ISTORICAL ADDRESS AT THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MAINE COMMANDERY OF THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES ;',^iSS?&Mife4Hfti®lf^ MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES HISTORICAL ADDRESS AT THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MAINE COMMANDERY DECEMBER 7, 1916 BY Brevet Major Henry S. Burrage PORTLAND, MAINE FRED. L. TOWER COMPANY 1917 i s> Let the American people — and especially let all who stood by Lincoln on the perilous edge of battle in support of the rights of human nature — remain steadfastly true to the ideas and the thoughts for which they fought in the great war, and we shall then do all that in us lies to link the destiny of our country to the stars and to entitle her institutions to share in that immortality which, under the allotment of Providence in the afiairs of nations, belongs only to eternal justice in the dealings of man with his fellowman. President Hayes in his address at the tzventy-fifth anniversary of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. -U^i^ :%c. ^i.^^ HISTORICAL ADDRESS WE halt for a backward look tonight. Great memories are ours as we gather around the campfire at the close of half a century of our history. One of these memories carries us back to that saddest of all sad days in the War of the Rebellion, when the whole country, South as well as North, was bowed in grief because of the tidings of the death of President Lincoln, April 15, 1865. For a week nearly, we had been uplifted, exalted, by a great joy — a greater joy I am sure than ever before had so com- pletely filled and thrilled our hearts. At last, the final victory was ours. How we had longed to see even the dawn of peace; and now, when the light of a glorious day was shining upon us in more than midday brightness and splendor, suddenly, unexpectedly, the heart-rending message reached us that our Chief Magistrate, the wise, patient, faithful President, who with whole-hearted de- votion had guided the nation skillfully and safely in a great crisis of our history, had been ruthlessly and wickedly assassinated. On that day of mourning, three officers, who had served in the Union army during the war — Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Elwood Zell, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Brown Wylie Mitchell and Captain Peter Dirck Keyser — met in Colonel Zell's office in Philadelphia; and while conferring together concerning the thoughts in all hearts and upon all lips, the suggestion was borne in upon" them, somehow and in some way, of an organization of the officers of the army and navy, similar to the Society of the Cincinnati of the Revolution, an organization that would per- petuate the companionships and experiences of the War of the Rebellion. Other officers soon became interested in the move- ment, and at a larger meeting held on April 20, 1865, (although April 15th was still regarded as the birthday of the Order,) measures were instituted, which, in Independence Hall, hallowed by historic memories, were brought to consummation on May 31, 1865, by the organization of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Major General George Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, was elected Commander of the Pennsylvania Commandery November 8, 1865, and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Samuel B. Wylie Mitchell, who had been Secretary of the preliminary meetings, was made Recorder. Such an organization, designed to perpetuate the friendships of the war, and to keep alive the great memories connected with it, did not escape the notice of Major General Joshua L. Chamber- lain of our own State. Very early, as we might expect, he was in touch with those who had connected themselves with it ; and on November 1, 1865, therefore only a few days before the Com- mandery of the State of Pennsylvania was instituted, he became a member of the preliminary organization, his insignia bearing the number 62. His welcome in establishing his connection with the Pennsylvania Commandery was so cordial that when that Com- mandery, on February 22, 1866, celebrated the day by a com- memorative service in the Academy of Music — the first meeting of the Pennsylvania Commandery on any historic occasion — General Chamberlain was made the orator of the day, the earliest, or at least one of the earliest, of his distinguished patriotic serv- ices in many places and on many occasions in a long and useful life. Already the Order was extending its bounds. On January 17, 1866, a charter was granted for a Commandery in the State of New York. To General Chamberlain that charter evidently was something more than a suggestion. His ardent nature, quick- ened by patriotic impulses, made it the awakening of enthusiastic endeavor, with the added inspiration of a vision he had caught of the meaning of such an organization to the State