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the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, on the 15th instant, at Detroit. I hope you will have as good a time as the Detroit people gave the Society of the Army of the Potomac a few years ago. Of course you will, because the glorious Army of the Tennessee deserves the highest honors, and because Detroit is unsurpassed in her hospitalities and patriotism. I wish indeed I could be with you and see once more some of the superb soldiers I marched with from Dalton to Resacca in '64. Alas!-Thomas and McPherson and Logan-all gone; three great commanders, of whom any army may well be proud.

But I have matters here that will keep me busy at home all of this month, and must decline your invitation most reluctantly.

Sincerely,

D. E. SICKLES, Major-General U. S. A.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON.

The President has received the invitation to be present at the twentieth annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, to held at Detroit, September 14th and 15th, and regrets that his engagements will make: its acceptance impracticable.

Friday, September 2, 1887.

43 WEST FIFTY-FOURTH STREET, NEW YORK, September 12, 1887.

Surgeon-General William A. Hammond, U. S. Army (retired), regrets his inability to participate in the twentieth annual reunion of the Army of the Tennessee. While never actually serving with that Army, he had, for several weeks, the opportunity of witnessing some of its gallent deeds, its severe hardships and its powers of endurance.

FREMONT, O., September 9, 1887.

Gentlemen:—I regret extremely that by reason of an engagement of long standing, I shall not be able to attend the next annual reunion of the Army of the Tennessee. With special thanks for your kind invitation,

GENERAL POE AND OTHERS,
Committee.

Sincerely,

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

NORTHAMPTON, MASS., September 13, 1887.

O. M. POE, ESQ.,

Chairman, etc.:

DEAR SIR:-I regret that my imperative engagements prevent my accepting the invitation of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee to be present

at their twentieth reunion. The hearty sympathy I have with everything which your Society stands as a monument of, makes my absence a deprivation to myself which I feel nothing but necessity would force upon me.

FRED. E. FARNSWORTH,

Yours truly,

G. W. CABLE.

Secretary, 92 West Fort Street, Detroit, Mich.

LAKE GEORGE, September 7, 1887.

DEAR SIR:-I regret that my engagements for the 14th and 15th do not allow me to accept your valued invitation to be present at the twentieth annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee in Detroit.

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DEAR SIR:-I beg you to convey to the local executive committee my thanks for the invitation kindly extended to me to be present at the reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee on the ensuing 14th and 15th.

I regret that it will not be in my power to avail myself of the invitation, and so much the more as it is not likely that such an opportunity will again be presented to me, at least, of seeing and hearing so many personages eminent in our recent military history.

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MY DEAR MR. FARNSWORTH:-I have your courteous invitation to attend the reunion of the Army of the Tennessee. I am very sorry that earlier engagements prevent my accepting it. All of us who remember the war remember the movement and success of that Army with a tender and grateful interest.

Your letter recalls associations of the keenest gratification of the old times by no means forgotten, when we had first a short telegram and afterwards the fuller dispatches, announcing new successes won by those brave men and their commanders.

Indeed, the group of the great men, under whom that army served, seem to me almost without its like in history. Believe me, dear sir,

Very truly yours,

EDW. E. HALE.

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DEAR GENERAL POE:-I have the card of your local executive committee inviting me to be present at the twentieth annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, and I regret to say that a prolonged absence has accumulated so many engagements and labors that it will be impossible for me to leave the city of New York at that time. Believe me,

Very sincerely yours,

C. A. DANA.

GENERAL O. M. POE.

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION,
WASHINGTON, D. C.

ANN ARBOR, September 6, 1887.

GENERAL O. M. POE,

Chairman, etc.:

MY DEAR SIR:-The invitation from the local executive committee, of which you are chairman, to be present at the twentieth annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, would be accepted with great pleasure if it were possible for me to attend. An official engagement, however, in a distant state will quite put it out of my power.

I send hearty wishes that the occasion may be one of great and unmixed enjoyment to the old soldiers who shall be able to attend. I rejoice in all such reunions, not only because they are pleasurable occasions to those who participate, but especially because of their utility in strengthening and perpetuating patriotic memories and sentiments.

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EAST POINT, NAHANT, September 5, 1887. MY DEAR SIR:—I regret to say, that as I am obliged to be in Philadelphia on the 14th and 15th, at the Constitutional celebration, it will be impossible for me to accept this kind invitation of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee for that date. I am very much indebted for the kindness of the invitation, and with many thanks, I am,

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DEAR SIR:—I regret exceedingly that I shall be unable to accept your kind invitation to attend the reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee

at Detroit, September 14th and 15th. I know of no place in the Union where the loyal veterans would be more sure of a greeting and entertainment worthy of their illustrious services than in your beautiful and enterprising city.

