Year: 1879




the battle flags of the veterans of the of the re-
beon We're deposited among The sacred archives of
the State More than eight thousand soldiers
in line while the streets of the city were thronged
with mutitudes of people, citizens, and strangers.
We are indebted to our friend B. w. Sperry, Esq.
of Hartford, for account of the ceremonies which
is too lengthy to print in full When the veterans
We're massed the assembage was called to order,
and Grand Marshal General Joseph r. Hawley adj
dressed the Governor of the State as follows:


YoUR ExcEr1ENoY; We are eight thousand citizens,
who soldiers from Connecticut in the late for
union and liberty We in obedience to invita-
ton of our beloved commonwealth bring these eighty
flags from their temporary resting place their final
home in this and beautiful Capitol For the great
honor and pleasure of the day grateful TO the Gen
era Assembly, to you the Chief Magistrate, and TO the
great concourse of citizens who have testified their extreme
good will in many ways. We shall make many plgrima-
ges to the shrine where these standards to rest We
shall often recall do to-day the comrades who dared
to die in following these embems of duty and glory, and
shall revive the innumerabe memories of four years OF
marvellous national exaltation.


But it is quite certain that shall again be
moned battaons with trumpet and drum, banner and
cannon for noble holiday like this Let the flags
rest In few years these will longer be able to
bear for the land they love- but these weatherworn
and bate-tom folds shall remain through the centuries
estlying that Connecticut was true to free government,
and pledgng her future fidelity. It again be
doubted that the great republic find millions of de-
tenders OF trouble and millions OF best women
to sustain them These poor shreds and humble staves
to be gloed in the eyes of future generations have wit
messed the dedication Of continent 70 Justice, Equal
Rights Union, and Liberty. We bid them good bye
Thanks be to God abundantan exutant thanks to the
Almighty Father that lived in those days and
permitted to do something toward seeing that the Gov
ernment Of by and for the people shall perish from
the earth


Governor Andrews responded as follows:


GENERAL HAwLEY AND VETERANS OF CONNECTICUT:
In the and behalf of the State accept these flags
from the hands of the who carried them in For
than four years of conflict wherever the camp
the hardest wherever the siege the rcest wherever
the march the longest wherever the fight the
sores they were always to be seen For all that period
through all the shifting of the South through all the
blasting Winds through and winters and all the
alternating seasons they at all times unfured They
back ddled by shot, tattered and torn black
ened and gmed with the smoke and powder of battle but
they bring word of flight dshonor.
They speak to of the many displays of manly and
heroic virtue which, amid the duties of have illus
tated the character of the of Connecticut With
pahos at which every heart soens and every eye grows
d they tell us of the many thousand soldiers from
State who counting their lives DEAR willingly laid
them down for the honor of their country


That sacred and mysterious sympathy which goes out
from almost every ireside within borders TO all the
battle fields of the rebellion finds in these ragged ensgns
its dearest and its intensest expression


Lovingly then and tenderly let us lay them away in
the mohery of the State whose trophies they now
become that they may teach these lessons of patriotism
and of duty to all future generations.


4 Frequent applause was given to the speeches and
hearty cheers given for the speakers they closed.
The closing ceremony, that Of depositing the flags
in the Capitol, was intensely dramatic and affecting
without any apparent effort to make it 50, 1t was
drama that had had no previous rehearsal, nor
did it need any; in fact it was executed in the SIM
plst manner possible, but it was emotional TO the
last degree and stirred the feelings more deeply
than any other event of the day. Those on the
stand and around it, who had had share in their
defense as soldiers, gave evidence of deep feeling,
but could only imagine what must have been those
in the bosoms of the soldiers, many of whom now
saw their old flags for the first time since the war
and realized that they were probably looking upon
them for the last time now.