of Maine ; and on April 25, 1866, thirteen other Maine officers were elected members of the Order through the Pennsylvania Commandery. Their purpose in thus seeking membership was at once dis- closed, for on the same day the Commandery of the State of 4 Pennsylvania, acting as the Commandery-in-Chief, granted authority for the organization of a Commandery in the State of Maine to Brevet Major General Joshua L. Chamberlain, Major General Francis Fessenden, Brevet Major General Charles M. Smith, Brevet Major General John C. Caldwell. Brevet Major General George F. Shepley, Brigadier General Henry G. Thomas, Brevet Brigadier General Harris M. Plaisted, Brevet Brigadier General Charles Hamlin, Brevet Brigadier General Jonathan P. Cilley, Brevet Brigadier General Thomas W. Hyde, Brevet Briga- dier General John M. Brown, Brevet Colonel Charles B. Merrill, Colonel George Varney and Colonel John F. Appleton. What names are these, recalling merely in their mention distinguished services on so many of the great battlefields of the Rebellion ! Of the fourteen names there is only one against which on our roll the fatal asterisk has not already been placed. To General Cilley, the last living representative of our charter members, happily with us this evening, we extend hearty greetings and congratu- lations. Following this action in Philadelphia, the summer months of 1866 soon passed, and on September 29th, at the call of General Chamberlain, a number of the officers mentioned in the charter assembled in Portland, probably at the Preble House. It was not the Portland of other days, for the great fire of July 4th had made desolate the larger part of the business portion of Long- fellow's beautiful town by the sea ; but the new Portland was al- ready rising from the ruins the fire had left, even as the nation was rising in greater grandeur following the desolations of war. At that first meeting of the Maine Commandery, General Cham- berlain was elected Commander. General Fessenden, Senior Vice Commander, General Charles W. Roberts, Junior Vice Com- mander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Merrill, Recorder, Gen- eral Charles Hamlin, Correspondent (an office that was soon discontinued in the Order), General John Marshall Brown, Chan- cellor, and General Thomas W. Hyde, Treasurer. At the meeting of the Commandery, February 9, 1867, additions were made to its membership, bringing such encouragement as comes to an army on the arrival of desirable reinforcements. the list including Brigadier General Selden Connor, Paymaster William H. Anderson, Colonel Franklin M. Drew, Colonel Charles P. Mattocks, Colonel Seth C. Gordon, and General Thomas H. Hubbard. At this meeting, also, there were proposed for mem- bership Major Sidney W. Thaxter, by General Hyde, and Major Abner O. Shaw, by General Chamberlain, recalling Dr. Shaw's faithful services when the General was in great need of just such services. For four successive years, commencing in 186G, General Cham- berlain, by large majorities, was elected Governor of Maine. Doubtless his memory of the Pennsylvania Commandery's cele- bration in Philadelphia, on Washington's birthday in 1866, prompted the suggestion of a meeting held by the Maine Com- mandery in Augusta in connection with the celebration of the birthday of Washington in 1868. At this meeting on the even- ing of February 21st, Brevet Brigadier General Charles W. Tilden, and our present Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph W. Spaulding, were elected members of the Order, while Briga- dier General George L. Beal and Colonel William Wirt Virgin, were proposed for membership. On the 22nd, in honor of the day, the Commandery held a public meeting in the evening in Granite Hall. The members of the Legislature with their ladies, citizens of Augusta and of many places in Maine with their ladies, crowded the hall. The Governor as Commander, and the other members of the Commandery, were seated on the platform in full uniform. Brevet Brigadier General John Marshall Brown de- livered the address, presenting as a theme worthy of the occasion a consideration of the means of maintaining a military establish- ment in time of peace — a theme demanding attention at the present time with even more urgency than at the first of our Commandery's public assemblies. Existing deficiencies were enumerated, and needed reforms were suggested. The speaker's insistence upon the right of a State to the military service of its able bodied citizens in times of emergency, and without regard to wealth or standing, emphasized the obligations of citizenship in terms with which we have been made familiar in these later days, with nearly all Europe in arms, and war clouds hanging heavily over our Mexican border. General Horace Binney Sar- gent of Massachusetts followed with a poem on "The Returning of the Standards," which, like the address, received merited