—Not all the heroes of the war whose graves will be wreathed with flowers to-day, fell in battle. It has been said that “the crowning glory of our soldiers was their peaceful disbandment.” One day they stood in line, the absolute masters of this land. Throughout its length and breadth there was no power, no authority, that they did not outrank. The next day they had disappeared, silently, peacefully, modestly, and were absorbed into the great body of American citizens. Calmly and serenely they took up the broken threads of their old life, with its toils, its cares and its perplexities, and within a month no signs of the most tremendous and momentous struggle the world has ever known were to be seen.
One of these home-returning heroes was Ferdinand A. Berger. Enlisted as a private in Company A, at Leavenworth, on the 1st of September, 1861, he was finally mustered out, at Leavenworth, January 9th, 1866, having served four years and four months. October 1st, 1861, he was promoted to be a Corporal, and on January 1st, 1862, was made a Sergeant. At Chicamauga he was severely wounded. January 1st, 1864, he reënlisted as a veteran, and was, the same day, promoted to be First Sergeant. October 21st, 1864, he was promoted to be First Lieutenant, and in November of the same year received a commission as Captain, but could not be mustered, his company having been reduced in number below the standard. December 16th, 1864, at Nashville, he was again severely wounded. And on the 9th of January, 1866, he was finally mustered out, with his company, only nine enlisted men remaining. He was then only twenty-four years of age.
Returning to Kansas, he located in Atchison county, and engaged in farming. On the 8th of January, 1879, he came to Atchison city, in the full enjoyment of health, to attend to some business affairs. Shortly after noon, a runaway team attached to an overturned sleigh, came dashing up the street. With characteristic promptness and courage, Captain Berger sprang in front of the frantic horses, and seizing them by their bits, managed to stop them. The owner then came up and caught the reins, but the maddened animals continued to plunge and struggle, and Captain Berger attempted to unhitch their traces. While thus engaged, one of the horses delivered a vicious kick, its iron-shod hoof striking him fair in the face, breaking his jaw in several places, and producing a severe contusion of the brain. Two days later he died from the effects of his injuries.
Thus one of the most faithful and heroic of soldiers, who had passed through the harvest of death at Chicamauga, stormed the blazing heights of Mission Ridge, gone unharmed through the campaign to Atlanta, and charged the rebel works at Nashville, lost his life, at last, on the peaceful streets of a Kansas town, while endeavoring to save the lives of others.
—I might sketch for you many other soldiers, as brave, patriotic and self-sacrificing as those I have named. Every volunteer regiment had in its ranks scores of such men. Indeed, I should like to speak of Capt. John L. Graham, of Robert M. Hale, of William H. Horr, of Gil. M. Judah, of John W. McClellan, and many others among the martyred dead, and of dozens who passed unscathed through the fiery furnace of war and are still among the living. But my purpose is fulfilled. I simply desired to present an outline sketch of a few soldiers, differing widely in temperaments and personal characteristics, but all fair types of the men whose valor and patriotism crushed the greatest rebellion the world has ever witnessed. The pictures are incomplete, I know. I regret that a hand more skillful than mine has not drawn them; that a tongue more eloquent than mine could not have told the inspiring story of their dauntless courage and their sublime self-sacrifice. But as I knew them I have tried to present them to you, not as soldiers of rare or exceptional qualities and services, but as representatives and types of thousands of their comrades, living and dead. In every city, town and neighborhood of Kansas may be found soldiers of these types, for our wonderful population includes more than a hundred thousand men who have marched to the music of a drum:
“Men who were brave to act,
And rich enough their actions to forget, forget—
Who, having filled their day with chivalry,
Withdraw, and keep their simpleness intact,