Page images
PDF
EPUB

WAR DEPARTMENT,

SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, September 10, 1887.

MY DEAR SIR:-Thanks for the polite invitation to be present at the reunion of the Army of the Tennessee, on 14th inst. I should greatly like to meet the "boys" who marched to the sea, once more, but on this occasion it will be impracticable. Give my thanks to the committee for remembering me, and believe me,

[blocks in formation]

DEAR SIR:-Please accept my best thanks for the kind invitation sent me to attend the twentieth reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee. I regret exceedingly that my duties here will not admit of my absence at the time set for the reunion.

Very truly yours,

R. C. DRUM. Adjutant General.

PETERSBURG, VA., September 3, 1887.

O. M. POE, ESQ.,

Chairman, etc., Detroit, Mich. :

SIR:-I have to thank you and your committee for the courtesy of an invitation to attend the “twentieth annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee" at Detroit on the 14th and 15th of the present month.

I regret that it is impossible for me to avail myself of your kindness. It would give me pleasure so to do, but I cannot.

The Army of the Tennessee bore a most distinguished part in the late unhappy contest between the sections, and none are more competent, nor more willing, to bear witness to their prowess, than the brave men who were arrayed on the other side.

I thank God that no longer do dark clouds of war overhang our common country, and that the unpleasaat memories of the past are being rapidly lost in the rejoicement that once again we are a happy and united people. I am, Very truly yours,

MAHONE.

FRED. E. FARNSWORTH,

Secretary Local Executive Committee:

MY DEAR SIR:-Pray express to your committee my thanks for the honor

done me in inviting me to attend the reunion of the Army of the Tennessee. If circumstances permitted, I should be very glad to be present. As it is, I can only send my best wishes to those brave men who once rendered such great service to their country. I am, dear sir,

Yours with much respect,

NEWPORT, R. I., September 14, 1887.

JULIA WARD HOWE.

OMAHA, NEB., August 12, 1887.

GENERAL O. M. POE, HON. THOMAS W. PALMER, HON. JOHN ATKINSON, HON. M. H. CHAMBERLIN, HON. J. LOGAN CHIPMAN AND GENERAL W. W. LEGGETT,

Committee on Invitation, Detroit, Mich. :

GENTLEMEN:-My hearty thanks for your kind invitation to be present at the twentieth annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee. I regret exceedingly that other engagements compel me to decline the invitation. It would afford me very great pleasure to meet again my comrades of that gallant army that followed Sherman, McPherson and Logan to victory. They will have a delightful time in beautiful Detroit, renowned for her hospitality.

Very respectfully yours,

CHARLES F. MANDERSON.

ST. PAUL, September 3, 1887.

O. M. POE, CHAIRMAN, AND Gentlemen of EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, ETC., Detroit, Mich.:

DEAR SIRS:-I have received your invitation to attend the annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, for which please accept my thanks. Permit me to assure you that nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be present at your distinguished gathering of veteran heroes; but I regret to say that previous engagements will necessitate my presence in the city.

Very respectfully,

ROBERT A. SMITH,

Mayor.

MAPLEWOOD, N. H. August 20, 1887.

MY DEAR GENERAL:-I wish I could accept the invitation of your committee to attend the meeting of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee at Detroit on the 14th and 15th of September, but I am already under an engagement to take part in the proceedings at Philadelphia at the same time, on.

the occasion of the celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the adoption of the constitution of the United States.

With many thanks for the invitation so kindly extended, I am,

GENERAL O. M. POE.

Yours very sincerely,

M. R. WAITE.

NONQUITT, MASS., September 7, 1887.

GENERAL O. M. POE,

Chairman Committee on Invitations, Army of the Tennessee, Detroit,

Mich.:

DEAR GENERAL:—I have received the kind invitation of your committee to attend the meeting of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee at Detroit, Michigan, September 14th and 15th, and regret to inform you that I am unable to accept. It was my intention, as expressed to the President of your Society some months ago, to attend the meeting at Detroit, but the President of the United States having directed me to take command of the troops that are to take part in the Constitutional Centennial Celebration at Philadelphia on the 16th of September, I find it impossible to fulfill my promise.

Will you kindly convey to the Society my best wishes for an enjoyable occasion, and the hope that I may see its members in good health at some future annual meeting.

[blocks in formation]

DEAR SIR:-I acknowledge with pleasure the receipt of your courteous invitation to be present at the reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee on the 14th and 15th instant at Detroit, Michigan, and the pleasure it gives me is impaired only by the regret that I am unable to accept the tendered hospitality. I am under positive engagement to be elsewhere on that day many miles distant.

