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question, and to report their conclusion for the action of the Society.

General Hickenlooper said he coincided with Colonel Dayton, and urged the propriety of a reference to a committee; that it was a matter of considerable importance and should not be acted upon hastily; that we should be generous and afford others an opportunity of participating in our festivities; that personally he thought the best interests of the Society warranted the selection of some point in Iowa for place of next reunion; that a large proportion of the troops forming the Army of the Tennessee were from that State, and to their wishes and request we should pay some attention, affording them and ourselves an opportunity of renewing the friendships formed while in the field.

On motion of General Hickenlooper:

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to select a place for holding our next annual meeting, and to report their action to the Society for its consideration.

The President named General E. W. Rice, General Spooner, General G. L. Pierson, Captain J. Barber and Colonel T. C. Fletcher as committee.

TOLEDO, WEDNESDAY EVENING, October 15, 1873.

The Society met pursuant to the adjournment of to-day. The auditorium was crowded with the best citizens of Toledo as invited guests of the Local Committee. The stage was occupied by the distinguished guests and members of the Society. The President called the Society to order at 8 o'clock, announcing that there was no current business to be transacted, the object being to hear the annual oration by Major-General Logan, who had been selected by the Society, at its last annual meeting, as the orator for this occasion, and such other exercises 'as had been arranged by the committee.

The first in order of programme,

MUSIC:-By the Bugle and Drum Corps-“Reveille.”

PRAYER: Chaplain H. M. BACON.

We implore thy blessing, O Lord our God. We praise thee that thou hast gathered again so many who so often have stood shoulder to shoulder in the fore front of the battle. We

thank thee for the sight of those whose voices and faces have been so often in times of trial and peril a tower of strength. Spare them to us long we beseech thee. Remember those who are absent. Be merciful to the widow, the orphan, the maimed and wounded soldier. God bless the rank and file, the men by whose patience and fidelity all was secured. Deal graciously with our whole country. Bless thy servant, the President of these United States, and all others in the exercise of lawful authority. Grant that never again may rebellion meet with even temporary success. May war never more desolate our land, but as now so often may we meet in peace and joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

WELCOME ADDRESS BY W. W. JONES, MAYOR OF TOLEDO.

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE:-You have met to preserve the memories of the late civil war, and to cherish the friendships formed during that period of our national history.

We greet you in this young city, which collected and sent to the camp and field a greater number than its whole population at that period.

It was the Army of the Tennessee which encouraged and electrified the whole country by its achievements and successes during the carly part of the war; and through all the phases of that great struggle this army won, by its heroic valor, the respect and admiration of a gratified country.

We are proud to know that our own city contributed its quota to make up this brave army, and, I may further say, shared in the grief it felt at the loss of your dead comrades, who gave up their lives that the Union might live.

The fame and glory achieved by this army has become the inheritance of the country. Its chief worthily occupies the position once filled by the "Father of his Country." Many of the names, on your roll are indelibly stamped on the records of history.

As the living representatives of that army we greet you; as the protectors of our Union, when it was assailed, and whose strong hearts quailed not in the death grapple with secession, we honor

you.

Though unaccustomed to many of your faces, yet we have known you intimately. The eventful scenes which first introduced us are still fresh in our memory, and we shall treasure up those memories as a legacy for our children.

To you, General, to the members and officers of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, to the representatives of the Navy, and to your great Captain, the President of our United States, this city tenders a cordial and hearty welcome.

MUSIC:-Union Silver Band.

He thought
None felt a

The President said he had received a letter from an absent member, which he had kept to read at this time. it was due to the writer that it should be read now. deeper interest in the welfare of the Society than did General Blair. The letter was loudly called for and General Sherman read it.

GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN:

CLIFTON SPRINGS, October 10, 1873.

Dear GeneraL:-I received your very kind letter this morning, urging me to attend the meeting of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, at Toledo, on the 15th and 16th inst. I assure you that nothing would give me a greater pleasure than to meet our old comrades once more, but I am advised by my physician that the excitement attending such an occasion might undo the good work that has been done toward my recovery in the last six or eight months. I must therefore deny myself this great enjoyment, as I have done the comfort and solace of home and family for so many months, in the hope of ultimate and complete recovery, which I am happy to say seems not far distant.

