USA > Georgia > The army reunion : with reports of the meetings of the societies of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio: and the Army of Georgia > Part 15
USA > Ohio > The army reunion : with reports of the meetings of the societies of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio: and the Army of Georgia > Part 15
USA > Tennessee > The army reunion : with reports of the meetings of the societies of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio: and the Army of Georgia > Part 15
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The President then briefly presented his congratulations upon the prospect of a happy reunion, and suggested that, owing to the unavoidable absence of Brevet Brigadier-General Henry
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Army of the Cumberland.
M. Cist, the Society was without the service of a Recording Secretary.
It was moved and seconded that General William D. Whipple be requested to act as Recording Secretary.
General Whipple suggested that he was now acting as Corres- ponding Secretary, and thought it well that some other member should fill the position now temporarily vacant; and General Charles F. Manderson was chosen Recording Secretary, pro tempore.
It was moved and carried that the minutes of the proceedings of the Society, at its meeting at Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 6th and 7th, 1868, be adopted as published.
The President called for the report of the Local Committee, and General F. T. Sherman, of that committee, stated that no formal report on local organization had been prepared, but lie could say that the committee had united its efforts with those of the committees of other societies assembled here, in making prep- arations for the present reunion, and hoped their arrangement, of which an outline had been published, would be successfully carried out, and be satisfactory to the Society.
Major-General Thomas J. Woods moved that the Society act . upon the suggestions made by the committee, and that they be granted further time to report, which motion prevailed.
General S. W. Price, Chairman of the Committee on Memo- rials, reported the absence of an important member of his com- mittec, and asked further time to report, which, on motion, was granted.
General Whipple, Corresponding Secretary, made a report as to the distribution of the printed report of the first Reunion of the Society, which was accepted and adopted.
The President then appointed the following Committee on Officers of the Society for the ensuing year, and instructed that they should report Wednesday morning :
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Lieutenant-Colonel Hunter Brooke, Colonel Lyman Bridges, General Newel Gleason, General J. G. Parkhurst, Colonel J. E. Jacobs, General Thomas F. Knipe, Lieutenant-Colonel G. C. Wharton, Major F. W. Sparling, Colonel George Ginty, Adju- tant A. M. Hefbower.
The President also appointed Chaplain James H. Bristow to act as Chaplain of the Society for the ensuing year.
General William Grose reported the condition of the treasury, not including the financial transactions of the present meeting, and this report was accepted and adopted.
The following committee was appointed by the President to report immediately the names of three places from which the Society should select the place for holding its next annual reunion, and the time for holding such reunion :
Colonel G. C. Wharton, Colonel Henry Stone, and General Stanley.
The report of the Committee to Audit Claims being called for, General S. J. McGroarty stated that he was a member of that committee ; that their labors appeared to be over, so far as claims against the Society were concerned, and that the committee had audited and ordered paid all proper claims that had been pre- sented to them.
Chaplain Bristow moved that a warrant on the Treasurer issue in favor of General Whipple for an amount that appeared to be due him on the distribution of the published report of the Society, and the motion was seconded.
General J. P. Jackson suggested that the proper course to pursue would be to present the account to the Committee on Claims for its action.
General Durbin Ward moved to lay the motion on the table, whereupon Chaplain Bristow withdrew his motion.
The President called for the report of the Committee on Print- ing, when it appeared that both members of the Committee,
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Army of the Cumberland.
General Henry M. Cist and Colonel L. Harris, were absent, and therefore no report could be had.
Colonel G. C. Wharton, Chairman of the committee to select three places from which to select, by ballot, the place for the next meeting, reported Louisville, Indianapolis and Cleveland, as such places, and December 15 and 16, 1869, as the time.
On motion, the report of the committee was accepted.
Chaplain Granville Moody moved that the matter be made the special order for to-morrow morning.
A motion was made to amend, and that a ballot be imme- diately taken.
A motion was made, and carried, to lay the original motion on the table.
It was moved that the rules be suspended, and that the Presi- dent of the Society select the time and place.
Considerable debate ensued upon this motion, members advo cating the advantages of different localities.
The President declined to act as proposed in the motion, and declared it in conflict with the Constitution of the Society, and therefore out of order.
Colonel Robinson and General Barnum advocated the holding of the next reunion at some point in the East, and suggested the city of New York.
After considerable discussion of this proposition, the President ruled that it was not in order to suggest any other places but those reported by the committee.
It was moved, but not carried, that the Secretary be instructed to cast the ballot of the Society for Indianapolis.
