A Tribute To The Flag
by Captain Nathaniel Mead Hubbard, 20th Iowa Volunteers

“We each have two lives, an individual and a national life. Our individual lives are short, but we all hope that the nation of which we are a part and with which we leave our children, may endure forever. The instinct of self-preservation of the individual life is strong, but our desire for the immortality of the nation is far stronger; for we are all willing to sacrifice our individual lives, if need be, to save the life of the nation. And this is PATRIOTISM, and our FLAG is its token, its buckler and shield. Perhaps none love the flag like the soldier. He sees it riddled with shot and shell! He sees the color-bearer fall in death, and the flag for a moment go down! Instantly another patriot seizes it and bears it aloft, waving defiance to its enemies! He remembers amid the roar of cannon that it is the FLAG of Washington and his compatriots of the revolution; that it is the FLAG of General Jackson and the heroes of 1812; that it is the FLAG of Scott and Taylor and the gallant army of Mexico in 1846; that it is the FLAG of Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman and the ARMY OF THE UNION. And it is the only FLAG that waves in all the earth that never knew defeat.. When he uplifts the FLAG he knows it is the emblem of LIBERTY wrested from persecution and oppression. It is the FLAG that guards our citadel of justice and national honor. It typifies the equality of all men before the law. It is the ensign of the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is the symbol of universal suffrage and universal emancipation. Our FLAG is the talisman and halo of the bond of UNION of all the states forever. It is the sign by which we conquer. It is the guiding star of our fervor and the New Jerusalem of our PATRIOTISM. It is the rainbow of promise that this nation shall not perish. It is the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night to guide our children and our children‘s children and their descendants along the pathway of intelligence, virtue, integrity, and honor forevermore. And as we near the shores of Eternal Morning, the old FLAG lifts our souls to new visions of the future of our common country.”