I have also to submit herewith an official communication from General Dodge, the President of our Society, explaining his unavoidable absence. Letters from absent members are herewith submitted.

JACKSONVILLE, FLA., October 17, 1898.

Comrades of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee:

It is with the deepest regret that I am prevented from being able to meet and greet each one of you this year. This privilege I have always looked forward to with great anxiety and pleasure, and I trust that it will not be denied me again.

When the date for our reunion this year was fixed, I knew of nothing to prevent my attendance. Since then the President of the United States has called upon two members of your Society to perform a duty. In his instructions he says: "You are to perform one of the highest duties that can fall to a citizen."

When we consider with what great foresight and ability President McKinley has carried our nation through the war with Spain, you who have known him as a comrade so intimately would respond to any call he would make, as one man, no matter what the sacrifice might be to you personally, and I felt that in accepting his call upon me I would be following the wishes of the Army of the Tennessee.

My recollections of our last meeting in Toledo are so pleasant that I was very anxious to be with you at this reunion. It was at that meeting that at the request of General Sherman I read my first paper to the Society, and I was so embarrassed that General Sherman said to me: "You may sit down and read if you prefer." The comrades appreciated that and soon put me at my ease. At that meeting General Fuller, who served directly under me for three years, a gallant and generous soldier who was always at the front, was with us. Who does not remember his gallant deed of July 22d, 1864, when grasping the colors of his regiment and calling upon it and his division to withstand and defeat the terrible assault of Walker's division, as it poured out of the woods and threatened the destruction of my line, how gallantly they responded. He has now joined our comrades, so numerous that we can not number them, but yet all are alive in our memory.

On September 1st and 2d, upon the invitation of the Army of the Potomac, I was present at their reunion and gave them your greeting. I received a very warm and cordial welcome, and enjoyed a very pleasant visit. As a greeting to you, the Society of the Army of the Potomac honored you and myself by electing me an honorary member of that Society. I extended to them a most cordial invitation to be present with you in Toledo, and said to them that I would carry to that meeting their greetings. My visit with them was so pleasant that I regret exceedingly that I can not present their greetings in person.

In April of this year, like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, came the war with Spain. We were unprepared, except in our navy, which in its wonderful and rapid engagements taught us and the world how necessary it is even in peace to be prepared for war, and then that small army, hardly two months mobilized, entered upon one of the most able and successful sixty days campaigns in our knowledge; storming San Juan and El Caney, demonstrating to the world that our nation can meet any emergency. When this Army of the Tennessee looks back to 1864 and remembers Joe. Wheeler in our rear, destroying our "cracker line," and then see him next in rank and command to General Shafter, storming the Spanish intrenchments at San Juan, well may it be said that we wrought more than we knew, and that the days of the North and the South have departed.

Comrades, my heart is with you although I am absent, and I send you my greetings for a happy reunion, your good health, and may you all be spared that I may greet you at our next reunion.

Truly and cordially yours,

I vote "aye," and approve all the sentiments expressed.

G. M. DODGE,

JAMES A. SEXTON, Commander-in-Chief G. A. R. and a

Comrade of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee.

TELEGRAMS.

GENERAL A. HICKENLOOPer,

HUNTSVILLE, ALA., October 26, 1898.

Secretary Society Army of Tennessee, Boody House, Toledo, O.: We are here with the fourth corps of the Cuban army, with troops camped all around this city, and it takes me back to the winter of eighteen sixty-three and four, when the Army of the Tennessee occupied this ground, and reminds me that that same army is enjoying its thirtieth reunion. It is hardly possible to comprehend the changes that thirty years have brought to us, especially when we consider that this corps is commanded by General Joseph Wheeler, a Confederate general, who occupied the country south of the Tennessee while we were holding it north of the river. Sexton and myself send to the Society our heartiest greeting.

G. M. DODGE.

FARGO, N. DAK., October 26, 1898.

COLONEL CADLE,

Army Tennessee, Toledo, O.:

Campaign assignments prevent my coming. Please convey my earnest good wishes to General Dodge, Hickenlooper and all members including yourself.

A. W. EDWARDS.

CHICAGO, October 21, 1898.

COLONEL JOHN B. BELL,

Toledo, O.:

Thank you very much; afraid that I can not even be present and so I must decline with much regret. Hope you will have a very successful meeting. AUGUSTUS JACOBSON.

KANSAS CITY, Mo., October 24, 1898.

