13 



And now, in this great war which has just come to a glorious 

 close, whence came the strength and power to carry it on ? I will 

 do all justice to the brave and noble boys who went from our 

 schools and colleges, from the bar and counting-room — they also 

 were manly, heroic, and true as steel. But the great multitude 

 of the army of the North came from the farm — came from among 

 the lonely forests of Mame ; the green hills of Vermont ; the rug- 

 ged fields of Massachusetts ; the wide-sweeping valleys of the 

 Susquehannah and Tennessee ; the great fields of Ohio and Indi- 

 ana ; the prairies of Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota. The farmers 

 sent out their sons to save the country. The farmers' boys beat 

 the plowshare into a sabre, and for the hoe took the rifle, till the 

 land should be safe, and the flag of Freedom and Union float 

 again from Richmond to Texas. The 6th Massachusetts from the 

 farms of Middlesex County led the way, and stained with their 

 blood the streets of Baltimore, saving the capitol of the country. 

 When Sumter fell and the telegram came to Boston, caUing for 

 soldiers, Gov. Andrew sent to the farms of central Massachusetts. 

 Then was seen something unparalleled in history. Sumter sur- 

 rendered on Sunday, the 14th ; and on the 15th, at Washington, 

 Monday morning, the order was issued calling 75,000 men. The 

 same afternoon, the order went from Boston State House to 

 the country. All that night men rode to and fro, collecting the 

 soldiers, and on Tuesday morning they were on Boston Common, 

 on their way to Washington. The farms of the country have 

 produced that persistent force of character which has saved the 

 nation. The farms, schools and churches of the North — these 

 three. It needed all to do it. It needed the force and manliness 

 which the farm gives — the intelligence which the school gives — 

 and the direction of that intelligence, according to conscience, 

 which Christianity gives. These three have saved the country. 



So the farmers' boys went out with the city boys, and they did 

 such a piece of farming as the world never saw done before. 

 They plowed the ground all the way through Georgia and Caro- 

 lina, under Farmer Sherman — plowed a field fifty miles wide, 

 turning under the old soil of slavery, turning up the sods for the 

 planting of freedom. Meantime Farmer Grant plowed his way 

 through Virginia, doing also a little harrowing to the feelings of 



3 



