Ohio History Journal

The MacGahan Monument.              235   Ladies and gentlemen of New Lexington- you who are the neighbors and the kin of MacGahan-you do well to dedicate on this, the natal day of your country's freedom, a monument to your great apostle of freedom. You do well to set up a re- minder to the coming generations of the glory and the human kindliness of the liberator of a people. But yours is not the power nor the privilege of building the most enduring monument to MacGahan. That monument is to be seen on every map of Europe. That monument rears its head upon every peak and summit of Bulgaria's mountains. The sweet and gentle thren- ody of his life is murmured by every torrent as it rushes sing- ing to the sea. The most enduring monument to MacGahan is builded of indestructible materials in the heart and soul of every Bulgarian, for all time. That monument is Bulgaria itself--

free, with its face toward the light, marching steadily to the fulfillment of its destiny; a destiny made pos- sible by the labor of love which Jan- uarius Aloysius MacGahan wrought with his life!     ADDRESS OF HON. RANDOLPH WALTON. Those in charge of these cere- monies are to be highly commended for conceiving the idea of having this Perry county homecoming on the Fourth of July. Their action leads us to a contemplation of the two loft- iest and noblest sentiments known to

men -love of country and love of home. The birth of this republic and its subsequent growth in power and influence, have not only been beacon-lights of hope to all people, and leavens which have lifted all the nations of earth to higher and better things, but have brought with them a series of unique and distinctively American festivals or holidays. Before the "Spirit of Seventy-Six" was material- ized at Yorktown, the people of the world had been accustomed

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236       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

in their fetes and holidays to celebrate the achievements of

princes or rulers, of emperors or kings. With the victory of the

Colonies came a new order of things, and holidays were then

and have since been set apart celebrating and glorifying the great

achievements of the people themselves.

Thanksgiving day was born when the Pilgrims at Plymouth

bowed in prayer and gave thanks to the great ruler of us all for

their escape from oppression and deliverance from the dangers

of the deep.

Labor Day is a holiday consecrated to those who toil, cele-

brating the progress of labor from the low state where it was

deemed fit only for slaves to its present high dignity where it is

worthy of the participation of all.

Decoration Day is a day devoted to recalling and recounting

the glorious deeds of our citizen soldiers in preventing the dis-

memberment of this Union, perpetuating the principles upon

which it was founded, and preserving its Flag untarnished in

the sky.

The Fourth of July is and ever should be the greatest

holiday celebration among men. Its observance each year should

imbue us all with a deeper love and reverence for the glorious

traditions of our struggles for liberty. The significance of this

day is lost unless we are led to more clearly realize what

that liberty means to us and to more fully appreciate the bless-

ings we enjoy under this government of the people.

It sometimes seems that all the history that is worth reading

is that which has been made since the discovery of America

in 1492. Before the inspired Columbus put out upon the un-

sailed seas and came at last upon this vast continent, this old

world hardly knew how to live. The minds and aspirations of

men had been blunted and lowered by centuries of despotism

and oppression. But here, out of the West came tidings of

better things, wonderful stories of a vast and fertile land,

whose forests and streams and plains would supply the settler

with homes and food; a land where man could be free-free

to worship or not, according to the dictates of his own reason-

a land where, unaided and unhindered, he could work out that

destiny his Creator intended for him.

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The MacGahan Monument.               237

 

A free republic is the most fruitful in the birth of genius.

Great ideas are almost unknown under despotism. Since 1492

how mightily hath man wrought for progress? How irresistible

has been the onward sweep of civilization!