praise. A banquet at the Augusta House brought to an end a day of great interest and enjoyment. Evidently it was expected that such a meeting, at the capital of the State, would be helpful to the growth and general pros- perity of the Loyal Legion in Maine. The hopes of the members of the Commandery, however, were not confirmed. In fact, in 1869, only one meeting seems to have been held, namely on March 16th, when General Chamberlain, General Sargent and General Shepley were appointed to represent the Commandery in the first Congress of the Order, held in Philadelphia on April 9th. Other meetings may have followed, but in the minutes of the Com- mandery there is no added record until November 8, 1873. At a meeting held December 28, 1874, an order directed that "all books, papers, blanks, seals, &c., required by the constitution," should be procured "at the earliest possible moment". Apparently there was need of haste, inasmuch as the only records of the Com- mandery that have come down to us from this period are upon sheets of paper affixed to the first volume of minutes by Recorder Rand. Following this discovery of conditions, and the record of the action then taken, nothing seems to have been done. There is no record of any meetings. A single document from the archives of the Commandery of the State of Massachusetts, dated Portland, Maine, December 1, 1876, affords the only record in this moribund period of our history. It is addressed to the Re- corder of the Massachusetts Commandery, and is a request from Companions Chamberlain, Fessenden (J. D.), Brown, Shepley, Beal, Robie, Fessenden (Francis), Donnell, Jose and Sargent, that temporarily at least they may be received into that Com- mandery without relinquishing their rights in the Maine Com- mandery. The request is in the handwriting of Lieutenant and Adjutant Edward M. Rand, who had become a member of the Order through the Commandery of the State of Massachusetts, May 3, 1876. Certainly there can be no doubt that connection with the flourishing Massachusetts Commandery, by the members of our own organization during this period, was very helpful to Maine Loyal Legion interests. The goodly fellowship they found at its meetings emphasized the value of membership in the Order, and their experiences, continued through a number of years, were sufficient to awaken among the Companions residing in Maine a desire, which early in 1881 became a determination, to renew their allegiance to the Maine Commandery. In accord- ance with this determination an application for transfer was made. This was granted, the Massachusetts Commandery placing upon its records the following: "Proud as this Commandery has ever been of the names which by transfer from Maine have graced its Register, if the good of the Order is thereby promoted, they will now be willingly surrendered. The record, however, must al- ways stand that once they belonged to us." In accordance with a call from General Chamberlain, a meeting of the Maine Commandery was held in Portland, October 28, 1881. We have no report of the words with which so ardent a member of the Order greeted the return of his fellow exiles ; but we who have heard his voice at so many of our meetings in the intervening years can easily imagine the earnestness and the seriousness with which he exalted the value of such companion- ship and the ends which it is designed to secure. At this meeting, General Francis Fessenden was elected Com- mander, and General John Marshall Brown was made Recorder. Both had greatly distinguished themselves in their war service, and were ready for added service in the interests of the Maine Commandery. Past delinquencies in the case of any were over- looked. All annuaUdues prior to 1881 were remitted. Members who had not paid the initiation fee were allowed six months in which to complete their membership. If in that time old scores were not wiped out, such companionship was to be declared null and void. Evidently General Brown's election as Recorder was regarded as temporary only; for at the meeting of the Commandery on March 4, 1882, General Brown presented his resignation as Re- corder and was elected Chancellor. Four days later, at an ad- journed meeting of the Commandery, the transfer of First Lieutenant and Adjutant Edward M. Rand from the Commandery of the State of Massachusetts was received, and his election as Recorder at once followed. To this position Adjutant Rand brought not only high ideals with reference to the duties of his office, but personal qualifications of the highest order, all of which, with rare skill and devotion, he employed untiringly in conducting according to the most approved business methods the affairs placed in his hands. His zeal and efficiency in advancing the in- terests of the Order, both here in Maine and in his connection with other Commanderies and the Commandery-in-Chief, were widely recognized. Our Companions