Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-14
VETERANS At BANQUET
Forty Second Anniversary Of
Second Army Corps.
RESPONSES TO TOASTS
GEN. MILES TRIBUTE TO FAMOUS
COMMAND.
Addresses by Gen. Chaffee, Admiral
Bartlett, Representative Bede,
Gen. Black and Others.
RESPONSES TO ToAsTs

den. BLACK ana OtherS.
Five score of silver-haired soldiers sat
down together at dinner Saturday evening
in the banquet hall at the Shoreham. To-
gether they once more drank out of the
same canteen and divided the feast. and
together they paid splendid tribute to their
dead comrades in arms and in words of
noblest, patriotic fervor sang the praises
of their country 1t was the twelfth annual
banquet of the I'd Army Corps, commence
rating the forty anniversary of its
organization. The hall was decorated with
the corps flags, and the national banner
was festooned about the walls in great pro-
fusion, while above the table, where were
seated the guests of honor and the presi-
dent of the association, was the glittering
trefoil in electric lights that represented
the division of the army whose members
were gathered to do honor to its memory.
Cut flowers and potted plants decorated the
snowy tables and strains of music from an
orchestra in the gallery fioated through the
room during the progress Of the dinner.
The tables were arranged in the form of
an elongated horseshoe. the guests of honor
being seated at the head table, and Oh
either side of Capt. Richard w. Tyler the
president. Those at this table were Lieu
tenant General Nelson A Miles, Lieut.
enant General Adna r. -Chaffee, Rear Ad-
miral Bartlett Gen. John c. Black. General
Sprague. Major William P. Huxford and j.
Adam Bede, Representative in Congress
from Minnesota. while down each side of
the room were the representatives of that
old army which fought so gallantly on
many a tragic field and carried the flag
of the Union to final victory at Appomattox
The menu was elaborate and appropriate
to the occasion, and was printed in the ma
tional colors, the card bearing the trefoil
of the corps.
Gen. Miles the First Speaker.
Capt R. W. Tyler, U. S. A, formerly of
the LIST Regiment, Berdans Sharpshooters,
acted as POSTMASTER and his introductions
were extremely happy.
Immediately following the coffee and with
the introduction Of the cigars President
Tyler read letters of regret from the Pres
ident of the United States and others and
then proposed the toast: THE President;
soldier, statesman, patriot" which was
drunk standing and in silence. General
Miles was then introduced and responded
to The I'd Army Corps; second in number,
but in achievement second to none" Cen
eral Miles referred to the statement of Cen
eral Hancock, in which he said of the
I'd Corps that in the campaign which
ended with Antietam it had captured more
colors than any other of the army, had lost
brigade commanders, several regimental
commanders and more than 25,OOO men.
"A record like that he said, lis one wor-
thy of all the eulogy that can be given 1T.
But eulogy is Impossible Simply the
name is sufficient. Let us leave 1T shining
on. The corps record is equal to that Of
any corps of any army that was ever mar
shaIed on the face of the earth. Caesar
never had a body of men who surpassed
the I'd Corps in glory or achievement. Ma
poleons name stands for all that is glori-
Gus and marvellous in warfare, yet Napo-
leon never commanded an army that sur
mas Se1 q ID COrDS 1t OF
young men, the youth and flower of the
country, fighting side by side for the cause
which they held to be right.
Il remember being detailed as ad-de-
camp, after the battle of Seven Pines, to
pass over the field and look after the dead
and wounded, and as L rode about that
scene of fearful carnage l heard the
groans and the moaning of the men who
had been torn by shot and she'll 1t made
the night true inferno, and the recollec-
ton has never passed from my mind.
Ever since that time l have always felt
that If those who caused war could be the
only participants there would be no more
wars. Never since hearing those groans
have 1 been favorable to war as the means
of settling disputes. AS Gen. Sherman
said. War is cruel, and you cannot refine
it 1t is cruel terribly cruel, and nothing
that man can do can take from it's awful
cruelty.
to the front to be torn to pieces by their
brother men. One and a half millions of
the men of our army were less than twen-
ty-two years of age. 1t was the very
flower of the young manhood of the time,
and the loss in that terrible war can never
be recorded. The tens of thousands of
young men who went down on those fields
may have been the fathers of a brighter
generation. No nation can afford to sacri-
flee it's young manhood.
An Object Lesson.
Look at France She glories in her
l.,,t III
were they attained. No men were ever en-
gagged in more righteous cause than you
were It was a war for principle-the
preservation of the republic. for the gov
eminent of America by the people of Amer
lea. for the integrity of the Union. You
kept the flag of your country in the air,
and l have ever found that people who
have any knowledge of the countries of
the world look on America as the bright
est spot on the map of the globe"
The Hero of Picking.
Gen. Miles address was received with
great enthusiasm, which only subsidized
upon the Introduction of Gen Chaffee,
chief of staff of the army, and, as Capt
Tyler said, the hero of Peking" He spoke
to the toast, Our Army: In valor efficien-
cy and patriotic zeal the peer of any army
in the world"
when the I'd Army Corps was making
boys 1 was boy and private in the
ranks. I was rot with your corps, but we
were on the outskirts and many a time
did the glorious deeds of the I'd scintillate
about until it came to our ears 1t was
a most gallant corps, but l have knowl-
edge of the fact that the 9th was generally
in the neighborhood of trouble. The Unit
ed States army today comes from the same
source as 1t did in 61-from the young
manhood of the country-and at no time
in the history of the country We're its Off
GERS more devoted than they are today
They are composed of the same stock as in
the time of that war, which gave the
largest opportunity for the trial of men,
and you viii find that today there is as
gallant a body of men wearing the uni
form of the United States army as ever
did 1T honor.
His praise of the army won for him a
ringing cheer and much applause.
Guardian of Merchant Marine
Admiral Bartlett, in the absence of Sem
ator Gallinger, responded to Our Navy: