than the state of Michigan, and the first regiment that reported in Washington from the West was from this city of Detroit. What gallant fighting the 1st Michigan did! I saw some of it. I happened to be at the beginning of the war a fellow-citizen with General Sherman in St. Louis, cultivating the arts of peace. Bye-and-bye I became one of a committee from St. Louis to go down to Washington to tell General Scott and Mr. Lincoln how to carry on the war. We had a great many such committees in those days. We arrived in Washington about the time McDow. ell was fighting at Blackburn Ford. Mr. Lincoln, after listening to us awhile, said: "I am glad you have come. Why don't you go right down to the front and help Mac out?" and we said we would go. I ordered my letters directed to Richmond and I ordered my haversack to Virginia. I arrived in the 1st Michigan's camp with that gallant captain of the 1st Michigan, of Coldwater, the night before the battle of Bull Run. I saw that great tumult and the carriage of those men; in fact, I made the advance on Washington with them. Accompanying us in that retreat was Michigan's great senator, Zachariah Chandler-and Michigan soldiers or any soldier from any state in the Union never had a better friend than Zachariah Chandler. No better heart ever throbbed in patriotic bosom than in the breast of your great senator.

I remember the dreadful day in Washington, that lonely, rainy day when there had been no note of gladness, Chandler said to me, "let us go and find the 1st Michigan. Let us organize a dress parade on Pennsylvania avenue with what is left of them;" and in half an hour the 1st regiment of Michigan, or its remnant, stood there in dress parade, and that famous band, the Detroit Light Guard band I think, gave us the first note of music along Pennsylvania avenue, and all through Washington there was hope in twenty minutes. Michigan soldiers did it. The notes of the Michigan band did it with just such music as this band is giving us to-night.

So all through the war in all the armies marching and fighting there were the Michigan soldiers. We had but few of them in the Army of the Tennessee but they were all great soldiersindeed, everybody in the Army of the Tennessee was a great soldier; everybody knew that-Jacobson knows it very well. What demonstrated our greatness down there and the greatness

of all the Union army? Why, the utter contest and overthrow of the adversary. And who was that adversary? The great consolidated people of the South; for within four months of the firing on Sumter, the South stood forth a complete nation, covering more territory than any state in Europe except Russia, well armed, well equipped, united, confident, consolidated, with millions of slaves to take care of them, who had fed them for a century in peace, and to take care of ten centuries in war if they would be frugal; with thousands of miles of sea coast, great navigable rivers, bayous, quagmires enough to bury every soldier of the North out of sight. We marched against them, marched into the almost impenetrable fastnesses of their mountains, crossed their rivers-this Army of the Tennessee, marching all the way from Belmont to Appomatox, always victorious, and if ever defeated they never found it out. Such was the Army of the Tennessee and such the fight they fought. Victorious in our armies, courageous in the smoke and flame of battle, the most magnanimous army of men on earth, and when the war was ended and through all these days and years of prosperity, to which General Slocum has so eloquently alluded, this great army melted away from the feats of arms into peace, as the snows melt on the mountain side in Switzerland and the green grass comes up almost imperceptibly. So all over this land the bravest men who drew sword in battle have been the best, the most industrious citizens of this united republic. And if there is any portion of the country more glad than the other at the outcome of the war, it is the South, as has been so well said by the eloquent orator of the evening. They have had enough of it.

Falling in with one of its soldiers the other day-one of its bravest men, one of its best statesmen, he said, oh, you don't know what a blessed thing you did for us down here. I said, well, maybe we may come again some day. Oh, he said, don't think of it. We shall stand by you in the future shoulder to shoulder to the best of our ability, to promote the glory of our united republic. Colonel Jacobson touched the key-note of the whole subject. It was free speech in the North, slavery in the South, and when they came together slavery went down. Ignorance was of course defeated by the spelling books of the North. Every man that carried a musket had a spelling book with him, had a testament in his pocket, and went down there as the legions

of Cromwell, with prayer and song, and sung the legions of Gustavus Adolphus, "Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott," putting our trust in the God that gave the new South a civilization for which they felt exceedingly grateful.

I must not stand here longer Mr. President. Many of our dead speak to us to-night, and a feeling of sadness comes over us. That great soldier, our great soldier-I never could say enough for him—we mourn to-day. The frosts of a second winter have not yet come since he ceased this life and entered upon the life beyond. We all mourn the death of John A. Logan, the greatest soldier that was developed from the volunteer forces. But he has left us a great name: what a great legacy to that mourning widow and his children, that imperishable fame of a victorious, honest, faithful soldier as he was. We mourn the greatest of all of us, who, from Mt. McGregor, exchanged the victories of earth for the glories of eternity. And how the hosts are gathering up there Mr. President, and bye and bye we shall all pitch our tents and bivouac for the last time. God made us true soldiers here— soldiers for the country, soldiers for Him, that we may have a reunion in that better country that is heavenly.

General Nathan Goff was next called for; he was introduced by the President, and spoke as follows:

MR. PRESIDENT AND COMRADES OF THE ARMY OF THE TEN

NESSEE:

I feel to-night that you should have a greater one than I to speak to you. I come from my home in West Virginia, and I come from that land that your eloquent orator alluded to to-night as the land of Berkeley. I lived south of Mason and Dixon's line, but I joined the boys of Michigan in carrying your starry banner, and therefore, while I am not a member of the Army of the Tennessee, I am a member of the grand army of the Union, and I think, Mr. President, that that entitles me to comradeship anywhere.

The land of Berkeley, wherein, young as I was, I can remember when it was a crime to teach an ignorant human being to read the word of God; that land to night is blessed with the grandest system of free schools that God Almighty's sun shines upon. The darkness of ignorance has been dispelled, and education, the wing with which we fly to heaven, is let loose in the land by the

gallant boys who wore the blue and carried the starry banner of our fathers.

Now, fellow citizens and comrades, in these grand reunions of our grand army, reunions indicating that we have met before, do we pause often enough. to think of those who are not here tonight? They went forth with us twenty odd years ago. They are not here to-night. They went forth to battle with you, comrades of the Army of the Tennessee, but they came not back. They gathered from all sections. They left home, wife and children-all; and they marched down into the valley of death. In my little mountain state, on the hill top and in the dale the graves of your dead are found. And so they lie. They have been gathered together there in my state by our grand government, and the flag they loved so well in life floats sentinel over them in death. But can we say that those who do not meet with us tonight have died in vain? The beautiful picture which has been drawn here to-night by your eloquent orator and portrayed by General Slocum, tells you that they have not died in vain.

The change from the old to the new is wonderful, especially so in my country-wonderful in the extreme. The change even here in your midst is grand beyond portrayal. Why, gentlemen, why, comrades of the grand army, these men of whom I speak have done more for us, more for civilization, more for liberty, than all others, for they gave all that they had to give-more than we, or any, or all of us. They should not, when the roll is called, be forgotten. The homes here in Michigan and the home in Virginia and West Virginia, made desolate in this war, are thinking of this reunion; thinking of the men who meet here to night; thinking of Grant, the old commander, and thinking of the boys who went out with him; thinking of the boys who fell in Georgia; thinking of the boys who went up to glory at Lookout Mountain, and of the men that went down to death with McPherson; thinking of the men who fought with Logan; thinking of the men who carried their banners to victory; thinking of all of the brave officers of the Tennessee, the Army of the Cumberland, and the Army of the Potomac. So, surely, when we look over this land and see this wonderful change, we realize that our comrades have not died in vain.

General Alger was called and introduced by the President, said:

I am always being taken at a disadvantage. The gentlemen that have been called here to-night have all been notified that they would be called upon, and have given their speeches to the press, while I have not the slightest thought I should be called upon to say a word.

This is the first time I have had the pleasure to be prescnt at a meeting of the Army of the Tennessee. A year ago I received a telegram concerning your coming here, and I think I telegraphed General Sherman to come by all means; and if the people of Detroit have made you welcome, have made you glad you came, our buckets shall be full.

There are some things about the Army of the Tennessee which to me seem unique. In the first place, there are a great many wise men among them. They always bring their wives with them, and whether this is gotten up by the wives or officers I can't tell; but what little I have seen of them here to-day, I am satisfied that it is a good thing that their wives are along; not es pecially on account of the officers or members of this association, but it is a good thing for them always. It is a good thing for us to look upon handsome women, the handsome wives and daughters that accompany those old veterans here to pay us a visit and do us the honor of sojourning a short time among us. It is very natural that men should revere the army whose badge they wore above all others. My badge is the Army of the Potomac; and while the Army of the Potomac thinks it was the greatest army in the world, the Army of the Potomac is proud of the Army of the Tennessee, as proud as it is of anything else in the world except itself.

We heard a curious story about your great leader when he left Atlanta. I heard an old soldier say, "Old Sherman has got the big head now. He has captured Atlanta and he thinks he can. go about where he pleases, and he has started out." I think. General Sherman entertained some such idea himself. He started. out. What great sagacity he had! He caromed on Savannah. and a few other places, and hurried as quickly as he could into the arms of the Army of the Potomac. He knew when he got there he was safe and all right.

And now, gentlemen, I will detain you but a moment longer. Those who know me know I am no speaker, but I wish to say this, that, while I glory in your great leader and in the great