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There being no other business for the consideration of the Society, on motion of General Force:

Resolved, That the Society now adjourn to meet at Toledo, Ohio, on the 17th of October, 1873, to include our meeting for annual banquet this evening as provided.

The chairman announced that our banquet would take place this evening at 8 o'clock, and thanking all for the assistance ren dered him in carrying out his duties as presiding officer, and wishing all their full measure of happiness and prosperity until our next meeting, pronounced the sixth annual reunion adjourned.

COMMITTEES.

For the arrangement of details for your meeting, a committee was selected by your President, and announced in the following circular, as a Local Executive Committee:

SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 1, 1872.

Officers of the Army of the Tennessee:

You are respectfully notified that the following named gentlemen have been selected as "the Local Executive Committee," to whose charge is given the arrangements of your sixth annual reunion, to be held at Madison, Wisconsin, July 3rd and 4th, 1872, viz.:

Colonel Thos. Reynolds,

Colonel W. F. Vilas,

Colonel B. Hancock,

Captain A. Sexton,
Captain J. C. McKinney,
Captain J. W. Tolford,

Captain M. J. Cantwell.

Timely announcement of its preparations will be made by this committee. W. T. SHERMAN, GENERAL, U. S. A.,

COLONEL L. M. DAYTON,

Recording Secretary.

GENERAL A. HICKENLOOper,

President.

Corresponding Secretary.

The duties of the Committee of Arrangements are always difficult, and delicate as well, but in this instance so admirably were they conducted that it may be said the reunion was second to none we have had before. Again should the members of the Society feel that they are under great obligations, for surely everything needed was done to make an accumulation of pleasures.

The generous and hard work of these committees go far toward giving strength to the Society and adding to the general

desire for repetitions of reunions.

Special mention of individuals of the above committee can not be made by your Secretary, as he is not aware of the organization of the sub-committees.

DECORATIONS.

As usual, much attention was given to the decoration of our places of meeting. Assembly Room in the State Capitol, secured for the evening session, was most beautifully arranged with flags of the many Wisconsin regiments that served in the Army of the Tennessee, which had been carried on many long marches and during many hard fought battles. Festoons and wreaths of evergreens were trained on the walls and around the gallery and columns, interspersed with the well-known names of the many gallant and distinguished officers who served in our army, and of the many battles in which it participated. Very much taste and judgment was exercised by those having charge of the decorations, and their efforts were crowned with such success as to call out strong expressions of admiration from every one who saw their work.

The banquet hall at the Park Hotel was appropriately arranged, adding a charm to that room for the occasion.

BANQUET.

The committee had prepared to have the banquet take place on the evening of the 4th instant, at the Park Hotel, and events proved that they had given its interests every care possible; the expectation of the members having a generous, joyous time was fully realized.

The members and invited guests took seats in the dining hall at 9 o'clock, during the time they occupied in doing so the band was playing. General Slack presiding at the head of the centre table, along which were seated the many distinguished gentlemen participating.

Chaplain Richards offering a short blessing, the banquet proceeded in the regular course, and when the inner man had been satisfied with the abundance of delicacies spread for us, and the

rich wines to cheer, the cloth was removed, and the President announced the banquet speeches would be proceeded with, naming the

FIRST TOAST:-"Our Country."

Response by Governor WASHBURNE.

MR. PRESIDENT:-The sentiment to which you call upon me to respond is very short and very comprehensive, and, as I hear that some of you present are already under marching orders, my response shall be short, if not comprehensive.

The sentiment is one appropriate to this occasion-to every occasion where American citizens assemble. It is one that has never failed in calling forth a response from every loyal and true heart, whenever and wherever it has been proposed, since the 4th of July, 1776.

But the day never was when the full force of the sentiment could be felt as now; we never had so just a comprehension of what our country is, and is to be, as within the last few years. And to-night, the magnitude and grandeur of our country looms up before us, surrounded as we are by its brave defenders, in a manner never before seen or felt.

When we reflect that within the last ten years we have gone through the greatest war of modern times, and have sacrificed S00,000 of our fellow citizens, loyal and disloyal, and over $5,000,000,000 of the treasure of the North alone, and yet in the same period have added to our population more than treble the entire population of the country at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and doubled the wealth of the nation, what man among you is not overwhelmed as he contemplates the probabilities of our future.

