulates glory for his 
 name, and, still better, awards the noble satis- 
 faction of a well spent life. 
 
 Actuated by this idea, obstacles disappear, 
 dangers vanish, and ambition and enthusiasm 
 are thoroughly aroused. The true heroes of the 
 world give you their examples. They fought 
 and conquered in life, because they resolved all 
 
— 3 — 
 
 thought of self into the one idea of duty. In 
 death, they still live, because the meed of glory 
 belongs to him alone whose duty was the para- 
 mount object of his life. You may find them 
 upon every field, in every rank, of every tongue. 
 Roman or Grecian, Gaul, Briton, or American, 
 they close around us, a phalanx, whose front is 
 always towards the enemy, and never broken. 
 The soldier who emulates such examples, comes 
 to regard his duty as a pleasure, not a task : 
 he performs it because it is right, not because 
 honor or emolument will be the result. In its 
 discharge he anticipates no reward ; but, for its 
 proper fulfilment, reward will seek him out. 
 
 The patriot soldier, devoted to the perform- 
 ance of his duty for its sake alone, will be en- 
 thusiastic in his devotion to his cause, and true 
 to the preferment of its interests. He will be 
 the man of principle. He will never forget those 
 innate sentiments of honor implanted in every 
 heart. His enthusiasm will be based upon truth. 
 Duty and interest will be one, and no detail of 
 his service, no requirement of his country will 
 be neglected. Then indeed is the heart in the 
 cause : then is there a motive to exertion, which 
 will render it invincible. 
 
— 4 — 
 
 Men may be drilled to move and fight with 
 the exactitude of machines ; but without this 
 enthusiasm springing from these causes, they 
 are mere automata. With this motive in the 
 heart of every soldier, the mass is a unit : then 
 superiority of force cannot defeat, though it may 
 exterminate. Thermopylae, ChaBronia, Waterloo, 
 present you their examples of devoted squares 
 never broken, never yielding, till the protracted 
 agony of battle closed upon a field, where death 
 could claim no more. The enthusiasm of the pa- 
 triot soldier, fully persuaded of the rectitude of 
 his cause, feeling that he has left unperformed 
 no requirement of his calling, finds no obstacle 
 in the presence of an enemy : skilful disposition 
 of forces does not overawe him, fearful odds 
 dismay him not ; they are but inducements to 
 more strenuous exertions, and each man fights 
 as if upon his efibrts depended the safety of the 
 army and the ultimate possession of the field. 
 Such soldiers were the Hollanders of William 
 the Silent, fighting for religious freedom amid 
 the tumbling walls and ruined homes of their 
 besieged cities : such the Ironsides of Crom- 
 well, sternly fighting for a Christian Common- 
 wealth : such the Patriots of '76, fighting for 
 
— 5 — 
 
 the liberty we now enjoy ; such the men of the 
 Empire, fighting for the glory of France and 
 the progress of thought. These men had a de- 
 finite purpose, and preserved a unity of senti- 
 ment which was the element of their success. 
 They possessed those soldiery instincts and 
 qualities which proceed from love of duty and 
 enthusiasm in its discharge. Each soldier filled 
 properly his sphere; and all moving from a 
 common center in the harmonious pursuance of 
 a single purpose, they astounded the world by 
 exploits which will remain unrivalled, until, 
 the times " once more out of joint," popular 
 necessities shall evoke the dormant talents of 
 men, born to organize, to conquer, to reform. 
 But if the times do not require the immediate 
 rivalry of those great deeds, the memory of 
 which thrills every soul with admiration, they 
 do require, and love of country, of hearthstone, 
 requires, that we should never cease the " note 
 of preparation ;" that we should never forget, 
 as citizen soldiers, to emulate those men, who 
 have bequeathed to all coming ages examples 
 of chivalry, of fortitude, of patient suffering and 
 heroic valor. In such emulation, there is no hero 
 worship. We do not offer the mere man as an 
 
— 6 — 
 
 example, but his great qualities, his good ac- 
 tions, his love for humanity, his hatred of the 
 wrong. 
 
 Time is ever exhibiting men becoming heroic 
 in the simple discharge of duty : the nameless 
 graves of every battle-field attest it. Even now 
 English voices send from the sultry plains of 
 India the names of Neil and Nicholson, and 
 swell the panegyric and the dirge in mournful 
 unison over the tomb of Havelock. 
 
 There is heroism in every profession of life, 
 and the soldier may find much to emulate in the 
 quiet unassuming courage which consecrates 
 more peaceful avocations than his own. He sees 
 it in the frontiersman, lighting the torch of 
 civilization in the far West ; in the reformer, 
 enduring ridicule and persecution ; in the ma- 
 riner, braving the storm of the Tropics, or 
 bursting the icy barriers of the Poles. And 
 where, citizens of Albany, can you find a nobler 
 fortitude, a higher chivalry, a greater heroism, 
 than in the calm courage of one, who lately 
 walked our streets, a citizen of ours, who, in 
 the awful hour of impending death, when the 
 prison-house of the elements was opened, and 
 they battled in their fury over the Central 
 
America, stood at the post of duty, firm, un- 
 daunted, and went down bravely with his 
 sinking ship, true to the instincts of his noble 
 nature — Charles Van Rensselaer. 
 
