I hope we all, whose spokesman I now am, hope and pray that, escaped from the hardships of your service, you may live long to enjoy the blessings of a Government and a Union, as we trust, saved and restored, in no small part, by your devotion. And it will add no canker to your enjoyment to reflect, that you turned your back upon home and its comforts and endearments, and perilled all for the preservation of this Nationality, and all there is so priceless, bound up in its perpetuity.
And let me say, in conclusion, that I know in this generation of American men, no one who has a right to bear himself with a prouder, loftier self-respect, than he who two years ago, when the country of his birth, or of his adoption, was in the dark hour of its extremest danger, and seemed ready for extinction, stepped forth from the mass of community as a volunteer soldier for its defence; and who, through two years of varying fortune, has kept right on in the path of duty, and ready at every call; has braved danger, has endured hardships, has met deadly peril face to face, and never flinched; and who, now his term of service is over, returns to the society he has protected, to pursue the ordinary avocations of life, the pursuit of which would have been ended and lost in political chaos but for his sacrifices and his daring. I am not able to express the emotions which swell my soul when I look upon the men who have done all this. Let him who can survey them unmoved, go ally himself to the iceberg, or confess himself the spawn of that Devil, who, all self and selfish emotion, is the only legitimate progenitor of such a cold and heartless wretch.
Again and again, Colonel and Officers and Men of our own gallant Thirty-third, I return you the public thanks, and give you the public hearty welcome home.
Col. Taylor responded as follows:
Friends and Fellow-Citizens:—It gives me unbounded pleasure to meet with you again in Geneva, and I feel grateful to you for the warm hospitality and kind reception you have given to my Regiment. Words can but poorly express the gratitude of our soldier hearts for this unexpected welcome from your hands; and rest assured we shall long cherish the remembrance of this hour as among the happiest of our lives.
Friends, I did not come here to address you at length, and you doubtless are all aware that I am not a man of many words, but rather a man of actions, and quite unaccustomed to public speaking. Therefore, you will pardon my brevity, while I assure you that we feel more than we speak. When we left you two years ago, we resolved to do our duty in the field, and can freely say that there’s not a man in the Thirty-third Regiment but has done his whole duty on all occasions. What our career has been during this eventful period you need not be told. You are familiar with every engagement, and if our conduct on these occasions but merits your approval, we are content.
Again I thank you all kindly in behalf of my Regiment, for the welcome you have extended to us, and should unlooked-for events transpire that would demand their services, my Regiment would be among the first to respond to the call, and I believe every man would be found again in the ranks.
Three cheers were now given for the citizens of Geneva, and three more for the Union, after which the soldiers repaired to Camp Swift, to partake of a bounteous repast prepared by the ladies of the village. The tables groaned under the profusion of choice delicacies, which were dispensed by fair hands to the war-worn veterans.