The National tribune., 1902-01-02
A Veteran ouartermas.er.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: I read In ths
/. Personal column ~ The National Tribune of
Dee. .. the claim that Col. c. II. Rlinp. Of
Geo. II. Thomas Post. San Francisco. Cal.
IS the oldest euartrrmaster in coutlnuous
service of any in the Cnlted States HAVING
served 10 years. and JUST been reelected fos
the twentieth time. This is truly an honor.
able record, but the United States coyers n
large cxpanse Of land and water and it
/. searched closely, no doubt others might Be
found who would dispute this claim Of Com
rade Blinn. Now, l cannot claim a contin-
nous service rs QuarteFmaster. but l can
claim 4 longer service, having held that OF.
lce % years in all.
T. Lincoln, Jr. Post, IS. now 80. was flrse
organized Aug. 10. 1868, with 81 members,
Df. \. H. Lincoln. an Army Surgeon, was
Commander; Geo. II. McLauchtuR. Adjutant;
Lewis Smith, Quartermaster, and Geo. ii.
Hayward, QuaTtcrmaster-Se Sergeant ComTaSs
Smith never attended a meeting OF the Post
az he died suddenly OF heart disease the fol-
lowing week. and Geo. II. Hayward, Quarter.
iasteT-Sergeant, was appointed to iii the
uncNpired term, and was elected and re-
elected, for some six or seven yeory mill
ne resigned, and COmrade Henry Sheahan
was chosen in his place. The same wear
t1Sf0l, by reason Of some trouble political
or Otherwise this Post surrendered its char
ter. In 1880, WE applied to headuuarters IN
De allowed to take back our charter which
request was granted, and we We're re-orzan-
lzed under the same name, but another num-
Der tl0Ul. DR.. 4. II. Lincoln was again
elected Commander. Geo. H. McI.aughtoa
adjutant, and +. J. Gardner Quarternaster.
Geo. H. Hayward Chaplain. COmraGe Gard
neF served the remainder OF that year, ard
was reelected for the year following but b0
declined TO serve longer, and at the annual
election that year | was elected To succeed
him, and continued to be reelected in an IN.
broken line for 10 years. or a little more,
when l was elected Commander and have
just been reelected for the third time My
record Is % years as Quarter1naster two
years as Chaplain, two years as Commander
do not claim that my service as Quarter
master was continuous. neither do | claim
that they were as arduOus as those OF a
Quartermaster OF larger Post I claim only
u nave served 23 years IN all. and I further
cilim that the responsibilities resting upon a
QuartermastcF Of q small Post are OF iust n
much Importance as those Of a larger one,
and IL rightly understood, and attended to,
count as a large factor in the prosperity
OK any Post: for promptness in making all re-
turns and having his accounts correct and
always up to date is where Quartermastsr
can aid the Commander and excel
would ike TO hear from other veteran
QuarteTmasters
l feel that much might be written in thIs
line, a kind OF exchange Of sentiment, that
would be Interesting to the hundreds Of ac-
tive and ex-QuartermaSterS, if to no one elsa;
lOF aIter my % years experience, and hav-
ing long ago passed my three score years and
ten, lyet frankly admit that there is much YET
TO learn, and feel that there is no more hon
Orable position inthis world than to be elected
TO an office In the G.. A. r., and to retain the
respect OF the comrades and their confidence
by faithful and conscientious attention ts
every duty, shown by being constantly re-
elected year after year.-GEO. ii. HAY
WARD, Co. X, LIST Me. II. A.. and Com
mander Post 7. Lincoln, $50, Senonysvills.
Ne.