Military organizations, except in our small regular army, were disparaged and ridiculed.

When the war came, the Northern people were unprepared for it to a very great degree.

The change of public opinion was as sudden as the mighty event was precipitate.

Then the soldier became the most prominent and honored member of the community, and existing military bodies became the nucleus of the armies that were to fight the battles of the Republic.
During the last thirty years the military spirit has been kept alive as a constituent element of patriotism itself.

The love of country has been diligently fostered and nurtured in the young, and public opinion has been voiced and energized in the statutes of many States, and in the educational machinery of many municipalities.