And now that we are all again a united people, and can say "our country," it would be permissible, if we were not a very modest people, to indulge in a little glorification. Ours is emphatically the country of all others where the poor and oppressed can come and find a home; a country where the rights of man are fully acknowledged and maintained; a country where all men are born free and equal, and equally entitled to the protection of the law. Is not such a country worthy of all your enthusiasm, worthy of being loved, of fighting for, and if needed, of dying for? You will allow me to conclude with an echo of your sentiment.

Our country-the home and refuge of the oppressed from all lands, once again united-may it continue to shower its blessings and benefits upon all; may it be so wisely governed as to avoid foreign aggression and civil strife; and may our federal unionour only guaranty of safety-be perpetual.

MUSIC: "America."

SECOND TOAST:-"The President of the United States.”

Response by General E. F. NOYES.

MR. PRESIDENT:-It is a time honored and approved custom upon all festal occasions to make respectful mention of the highest civil authority. It is peculiarly becoming that at the banquet of a society of soldiers, we should first remember him who is not only civil ruler, but commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the country. This, the high office of the nation's chief magistrate makes appropriate.

But, my old comrades, we shall be pardoned to-night if the toast which has been read takes on something of personal character. With gentle hands we, for a moment, put aside all the dignities and honors of present position, and allow memory to picture her halls with visions of other years, with illustrations of events which are to occupy a large space in the history of our timeWhile our ears are listening to that roll of battle drums which, more than a decade ago, called the nation to make war for a righteous cause, we see an untried volunteer leaving behind him the duties of an humble occupation, and, with the rest of us, girding on his armor for the struggle which no man then could measure; for the performance of such deeds of valor as were not only to secure the destiny of his own country, but which, at the same time, were to astonish the nations of the earth, long familiar with the appearance of grim visaged war. We follow him along the pathway of glory, from that early and inauspicious beginning to the final and decisive victory; sometimes when the sunshine of success made brilliant the soldier's armor, and sometimes when the shadow of hope deferred darkened and lowered above him; often the subject of detraction, of ungenerous and unjust criticism, we see him rising from grade to grade, leading on from victory to victory, while the armies of the rebellion are melting away before him; when superseded he utters no complaint; when abused he in

silence abides his time; when his friends offer to defend him he calmly answers, "truth and the just cause are mighty and will prevail, only falsehood and fraud need a friend." Four bloody years go by, so filled with suffering and sorrow, bereavement and death, that the heart sickens as we remember it all. But at last the end approaches. Our humble volunteer, now the commander-in-chief of a million-and-a-half brave soldiers, receives the proffered sword of the surrendering rebel chieftian, who was almost as brilliant, but less fortunate than himself, and all the flags of treason are trailed in the dust.

But while we look, and listen, and remember, the whole vast scene is transfigured before us; our armies have scattered to engage in the ten thousand avocations of civil life, four millions of slaves have dropped their shackles, and rejoice in the blessings of freedom; peace reigns in all our borders, and prosperity crowns all our lives; the flag of our country-without a stain at last—is honored at home and abroad; and the tanner of Galena, the obscure volunteer of 1861, the hero of his age, occupies the highest place which forty millions of freemen can give him.

Long live our commander, the President of the United States; may he live to enjoy his well earned honors, and to bless the country he did so much to save.

MUSIC: "Hail to the Chief."

THIRD TOAST:-" Vicksburg and the day we celebrate."

Response by General J. B. SANBORN.

MR. CHAIRMAN AND COMRADES:-To every American heart the 4th day of July is most dear. It commemorates the day when those glorious principles of government which were to insure to man his inalienable natural rights; and which were to place the power of government in the hands of the governed, first took practical form, and were proclaimed as essential in all well governed communities. It commemorates the day when our ancestors resolved that they and their descendants would realize that freedom and happiness for which the statesmen of many ages had labored in vain, and for which many patriots had poured out their blood. It brings to our view the refreshing recollections of the patriotism of our fathers, of the small value placed by them upon life compared with liberty, of their great efforts and

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