I know that your patriotic citizens will appreciate the privilege of enjoying the visible presence of the two most distinguished living chieftains of the Union armies, Sherman and Sheridan, and of the gallant men whom they so brilliantly led to victory. God bless them every one. May their countrymen never forget to honor the living heroes or to cherish the memory of the heroic dead

Sincerely yours,

C. A. BOUTELLE.

NEW YORK CITY, September 5, 1887.

DEAR SIR:-The annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee will doubtless be an event in Michigan and the Northwest, and I am honored by your thought of me in such a patriotic and gentle association.

I served in congress with a Detroit soldier, General Williams, who was an intimate and cordial friend, and I never think of the just and good soldierwhose plume is moved by the gentlest motion of chivalric honor to his old enemy-that I do not recall and honor the memory of my friend, General Williams. He has gone. The veterans are becoming few and fewer with the lapse of time. Their honors gather around their graves; and those who, like myself, were allied with their cause--if only by "voting men and money" -will soon be gathered with the remnants of the grand army whose bivouac is on the "unseen fields above the sun." God grant them all long life and contented hearts, and our country all the benefactions of the unity they aided to establish.

Yours truly,

S. S. Cox.

O. M. POE, CHAIRMAN, ETC., AND F. E. FARNsworth, SecrETARY, ETC. The President:-The next business in order will be the report of our treasurer, General Force.

TREASURER'S REPORT.

SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,
TREASURER's Office,

DETROIT, September, 1887.

REPORT FOR THE TWENTIETH MEETING.

The Permanent Fund at the last meeting comprised eleven thousand dollars of government four per cent. registered bonds, payable to the treasurer of the Society, and $433.50 in cash. It has received since from Colonel L. M. Dayton, Recording Secretary, $262, and from interest on the bonds, $440, making total cash, $1,135.50.

Two hundred and eighty-three 35-100 dollars were necessarily transferred to the General Fund to complete payment for the printing of the proceedings of the last meeting.

There is now in this fund eleven thousand dollars of bonds, and $852.15 cash.

The General Fund had on hand at the last meeting, $23.65. It has received since from Colonel L. M. Dayton, Recording Secretary, $146, and a transfer from the Permanent Fund of $283.15, making a total of $453.

The expenditure has been: Stenographic report of the proceedings of the last meeting, $82; engrossing four sets of resolutions as ordered by the Society, $20; printing circulars, $6; and printing the report of the proceedings of the last meeting, $345; making a total of expenditure, $453. There is nothing now in the General Fund.

Of the receipts, $38-being $10 for the Permanent Fund and $28 for the General Fund-was part of the income of last year. Colonel Dayton had this sum at Rock Island to hand to me, but I was unavoidably prevented from being present at the meeting, and therefore received it at a later day.

The McPherson monument at Atlanta has rest from spoilation. ing to last report no ruthless tourist has of late defaced it.

Accord

In my report to the Society at the meeting in Chicago in 1868, I said: “It was determined, on the organization of the Society, to create a permanent fund, the interest of which would be enough to meet the incidental expenses other than the supper of the annual meetings. For this purpose, at least ten thousand dollars should be raised." I have obtained instructions from the Society from time to time, which facilitated the accumulation of this fund. It now has $11,000 of government bonds, and before the next meeting another bond for $1,000 will be bought. In 1868, it was understood that $10,000 would produce an income of $600 per annum. It will require $15,000 of the present four per cent. bonds to produce that income. And the only reason we have not that amount now is, that the Permanent Fund has been drawn upon to defray the bulk of the expense of printing the four volumes of consolidated reports. The purpose with which I set out has been accomplished. The fund has been created. It is time now for me to give place to another who will administer it.

I submit with this report my account book and vouchers, my bank book, as treasurer, and certificate of deposit of the $11,000 of bonds, which certificate is payable to the Treasurer of the Society, whoever he may be.

M. F. FORCE,
Treasurer.

The President:-Gentlemen, you have heard the report of your Treasurer. It seems to me our cash funds has been managed with consummate skill. We are out of debt, have $11,000 Government bonds, which brings an income of $440 a year, and the other little items of members' dues and so on, to keep our Society out of debt is a very great consideration. The report, which you have heard,

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