of the Maine Commandery caught the breath of a new era, and animated by it aided in pro- moting a most auspicious undertaking. We should greatly err, however, if with this evidence of a re- vival of interest in the affairs of thet Maine Commandery we should think of the meetings as in any way large and well sus- tained. For some time the number in attendance continued to be small. Recorder Rand began his record of the meeting of March 8, 1882, with the remark, "Fifteen present." This was probably the largest number of Companions present at any meeting of the Commandery thus far, not excepting the meeting held in Augusta in 1868. At the April meeting, only eight were present, and this number was not much increased until May, 1883, when nineteen were present. At the May meeting in 1884, twenty Companions appeared. At this meeting, General Connor was elected Com- mander. At the meeting in May, 1885, twenty-six Companions were present. Thus far this was high-watdr mark. But the future had been made secure. The zeal and energy of Recorder Rand, with the strong support of the other officers, and a growing membership interested in the objects and aims of the Order, had now obtained for the Commandery the honorable place it has since held among our military organizations in Maine. Until this time, the meetings of the Commandery had been largely of a business and social character ; and when such matters as required the attention of the members had been duly consid- ered, how brightly the campfire was made to burn ! It's warmth was quickening. Old experiences were recalled, and many a good story of camp and campaign was told as memory kindled thought, and thought found expression in words. But they were unrecorded words. Might they not be written and preserved? The question was deemed worthy of consideration, and in the early part of 1884, an inquiry concerning the number and char- acter of the meetings of the Commandery was referred to. a com- mittee, which at the April meeting recommended that, instead of monthly meetings for nine months in the year as hitherto, stated meetings should be held on the first Wednesday in May, Septem- ber, December and March; that at each meeting a Companion should be appointed to present at the following meeting a paper on some topic connected with the War of the Rebellion; also, that at each stated meeting there should be provided, at the ex- pense of the Commandery, such a collation, as in the judgment of the Chancellor and the Recorder the state of the treasury seemed to warrant. The recommendation was adopted, and in general the several features of this report have characterized very largely the meetings of the Maine Commandery until the present time. Who of us, Companions, can now fail to recognize the importance of that action? And yet, with the beginning of the new arrange- ment, the War Paper feature seemed doomed to failure. Ap- pointments for such a paper were made, but for the most part the Companions appointed failed to respond. In fact, at the Sep- tember meeting in 1885, after several failures, and when only one paper had been read, the committee on entertainments recom- mended "that the character of the entertainments be wholly of a social kind." The language of the recommendation was certainly sufificiently plain, but the committee, evidently for the purpose of emphasis, added, "and that the literary features of the entertain- ment be dispensed with in all cases, unless some Companion may voluntarily offer to read a paper upon some matter of personal experience in the army during the War of the Rebellion." Of course, the recommendation having been adopted by the Com- mandery, it was not to be expected that any Companion would present himself as a volunteer; and the records of the Command- ery show that between September 2, 1885, and December 7, 1887, — a period of more than two years — no War Papers were read at lO the Commandery's meetings. Because of this failure, however, increasing dissatisfaction found expression from time to time, and at the last meeting of the Commandery in 1887, the committee on entertainment was instructed to arrange for "a return to the read- ing of a War Paper at each stated meeting;" and the same Com- panion who read the first paper read again on March 7, 1888, thus closing an interregnum of three and one-half years. From that early time, the Commandery has rarely held a stated meeting at which the interesting feature of the meeting has not been the reading of some personal narrative connected with the War of the Rebellion. In this connection, reference very properly may be made to our four stately volumes of War Papers, which have appeared from time to time since the publication of the first volume was author- ized by the Commandery, September 6, 1893. Who now, as he turns to these volumes, can fail to have before him, as he reads, the Companion who is telling the story — Chamberlain, Hyde, Hamlin, Anderson, Thaxter, Mattocks, Melcher, Hunt, Sewall, Green, Ford, Rowell, nd others who are no more with us around the campfire! What a host of good story tellers the Com- mandery has had, and happily still has. While these papers are the narrations of personal experiences connected with prominent periods and events of the Civil War, the literary character of the volumes has often been praised. Not all the papers read at the stated meetings of the Commandery, however, appear in these four volumes. Colonel A. C. Hamlin, of Bangor, read to us several papers on matters connected with Jackson's flank attack upon the Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville, papers which afterward were brought together in a volume and published under the title "Battle of Chancellorsville. Jackson's Attack." Of General Hyde's ex- ceedingly interesting papers, only one appears in our collection, the others being included in his charming volume entitled, "Fol- lowing the Greek Cross." Captain Charles A. Boutelle. at the annual meeting in 1895, gave us a most delightful account of his experiences in the navy during the War of the Rebellion ; but as he brought with him no manuscript, and the Commandery has no stenographer, only the memory of his very entertaining story re- II mains. From General Tilden we were never able to get a written account of his escape from the Libby Prison by tunnel. At one of our meetings, however, when the appointed reader of the paper was unable to be present, General Tilden was persuaded to tell that rem.arkable experience. Surely none of us at that meeting has forgotten the charm of the narration. Our pleas, that he should tell to his stenographer what he had told to us, were un- availing — a loss greatly regretted. We still have in hand excel- lent material toward a fifth volume. Some of us may not see that volume, but its publication can safely be left to our younger Companions in succession and by inheritance. Mention should also be made of the way in which the war library of the Commandery became a prized possession. At the meeting in 1884, in which the reading of War Papers was directed, five Companions were made a committee for procuring, without expense to the Commandery, Maine regimental histories and other books having reference to the War of the Rebellion. Valuable gifts in this way came into the Commandery 's posses- sion as the years passed. At the meeting of the Commandery March 7, 1888, an appropriation of twenty-five dollars was made for the purchase of books relating to the war, and the same amount for the binding of valuable unbound books and pam- phlets. At subsequent meetings, other and much larger ap- propriations were made. At the meeting at which the first appropriations were made, a committee was appointed to ascer- tain what arrangements could be made with the Maine Historical Society for the care of this rapidly growing collection. The Maine Historical Society, then occupying a part of the building in which the Public Library of Portland has its home, offered a favorable location for our books ; and when the Society removed to its new building on the Longfellow property, another arrange- ment was made, in accordance with which the now large and valuable library of the Commandery was given to the Maine Historical Society on the condition that the Loyal Legion war books and those of the Society should be kept together, and that the members of the Commandery should have access to them with the same rights and privileges as if they were the property of the 12 Commandery. This arrangement, Companions Rand and Virgin attending to the legal details, secured the care and preservation of this valuable collection upon most favorable conditions. The catalogue of the collection, printed in 1910, covers fifty-two pages, and the collection continues to receive valuable additions. In our War Papers, and in this large number of books and pamphlets relating to the War of the Rebellion, the Maine Commandery has reared for itself an enduring memorial. At the annual meeting of the Commandery, May 1, 1889, Re- corder Rand declined a re-election. The announcement was re- ceived with profound regret, and the Commandery yielded to the Recorder's expressed purpose only when it was ascertained that the decision was irrevocable. Regret for the great loss the Com- mandery had sustained by this declination was voiced by General Francis Fessenden in these appropriate words : "The Command- ery of the State of Maine is under enduring obligations to Com- panion Rand, while Recorder, for constant devotion to the highest interests of this Commandery and our Order, for his unremitting zeal and arduous labors in securing their welfare and advance- ment, and for the extraordinary faithfulness, method and exact- ness of his official labors." These appreciative words received unanimous endorsement, the members of