The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1882-07-08
REUNION OF GENERAL GRANTS OLD
REGIMENT.

/ Special Correspondence National Tribune.
| BETHANY, ILL, June ga most enjoyable
affair in the shape of a company reunion took
place at Bethany, Ills, June %, under the
spices of Co. L. Twenty-tirst regiment, Illinois
volunteer infantry, General Grants Old regi-
ment.)
The boys and their families were out in good
force and had grand picnic. They were adj
dressed by several speakers, who culOgizcd the
boys for their herOsm and modesty the one
7 only equallcd by the other. Bit after bit Of
authentic, yet unwrittcn history of the COM
pany, of its privations and its achievements, Of
its powers and stability were given, and the
declaration made time and again chat the half
could not be told. Glowing tributes were paid
the dead comrades. and the tender care and
cheerful sympathy Of the soldiers for the help
less comrade who was happily able to be with
them was calculated 10 do much towards cauS-
ing the people to awaken to the fact these quiet,
steady going men were not always appreciated
by those around thom.
Captain Frccland entertained them with
speech i'll which the humorous and pathetic
were intermingled, as he passed from the re-
cital of some incidents Of camp life to history
of the engagements they were in, of battles
and marches that tested and proved them true
as steel. He said they used to think they
were imposed upon by having harder service
and more Of it than other companies. Soldiers
will understand why this was so when told
that Company f was the color company Of that
ndomitable regiment, the only regiment that
ever left the State of Illinois afoot and marched
l. J,,-l,,
of young men, but few being over twenty-five
years of age, steady and moral in their habits.
As they were schoolmates and associates from
early childhood it is no cause for wonder that
after enduring together the horrors of war that
they should be united by bond stronger than
that of brotherhood.
After pleasant day in the grove mass
meeting was held in the evening at the church,
where more short addresses were given. One
speaker showed the pathetic side of the story
by referring to the battle Of Chicamauga, when
word came home that out of that company of
100 men only eleven were together to stack
The rest We're killed. wounded, and missing.
How our minds flew back to those days Of
agony. Torn bodies on the battlefield. torn
| hearts in the honeI The painful shock of the
| WORD " UOhhdCH, inc SNaIp Stfokc OF tnG word
"dcad," the dreadful uncertainty of that word
missing" Well may the speaker say the half
cannot be told.
Patriotic music and old-time songs enlivened
both day and evening, jokes and comical rem
iniscences from the speakers, and the boys par
/ ticularly showed that they looked through to
the bright side. motion was carried to
make this picnic an annual occurrence on
June % as nearly as is practicable.
There can be no doubt as to the benefit of
these meetings; they not only do the soldier
good but the community at large by making
more plain to all sense Of the obligations
owed the boys who wore the blue, and by ere
ating for the young an interest in their coun-
trys history, and by making that history a
haf-tod redlity instead Of what it is often con-
sidered, an overdone fiction.
There is no G. A. r. Post in this county,
(Moultrie), but the boys are talking it up
TIE NATIONAL TRIBUNE is generally taken
among the soldiers and is well liked. E. w.