It was moved, and carried, that the President appoint twelve tellers to collect ballots, and that the Society proceed to vote.
The chair appointed as tellers General N. Anderson, Colonel Wharton, General Barnum, General Streight, General Ward, Colonel McMichael, Colonel Wood,
.
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Colonel Stone, Colonel Taylor, Colonel Northrop, and General Parkhurst. These gentlemen proceeded to collect and count the ballots.
Chaplain Bristow asked and received permission to present a matter foreign to the business of the Society ; and proceeded to present the needs of a Church, and to ask aid for the same.
General Anson Stager tendered the use of the telegraph lines to the Society and its members.
The thanks of the Society were voted to General Stager and the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the Secretary instructed to present the same in writing, on behalf of the Society.
The tellers reported the following as the result of the ballot : Total votes, 449. Indianapolis, 182; Cleveland, 131; Louis- ville, 136.
It was moved, and carried, that Indianapolis be unanimously selected as the place of the next Reunion, and the 15th and 16th of December, 1869, as the time.
Major-General Butterfield moved that the President appoint a committee of three, whose duty it shall be to cause to be pub- lished the Report of this Reunion.
The motion prevailed ; and the President appointed Major L. H. Drury, General A. C. McClurg, and General William Grose, as such Committee.
It was voted that this publication be under the instruction and general direction of the President of the Society.
It was voted that a committee of five be appointed by the chair, to nominate to this Convention an orator and alternate for the Annual Reunion of 1869; said committee to report to-morrow morning.
The President appointed General Barnum, Chaplain VanHorn, General Moody, General Burke, and General Elliott.
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A motion to reconsider the vote selecting time and place was made and lost.
On motion of Colonel Robinson, it was resolved that the President appoint a committee of three to confer with Associa- tions of the Armies of the Tennessee, Ohio and Georgia, for the purpose of uniting with us at Indianapolis, on the occasion of the Reunion of December 15th and 16th, 1869.
After a spirited debate the resolution prevailed, and the Presi- dent appointed General J. S. Robinson, General Nicholas Ander- son, and Colonel Quinn Morton.
Invitations were read by the Secretary from the Chicago His- torical Society to visit its rooms on Wednesday morning, at eleven o'clock ; and from the Union Catholic Library Association of Chicago, to visit its Bazaar.
. On motion, thanks were tendered for these invitations.
On motion of Colonel T. J. Pickett, the thanks of the Society were tendered to J. H. McVicker, Esq., for the use of his theatre.
It was unanimously voted that the thanks of this Society be tendered to General S. W. Price for his present to the Society of the portrait of General W. S. Rosecrans, painted by him for the . Society, and that the portrait be put under the care of the Treasurer.
On motion, the Society adjourned to meet Wednesday morn- ing, at ten o'clock.
CHARLES F. MANDERSON,
Secretary pro tem.
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Army Reunion.
McVICKER'S THEATRE, CHICAGO, December 16, 1868.
The Society met, pursuant to adjournment, General Thomas, the President, in the chair.
The proceedings opened with patriotic selections by the band, after which the President announced that Colonel Whitman had prepared a paper relating to his efforts in looking up the dead of the Army of the Cumberland, and the other armies associated with it, and would read a brief abstract of the paper pending the arrival of the Secretary. The latter, however, came in at this juncture, and Colonel Whitman declined reading his paper at present. The question being submitted to the meeting, it was decided to have the paper read.
The regular proceedings of the Society were then opened with prayer by Chaplain Bristow, after which the Secretary pro tem., General Manderson, read the minutes of the preceding meeting, which, on motion, were approved.
Colonel Whitman then addressed the meeting in relation to the dead of the Army of the Cumberland, saying that he hoped the interest in the great work would be increased, and that some action would be taken. It was eminently fit and proper that we should not forget that noble army of officers and privates who ยท fell so nobly, and whose bodies dot the soil of the wide extent of country traversed by the four armies now represented in this city. The Government, through its agents, has been ardently but effi- ciently at work in removing the remains of soldiers to regular inclosures, but'the people know little or nothing of the extent or completeness of the work. The speaker had been engaged in this matter for about three years, and proceeded to give an outline of its progress since his connection therewith. The paper was ordered published, and a resolution of thanks was tendered to Colonel Whitman.
The committee appointed to select an orator and alternate for
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the next annual reunion reported, through the Chairman, General Elliott, the selection of Major-General Daniel Butterfield, Twen- tieth Army Corps, and for alternate, Major-General Negley, of the Fourteenth Army Corps.
