There being no further business to be transacted,

On motion of General Slack:

Resolved, That the Society adjourn to meet this evening at the annual banquet.

COMMITTEES.

The circular notice of your President, announcing the annual meeting also announced the Local Executive Committee to be: General John W. Fuller, Colonel George E. Wells, Surgeon J. W. Bond, Captain Jacob Merz, General Wager Swayne, Colonel L. Von Blessing, Major J. H. Boggis, Captain H. Rosenbaum. This committee organized by selecting General Fuller as chairman, and Colonel Wells as Secretary. A meeting of all resident officers was called to consult as to the best arrangements for reception and entertainment of the Society, and was well attended, there being quite a number of gentlemen who served in other armies, as well as those who served in our Army of the Ten

nessee.

At this meeting the various sub-committees were appointed: Finance-General Swayne, chairman; Banquet, Opera-house and Decorations-Colonel Wells, chairman; Invitations and ToastsMajor E. S. Dodd, chairman; Reception-Surgeon J. W. Bond. chairman; Transportation-Surgeon C. H. Swain, chairman, all members of our old army and of the Society. To their aid they brought other members and those who served in other armies; they were also assisted by citizens of Toledo, all doing whatever they could to make our reunion pleasant.

Too much praise can not be accorded the local committee for their efforts to insure completeness in all arrangements. Your Secretary feels confident every one present will join him in the expression most heartily.

DECORATIONS.

Though the work of decoration was done under the supervision. of the general committee, it bore the appearance of having been done by a special committee, and may be particularly mentioned.

The stage boxes and columns were beautifully covered with wreaths of evergreens and flowers, as were also the "battle scrolls"

of our old army, stretched from the ceiling to the floor. Upon the wing scenes were suspended paintings of Rawlins and McPherson, appropriately draped. Suspended from the drop curtain, in gas-jet letters, the word "welcome," and on either side the names of our commanders, Grant, Sherman, Howard and Logan. To the rear of the stage a full-sized painting of Major-General G. H. Thomas, by Miss Ransom.

In the auditorium, from the upper gallery were dropping the flags and colors which were carried by many of the regiments of our army, and the circle fronts were covered with the names of the prominent commanders who served in that army, the whole handsomely set off with evergreen wreaths, etc.

On Wednesday evening the exercises were begun with the "Reveille" by the Drum Corps, at first in an almost complete darkness, but as it was finished all the lights were turned on, calling out a voluntary exclamation of wonder from the audience at the beautiful appearance the scene presented.

The banquet hall was equally handsomely and appropriately decorated-a charm that can not be too highly appreciated.

BANQUET.

So much had already been accomplished in making this reunion. a pleasant affair, that it seemed that any further effort in the banquet could add nothing; yet anticipation was perhaps at its highest mark, and all must say, fully realized.

It transpired at the Boody House, whose dining hall was specially prepared for the occasion.

Guests and members were assembled, and at 10 o'clock occupied their seats at the tables as allotted, General Sherman at the head, presiding. At his right were seated the President and Secretary of War; and on his left Lieutenant-General Sheridan. Placed at the upper end of the hall were fine pictures of General Rawlins and General McPherson, and at the lower end that of President Lincoln.

The dinner was discussed in the usual course, accompanied with superb music, and amidst much merriment and good humor on the part of members.

About II o'clock General Sherman announced it was time to proceed with the programme of toasts, but it was a request that

General Strong should sing the "Army of the Tennessee," which he did, joined in the chorus by all present, after the tune of "Benny Havens."

General Sherman then announced:

FIRST TOAST:-"The Old Flag"

Response by Major-General S. A. HURLBUT.

