USA > Illinois > Reunion of the 86th Regiment Illinois Infantry, 1889 > Part 2
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The above resolution seemed to touch the Commander in a tender place -- perhaps the heart. He manifeste.I considerable emotion in a short response.
Comrade N. S. Haynes offeredl the following resolution which was adopted unanimously:
Resolved, That we hereby express to the Honorable Mayor and City Commeil of Peoria, our thanks for the use of this hall during our present meetings.
On motiou of Capt. Jo. Major a vote of thanks was tendered to Adjutant C. W. MeKown for his labor in behalf of the Association during the past year.
He thanked the regiment for the compliment.
Lieut. E. C. Silliman moved to instruct the Adjutant to have the minutes of this reunion printed.
Capt. J. L Burhalter moved to add, as an amendment, that a full roster of the regiment, revised and corrected as far as possible up to date, be included. After same debating the instruction as amended prevailed.
Commander Kingman here offered his resignation. Giving as a reason that he expected to be in Europe at the time of our next reunion.
The resignation was reluctantly accepted.
Captain Jo. Major was duly elected Commander to fill the vacancy.
At eleven o'clock the association "fell in" as a regiment and joining the procession marched to Sylvan Park and "broke ranks."
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At two o'clock p. m., Comrade N. S. Haynes delivered the annual address in the amphitheater at Sylvan Park. The crowd of listeners was very large. The address is given in full elsewhere.
During this reunion the association had the pleasure of hearing Miss Jones recite several times. The Eighty-sixth is immensely proud, and justly- so, too, of the Daughter of the Regiment. We were also delightfully enter- tained by the Norman Glee Club, Messrs J. B. Norman, G. H. Norman, J. W .. Dunkle and Charles McNaught, of Lexington, Ill. They possess a wonderful combination of MUSIC, SENTIMENT and MIRTH.
DEATH ROLL As far as known of all who died last year,
Company A., Lieut. J. J. Jones. Company F., Corporal J. F. Pattee.
E., Comrade G. T. Thompson. " Comrade Ernest Foreman.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE.
COMMANDER AND COMRADES: Your committee on resolutions to the memory of Comrades who died during the last year beg to report as follows:
"The remembrance of our dead comrades is a solemn duty and an im- pressive retrospect of days which tried the souls of men. We therefore con- template with reverence the inscrutable decrees of a kind Providence which watched over us and them then, and carried them so far on their journey of life and death and we trust that the same supervering Providence has dealt gently and mercifully with our dear Comrades who have departed from this, our temporary abode, during the past year, giving them full credit for their best acts and considering leniently the faults and errors which they, in common with all mankind, inherited in the flesh; and it is
Resolved, By the Association of the veteran survivors of the 86th Regiment Illinois Vol. Infty., in 27th annual reunion assembled on the anniversary day of our original muster into the U. S., service, that these sentiments of sympathy and Comradeship be made a part of our annual pro- ceedings and that a copy of said printed proceedings be sent to the family of each departed Comrade wherever this message can be made to reach them, assuring them that the memory of their relative is held sacred and fresh in the hearts of his surviving Comrades."
L. L. LEHMAN, J. L. BURKHALTER, A. P. WEBBER, COMMITTEE.
LETTERS.
List of names of those who wrote letters to be read at the reunion;
Gen. B. H. Morgan. Gen. J. W. Langley. Chaplain G. W. Brown.
Company B., A. Whitman, Yuma, Colorado.
D., F. K. Conrad, Blue Hill, Nebraska.
F., Lieut A. P. Loveland, Neal, Kansas.
" Martin Onderkirk, Clearfield, Iowa.
66 G., Capt. S. I, Zinser, Minonk, Illinois. " H. H. Kelley, Seneca Falls, New York.
" Edward Breem, Glens Falls, New York.
HI., J. H. Henderson, Terre Haute, Indiana.
" Lieut. W. F. Hodge, Jamestown, Dakota.
" A. R. Hepperly, Ellsworth, Kansas.
A SAMPLE OF THE LETTERS WE RECEIVED.
MINONK, ILL., AUG. 26th, ISS9. MY DEAR COMRADES OF THE S6th ILLINOIS.
