CHAPTER XII.

Leaving Pulaski on veteran furlough-Arrival at Springfield-The Reception—The Regiment in the Representatives ChamberWelcome speech of Governor Yates-General Cook and the Seventh's old flag-General Cook's speech-The hospitality of the people The Seventh at home.

Corraling our horses and mules and leaving them in charge of the non-veterans, the regiment on the 8th of January, with drums beating, colors flying, and hopes beating high, march from Pulaski, Tennessee. Arriving at Columbia we take the cars for Nashville, where we remain in the Soldier's Home until transportation is furnished. Transportation being furnished we proceed by rail to Louisville, Kentucky, where we remain until we receive our pay and bounty-after which we cross the Ohio and take the cars for Springfield, Illinois.

January 15th.-The train carrying the Seventh is now near Springfield; soon we expect to meet a grateful people, who have already been informed of the hour of our arrival. The train moves slowly across Sangamon river, and as it emerges from the timber and approaches the city we hear the cannon's roar. The echoes roll across the prairie, telling to us that the great loyal heart of Illinois still beats true for liberty and its defenders. The train moves into the Great Western depot, and a vast crowd is now moving towards us. The patriot fathers are here; mothers,

sisters and lovers, with anxious throbbing hearts whose pulses have ever beaten true for Union and liberty, come like a beautiful sun-tinted wave against the Seventh. Tears fall like dew drops for the loved and lost, who come not back, but when the returning comrade says to that sister or that maiden, "your Willie fought bravely on Shiloh's field, until liberty in her trying hours claimed him upon her hallowed altar," their faces sparkle with holy light and they reply: "How proud I am to know that they were thus brave soldiers in the war for republican nationality." Oh! how noble these loyal hearts that open so wide for the boys in blue. The regiment sways back the crowd and forms in line. Wheeling into company column, Colonel Rowett commences to move through the city; a grateful people continues to follow the regiment wherever they march; the men move firmly-their steps are even. Some one says "they are proud," and another replies, "and well may they be; for the record they have made in this crusade for freedom is enough to create within them a feeling of pride." After marching through some of the principal streets of the city, the colonel leads the regiment into the State House yard, where he forms the regiment in divisions and closes in mass. Our old Colonel, now Brigadier General, John Cook, commanding the military at Springfield, appears at one of the windows, and with his loud and familiar voice says: "Colonel Rowett, by the direction of Governor Yates, you will proceed with your regiment into the Representatives Chamber." The hall is now

densely crowded with the Illinois Seventh and her loyal men and women. Governor Yates now comes forward and in behalf of the loyal people of Illinois he says: "Welcome! Welcome, Seventh! to your homes and friends. The heart of this great commonwealth goes out in love for you, starting tears to the memory of those of your number whom you have left in the sunny south. Again I say in behalf of the loyal people, welcome, welcome Seventh." His big heart being so full he could say no more, and was compelled to sit down. Brigadier General Cook now comes forward, carrying on his arm the Seventh's old Donelson and Shiloh banner, and as he unfurled it in that chamber, those men who stood around it amid tempest and smoke, like a pillar of steel and fire, seemed to move towards it with all their hearts, for men never appeared to love a flag more; they loved it because of its associations, for when they gazed upon its shot-torn folds they remembered the eventful past, remembered the terrible battle flames through which it had been carried, remembered the loyal soldiers whose hearts ceased their pulsations beneath its shadow. General Cook commences to speak, and for one hour holds the vast audience spell-bound by his eloquence. He pays a touching tribute to the regiment's fallen, and we dare say a more beautiful tribute was never uttered in this chamber than this tribute delivered by General Cook. He spoke to the loyal heart, and it seemed that every word as fast as uttered entered there, for when he closed few eyes were dry in that vast audience. After a few apt and

appropriate remarks by Colonel Rowett and Major Estabrook the audience disperses. The hotels are thrown open and the loyal people invite the regiment to throw themselves upon their hospitality during their stay in the city. Having free access, a portion of the regiment remains during the night in Representatives Hall.

Remaining in Springfield until the furloughs arė issued the different companies on the 19th day of January, leave for their homes. We will now for a while leave the Seventh Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry with their friends, trusting that the loyal people will lavish upon them their hospitality and love in consideration of the noble part they have played thus far in the war for human freedom.