*

SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE:-I am called upon to respond to this, your first regular toast. All passion, all poetry, all enthusiasm speak and find expression in symbols. All associations, all organizations of men, for good or evil, have their sign of embodiment, in visible form, of the thought or the emotion which underlies and gives vitality to the assemblage. There is no people so rude and uncultivated but that among them is something to them more sacred and important than life itself. When the Mohammedan invasion broke over Europe, the Crescent led the van of the dark-browed heroes of the desert. Turning to our own history, what is there more sacred than the Christian emblem of the highest hope that man has in God which has given him life immortal? All these things are evidences among us that the spirit of belief and hope has not gone out utterly among us. We live by that in which we believe, and we live by nothing else. There is no other life worth living. Now, to speak to you, brethren of the Army of the Tennessee, of the glories of that old flag of ours. is simply to recite a lesson in which you are both audience and actors. What is it? Twelve years ago certain ill-disposed and ill-conditioned people thought that this Union of ours, that the great hopes, hearts and fortunes of this great American people were embarked upon a raft of ill-assorted logs, bound together by the rotten ropes of temporary expediency, and that the will of any one, who had either the foolhardiness or audacity to cut away the ropes that held the old thing together, was sufficient to set adrift, upon the sea of anarchy, the entire fabric of this mighty nation— and they tried it. This was what was meant by secession. We have warred-and now we live, and, by the blessing of God, we shall, now for the solid, substantial and overwhelming conviction that our Union is perpetuated. Now we are not adrift—the lives and fortunes of this people are not floating at will on a raft. This Union has a purpose. The glories in its conception, the magnitude in its grand reaching forward, embracing the present as well as

the future. Everywhere the dominion and the power belong to that same Old Flag [applause] under which our fathers conquered, and under which we, thanks be to God and the brave men who led us, have succeeded. [Applause.] What does this flag mean? What is that trumpery, that piece of bunting you can buy for six shillings a yard? What does it amount to? Who would live for it, or die for it? It is only so much a yard, that is all-a poor, miserable piece of bunting. But around it, and in it, and for it, the life, and hopes, and growth, and majesty of this whole people stand to-day. [Long and continued applause.] Can you value it by the yard? Perhaps they can down yonder in Wall street. Can you do it? Well, let us look at things now on a business line. The value of a thing depends on what you give for it, and what more can a man give than his life? How many of us here offered that thing? Don't I see the countenance of one man before us (pointing to the portrait of McPherson), who is to us the emblem of the million dead whose bones sanctify every foot of that ground we conquered? [Applause.] But life is everything. What will not a man give for his life? Well, we, all of us (I don't know if we knew it or not), but we, all of us, offered our lives for that same old flag of our country, didn't we? Some died and some of us had the good fortune to survive. Don't you know, however highly you value your personal life, that far beyond and above that is the life of the nation, and this life is symbolized by the old flag?

Gentlemen of the army, there are people around in this countryshallow men, as I think-who consider these reunions of ours as dangerous. Well, I have heard something said about Cæsarism. (Pointing to Grant.) There's the Cæsar. [Uproarious applause.] How infinitely stupid, how very contemptible and belittling are such fears and anxieties! If we are anything, we are ourselves, the people of the State. We are simply the strong right arm of the country, developed and thrown into exercise for this occasion. But behind us is the country and the people.

Now then, let us look back not very long ago, when this country was racked by secession-when every man who had a heart in him went to the front with a purpose. What was the purpose? To restore the magnificence and make undeniable the sovereignity of this nation. That is all. All these miserable storms, coming along from time to time, were to perish in the

triumph of the loyal people. Why, don't you remember how that thing sounded out here in the Northwest? It seemed that the whole population had moved down South about that time, aroused by the love of country by which they were bound together. Let us look back now upon our record. You remember, some of you do-the old ones-when the fleet, the navy of the United States, was an awful important thing. Well, here is our old friend Phelps here, and I am going to have him out if I have to kill him. [Applause.] Do you remember, rapidly as we Western people fought our way, that old Commodore Foote, who has gone home, was a little faster than we? Here is our friend Worden of the navy, of also glorious reputation.

Now to return to the old flag. There it stands. I saw its folds myself hung out in March over besieged Sumter. It waved over all our movements. It hung, danced, rallied and receded at that most glorious of all disasters, the old field of Shiloh. It went with you as you went. It hung threatening and portentous around the walls of besieged Vicksburg, until at last, as the Fourth of July approached, the rebels yielded, and it was in the power of the two great officers of this army to tender to the United States the double gift of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. [Cheers.] This is the flag, inviolate and unstained, as we received it from our ancestors, and we stand ready to deliver it to those who come after us, and we have the assurance that this Government, which was saved by the men of this day, has been planted upon a basis that nothing that human foresight can avert, can overthrow. God led the flag and the army that sustained it.

SECOND TOAST:-"The President of the United States." 'Response by General M. M. BANE.

I don't know but that I should apologize for attempting to make a speech to-night. I am filling the place of another. The Presi dent of the United States is the embodiment of the will of the people of the United States in office. The President of the United States is the crystalized public opinion of the people, expressed at the ballot-box. The President of the United States is the servant of this Union, and when he is a faithful servant, there is no man in this nation that is loved as the people love the