It is with no ordinary feelings of regret that I write you, that I am com- pelled to forego the pleasure of meeting with you on this 27th anniversary of our Regiment. I regret it all the more on account of the reception, so kindly tendered us by Comrade Lieut. M. Kingman and his wife, at their residence. I am sorry, very sorry indeed, that I am so situated, that I cannot be present at our reunion this year. Last year I had the pleasure of attending the national reunion at Columbus, Ohio, my old home and native place. This deprived me attending our reunion last year. I look upon the reception of Comrade and Mrs. Kingman as a compliment which every member of the $6th will appreciate, whether present or absent. It will be a grand feature, and an occasion not soon to be forgotten. Our worthy President Harrison remarked in his speech at the reunion of his oldl Regiment at Indianapolis a few days ago, "as the years go on, these reunions of our; Regiment become more and more family affairs"-yes, one by one the membership of our Regiment decreases, -by and by there will be only a few left. How appropriate then, for
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the few, to continue the reunions at their homes-have the children and grand- children present-sons and daughters of the veterans.
Comrades! Beheve me, that I have no words adequate to express the great disappointment I feel in not being able to be with you. I know you will have a good time; that you will feel better after you return to your homes, for having attended the reunion. Do not think that I have forgotten the members of the old S5th Ill. No! No! ! Whenever I meet one, there comes up a feeling of, nearness, akin to brotherhood. As Comrade Thomas, in his last letter said: "They seem more like a band of tried brothers." Yes, we are brothers; for at our country's call for help we went to the rescue. Together we said good bye to our loved ones at home and amid the waiving adiens of patriotic friends we marched to the front; stood shoulder to shoulder in fighting for principle-for a nation with a big "N." Together we endured the hardships, exposures, long weary marches, through rain and storin, many times suffering the pangs of hunger and thirst, and why? To make this Republic, as Comrale Dawdy said in his speech last year: "Stand pre-eminently above every other nation of the earth. as the grandest government with the greatest country on the Globe." I will add, the greatest Volunteer Soldier achived it.
You well remember all this. Ah! well I remember a fond mother's loving kiss as she badle me farewell, at Camp Lyon 27 years ago. With her tears mingled with my own, she said; "Oh! my day bey will God permit you to re- turn home alive ?" Every one of you hal similar experiences.
These reunions are the renew ils of old felen Istaip, the rehearsal occasions of incidents during our soldier life, memorial periods of grand achievements for our glorious country. In what other way could we better interest and keep - alive that interest in our chillren. Let us never abinlon but maintain and continue our reunions as long as there are two to miest together. Ant while there will al vive be Coma las remix actual, Iwill carnestig urge each and everyone not to fall to write a later to be retla Migration. I was very glad to notice in last year's proceedings, the remarks of Commle Mckown, our worthy Secretary, o. this very point of which telers. A taller from the absent ones is always a source of interell even if not written in the most elegant style, or according to the rules of grammar. Caurules, if you callnot be present at our next reunion, & sure el ele. I neglected this last your myself. I am sorry for it, In conclusion I will say that I shall attend the reunion next year if I am alive. I fed now I will be. My health was never Butter. For the benefit of the Commeles who have not been me for ummay years, I will say that I cannot real or write, an I sometimes hardly think with- out spectacles; my head is quite gray; I om 27 years aller; have a good wife til live children, everyone predy an l about as mischievous as the average. The olflest a boy 19, the youngest ;; have only one girl, now sweet .5. Hoping to be remembered by all Comta les, I am yours in T. C. L.,
SOL L. EINSER.
.
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS.
By Contrade N. S. HAYNES, of Co. A.
COMRADES: We have come to another regimental anniversary along the march of time. Here like the good prophet Samuel of olden time can we set up another stone and call the name of it, Ebenezer, for, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. For two decades the cares of civil life crowded this occasion into non-observance: henceforth we will hail it as the ten thousand Greek soldiers in the memorable retreat under Xenophon greeted the sight of the sea, with great joy. Our first anniversary was observed at West Harpeth, Tenn., Aug. 27, 1853, Chaplain Mellsap making an address. Our last will occur in the first quarter of the coming century.
To strengthen the ties of comradeship, to recall the lives of those who have received their last discharge, to reawaken the mighty memories of the glorious past, to recount immortal deeds, we are met. To all our Comrades in this great reunion the S6th extends soldiers' greetings. We were all of the boys in blue. And those who wore the blue we will ever love. As it was the badge of patriotism and loyalty in the days of darkness and trial, so also was it the last winding sheet of thousands of our shroudless and coffinless dead. We be brothers all. Common aims and dangers have made us one. Our hearts have been welded in the fires of suffering and battle. We have all reached the meridian of life. Many with silvered locks and unsteady step are drawing near to the western foothills of time. Every year the sun of many goes down as they bid adieu to the land their valor helped to save. Come then Comrades with us while we tell again the story of our patriotic devotion. This story is yours as well; for you all shared our hardships and victories.
