The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-05-05

act no such promise from the Sixty
ninth, for. it has attested its fealty BY q
stronger bond By the hearts blood OF
many Of its members. 1 would simply
point TO the past and say: Do as your
comrades did, and I would neither ask
nor expect higher pledge. The last
time l saw this green flag, or one like it,
was on Antietam's bloody plains, where
on rushed the Irish Brigade, with those
colors floating over them. How steadily
did they uphold the flag beside the Stars
and Stripes in that desperate charge,
which routed the rebel column! Yes, on
and on that line moved until they gained
the hill defended by stubborn foe, and
when they carried it some thought that
all the dead of the battle were there
gathered for burial, so thickly were the
trenches filled with corses.
I now present these colors in the name
of the people of Tlpperary to you, Col.
Cavanagh; through you to my old COM
rades, we'll knowing that thew will at all
sacrifices behave as Irish troops have
ever done; knowing that the colors will
ever wave as I saw them last Oh the field
of Antietam. Stronger words than these
I cannot find to express the confidence l
feel that the Sixty ninth will always sus-
tain the honor of their flag"
Monday nights reunion was brilliant
affair. Col. Thomas Lynch presided.
On his right sat the great Archbishop of
st. Paul; on his left, the venerable Rich
ard O'Gorman. The great dining hall
was crowded with distinguished men of
every calling. The event of the evening
was the presentation to the veterans by
the Hon. Richard O'Gorman of the his
toric green flag borne through every
battle in which it participated side by
side with the Stars and Stripes by the
grand old Sixty-ninth Regiment.
Judge O'Gorman took the banner OF
green and gold from it's place of honor
in his residence and placed it in the hands
of the members of the Veterans Corps in
an eloquent speech, in which he said he
knew that his treasure in their hands
would 20 honored and perpetuated for
ever. the folds of the flag borne beside
the Stars and Stripes through many a
bloody battle were peacefully displayed
above the orators head by Col. John
Coonan, representing the veterans, and
Master Jack Dryer, the handsome son Of
"the fighting doctor" of the Sixty ninth,
representing the sons of their valiant
sires.
Judge O'Gorman, in bis speech, re-
ferred to his fondness for Col. Corc,ran,
whose counsel he was during his trouble
in the Prince of Wales affair, and how
gloriously the flag had been guarded by
the men before him was told more elo-
quently by its tatters than could tongue
or pen do it.
The speaker of the evening, of course,
was Archbishop Ireland. His impas-
sloned oratory. pathetic references to the
great republic of the West and graceful
tributes to the loyalty and valor of the
assembled heroes fairly electrified his
hearers. His Grace, in magnificent Ian
guage, spoke Of the glories of the United
States, and paid high tribute to the men
of Irish blood who in time of peril had
shown their gratitude to the land of their
adoption by giving up their lives in order
that the Union might be preserved. At
the close of his address the Archbishop
received tremendous ovation. In the
course of his discourse Arch bishop Ire
land said: 1T is one of the proudest Incl
dents of my life to have been connected
with she saviors of the nation. l have
always preserved thememories of the old
soldiers. It is great thing for the de-
scendants of Irishmen in America that
you went forth in such great numbers to
help the nation that has taken you to her
arms, not that am in favor Of fostering
the segregation of races, but to prove to
the world that tho Irishmen who adopted
the Stars and Stripes as their national
emblem were willing and anxious to suf-
fer and die because the flag of their adop-
ton had been insulted."
Where to Find Gold.