General Price, of the Committee on Memorials, reported that the project of procuring biographical sketches of the distin- guished members of the Society who have died, has been aban- doned as impracticable. The only death which has occurred during the year past has been that of Lieutenant William L. Por- ter, of the Sixth United States Cavalry, of whom a memorial has been prepared.
The Secretary read a telegram from Secretary McCulloch, at Washington, congratulating the organization upon its happy reunion ; also a communication from the Army of the Ohio, con- taining the resolutions passed by that society.
On motion of Colonel Nicholas Anderson, the President and Vice-Presidents of the Army of the Cumberland were appointed a committee to confer with the proper officials of the Army of the Ohio, with reference to a consolidation of the societies, and with power to act.
Colonel Hunter Brook, Chairman of the Committee on Perma- nent Nomination of Officers for the ensuing year, reported as follows :
For President-Major-General George H. Thomas.
Vice-Presidents-Pennsylvania, Brevet Colonel William Mc- Michael ; Tennessee, Brigadier-General W. J. Smith ; Kentucky, Brevet Major-General J. T. Croxton ; District of Columbia, Bre- vet Major-General J. M. Brannan ; Missouri, Brevet Brigadier- General W. J. Palmer ; Massachusetts, Brevet Brigadier-General William Cogswell; Wisconsin, Colonel George B. Bingham ; Minnesota, Brevet Brigadier-General J. W. Bishop; Indiana, Brevet Brigadier-General B. F. Scribner ; Michigan, Brigadier- General W. L. Stoughton ; New York, Brevet Major-General H.
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A. Barnum ; Iowa, Brevet Major-General W. W. Lowe; Ohio, Major-General P. H. Sheridan ; Illinois, Major-General John M. Palmer ; Alabama, Brevet Brigadier-General J. W. Burke ; New Jersey, Brevet Major-General G. W. Mindel ; Kansas, Major S. L. Coulter ; Ohio, Brevet Major-General August Willich.
Corresponding Secretary- Major-General W. G. Whipple.
Recording Secretary-Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel George I. Waterman.
Treasurer-Brevet Brigadier-General J. S. Fullerton.
The report was adopted, and the officers named were declared elected.
On motion of Colonel Hunter Brooke, the thanks of the Society were tendered to the retiring Recording Secretary, Gen- eral Henry M. Cist, and retiring Treasurer, General William Grose, for the faithful and efficient manner in which they had performed the duties of their office.
General Whipple offered and the Society adopted the following preamble and resolution :
WHEREAS, it is understood that there are now stored in the depot of camp and garrison equipage, at Jeffersonville, Indiana, certain flags, the property of the United States, wearing the devices described in General Orders, dated Headquarters Army of the Cumberland,
Resolved, That the Treasurer be and is hereby directed to pur- chase the said flags, provided the Government will sell them, and there is money sufficient in the treasury to pay for them after all the other necessary expenses of the Society have been liquidated ; that he address the War Department with a view of effecting the purchase ; that if, for any reason, the flags can not be obtained, the Treasurer report such reason at the next annual meeting. .
Resolved, That, in case the flags become the property of the Society, they shall remain in custody of the Treasurer of the
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Society, for the time being, and that they be used for the purposes of decoration at the meetings of the Society.
General Willich offered the following preamble and resolution, which were adopted :
WHEREAS, it is generally known that strange contradictions exist in the different official reports of the war on the same subjects ;
Resolved, That the Society of the Army of the Cumberland proceed to the organization of a Board of Trustees of the War Record, to be composed of two members from each state repre- sented, to be designated by the President of the Society. It shall be the duty of this Board of Trustees to preserve and watch the official war records. Examine the same carefully, and investigate all apparent mistakes, and correct the same wherever injustice has been done to any particular command or individual.