On Sunday morning Sept., 7, 1862, the 86th left this fair city for the front nearly a thousand strong. It was mustered out at Washington City, June 6, 1865, numbering 379 men. Its first campaign included the initial and weari- some march from Louisville to Nashville in the fall of '62. It participated in the battle of Perryville, firing the first shots from our picket line in the early dawn.
The Chatanooga campaign was its second. This was more important both in the objects to be reached and in the efforts made for their attainment. Many were the obstacles that confronted our army in its approach to Chatanooga, as
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well as in its defense of that city. Toiling on by the right flank day after day over the rugged hills, through rain and mud, compelling the enemy to re- linquish his stronghold, our army came to Chickamauga. Here for two days the foe fought with desperation to regain his lost prize. Again and again he assaulted our columns furiously. With our right wing broken, General Thomas, though "opposed by a force at least five to two, stood grim and defiant, resisting the repeated assaults upon his lines with a persistance and courage never surpassed." He was indeed "the rock of Chickamauga," and his troops stood like the reefs of the ocean that defy the fury of wind and wave. Finally our forces sought shelter beneath the defenses of the city. The 86th was the last regiment that left that memorable field of bravery and blood. Our army then was only half fed. Famine was the ghost that haunted by day and by night. We participated in the battle of Lookout Mountain, and were held as reserves at Missionary Ridge. Then a hurried march was made to the relief of Burnside, at Knoxville, 130 miles away. The return in twenty-five days was made through mud and snow and over frozen ground. Self fed and half clad, many of the boys left bloody tracks along the hard ground.
The Atlanta campaigu was the third. In the movements of the force and in their fortitude and heroism it was of the grandest character. Leaving Chat- anooga our secondary base about the first of May, 1864, we came to a series of engagements unsurpassed in all the history of wars. On to Buzzard's Roost, a high and narrow defile, our army went figting with determination and success. Thence on to Resaca, strong by nature and rendered seemingly impregnable by art, through dense forests and muddy bottoms, compelling the enemy to evacuate. Then on to Rome, taking forts and mills and arms and foundaries. Then on to Dallas, still pushing rapidly the retreating foe. Still on to Big Shanty. Here is a beautiful plateau and picturesque scenery, and from the roughly moulded landscape youder in the distance rises Kenesaw, the bold twin mountain. General Sherman has observed :-- "This is an enchanting scene, too beautiful to be disturbed by the harsh clamors of war, but the Chat- tahoochie lays beyond and we must reach it." So onr army swept on to Kene- saw. Proudly and far up, the rugged ridge rises. It was alive with our enemies, digging, felling trees, entrenching, preparing for the impending crisis. For three weeks, in daylight and darkness, in weather fair and weather foul, in drenching rain and scorching sun, step by step our army climbed his rocky sides, swept by the bullets, shell and canister of the Confederates. The S6thi participated in the awful charge of June 27th, with terrible loss. That day was the dark, low twelve of all our military service. And still our army moved forward to the Chattahoochie, driving the enemy across its waters. Crossing it we moved to a position on Peach Tree Creek. Again and again the rebels hurled their torn and shattered but desperately fighting columns against our lines; but our men stood as immovable as the grand old hills among which they passed. Following this the regiment participated in the operations before Atlanta and in the grand movement by the right flank to Jonesboro. Here the enemy again assaulted us, fighting with all the rage of dispair, but our victorious army now knows no such word as defeat. It was here in front of Atlanta that our regiment held its second anniversary. Having been on the
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EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
march all day the evening of August 27th, was used. Speeches were made by Chaplain Millsap, Surgeon Hotton, Colonel Dillworth, Major Thomas, Captain Bogardus and others. The boys there present took occasion to return the fire, in a set of resolutions, of the sympathizers with the Confederacy in the Northi. It was a species of copperheadism that should make even hell ashamed for a thousand years. Sounds of quick volleys of musketry, cannon and heavy ex- plosions were heard toward Atlanta. What did they mean? That the enemy had evacuated, that this mighty stronghold of treason is in our possession, and that the stars and stripes again float in triumph over the proud Gate City of the South. During these three months Sherman and his army had accom- plished a herculean task. In 120 days they had penetrated 130 miles farther into rebel territory, fought battle after battle, taken fortress after fortress, en- trenchment after entrenchment, mountain after mountain-six positions of the enemy considered impreguable, and killed, wounded and captured 50,000 of his men.