Since then Shakespeare and Milton and Burns and Byron

have penned their immortal lines. The absurd idea of the "divine

right of kings" has constantly given way before the insistence

upon the diviner rights of man. Washington and his fellow

patriots have brought forth this nation, conceived in liberty and

dedicated to popular sovereignty. Hamilton and Jay and Madi-

son and Jefferson have written their wise essays on government,

paving the way for the adoption of the Constitution. Webster has

expounded that great instrument, and Marshall has applied it to

the affairs of our national life. Irving and Hawthorne and Em-

erson and Longfellow have laid the foundation of our national

literature. The printing press, with its immense power for

enlightenment; has been perfected, so that the humblest homes

now possess libraries that would have been the envy of old time

kings, and the school boy of today is wiser than the ancient

sage. The sewing machine has come to lighten woman's burdens

and revolutionize the dress of the race. Steam and electricity

have been made to warm and light our homes, perform our

labors, flash our messages through space, and bear us upon

our journeys with the swiftness of the wind. Science, with

an Alexandrian restlessness, is constantly longing for new fields

of conquest, and even now we are seeing intrepid pioneer souls

"on joyful wings cleaving the sky." Lincoln wrote the im-

mortal proclamation which forever banished the curse of human

slavery from our fair domain. Later, this nation went to war

in defense of the oppressed and helpless, swept the last vestige

of Spanish tyranny from the Western Hemisphere, furnishing

the spectacle, unparalleled in all history, of a nation expending its

blood and treasure in defense of a neighboring people, with no

more selfish motive than that of seeing them sharing the bless-

ings of a republican form of government which we ourselves

enjoy. And the light is breaking in the east, for only recently

we have seen the birth of popular government in Portugal; and

in Russia and Turkey we have seen the hellish designs of force

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238      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

and murder overwhelmed and defeated by the progressive

champions of more representative government.

These things have all come about because of the inspiration

of this one free Republic.

It is a beautiful custom that men have of erecting memorials

of bronze or brass or marble to perpetuate the names and pre-

serve from obscurity some recollection of the worth and works

of those who have been benefactors of the race. The results

of these efforts to prolong the memory of man have been of

varying degrees of effectiveness, ranging all the way from the

wonderful pyramids of the Pharaohs to the pathetic wooden

cross of the potter's field. The most enduring of these, in the

fierce crucible of time will crumble to dust and moulder away,

and their "pomp is one with Nineva and Tyre."

Those who have created, preserved and defended our country

have a monument more enduring and more glorious than any

that has ever been builded with hands and lifted its mute ap-

peal to the sky in behalf of soldier or statesman, poet or phil-

osopher, emperor or king. This Republic -with its fertile

farms, nurseries of our brawn and brain; its thriving cities,

pulsating with the activity and industry of millions; its com-

merce, borne by the railroads over the land and by the ships

across the sea; its school houses, sheltering the boys and girls

who are wiser than the ancient philosophers; the many homes,

where security and happiness reign; its mills and factories and

forges, illumining the sky with their lurid flame and sending

their smoke like incense into the heavens -this Republic, with

these and the other things which make it the grandest of all

the powers of the earth, stands here as a living, lasting monu-

ment to all the good, true and noble men who have helped

to create, advance and preserve it.

Inseparably connected with all the greatness of our country,

interwoven with all the tender memories of the past-the in-

spiration of mankind everywhere-is the flag which stands as

the emblem of this matchless Republic. While ours is one of

the youngest of the nations, ours is one of the very oldest flags

in point of adoption. It was first hoisted by Paul Jones, on the

day it was adopted, June 1₄th, 1777, aboard the ship "Ranger."

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The MacGahan Monument.                   239

 

It inspired the colonists through the trials and triumphs of the

Revolution; was carried by Decatur against the Barbary pirates;

was with Perry on Lake Erie; with Jackson back of the cotton

bales at New Orleans; went with Scott on his victoroius sweep

through Mexico; still waved "When Sherman from Atlanta

marched in triumph to the sea, and Grant at Appomattox stopped

the flying hosts of Lee."

This flag, which caught the dying gaze of Lawrence and

draped the sacred dust of Washington, shall be first in the hearts

of loyal Americans forever. This flag was once hauled down

in temporary defeat from Sumter, but after the insult had been

avenged was raised again by the devoted hands of General

Anderson who had been permitted to take it away when the

fort capitulated. We love the Stars and Stripes, not alone be-

cause it is the most beautiful of all national banners, but more

profoundly because it is the emblem of the one nation whose

only king is an uncrowned monarch known as the will of the

majority, and whose only nobility is the nobility of character

and manhood.

 

"Boast of your war trained captains, Kaiser, Emperor, Czar;

Prate of your serried warrior hosts, and babble of might afar;

Point to your brilliant banners that follow the train of Mars,

But pray they may never meet in strife the flag of the Stripes and Stars.

 

Flag of a freezing army, that famished at Valley Forge,

Flag which a Viking flung aloft and humbled the cross of George;

Flag once torn by statesmen, now mended and shows no scars-

Flag of our nation, hail -all hail! -the flag of the Stripes and Stars.

