"
Very truly yours.
JOSEPH P. BRADLEY.
He was an admirable historical investigator and narrator.
He carefully investigated the facts. He told the story of
the heroic days of the Revolution and of the heroic days of
the War for the Union with a graphic power which will give
his addresses on such subjects a permanent place in our best
historical literature.
But it is as a soldier that his countrymen will remember
him, and it is as a soldier that he would wish to be remembered.
Whatever may be said by the philosopher, the moralist, or
the preacher, the instincts of the greater portion of mankind
will lead them to award the highest meed of admiration to
the military character. Even when the most selfish of human
passions, the love of power or the love of fame, is the stimulant
of the soldier's career, he must at least be ready for the
supreme sacrifice--the willingness to give his life, if need
be, for the object he is pursuing. But when his end is purely
unselfish, when the love of country or the desire to save
her life by giving his own has entire mastery of the soul,
all mankind are agreed to award the good soldier a glory which
it bestows nowhere else.
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