Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-13
BIG BUNCH OF VETERANS LEFT
One Organization in the Civil war
Has Two Hundred and Thirty
seven Members stu Living.

II have just received said a civil war
veteran, " a bid TO the thirty-ninth an
nual reunion OF my regiment. this bid
always coming along at about this time of
year, the reunions being held, in one year
and another, in various towns of the New
England state in which the regiment was
raised. Our regiment had men from pretty
much all over the state.
but what gets me is a printed list ac-
companying the invitation giving the
names and addresses of the Members of
the old regiment still living, these number
ing now, forty-three years after the close
of the war, 2S7, which seems 20 me a num-
Der surprisingly large.
Our regiment was mustered into service
in September, 1861, and mustered out in
July, 1865; it served four years lacking a
little less than two months. The regiment
left it's state exactly full, with 1,O4O men.
In the course of its service il had killed
in action l7 men, wounded 4S6, died of
wounds or in prison 100 and it lost men
who died of disease or who were discharged
by reason of disability.
las its ranks were depleted they were
filled with recruits from home and alto
gether 1t had on its rolls 1897 men; and of
that 1900 men there are now, forty-three
years after the close of the war, 2S7 men
still surviving.
1T seems a surprising number, because
If you stop to consider you will see that
the youngsters of the r~egiment-the boys
Of, say, 16-are now men s. years old. The
men who were &c in 81, young men then,
sure enough, must now be 70. To be sure,
men who came out later would be younger.
For instance, the boy of 16 who enlisted
in "a would now be only go; but there are
still living a goodly bunch Of the men who
enlisted in 81, and many of them still
hardy, vigorous, able men.
And how do you account for that? 1
should say by the character and quality
of the men Of which our regiment was
composed.
"Of course, every man that served in
thes army is proud of his old regiment
and thinks It was the finest ever, and no
doubt they all have reason for their pride
but ours was certainly a good regiment.
1t was raised in August and September,
81, when the three months campaign was
over and when the north had settled down
seriously to the prosecution of the war. II
was enlisted for three years, unless sooner
discharged, and it is stating it temporarily
to say that Its ranks were filled with men
OF serious purpose, who knew what they
were about, and who enlisted from a sense
OF duty.
"And what a fine lot of men they were!
Coming from all the walks of life. charac-
~teristic men OF their native state, a whole
regiment of men of Intelligence. quick tC
learn a soldiers duty, understanding fully
the necessity for discipline and always
obeying orders; a regiment that soon came
TO have the carriage Of veterans; a regi-
ment that stayed where it was put, and
went where 1t was sent; a regiment whose
officers and men always regarded il will
pride, and which was always likewise re-
garded by its brigade and division and
corps commanders. A good old regiment.
And now after four years OF service
and forty-three years after the close OF
the war there are still 2S7 of the old boys
left. II is splendid to think OF.
Many OF the men who we're older wheT
they enlisted. men of 90 or 40 then, have
gone. and there are no really young meT
amoug the survivors, and in the nature Of
things their ranks must grow thinner anC
thinner. but among them there are still
hardy men. good for many years yet. And
Of the old regiment there still survive g
men. A fine lot!
GLORY TO the oiG regiment. I salute TIKI
old regiment!'-Washington Post.