"Then shook the hills with thunder riven; Then rushed the steeds. to battle driven, And louder than the bolts of heaven, Far flashed the red artillery."
For indomitable purpose, lofty courage, heroic endurance and brilliant achievement, the battle-march from Chatanooga to Atlanta is unsurpassed.
About the middle of November, '64, the last message flashed to the North, "All is well," and the last music that rolled along the burning streets of the Gate City were the strains of that song, inspiring to every soldier's heart, "John Brown's soul goes marching on." A better army never trod the earth than the So,000 men who that day turned their backs upon Atlanta and their faces toward the sea. It was a movement that astomshed friend and confounded foe.
The mellow rays of November's sun and the hazy beams of December's moon reminded them of other days and other scenes left far behind. Thoughts of these inspired them with hope anew, and they swept on 300 miles in thirty days. Savanah is taken-General Sherman presenting it as a Christmas gift to Presi- dent Lincoln-another victory won, another name added to their battle-torn flags.
The march through the Carolinas, and to the seat of government was the fifth and last campaign. In the hardships endured and the difficulties over- come, it was second to no other. About the middle of January, 1865, leaving Savanah and the outer world our army entered again into rebeldom. For a time rain fell almost incessantly, roads became quag-mires, swollen river after river confronted, swamp after swamp had to be waded, pine covered hills had to be compassed, while a barrassing enemy hung upon the outskirts seek- ing whom they might cut off. Every obstacle was overcome. At Averysboro the enemy was met and driven from the field. At Bentonville our army re- pulsed six repeated and desperate assults of the entire rebel host, amid pouring rain, and then drove them furthur still. Thus in sixty days our armny tugged and fought through 400 miles of quagmires, swamps, rivers, pine hills and
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battle grounds. Such were the campaigns of this invincible army of the West. Meanwhile, the army of the East, under the personal leadership of General Grant, by a series of masterful movements, unsurpassed endurance, and terri- fically bloody battles, had come to Appomattox. These movements of these two grand armies had united to sound the crack of doom to the Confederacy. Their triumph was the death knell of treason. Their
victories was the price paid for the Union one and indivisible, then, now and forever. To the dome of every capitol throughout the sunny South, where erstwhile had floated the emblem of disloyalty and disunion, emerging from the smoke of a hundred battlefields, and more deeply dyed in the blood of our slain comrades, there came our flag. On the night of September 12, 1814, Francis Scott Key, forcibly detained on board of a British-man-of-war that lay in the harbor of the Chesapeake, bombarding fort McHenry, wrote those thrilling words ;-
"Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars thro' the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming, And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."
Far more grandly true was it that when the dark night of rebellion had passed and the dawn of honorable peace appeared "Our flag was still there." In every rightful place from sea to sea it was again kissed by heaven's sunlight.
"And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Every passing year serves to give a better conception of the magnitude of the struggle in which we were engaged. Under all the calls, Illinois alone, furnished 256,232 inen. Of these 28,642 were killed in battle or died of wounds and disease while in the service. In the American Revolution the most obsti- nate fighting was in the battle of Moumouth. Only about 13,000 on each side were engaged. The American loss was 69 killed and 160 wounded. The whole affair was about as big as the little battle of Iuka, Miss., where our loss was 141 killed and 613 wounded. After the battle of Monmouth the army under Washington did no more fighting until three years and two months afterward, when the investiture and capture of Yorktown occured. In the war of ISI2 only about 500,000 men were enrolled from first to last, of whom 1,877 were killed and 3,737 wounded. This was less than the loss of Grant's little army of 35,000 in the two day's battle at Shiloh. To the Mexican war the whole Union sent only 101, 282 enlisted men -- less than two-fifths the num- ber furnished by Illinois alone to suppress the rebellion-of whom 1,567 were killed and 3,420 wounded, which was about the loss of Sheridan's army of 25,000 at the battle of Opequau, Sept. 19, 1864. On the glorious field of Buena Vista, which rang through years in song and story, only 5,200 Americans were engaged with a total loss of 746 -about the loss of a division of the army of West Virginia at the almost forgotten battle of Cloyd's Mountain, May 9, 1864. The average loyal soldier during the rebellion gave immeasurably more to
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2I
EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
the country than the average soldier of any other war ever carried on by Ameri- cans.