The President of the Society designated the following officers to constitute such Board of Trustees :
Brevet Brigadier-General J. S. Fullerton, Missouri ; Brevet Brigadier-General F. Laibold, Missouri ; Brevet Major-General William Grose, Indiana ; Brevet Major-General Charles Cruft, .Indiana ; Brevet Major-General John M. Palmer, Illinois ; Major John M. Farquhar, Illinois ; Brevet Brigadier-General Charles F. Manderson, Ohio ; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Hunter Brooke, Ohio ; Brevet Brigadier-General John A. Martin, Kansas ; Major T. L. Coulter, Kansas ; Brevet Brigadier-General John G. Park- hurst, Michigan ; Brevet Brigadier-General William L. Stough- ton, Michigan ; Colonel George B. Bingham, Wisconsin ; Colo- nel O. C. Johnson, Wisconsin ; Major William H. Young, Iowa ; Colonel William P. Heplum, Iowa; Colonel W. F. Prosser, Tennessee ; Captain H. H. Thomas, Tennessee ; Colonel M. C. Taylor, Kentucky ; Colonel J. P. Jackson, Kentucky ; Brevet Brigadier-General William Cogswell, Massachusetts ; Lieutenant-
T
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Colonel Horace N. Fisher, Massachusetts; Brevet Major- General H. A. Barnum, New York ; Lieutenant-Colonel S. B. Lawrence, New York; Brevet Colonel William McMichael, Pennsylvania ; Major-General James S. Negley, Pennsylvania ; Major Daniel Heaney, Minnesota ; Major-General H. P. Van- clean, Minnesota ; Brevet Major-General George W. Mindel, New Jersey ; Colonel H. W. Jackson, New Jersey ; Brevet Brigadier General George E. Spencer, Alabama.
On motion of General Streight, Major S. L. Coulter, of Kansas, was added to the list of Vice-Presidents of the Society.
Colonel Sims, with an eloquent introduction, moved that three grand cheers be given for General P. H. Sheridan, which were given by the Society standing, amid the waving of hats and handkerchiefs.
At the request of General A. C. McClurg, he was excused from serving on the Committee on Printing, and General A. C. Ducat was appointed to fill his place.
General Willich presented the following preamble and reso- lution :
WHEREAS, It is honor enough for generations to come to have been a private soldier in the Cumberland Army ; and,
WHEREAS, It is the general tendency to return to specie basis ; and,
WHEREAS, It appears that the coin of our national military honor is in danger of being swamped by the over-issue of brevet currency, therefore,
Resolved, That the members of this Society resign. cheerfully their brevet ranks.
After an animated discussion by Generals Whitaker, J. D. Morgan and Willich, a motion to lay the preamble and resolution on the table prevailed.
On motion, the Society adjourned until two o'clock P.M.
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DECEMBER 16, 3 P.M.
The President called the Society to order, and stated that in accordance with Article V. of the By-Laws he would appoint the following Local Committee :
Major-General Nathan Kimball, Brigadier-General A. D. Streight, Brigadier-General Fred. Knefler.
General Whipple offered the following resolution, which was adopted :
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be and are hereby tendered to the Local Committee of Arrangements for the meet- ing of this Society, and to the joint committees of arrangements for the reunion of the four army societies, for the ample and beautiful preparations which have contributed so much to the comfort of our members, and the grand success which has attended this reunion.
The following was also submitted and adopted :
Resolved, That this Society return thanks, most sincere and heartfelt, to the citizens of Chicago, for their hospitality, and to the proprietors of the Sherman House for the ample manner in which they provided accommodations for the headquarters of . this Society.
Colonel Henry Stone presented the following resolution, which was adopted :
Resolved, As the sense of this Society, that a national monu- ment should be erected, at some appropriate place, to commem- orate the names and deeds of the heroes who gave up their lives in the late war for the suppression of the Rebellion-and to aid in carrying out the objects expressed in the above resolution, be it further,
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the Pres- ident of this Society to confer and co-operate with a similar con- mittec from our sister Societies of the Armies of the Tennessee,
KEL
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amended that the first order of business at the annual meeting of the Society, shall be the Election of Officers.
The following resolution was offered and adopted :
Resolved, That the thanks of this Society be presented to the Chicago Board of Trade for the continued evidence of patriotism and respect for the soldier by the tender of their room for our banquet.
General G. W. Elliott offered the following resolution, which was adopted :
Resolved, That members of the staff of Lieutenant-General Sherman, not members of any organization of the Army of the Cumberland, be elected honorary members of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, with the privilege of becoming mem- bers upon subscribing to its Constitution and requirements.
Colonel Archibald Blakeley presented the following resolution :
Resolved, That the Committee on Publication of the Pro- ceedings of this meeting of the Society be requested to procure and publish the orations of Major-General J. D. Cox, Brigadier- General William K. Belknap, and Brigadier-General William Cogswell, delivered last evening before the Societies of the Armies of the Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio, and Georgia, in the Opera House.
On motion the Society adjourned, to meet at Indianapolis, Indiana, on the 15th of December, 1869.