Although not having the honor of serving in the Army of the Tennessee, yet I cherish a very great admiration of its commander, who was one of the foremost of the leading soldiers of the war. With assurances of personal esteem, I am,

Your friend and servant,

FRED. E. FARNSWORTH, ESQ.,

BENJ. F. Butler.
Secretary Society of the Army of the Tennessee, Detroit, Mich.

GENERAL O. M. POE,

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
HARRISBURG, August 18, 1887.

Chairman Committee on Invitation, Detroit, Mich.:

MY DEAR GENERAL:-I am honored by the receipt of the invitation of the

[ocr errors]

Society of the Army of the Tennessee, to attend its twentieth annual reunion on the 14th and 15th days of September next, at Detroit, Michigan. It would give me very great pleasure, I assure you, to join my comrades of the Army of the Tennessee in the exercises attending their annual reunion, which has become a marked event in each year of our history. The exercises attending the commemoration of the Centennial of the anniversary of the adoption of our Constitution, which are to be held at Philadelphia on the 15th, 16th and 17th days of September, will necessarily engage my presence and attention there, so that it will be impossihle for me to accept your kind invitation, which I would otherwise be very glad to do. Regretting my inability to meet my comrades of the Army of the Tennessee and the citizens of Detroit at this pleasant reunion, and thanking your committee for the honor done me by the invitation, I am,

GENERAL O. M. POE:

Very cordially yours,

JAMES A. BEAVER.

STATE OF KANSAS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. TOPEKA, August 12, 1887.

MY DEAR SIR:-I acknowledge the receipt of the invitation you send me to be present at the twentieth annual reunion of the "Society of the Army of the Tennessee," to be held at Detroit, September 14th and 15th proximo. Please accept my sincere thanks for this kindly courtesy, and my regrets that I will be unable to be present. Official duties will not permit my absence from the capital at that time.

I presume, however, that I could, if present, claim a closer fellowship with the Society than that of an "honorary guest." I served, for nearly three months, in what was afterwards the department, and with the troops constituting the army, of the Tennessee; but in August, 1862, the division to which my regiment was attached, that of General Jeff. C. Davis, was ordered from Jacinto, Mississippi, to join General Buell, and thereafter, until my final muster out, I served with the Army of the Cumberland.

During the battles around Chattanooga, the winter campaign in East Tennessee, and the campaign against Atlanta, the Fourth Army Corps, to which I belonged, touched elbows with the Army of the Tennessee, and shared with it the common hardships, privations and dangers of those eventful days.

I trust that your twentieth reunion will be memorable in the annals of the Society, and very much regret that I cannot be with you.

Yours very truly,

JNO. M. MARtin.

ASHFIELD, MASS., September 12, 1887.

DEAR SIR:—I am sincerely obliged by the invitation to the twentieth annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee on the 14th and 15th of September, and I regret extremely that I am unable to accept it.

As the years pass, which crown the heroic soldiers of the great war for the

Union and liberty with increasing national honor and gratitude, they show still more plainly the patriotic devotion which assured the triumph and the invaluable common benefit which the triumph secured. The bravest soldiers were the first to illustrate the qualities which make war effective, and they have been the first to reveal the virtues which make peace permanent and blessed. None have done this more signally than the Army of the TennesThey were and are patriots, first, last and always.

see.

[blocks in formation]

Secretary Society of the Army of the Tennessee:

MY DEAR SIR:-I am much obliged for the committee's invitation to the twentieth annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, and I regret that I shall not be able to be in Detroit on that occasion.

I remember with pleasure an association with that Army during its campaign of Chattanooga, when I made many friends and enjoyed the variety and spice of camp life, and had the pleasure of witnessing their heroic conduct at Mission Ridge. With life and happiness and a pleasant reunion to its members, I remain,

Your obedient servant,

JNO. MEIGS.

POINT PLEASANT, OCEAN Co., N. J., September 8, 1887.

MESSRS. O. M. POE, M. H. CHAMBERLAIN AND OTHERS,

you for

A Committee, etc., etc.: GENTLEMEN:-I thank your invitation to be present at the twentieth annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, and I sincerely regret that I cannot have the pleasure of accepting it. My engagements are such that I cannot indulge myself in the time that the visit to Michigan would require. With regards to Senator Palmer and the other gentlemen of the committee, I am,

Yours truly,

J. C. FREMONT.

GENERAL O. M. POE, U. S. A.,

23 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, September 5, 1887.

}

Chairman Committee on Invitation, Reunion Society Army of the

Tennessee:

MY DEAR GENERAL:-I have the honor to acknowledge, with many thanks, the receipt of an invitation to attend the twentieth annual reunion of

« EelmineJätka »