 The world is filled with the history of heroes; 
 and be they explorers or reformers, mariners 
 or soldiers, men of peace or men of battle, their 
 deeds are the heritage of the world, and it were 
 ungrateful not to enjoy the gift by profiting by 
 the example. 
 
 If the soldier is unselfish and enthusiastic in 
 the discharge of his duty, he will avoid the 
 bane of every avocation, jealousy. Rivalry of the 
 proper kind is open, frank and generous : it does 
 not seek renown in the discomfiture of others, 
 but in its own superiority. A generous rivalry 
 never wounds, but lends a helping hand to him 
 who has failed in the struggle. In the great 
 efforts of life, it does not attempt to retard 
 competition, but, to render its own victory 
 complete, invites and encourages it. On the 
 battle-field, the brave and generous soldier, fully 
 alive to his own responsibilities, quickens the 
 energy of one, stimulates the faltering sense of 
 duty in another, and permeates all who surround 
 him with the vitality of his own purpose. When 
 
— 8 — 
 
 the trumpets sound the charge, he not only- 
 nerves himself to the full execution of his duty, 
 but infuses among his comrades that hopefulness 
 of spirit, which enables every one, amid the 
 carnage of the battle, to sustain the honor of 
 his cause and the dignity of his manhood. 
 
 Mere physical courage, without moral force, 
 cannot prove the successful champion of any 
 cause. The great soldiers of the world who have 
 accomplished important results for humanity, 
 were men who established a standard of soldier- 
 ly excellence, and not only satisfied themselves 
 with its attainment, but impressed its necessity 
 upon all who came within the sphere of their 
 influence. The great underlying principle of this 
 standard is that which invests it with a moral 
 force, unhesitating discharge of duty. What ho- 
 nor is to every man, what virtue is to woman, 
 is the strict performance of duty to the soldier. 
 His duty is a jewel, whose rays brighten and 
 make beautiful his life : it is a talisman of 
 mighty power. The remembrance of its dis- 
 charge soothes the dying soldier on the stricken 
 field, whispers in his ear the meed of well- 
 earned praise, tells him that the recompense of 
 his valor shall be the tears of his countrymen. 
 
— 9 — 
 
 What nobler epitaph can be graven upon the 
 tomb of any man? What better eulogy pro- 
 nounced upon his life, than the simple words 
 " He did his duty ! " 
 
 The qualities of which I have spoken are the 
 necessary characteristics of every soldier who 
 comprehends the true purpose of his calling. 
 In the patriot soldier, whose mission it is to 
 struggle for the supremacy of great principles, 
 who is the gallant champion of an inVaded 
 country or the fearless crusader of liberty, these 
 qualities should find their most perfect develop- 
 ment. He who maintains a great cause success- 
 fully, is thoroughly imbued with the enthusiasm 
 its principles beget. He who consecrates his 
 sword to a holy purpose must be pure at heart, 
 if he would identify himself with the principle 
 for which he struggles. 
 
 The mercenary can fight manfully and die 
 heroically for his hire. He finds pleasure in the 
 excitement and carnage of the battle : he looks 
 not beyond the mere fact of success. In a great 
 victory, he recognizes only the hand of his 
 general, only the supremacy of brute force, and 
 its highest results are to him the opportunities 
 of destruction and pillage. 
 2 
 
— 10 - 
 
 If such motives can impel the display of 
 courage, what must be the enthusiasm, the 
 valor, the determination of one who fights for 
 an idea which his heart has cherished, for that 
 which reason and reflection have approved, for 
 that which his better nature craves with all its 
 strength ? 
 
 The battle then is not the mere tournament 
 of rival generals, not the mere concussion of 
 opposing forces, not the mere display of courage 
 or the gravity of brute strength ; but the grave 
 contest of discordant ideas, the threshold of new 
 systems, the effort to elevate or ameliorate the 
 condition of a people, to avenge the wrongs of 
 centuries, or restrain the license of a disordered 
 sentiment. For such purposes are the exertions 
 of the patriot soldier needed : to effect them, 
 calls for the display of those qualities which 
 constitute soldierly excellence. To be prepared 
 when the time demands his services, requires 
 of the patriot soldier a thorough study and 
 appreciation of those duties which are in them- 
 selves virtues, that tarnish or brighten as they 
 are neglected or cultivated, and upon whose 
 performance depends the stability of all govern- 
 ments, the safety of all homes, the happiness 
 of all people. 
 