 

Down with the cold eyed pennant who sees but a textile rag,

Up with the fiery patriot soul who shouts as he sees the flag,

And honor to those who bear it, men of the sword and tars,

As far as the eagle may take his flight, the flag of the Stripes and Stars."

 

From the sentiment of patriotism, let us turn now to that

of home. Someone has described home as "A place easily left

but not easily forgotten." That definition is certainly true of

Perry county homes, because when the invitations from the

home coming committee went forth to all parts of the earth,

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240      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

saying "Weary ones, where'er you wander, come, oh come,"

the transplanted sons and daughters of old Perry began long-

ing once more to look upon the familiar scenes and faces of

former days-and thank God that so many of them have been

permitted to be here today.

The home coming habit is as old as man. It is impossible

to discover who was the originator of this beautiful custom.

The first man to give the practice the right sort of vogue and

publicity was the Prodigal Son. When, after being reduced to

hunger and want, he thought of the love of his father and the

bounty of his father's household, and said "I will arise and go

to my father," he became the patron saint of all homecomers

forever.

Those of you who have returned here to your old homes

have been led by longings much akin to those which took pos-

session of that pioneer homecomer. The Prodigal returned in

a spirit of humility and abjection; you come willingly and

gladly. He was forced to return because he had wasted his

substance in riotous living; you are enabled to return because

you have well employed the talents entrusted to you. When

the Prodigal returned, the brother who had remained at home,

sulked and objected to the father killing the fatted calf, pre-

paring the rich feast, and lavishing upon the wanderer the best

robe; but with you, friends, as you return, it is different. Those

who have remained at home while you have been wandering, give

you a hearty welcome and have helped old Perry to kill the

fatted calf and prepare the feast for you, and the only injunc-

tion they have to place upon you is "Do not hurry away."

Homecomings are most excellent institutions. They afford

to the middle aged and the old an opportunity to take a sort

of inventory of themselves as it were. Back here in the midst of

the old scenes, they can recall the hopes, the ambitions, and the

air-castles of their childhood days, and can see how nearly the

achievements of maturity have approached the aspirations and

expectations of youth.

This event should not be lost upon the young people pres-

ent. They should ponder well the stories of the pioneers who

founded Perry county, should become familiar with its history,

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The MacGahan Monument.                 241

 

and should study well the lesssons to be drawn from the lives

of those stalwart men and women who have sustained the good

name and standing of the county, from the time of its forma-

tion on March 1st, 1817, down to the present time; those who,

by reason of their intelligence, their enterprise, and their pa-

triotism have been leaders in the educational, industrial, and

political affairs of the community. The first lesson to be drawn

from the lives of those pioneers is that of fidelity to duty. That

was the trait which marked them among their fellows and

crowned their struggles with success.

The boys and girls here today must be the successors of those

faithful men and women who have been and are now carrying

the responsibilities of leadership in all the affairs of life. Well

will it be for them, and for the future, if these young people

go forth from these homecoming exercises with a determination

to profit by the examples and follow in the footsteps of the noble

men and women who have thus far so honorably and ably

upheld the good name and fame of Perry county.

Perry County has not only been fortunate in the caliber and

character of the men who have been her teachers, her clergymen,

physicians, merchants, workingmen; those who have served her

locally, and who have represented her in legislature and congress

and have graced the benches of all courts; but she has sent forth

her sons into all parts of the Union, some of whom by sheer

force of ability have lifted themselves to leadership, reflected

great credit upon the place of their birth, and have ably served

their adopted states in the gubernatorial chair and as their

representatives in the senate of the United States. That is why

all loyal sons and daughters of Perry county today love the

living Governor Carroll of Iowa, and cherish with reverence

the memory of the late Senator Stephen B. Elkins of West

Virginia.

There was also loved and nurtured here in the rugged hills

of Perry county two brave Irish-American lads, whose achieve-

ments challenged the attentions of the civilized world.

One of these was the son of a laboring man, who had come

from Albany, New York, where the child was born, to work on

Vol. XXI--16.