COLONEL JOHN B. BELL,

Chairman Executive Committee, Army of Tennessee, Toledo, O.: Business engagements preclude my attending the Army of the Tennessee. WILLIAM WARNER.

COLUMBUS, O., October 26, 1898.

COLONEL J. K. HAMILTON,

Chairman Committee of Invitations, Society Army of Tennessee,
Headquarters Boody House, Toledo, O.:

Thanking yourself and committee for cordial invitation to meeting of Army of Tennessee, I regret sincerely that I can not be with you.

GENERAL Dodge,

JAMES W. FORSYTHE.

LONDON, ENG., October 26, 1898.

Toledo:

Greetings: God bless you comrades; may not one be missing.

CRANE.

COLUMBUS, O., October 27, 1898.

J. K. HAMILTON,

Chairman, Toledo:

I regret that my official engagements are such as to prevent my being present tonight. Please present my best wishes to the survivors of that splendid organization, the Army of the Tennessee, for an enjoyable banquet and reunion.

LETTERS.

CHARLES KINNEY.

ST. DENIS P. O., MD., October 21, 1898.

GENERAL A. HICKENLOoper,
Corresponding Secretary:

DEAR GENERAL:-I received yesterday the notice from Toledo, and have to answer that I am unable to go to the meeting. I was injured by a fall last December. I hoped to be all right again in ten days. Near ten months have

passed and I am only able to take short walks with the aid of crutches and require assistance through the day.

This reminds me that the time has come for me to retire from the office of treasurer and turn over the office to a successor, who should be a younger man and a resident of Cincinnati. Please see to that.

DEAR SIR:-As per instructions, I take pleasure in extending the privileges of the Toledo Club through you to the Army of Tennessee during their stay in Toledo.

By direction of the Board of Directors, the House Committee of the University Club have the honor to extend to the members of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee the privileges of their club house.

JOHN H. PRatt,
Secretary.

HENRY DEH. WAITE,

President.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

WASHINGTON.

The President regrets that his engagements will not permit him to accept the invitation of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, to be present at its thirtieth annual reunion, in Toledo, Ohio, October 26th and 27th, 1898.

WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON.

The Secretary of War regrets very much that it will be impossible for him to accept the invitation of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee to attend its thirtieth annual reunion in Toledo, Ohio, October 26th and 27th.

GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, NEW YORK, October 22, 1898.

MR. J. K. HAMILTON,

Chairman, Toledo, O.:

MY DEAR SIR:-It would give me very great pleasure, indeed, to be present at the coming annual reunion of the Army of the Tennessee, but I

regret very much to have to decline, as I am engaged to be present in Philadelphia on the evening of the 26th and day and evening of the 27th.

COLONEL CORNELIUS CADLE,

Recording Secretary Society of the Army of the Tennessee,

Cincinnati, Ohio:

MY DEAR COLONEL:-I want to thank you for your letter, and for the kind invitation which has been extended to me, both by General Dodge and yourself, to be present at the thirtieth reunion of your Society on October 26th and 27th. I assure you that it would give me very great pleasure to attend this reunion, but I fear that the imperative duties now upon me in connection with my command, and the preparing of my troops for foreign service, will render it out of my power to accept, as I am unable to absent myself for a single day. I am sure you will understand this. Many of my troops are quite sick, and they require my constant care and attention, and I am devoting myself to the task of restoring them to health and strength. Will you please extend my most cordial thanks to the members of your Society for their kind thoughtfulness in inviting me, which is very much appreciated. With highest regards,

Yours very truly,

GENERAL A. HICKENLOOPER.

Jos. WHEELER, Major-General U. S. V.

CHICAGO, October 25, 1898.

MY DEAR GENERAL:-Please convey to the Society of the Army of the Tennessee my sincere regrets that I can not this time be present at their reunion.

I certainly hope you will all have a delightful time, and as you greet each other in friendship's name, may you pause to remember her, who will be with you all in spirit, and who is so proud to be called your "daughter."

Affectionately yours,

MARY LOGAN PEARSON.

CHARITON, Iowa, October 21, 1898.

GENERAL A. HICHENLOOPER,

Cincinnati, O.:

MY DEAR GENERAL:-I thank you most cordially for the kind invitation to the reunion of the Army of the Tennessee, October 26th and 27th, and sincerely regret that I can not be present at the meeting. There is nothing I would more enjoy than to meet my husband's old comrades, and I hope sometime, somewhere, to have that pleasure.