— 11 — 
 
 What a stimulus to the discharge of his duty- 
 has the American Soldier ! The defence of a 
 land where Freedom sits enthroned in the heart 
 of the nation; where a beacon fire has been 
 kindled, whose rays, shining steadily forth over 
 the troubled earth, tell of an asylum for the 
 oppressed, where the blessings of peace and 
 liberty are inseparable, where contentment 
 presides at the lowliest hearthstone, where 
 prosperity is universal, because industry is 
 untrammelled ; where production is assisted by 
 government, not fettered by oppressive enact- 
 ments ; where all are happy because all are 
 free, and all are free because all appreciate their 
 rights. 
 
 Before the American Soldier is placed the 
 example of those patriots whose labors created 
 the system which it his duty to preserve. 
 
 That army of freemen has nearly passed 
 away. Here and there a solitary form, riven and 
 blasted with the storms of a century, lingers in 
 our midst, stately and venerable as an oak of 
 the forest. 
 
 Such an one is in our assembly to-day : John 
 O'Brien Shenandoah, in whose memory, at the 
 age of one hundred and six years, remain the 
 
— 12 — 
 
 events of the revolution as fresh and vivid as 
 though they were of yesterday. 
 
 To the names of those patriots, our history 
 has given immortality : our present greatness is 
 their eulogy. Their mission was to scourge from 
 the land the rapacious instruments of tyranny, 
 to lift from the popular vision the blinding veil 
 of despotism, to open a new era in the progress 
 of humanity, by asserting the inalienable rights 
 of man. Their mission was accomplished : this 
 Great Union is at once the proof and the monu- 
 ment of their services. 
 
 As if Providence had deemed the crisis which 
 evolved our liberty the most important the 
 world yet had seen, and requiring in its deve- 
 lopment the assistance of the grandest combi- 
 nation of human virtues the mind can conceive, 
 a man was provided for the emergency, who, 
 in every sphere of life, whether as soldier or 
 civilian, whether on the battle-field or in the 
 cabinet, presented qualities so perfect in their 
 adaptation to the times, so loyal to the great 
 principles of truth and honor, that with one 
 accord the voice of the nations has assigned 
 him a place above all others, and speaks his 
 name only with the accents of reverence and 
 love. 
 
— 13 — 
 
 The birth of that man we celebrate to-day. 
 Twenty millions of people have his name upon 
 their lips, and his memory in their hearts. 
 There needs no monument, striking the stars, 
 to tell us he has lived ; for the heart of every 
 man in this broad land throbbed with a prouder 
 pulsation, as this morning's sun arose to remind 
 him that he was the countryman of Washington. 
 The noblest tribute the American people can 
 pay to the memory of Washington is to enshrine 
 it in their hearts, by making his character the 
 national type. To the soldier he presents the 
 truest model of his profession. The qualities 
 which render him such, the world knows and 
 has approved ; but we, as a people, should not 
 stop at approval : we should justify the decision 
 by an adoption of those principles which were 
 the basis of his efforts, and which he sought to 
 incorporate in the structure of our government. 
 
 The purest Republic that popular struggles 
 have inaugurated was upheld in its infancy by 
 the protecting arm of the purest man Heaven 
 has given to Earth. He was a soldier, so just, 
 so wise, so patriotic, so far removed from the 
 influence of passion, so discriminating in his 
 judgment, so wise in his counsels, so energetic 
 
— 14 — 
 
 in action, so thoroughly the man of principle, 
 so unselfish and generous in thought and word 
 and deed, so actuated by the highest christian 
 philosophy, so calm in danger, so utterly with- 
 out fear and without guile, one to whom it 
 seemed Nature had no more to give, that our 
 humanity can hardly claim brotherhood with 
 him in anything but death. 
 
 It is this man, Citizens, whose virtues have 
 made him the admiration of the world, that you 
 have the proud privilege of calling countryman. 
 It is this man, whose name stands first in the 
 galaxy of great commanders, that you are called 
 upon by the force of your nationality to select 
 as your example. Washington is not too great 
 to be imitated. He was sent by Providence, not 
 only to conduct successfully our revolution, but 
 to bequeath a character for the benefit of his 
 country. 
 
 My Countrymen : The position our nation 
 has assumed, standing in fact the solitary Re- 
 public of the World, proudly independent and 
 defiant, jealously watched by eyes eager and 
 willing to discover tokens of weakness and 
 decay, calls upon each citizen of our land to 
 practise those virtues, without which the plan 
 
— 15 — 
 
 of self-government must be a failure. Your fu- 
 ture happiness as a people, your individual 
 sovereignty as citizens, your homes, your 
 hearthstones, the coming manhood of your 
 children ; all, all implore with one voice the 
 preservation of that spotless national honor 
 which Washington bequeathed to the keeping 
 of your Fathers. 
 
 Will their children betray their trust ? Will 
 you, the voluntary defenders of that honor, 
 permit your swords to tarnish with the rust 
 of negligence? 
 
 There can be but one response. The»temple 
 of our liberties will remain the impregnable 
 fortress of freedom ; the memories of our pa- 
 triot soldiers will strengthen you for future 
 struggles, and the name of Washington will be 
 revered in the adoption of his virtues. 
 
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