Those Who Have Borne the Battle by James Wright Page A

effectively in battle.
    There is another significant thread to this story. By 1861 rhetorical recognition and salutes to veterans had proved important but not sufficient. Veterans and their families pressed for a reciprocation of their service to the government, especially as they dealt with misfortune or the problems of aging. They had stepped forward as young volunteers, and
now the Republic needed to provide for them. Washington had warned in the 1770s that patriotic enthusiasm could not sustain an army in the field. In the nineteenth century it became clear that patriotic celebration was inadequate to sustain the needs of old soldiers.
    In 1817 when the Congressional Committee on Claims rejected several individual pension applications with the observation that soldiers need serve out of a sense of patriotism rather than expectations of a public sinecure, New York publisher Mordecai Noah spoke to the Tammany Society in New York City on the Fourth of July. He said of the revolutionary generation, “The fire of patriotism burned bright in their hearts; it warmed them to deeds of heroism never exceeded in the annals of the world; they struggled and conquered—they suffered but were victorious.” He insisted that the obligation now was not upon these men but upon their society: “Never let us forget the gratitude we owe to the noble spirits who died in this contest nor neglect the war-worn soldier or Patriot of the Revolution. We have but few left—let us cherish them in their declining years and smooth their passage to the grave by the liberality and confidence of a free and enlightened people.” 19
    In the 1790s the new Congress had assumed the state obligations for payments due to Revolutionary War veterans, but this was based more on the objective of establishing the authority of the new national government than it was an expression of gratitude or an affirmation of obligation. During the Revolution significant land bounties for enlistees had been provided by the states and by the Confederation Congress, serving as recruiting tools in the challenge of maintaining an army. Virginia even proposed giving slaves to volunteers, a remarkably cruel irony in a war for liberty. Virginian James Madison proposed instead that the Old Dominion might liberate slaves to fight. 20
    The new government continued the policy of extending land grants as incentives to enlist as well as to advance the nation’s strategic interest in the settlement of the western territories. In 1787 the Confederation approved the Northwest Ordinance, providing for the transfer of lands and a process for statehood in the large territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi. It provided land for Revolutionary War veterans. Five midwestern states would finally be carved out of this vast expanse. 21
    Whether placating veterans was an act of political wisdom or an act of national gratitude, in the early years of the nineteenth century the nation would establish new patterns of support for veterans. As age took its toll, and the number of veterans shrank, public programs recognizing them became more generous. By 1818, caught up in the patriotic enthusiasm for the founding generation, Congress, after great debate, expanded pensions for Revolutionary War veterans, not restricting this support only to those who had suffered disabling injuries in military service. Some congressmen wanted to make the benefits available only for those who had served an extended tour of duty, essentially restricting the pensions to veterans of the Continental army. The short-term militia enlistees would be largely ineligible.
    This bill’s opponents insisted that military service was but a necessary cost of residing in a democracy and should not encumber any public preferences. They were unable to block passage. The final legislation provided for pensions for those who had served for nine months during the Revolution and were “in reduced