Account of the Flag Presentation to the 2nd New Jersey Infantry
"Newark Daily Mercury"
Newark, New Jersey
Thursday, June 27, 1861
FLAG PRESENTATION AT TRENTON
Parade of the Second Regiment
The city of Trenton was in a ferment of exitement yesterday. The announcement that the Second Regiment, on the occasion of receiveing a regimental standard, would parade in the city, attrated thither a large concourse of people from this part of the State, and the streets present at a gala-day appearance. The Regiment left Camp Olden at half-past one o'clock, and reached the city about and hour later, the staff officers being mounted, and the men throroughly armed and equipped. The Regimental Band, though not yet uniformed, appeared with twenty-six pieces, furnishing splendid music. Upon arriving at the State House, the Regiment formed into ranks as near as possible to the front of the grounds, -the officers being in front, with the color sergeant and his aids. The croud of spectators was very large, the grounds and streets in the vicinity being thronged. The ladies were present by the hundreds, many being from this city[Newark]. At three o'clock the standard was brought forward by Mr. John R. Pierson, the donor, and the ceremonies of presentation took place amid many manifestations of interest. The standard is of the most elegant description, of large size, of blue silk, and having on one side the Arms of the Union and on the other the Arms of New Jersey. The painting is executed in the best style, and all of the embellishments are of the most tasty style. The standard is inscribed, "Second Regiment, First Brigade, New Jersey Volunteers." The whole cost some $250, and is a most pricely testimonial of esteem for which Col. Pierson will no doubt be long remembered.
In presenting the standard, Mr. John Y. Foster spoke as follows:-
"FELLOW CITIZENS AND SOLDIERS OF NEW JERSEY:- In behalf of one of the many friends whose hearts are with you to-day, I take pleasure in presenting to you this Regimental Standard. I am happy in being the organ of this friendly expression, because the opportunity enables me, a young man and a Jerseyman like yourselves, to hail you as worthy of your noble ancestry -- as worthy to bear in the battle's van the good old flag whose constellations brightened the darkest hours of the Fathers' struggle for Liberty. You are going, men of New Jersey, upon no mere holiday adventure -- no mere knightly tournament for the guerdon of a lady's smile. You go to rescue from annihilation the noblest government God's sun ever shone upon -- a government which comes to every man with blessings and never to any man with oppression -- a government which stands in the world the great depository of the principles of perfect liberty; you go to defent this matchless government, to conquer and put down a rebellion more wicked and unholy, more imperiously defiant of all the restraints of justice and humanity, more utterly indifferent to every principle of honor, of manliness and religion, than any that stains the page of history; and the guerdon for which you are to strive is the applause of the world, the acclamations of ages yet unborn. You are to be measured at the bar of the universe, and every conflict in which you engage for the maintenance of the Union will be to you a judgement day, with the eyes of millions of witnesses upon you. In so holy a war, -- with such responsibilities resting upon you, you will need to be courageous, firm, patient, obedient, -- to comprehend the vast proportions of your great work -- to live in the fear of God and Eternity. You will represent not alone your individual convictions -- not alone your individual homes and kindred, but in this conflict, forced upon us by revolting States, every loyal soldier, whether in the trenches, or on the deck, or in the field, will represent the civilization of the age, of which ours is the best epitome -- the homes and shrines of all men, everywhere, to whom our nation is a beacon and defence. The issue is distinct and absolute -- on one side are freedom, justice, humanity; on the other are lawlessness, oppression, anarchy, the worst elements of barbaric life -- on one side the flag whose lustrous folds have flung over the nations the light of a coming dawn; on the other side a flag whose Palmetto banner with the rattlesnake coiled amid its leaves. Our flag is an ensign of hope and deliverance -- under it George Washington rode to battle and afterward in triumph through these peaceful Trenton streets; under it States have been won and empires established; under it or mission-ships have floated with Gospel treasure into all waiting harbors; under it millions have found shelter and protection when the storms beat pitilessly -- their flag, flaunted now through all the disloyal States, gives promise neither of Independence nor stability -- fortells only ruin and disaster. Our flag is know and honored on every sea, in every port where Commerce folds her salis, on every island which the foot of enterprise has touched -- to theirs no single nation bows, and only pirates dare to darken the fair seas with the shadow of its folds. Our flag in India, in China, in Europe, everwhere, means AMERICA -- the land of Washington, the model republic of teh world; theirs means revold -- the rule of the mob -- a dynasty founded in rapine and crime. Soldier of New Jersey, this royal flag, never dishonored, never humiliated, you go to defend. It is a holy mission; you should thank God that it is your lot to live in so great a time. It is WORTH a life to be permitted to stand in a Thermopylae of History like this is, where the life of the nation is to purify and vindicate itself, and putting away all vigorous forces for a new and better growth. You go to battle for the land tha God gave our fathers as the best and fairest in His realm, and we say to you, now and here, God be thanked it is OURS to show that the land HE has given us no traitor shall ever rend away out of of our hand!
