The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-17

| Falmouth in front of Fredericksburg,
| Va, April 81, 1863 and at the reunion
of the brigade at Springfield IL years
! ago. Past Commander Hersey said:
my Duty Is a pleasant one but 1 con-
fess l approach it's dischargewith many
misgivings for l know my inability to
represent the man whom we
love to honor and whose mem
| DRY is so dear to every man
| in this brigade. 1 believe 1t would be
more becoming to me, man who serv-
| ed in the ranks, to sit and listen and
! learn but like a good soldier will obey
| the orders of my superior officer and
will bear you with me in front of Fred
| ericksburg to listen to the last words
/ of our commander who went to take
charge of a division"
| Commander Hersey said he was hon
! ored and cheered by the words of Gen.
Devens at the reunion at Springfield.
Gen. Horatio Rogers, associate JUS
| tice of the Rhode Island Supreme
Court spoke in patriotic vein for the
state of Rhode Island.
/ Capt w H Wade responded for the
7th Massachusetts regiment, telling Of
! his receiving his commission from the
| hands of Gen. Deyens.
Comrade j. B. Greenhalge then dis
!
Gen. ]. B. Parsons a former COM
mander, now state pension agent, was
I glad the old brigade should meet in the
/ Heart of the Commonwealth because
/ of it being the home of it's former COM
mander He spoke feelingly of the
! comrades who fell in conflict whether
in the streets of Baltimore or at APP
J pomatox.
| James L. Bowen called on to res
| pond for the 37th Massachusetts, regi-
ment regretted that private from the
ranks should be called upon to respond
for the old 37th. He had hoped that
Col. Edwards would have been pres
ent and make an address. The men of
the 37th however, were never very
much given to oratory but tried to
make up what they lacked in other
ways. Especially toward the last of
the war the 9th Spencer rifles spoke
| their speeches from the uluzzle to the
enemy. I'VE tried to wear honorably,"
said the speaker, 1.-The mantle you
left US at the battle of Cold Harbor."
, The speaker quoted some interesting
figures saying that 1000 men of the bri-
gade suffered death on the battlefield
yielding up, according to his reckoning
1900 years of human lives.
Judge Horatio Rogers then said that
tirely applicable that the widow of Gen.
Couch be communicated with and to
send to her the salutations of the bril-
gade to show that the brigade still re-
CARDS her gallant husband, the brave
and gallant Couch, as one whose mem
DRY shall never fade.
Hon. William P. Hayes, the youthful
chief executive of Springfield, respond
ed for his city He made an eloquent
speech saying that he came to listen
to eloquence that would come from
other lips. He could hardly see why
veterans under whose gray locks there
was stored more knowledge and expe-
| rience should care to listen to the boys
as he styled himself. He paid a high
tribute to Senator Hoar, saying that he
was the grand old man of Worcester,
of the state and Of the country OF
Gen. Devens he said he was a leader
, at the bar, lawyer which any state
might be proud of and an attorney
| general that the nation was proud of.
| Brig. Gen. Nelson Wall made a few
! remarks as did Dwight o. Judd Of Ho-
! lyoke who urged that all veterans join
the Grand Army. He then launched
into the anarchists.
Gen. j. W. Kimball of Fitchburg re-
sponded briefly.
entire attention of his hearers, deliv-
ering forceful address. during which
he urged the building of the monument
to Gen. Devens.
After endorsing the welcome by the
mayor of the descendants of Roger
Williams from Rhode Island, which
was so well represented in the pre-
siding officer, and several other promi-
nent military men from Rhode Island,
Col. Gle said
/ When l first knew Gen. Devens it
was in the early 7Os. when Col. Hop
kins and I came to Worcester to meet
| him professionally. I then took back
his uniform as a major general to wear
in the play of THE Drummer Boy"
In the nail-keg hat noticed a bullet
hole. When 1 came to Worcester the
year afterward, our rooms adjoined
and met him frequently in chambers
where we went to meet him as a
judge. have his bookcase, that [
highly prize, in my Office At the meet
ing of the Society of the Army of the
Potomac he was the orator of the oc-
casion and he had the most distin-
guished audience that the Society of
the Army of the Potomac ever had
( Gen. Grant was there, then president
OF the United States; Sherman, Sheri-
dan, Hooker, Burnside, and all the
leaders of the Army of the Potomac
then alive. 1t was the greatest grafton
that the Army of the Potomac ever
had the pleasure Of listening to. It
was upon the battle of GETTYSBURG
/ He read it to us before he went, as
this was prepared here. When 1t was
| delivered he put the moral force of
the civilization of New England and
| the descendants Of the Puritan against
the civilization of the South and the
descendants of Capt John Smith. He
put in it the power of Marshall and
Webster, who had given force to the
Federal Constitution under which
Abraham Lincoln used the military
I power of the~nation to vindicate the
mandate of the Federal Constitution to
preserve the Union.
THE last time I met Gen. Devens
was when he was buried at Trinity
Church in Boston by the military order
| of the Loyal Legion, of which he had
/ been our commander; and when we
came to have the memorial services to
Devens and his picture was placed be-
fore US, every member of that order
felt the need of Devens' presence and
J Devens' voice to represent the memory
/ of Devens."
In concluding, Col. Gile said: eve
are glad to be honored with his
/ brigade in the Heart of the Common
wealth, his home, to stimulate us to
do for him what you of Rhode Island
have done for your Burnside, in erect
/ ing suitable monument to perpetuate
the fame of Devens our citizen and
Devens the soldier, the Statesman, the
lawyer, the orator and the judge
Major S. H. Brown of Woonsocket.
R. L, was the last speaker.
The gathering broke UP with the
singing of America by all present
This executive committee selects the
place for the holding of the next re-
I'm Inn -