But the Union was saved, human slavery was here abolished forever, not one star was lost from our flag, and it was demonstrated that "a government of the people, by the people and for the people" should not perish from the earth. The blessings of liberty were made doubly sure to us and to the coming generations. A free, prosperous and happy people rejoice in a boundless heritage. The future is bright as the pathway of human progress.
But these benefits were purchased with blood. We are continually re- minded of our comrades who never returned. We could not forget them if we would, and would not if we could. The memory of thein is the minor chord that runs all through our song of gladness. Their work is done. No longer they suffer
" The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."
They have passed to the end of
"The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to.'
They no longer
" bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the laws delay, The insolence of office."
Nor the drudgery of toil, nor the slow fires of disease, nor the burdens of care, nor the hopes of the heart turning into despair in the strange chemistry of human life, are theirs. From hospital and prison they went out to join the silent majority. From many a bloody field, they, like Elijah of old, went up in chariots of fire. They were glorious men, who laughed at fear and leaped into the embrace of death. They repose in " the windowless palace of rest." Their toils are over and " their works do follow them".
Whether in the prison drear, Or in the battle's van, The noblest death that man can die Is When he dies for man. The hopes, the fears, the blood, the tears That marked the battle's strife. Are now all crowned with victory, That saved the Nation's life."
This goodly inheritance is ours to enjoy ; ours to protect hy voice and vote ; ours to guard with jealous care, for none can appreciate so highly or love it so truly as we. May our redeemed Nation moving forward in the sunshine of a kind Providence, like a world in its orbit, fulfill its high mission-come to its glorious destiny.
Comrades, our ranks are thinning out. Gently there is falling on our heads the snow that never melts. The cruel years scatter us as the leaves-so fight you then the mighty battle of right against wrong that victory may crown the effort, and at its close the great Prince of life will say " well done ".
Comrades in Attendance.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Col. Allen L. Fahnestock. Lt. Col. D. W. Magee. Q. M., Archabald Bracken. Musicians : A. P. Webber, Samuel Silzel, James Shreffler.
COMPANY A.
Capt. Jo. Major, R. T. Payne, J. J. Brown, A. C. Bullington, Peter Brubaker,
J. H. Watson, S. P. Cable,
John This,
J. B. Varble,
N. S. Haynes,
J. H. Brubaker,
Il. J. Ralston, Thomas Foley,
J. T. Brown, H. R. Darst, William Dixon, J. H. Tomb,
D. R. Perrine,
J. E. Payne, J. L. Dehm.
COMPANY B.
A. J. Deihl, Charles Erwin, W. II. Mutton,
R. S. Erwin,
W J. Huber, E. McVicker, J. L. Dawson,
Lt. E. C. Silliman, Lt. R. B. Beeba, A. C. Jenkins,
E. A. Snyder, T. F. Kingsley, Newton Ray, J. F. Smith, L. L. Lehman, Thomas Taylor.
COMPANY C.
Cyrus Reed, F. L. Saxton, T. B. Selders,
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EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
Cyrus Root, O. D. Stowell,
G. W. Colwell, W. J. Baldwin.
COMPANY D.
Capt. Frank Hitchcock, Christopher Hartman,
Joseph Wrigley, W. R. Greenhalgh, R. McCarthy, William Graham,
D. H. Anderson. J. T. Morris, David Preston,
W. M. Young,
D. W. Johnson, William Wykoff.
COMPANY E.
Adison Tanquary, Stephen Grady,
A. J. Kimble,
Joseph Carter, .
W. F. Speers, Henry Hosselton, J. C. Hall.
COMPANY F.
Manuel Moviey, C. W. Mckown,
COMPANY G.
S. B. Holler, Robert Lewis,
Daniel McCoy,
H. F. Heiple, H. B. Smith,
G. W. Ferner,
M. H. Cloud,
T. B. Lane,
Jonah Ruble,
George Merchant,
H. C. Layten.
COMPANY H.
W. A. Maginley,
J. A. McFarland,
A. W. Belcher, G. M. Moore,
J. N. Place,
Jantes Scott.
W. H. Buck, W. C. Stewart,
COMPANY I.
A. H. Green,
Lt. R. W. Groninger, -
Abram Shirtz, Ambrose Gchrt,
Henry Grife, C. F. Hamilton, Benton Corrington, Orrin Frisby.
Capt. J. L. Burkhalter, I.t. John Hall, Albert Smith,
I.t. Martin Kingman,
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