And do you need to be plied with motives to stand fast in duty? Think for what your are contending -- remember who and what you are. You are the sons of a State whose soil was baptized with the best blood of the Revolution -- you are heirs of a name that is immortal in legend and in story. Let that memory inspire and refresh your hearts. Remember, too, the hopes, not of the people alone, but of the world, rest with you. In far lands, this fair day, oppressed peoples are looking ot you with troubled souls. They lay upon you the burdon of their hopes, and out of full hearts are crying over the wide waters; 'stand true. oh Brothers, in this hour of fate -- let not the Truth fail in you whom God has put in the van of the conflict for Liberty!' Is any other motive needed? Thing again: When you came hither at your country's call, you left behind you in your pleasant home, it may be, a gray-haired old mother, at whose knee you have often knelt, upon whose bosom you have often found refuge from the world's beating storms. In that hour when you left that home, she laid her wrinkled hand upon you and with tears in her dimmed eyes, said to you, 'Go my son -- be true to God and your country, and may His belssing be upon you.' In that same hour, you left a father, bowed and faltering under the cares of many years, and his benediction, too, is upon you to-day. You left beside, perhaps, a wife, mother of your children -- a sister, your playmate in those golden whous when sunshine lay on all the hills of childhood -- another, even dearer than all else, with whom hou had hoped to walk life's middle pathes, as one! And in that hurried parting when you stood upon the threshold of your home, there were children's faces, mayhap, lifted unto yours: their hands clung to your skirtsm and their kisses linger yet upon your lips. Remember, men and brethren, these are the treasures for which you are to struggle. Remember, wherever you may be, the eyes of these your darlings will be upon you -- theire prayers will be about you -- and soft voices will murmur in the night's still watches, 'God keep our dear one.' Remember that unless you can have a country and a Government, these can have no home; that unless you put down rebellion and all anarchy, they must be as Ishmael, with no refuge from a hostile world. Is yet another motive needed? Remember -- there is a future where all of us must stand -- that there is coming a Day of Judgement which all of us must meet. Remember that doing your duty here -- standing bravely for the Truth and Right -- living near to Him whose love is exhaustless, you shall go, when the encampment of this life is broken up, to chant psalms of victory in a land that is white with tents, up yonder. Remember that life is only nobel in so far as it is used for useful and worthy ends, and in that thought, be strong, as Havelock was, faltering only where a wrong is to be done.
And last of all have perfect faith in your cause and in the issue. Do not distrust the vital soul of the Republic. Believe, what ever may occur, that however now and then some waywatd star of our shinning galaxy may wander off into darkness, all will at last revolve in harmony again about the great central orb of Constitutional Government. The Roman Senate voted thanks to Varro because he would not depair of the Republice when Hannibal, representative of the world's barbarism, beat against and threatened to overflow all there was of civilization and of freedom. And now when perils menace us, and the barbarians are thundering at the gates of our capital, I say to you, one and all: cursed be that man who despairs of the Republic: blessed be all who will toil, for decades if need to be, to fill the souls of men and States with a holy trust that our, flag shall yet be carried above the lowland of barbaric policy, and planted on the sunny heights where Jefferson wrote his immortal words; 'All men are created free and equal.'
Take then, this standard, and bear it with you to the field. Our blessing are upon it and you: the baptism of our prayers shall ever linger around it. You are Jerseymen, and we know you will not dishonor it: you are Americans, and you can never surrender it. Let it float in the forefront in every hour of the conflict -- equally your pledge and symbol, bearing upon one side the arms of the Union as a testimony of your fidelity thereto, and on the other the arms of your State, as a pledge that you will not forget her battle-fields but make yours equally as glorious. And when at last, the beat of the drum and blast of the bugle being ended, you shall come back again, with serried, shattered ranks it may be, we will give you such a welcome as the royal Caesars never had, and this your standard, shall witness in its torn and blackened folds, if torn and blackened they shall be returned, that you were faithful to the cause of Freedom, faithful to the sentiment of your age, faithful to your altars and your country, and worthy to wear that immortality of renown which is and shall be the portion of every noble soul that falters not, nor shrinks, in this pivot-hour of Destiny."
Col. McLean, upon receiving the flag, spoke substantially as follows:
"In looking around us and seeing the patriotic men whom I have the honor to command, I feel that I can and I do give the assurance that the flag, though it may be returned marred and torn, shall never be dishonored or disgraced. I receive it, pledging our sacred honor as Jerseymen that it shall come back with honor, or we shall never to return to our noble state. We are on the eve of a most momentous conflict. Treason and rebellion have reached their monster heads in our midst: but our beloved land, 'the home of the brave and free,' still exists. It has been said by an distinguished statesman that if the American Eagle, in her happy flight over this country, should ever fall and welter in her blood in the dust, the arrow that pierced her would be barbed with own feather. That arrow, HAS been barbed by her own feather, and dipped deep in the venom of treason: but we still feel that it has fallen at our feet. Our Government still remains: and with Jersey's valiant sons to bear up our sacred banner, we go cheerfully to the battle field in defence of the Gonvernment. They will preserve unsullied in the Revolutionary fame of this gallant State.
Although the parting word must be given, we hope to return to you with joy and gladness, honor and success, -- our beloved country at peace and our Union preserved."
At the conclusion of the ceremonies, the Regiment at once returned to camp, and in the evening had dress parade, which was witnessed by a large number of friends. The men presented a fine appearance, giving unmistakable evidence of careful drill. They are all eager to proceed to the field.