You can add one more to the very many obligations I owe you, by excusing my absence to our assembled comrades, from whom distance only divides me, and with whom in heart and feeling I shall always be present.

Yours sincerely,

FRANK P. BLAIR.

This note is written with my left hand, my right hand being still disabled from paralysis.

F. P. B.

The letter was received with generous and grateful applause.

ADDRESS TO THE SOCIETY BY GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.

COMRADES:-Another year is gone, and we have again met in social reunion pursuant to adjournment and to the requirement of our Constitution.

Without presumption, we of the Army of the Tennessee may claim to be the pioneer society among the many social organizations that have resulted from the great civil war of our time; for the Society dates its origin from the 14th day of April, 1865, only five days after the surrender of General Lee in Virginia, and five days before the surrender of our immediate antagonist, General Joe Johnston, in North Carolina. By the printed record of our proceedings, it appears that a small group of officers met in the old State Capitol, in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the 14th of April, 1865, which organized by calling to the chair Brigadier-General William B. Woods, a brigade commander in the 15th Corps; when Major-General Frank P. Blair, commanding the 17th Corps, explained the object of the meeting to be, "to take immediate steps for the organization of a society to perpetuate the friendly feelings which bound them together as comrades-in-arms during the preceding four years, during which they had been battling and marching from Cairo to Vicksburg, and from Vicksburg to North Carolina."

At the preliminary meeting, a committee was appointed to draft a Constitution and By-Laws, which consisted of Major-General F. P. Blair, commanding 17th Corps; Major-General John A. Logan, commanding 15th Corps: Major-General A. J. Smith, commanding 13th Corps; Major-General Giles A. Smith, commanding division, 17th Corps; Brigadier-General W. B. Woods, commanding brigade, 15th Corps.

At a subsequent meeting, held at the same place on the 24th of the same April, 1865, this committee submitted a report, which embraced substantially the Constitution by which we, as a Society, have been governed ever since. By its provisions, every officer who, at any time, served with credit in any of the corps which composed the Army of the Tennessee, is of right a member, and we can elect any officer who, in like manner, served with any of the Union armies an honorary member.

"The object of the Society is to keep alive and pursue that

kindly and cordial policy which has been one of the characteristics of this army during its career in the service, and which has given it such harmony of action, and contributed in no small degree to its glorious achievements in our country's cause. The fame and glory of all officers belonging to this army, who have fallen either on the field of battle or in the line of their duty, should be a sacred trust to this Society, which shall cause proper memorials of their services to be collected and preserved, and thus transmit their names with honor to posterity."

And, further, the Society has pledged itself to acts of charity and generosity to the families of our dead comrades.

Thus our Society was born when the sound of cannon reverberated in our ears, and when the very name of peace was unfamiliar; yet every line and paragraph of the Constitution breathes the spirit of peace, charity and good will, not only to our comrades of all armies, but to all mankind. At the preliminary meeting in Raleigh, General John A. Rawlins, then absent in Virginia as Chief of Staff to General Grant, was elected the permanent President. He had been identified with the Army of the Tennessee from its beginning at Cairo, in the Autumn of 1861, during its brilliant operations up the Tennessee river, to Vicksburg and Chattanooga, until the Spring of 1864, when he accompanied his chief to Washington, to control and direct all the armies in the field. From a distance he watched our further progress through Georgia and the Carolinas to the close of the war. with an interest that can be likened to that which a parent feels for a favorite child.

At the first annual reunion, held at Cincinnati on the 14th day of November, 1856, General Rawlins presided in person, and delivered the annual address, giving, from his own memory and from official data, a close, clear and logical history of the organization, operations and achievements of our army that leaves to his successors naught to add, but to elaborate his and round it off by illustrations of minor events. The Society has met regularly each year since-at St. Louis, Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Madison—the interest growing each year, rather than falling off with our diminished numbers; and now, for the seventh time, we meet in Northern Ohio to review the glorious memories of the past, and to do such acts of charity as fall within the compass of

our means.

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