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242      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

the old national road. The boy worked for a time in a hardware

store and later, in a dry goods store in Somerset. He was se-

lected by General Richie, member of congress, as cadet to West

Point in 1848; graduated July 1st, 1853, entered the army as

Brevet Second Lieutenant on May 14th, 1851, and by his dis-

tinguished bravery in the Civil War and meritorious services

in the regular army, rose through the various grades of com-

mand, until in 1888, he attained the supreme title of "General"

of the army of the United States, the commission of which

had been before him held by but three men-George Washington,

Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. This Perry

county boy was remarkable in that he was equally skillful in

the command of artillery, infantry, or cavalry, and some historian

has said that he saw the back of more rebels than any other

federal commander. At three o'clock one morning General

Grant summoned him from his bed and said, "I want you to

break the rebel lines, and if you fail, go and join Sherman."

This little fighting Irishman replied, "I'll make the attempt, but

I'll not go to Sherman; I propose to end it right here." His

command charged at Five Forks, the almost invincible lines of

Lee were broken, and Richmond was doomed.

From the beautiful National cemetery at Arlington, the Val-

halla of our nation's heroic dead, looking across that beautiful

vista, as if standing as a silent sentinel over the national Capitol

which he in life so zealously guarded and defended, is the simple,

rugged monument to this Perry county boy, and upon that monu-

ment is inscribed the imperishable, immortal name of Philip H.

Sheridan.

Tomorrow, here in New Lexington, will be dedicated a

monument to another son of Perry county, whose name and

the glory of whose achievements transcended all sectional, state

and national boundary lines and stirred the hearts of men

everywhere. He, too, was of the number who "came up through

great tribulations," from an obscure home, struggled along the

way that has been traveled by the self-made giants of our

Republic, and the story of his modest, unselfish, self-sacrificing,

heroic career, is one of the most beautiful that has ever been

recorded.

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The MacGahan Monument.                243

This man was Januarius A. MacGahan. In his early man-

hood he had the ambition to teach his home school, but the

school board, thinking him too young, decreed otherwise. He

then went to Huntington, Indiana, and taught successfully for

two years, taking mother and the rest of the family, leaving

Perry county as a home forever.    He later moved to St.

Louis, where he spent four years, working as a bookkeeper,

studying and writing for the press. He then went to Europe,

with a view of studying foreign languages and fitting himself

for the practice of the law, but in the Providence of God there

was another and larger work mapped out for him to do. He was

engaged by the New York Herald and the London News to act

as their war correspondent with the French army in the

Franco-Prussian war. As the representative of those papers

MacGahan was in all the wars of Europe for ten years before his

death. He was condemned to death by the Commune in Paris,

and later by the Republicans in Spain, who mistook him for a

Carlist, but each time was saved by the diplomatic representa-

tives of the United States. No man ever had a more varied

experience. He traveled through Europe with General Sherman

and party in the early seventies, went with the Pandora ex-

pedition to the Arctic seas in 1875, while his long and perilous

ride across the Asiatic deserts to Khiva was the greatest display

of courage and endurance, of fearlessness in the midst of strange

and savage peoples in an unknown land, of which there is any

record.

But the greatest work of MacGahan was that of exposing

the fiendish acts of pillage and murder which Turkey was per-

petrating upon weak and helpless Bulgaria. His vivid, thrilling

accounts of the wrongs inflicted upon the Bulgarians fired the

hearts of humane people everywhere, and brought to the aid of

the Bulgarians a powerful friend in the person of the Czar of

Russia, who put a stop to the atrocities of the Turk and drove

him back to his own Capital. Bulgaria was free and MacGa-

han was her deliverer and savior. And the gratitude which

shall ever abide in the hearts of the people of far-off Bulgaria

is the most fitting memorial to Januarius MacGahan.

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244       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   "When a deed is done for freedom, through the broad earth's aching breast, Runs a thrill of joy prophetic, trembling on from east to west, And the slave, where'er he cowers, feels the soul within him climb To the awful verge of manhood, as the energy sublime Of a century bursts full blossomed on the thorny stem of time."   Mild-mannered, lion-hearted, clean-souled MacGahan! To you it was given to do a deed for freedom, and the romantic story of your birth, your boyhood struggles, your glorious work in carrying abroad the spirit of free America, of your communion with the great and powerful of the earth, and of your death for a friend, will go singing like a benediction down the ages. Bless old Perry County. May her future be in keeping with her honored past, and may the rising and coming genera- tions prove worthy successors of the sturdy men and noble women who have been her home-builders and creators.

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