TREASURER'S OFFICE, SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.
MR. PRESIDENT, and Members of the Society of the Cumberland :
I have the honor to report that since our organization at Cincinnati, in February last, there has been paid into the treasury of said Society money as follows :
IS68.
Dr.
1868.
Cr.
To Dec. 15. To 356 members at $5 cach, ...... $1,780 00
Feb. 13. By Draft No. 4,074, .
$825 53
Feb. 27. By Stationery of Robert Clark & Co., 9 75
To 2 members' payment of annual dues, $5 each, .. 10 00
April 1. By Printing Circulars - Caleb Clark, . 5 00
To sale of books reported, and ac-
June 24. By Printing Report of Society - Rob- ert Clark & Co., ..
945 37
June 24. By am't paid H. M. Cist, Sec'y, above am't included in draft of Febr'y 13. Amount Paid. . $52 25
2 25
Included in Draft ... .. 50 00 )
Dec. 10.
By am't paid for book-record of names alphabetically, ... 2 50
Dcc. 10. By Printing Circulars - E. Pleas, .... 8 00
Dec. 10. By Stationery and Postage, use of Treasurer, ... 5 00
Dec. 15. By Balance in Treasury. 62 35
$1,865 75
$1,865 75
Respectfully,
WVM. GROSE, Treasurer.
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counted for by Secretary, ... 75 75
REMARKS ON NATIONAL CEMETERIES .- ORIGINAL MILITARY DIVISION OF THE TENNESSEE.
BY BREVET LIEUT .- COL. E. B. WHITMAN, LATE CAPT. AND A. Q. M. VOLS.
IN the midst of personal congratulations, and the social interchange of those thoughts and feelings which the reminiscences of the past are calculated to suggest on an occasion like the present, it is eminently fit and proper that we should not forget - you do not forget -that noble army of martyrs, officers and privates, who laid down their lives a willing sacrifice upon the fields of your renown; whose remains were left by the stern necessities of war far away from home, where kindred and friends could drop no tears over their graves, or protect the hallowed spots from intrusion and desecration ; scattered broadcast over remote and now deserted battle-fields; dotting every hill and grove; lining the road-side ; along the banks of our rivers; upon the routes of all our rail- roads; upon deserted camping-grounds, or gathered in the crowded hospital grave-yard -every where over the widely extended country traversed or fought over by the four gallant armies represented here to-day.
So they were. After the lapse of three short years, what do we now behold! The Nation, the Government, has come, and, in grateful remembrance of its fallen heroes, has gathered up their scattered and shattered remains, and with the careful tenderness of bereaved friends, laid them down in spots consecrated forever to the memory of their deeds.
Greece, in the days of her splendor, laid under contribution the eloquence of her most gifted orators to pronounce eulogiums over the ashes of her fallen sons; and France, in her triumphant period, made a feeble and partial effort to gather up for honorable burial the bones of her citizens who fell in battle; but it remained to be the honorable distinction of'free America to have searched the country through with the careful and scrutinizing eye of the most devoted friend, and to gather in the mortal remains of her slain soldiers, and assume forever, as her high privilege, the task of keeping sacred vigils over their graves.
Such a consecration of a nation's power and resources to a sentiment, the world had never witnessed. And, when the work shall have been fully carried out; when, by some proper participation, the individual states represented shall have inscribed their record of grateful remem- brance within the consecrated inclosures, this movement, as has been said by another, "will deserve to take its place in the annals of all
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coming time by the side of that wonderful sanitary work which minis- tered so tenderly to the wants of the living."
Yet, this is no more than we should have expected. In the past history of nations, with perhaps the approach to an exception, the soldier in the ranks has been looked upon as a pawn upon the world's chess- board, with which kings and emperors might play for a time, and, when their work was done, and they had fallen, to be abandoned forever; no longer of use ; no longer remembered.
But, in this war, the armies which went forth to do battle for their country were, essentially, in the rank and file, as well as in their com- manding officers, an integral and constituent part of the Government itself; and we have the grand and sublime spectacle of a part of a government devoting itself to voluntary death to save the rest.
Fitting, indeed it was, that the surviving portion should rise up in grateful homage to that which had fallen, and by some worthy national act, record, in ineffaceable characters, its holiest, noblest sentiment. Such records, among others, are these points of common sepulture of the dead. Established, ornamented, and forever the objects of national care and protection, they will become so many ineffaceable historical records; illustrated pages, to be seen and read of all men.
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