Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-21
Thirty-Fifth Annual Meeting in In
dianapolis-Parker Sent Note Of
Regret-Reid's Comments.

oyster Bay, N. l., august w. Av'1'
MY Dear General Boynton: Permit me.
through you. to extend my hearty good
wishes to the Society of the Army OF lhe
Cumberland at its reunion in Indianapolis.
present.
Praises Record Of the Army.
THE record of the Society of the Army of
the Cumberland is, indeed, noteworthy.
Three of its members We're Presidents OF
the United States-Grant, Garfield and Har-
rison. Four commanded the army after the
civil war-Grant, Sheridan, Sherman and
Schofield Two reached the Supreme Sourt
Matthews and Harlan. You have had many
members in the cabinet, in the Senate, ana
in the House of Representatives; one OF
them, General Keifer, becoming Speaker OF
the House.
For this exceptional record YOU are en-
titled to the respect and admiration of your
countrymen, but after all, the great claim
the undying claim that you have upon All
the people of this nation, rests upon the
fact that all of you. from the major general
to the private, did your full part in that
great brotherhood of men who formed the
Union army from 1861 to 1860, and VINO
during those four years rendered, not only
to our people, but to all mankind, the great
est service which it was given to any men
of the nineteenth century to render.
Legacy to Posterity.
1.-The men who served in the great civil
war left to their children and their chill
dren's children, unto the remUest genera
ton, not merely reunited country, not
merely the sense of belonging to nation
which has before it future SO vast that
even its most loyal sons can hardly venture
to anticipate it; but you left to them also
the memory of the way in which that form
liable army of fighting men, when once
the war was ended, turned forthwith to the
pursuits of peace, and showed themselves
good citizens at home as they had shown
themselves good soldiers at the front. In
any great crisis of war this nation must
rely mainly upon its volunteer soldier, ana
the veterans of the civil war have left us
forever the model of what such soldiery
should be. We of the younger generation
owe you a debt greater than We can ever
pay, alike for the lessons You taught in
war and for the lessons you taught in
peace.
with the heartiest regards, and with
every cordial wish for the success of your
reunion. believe me, very faithfully yours.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
General H.. V. BoyntOn, president, So
ciety of the Army Of the Cumberland, In
dianapolis, Ind
Regrets From Parker.
Judge Parker wrote:
"Rosemount Esopus, N. Y. Aug. 81, 1904.
Gen. II. V. Boynton.
my Dear Sir: l very much regret that it
is impossible for me to attend the thirty
second annual reunion of the Society of
the Army of the Cumberland. Will you be
kind enough to convey to the society as
surances of my regret and very grateful ap-
probation. Very truly yours,
ALTON B. PARKER"
Whitelaw Reds letter follows
Camp Wild Air, Upper st. Regis, n. Y,
September 8, 1904.
Gen. H V Boynton, president Society of
the Army Of the Cumberland
An il,ri oil To
address your society on the battle of Pitts
burg Landing can only be esteemed by any
man who was there as privilege and
great honor. l beg to tender my sincere
thanks for it, to you personally, and to the
historic body you represent.
Invitation From Sherman.
"Over twenty years ago Gen. Sherman
wrote me similar invitation on behalf Of
the Army of the Tennessee. 1t happened
that I was just going to Europe for con-
siderable absence, and was thus compelled
to forego the opportunity; but in express
ing regret I ventured to tell Gen. Sherman
that If ever / should be able to meet such
call l should hope to have the Army OF
the Cumberland in the audience.
Unfortunately, for me, your meeting
comes at the exact date when my position
as director of the Associated Press re-
quires attendance for our annual meetings
in New York. Nothing but such clear duty
would now prevent me from standing up
before the honored survivors of the army
that saved lost field in the greatest battle
of the civil war in the west, and recounting,
face to face. what l heard of the anticipa-
tons of leading commanders from their own
lips the night before; what l saw on the
first morning of the battle along the bank
of the river for three miles below Pit.sburg
Landing; what l saw that first forenoon
on the field ITSELF when and under what
circumstances saw the advance Of BuelPs
army greeted on the narrow strip of land
by the river side, into which our people
had been forced, and especially when and
how those splendid, compact ranks adj
vanced over the ground that had been lost.
Errors in the Records.
II should like to ask this society to con-
slider II 1t does not yet owe duty to itself
and to its honored dead. Official publica-
tons have only recently come to my knowl-
edge. in which, aside from personal errcrs
that need not now be noticed, there ap-
pears a strange distortion of facts as to
when the several parts of the Army of the
Ohio became engaged with the enemy On
the 9th and 7th of April, 1852. An old book
of my own. ohio in the War;" printed
long before the official reports We're access
sible, is quoted as one authority for these
statements; but in some of the few cases
have already been able to collate, they
agree neither with that work. nor with
the official reports, nor with themselves
and the time when certain regiments went
into action is set down, on the very monu-
ments the state has erected on the spot
three or four hours after they had been
holly engaged and the field had been WELL
nigh regained. Whether this is due to
laundering effort to shield names which
need no such treacherous props to their
solid renown. and to do it at the expense
of the Army of the Ohio, or whether it is
due to mere incompetence. the effect is the
same Can your society. in loyalty to IT.
self and to it's martyrs on that field, permit
these Misrepresentation to stand? Believe
me. with renewed thanks and regrets, very
sincerely yours, WHITELAW REID"
Letters Provoked Cheers.
Cheers followed the reading of the letters
Orlando Somers Of Kokomo. Ind. deliv-
cred the annual Grafton.
THE Grand Army Of the Republic" the
subject Of an address BY Gen. Blachmax.