the Commandery rising as an expression of grateful acknowledgment. The one hundred and seventy-five pages of our records, as faultless in penmanship as they are accurate in every detail, carefully, even painstakingly preserving to us, and those who shall follow us, our business transactions during the seven years of the Recorder's service, are an enduring testimonial to the thoroughness and faithfulness that characterized Companion Rand's labors in that important period in the Commandery's history. We regret that he cannot be with us tonight and receive in person our recognition of his loyal services. Our words of affectionate greeting have already reached him in his sick chamber, and we may be sure that he is with us in spirit. As the successor of Companion Rand, I should fail in duty were I not to add that his services in the interest of this Com- mandery did not end with his retirement from office. In the 13 whole period of my Recorder ship, extending over nearly a quarter of a century to the time when, in the summer of 1912, I was succeeded by our present Recorder, First Lieutenant Horatio Staples, I had occasion to know how constant and helpful Com- panion Rand was to me in many ways, until failing health com- pelled him to withdraw from a service that he loved, and in which he found that inward joy that follows such faithful service as its own great reward. All the while, year by year, the Commandery continued to in- crease in numbers and in influence. Our meetings were more largely attended. From various parts of the State, officers, who had made for themselves an honorable record in the Union armies, or in our naval service during the Civil War, were elected members of the Order through the Commandery. Also, because of the provision in our Constitution for the admission of the eldest son of a Companion, later extended to all sons, together with the provision for the election of Companions in succession or by inheritance, there was an increase in our ranks. Our first Succession Companion, Charles H. True, was admitted to mem- bership December 1, 1886. Our first eldest son, John Sedgwick Hyde, was made a member of the Order December 5, 1888. Other sons, and Companions in succession and by inheritance, were added to our ranks from time to time ; and with accessions from these various sources, the Commandery continued its work with added interest and activity. The meeting of the Commandery-in-Chief of our Order, held in Portland, October 1, 1892, at our invitation, afforded evidence of the increasing strength and wider recognition which the Maine Commandery had now secured. At no earlier period of our his- tory would the Commandery have ventured to extend such an invitation. What honored guests were ours by its acceptance — Lieutenant General J. M. Schofield, then our Commander-in- Chief, whom some of us had known in Tennessee, when he was in command of the Army of the Ohio ; Major General O. O. Howard, whom Sherman at Atlanta placed in command of the Army of the Tennessee, holding in the Civil War the highest army command of any son of Maine; General Alexander S. 14 Webb, a distinguished son of New York, in the forefront at Gettysburg and on many Virginia battlefields ; our Recorder-in- Chief, Colonel John P. Nicholson, soldier and patriot, chairman of the Gettysburg Battlefield Commission, and the most beloved, I might add, of all the Companions in our twenty-one Com- manderies of the Loyal Legion. But why mention names of a host, heroes all, though bearing less familiar names, eager to grasp the hand of Chamberlain, Connor, Fessenden, Varney, Brown, Hamlin, Farnham, Tilden, Mattocks, Gordon, Drew, Thaxter, Melcher, indeed the whole membership of the Com- mandery of the State of Maine. The business of the Commandery-in-Chief was followed in the evening by a banquet in this hall, the large dining hall of the Fal- mouth Hotel. General Mattocks was toastmaster, and welcomed the honored guests. General Schofield responded for the Com- mandery-in-Chief, making genial, soldierly acknowledgment of the hospitality he and his associates had received, and charac- terizing Maine as a center of patriotism, and her sons as dis- tinguished for their loyalty and sturdy manhood. The other speakers were General Chamberlain, responding for the Governor of Maine, Mayor Boothby of Portland, General Howard, General Webb, General King, Rear Admiral Coghlan, Judge Putnam, General Connor, Colonel Nicholson, Judge Ballard of the Ver- mont Commandery and Colonel Thomas L. Livermore of the Massachusetts Commandery. After the lapse of the interven- ing years, as we thus recall the speakers of that memorable camp- fire, how profoundly we are still stirred as we catch only the echoes of words of lofty patriotism and undying devotion to duty ! On the following day, the guests who still remained in Port- land were escorted by members of the Commandery to Cape Cottage for a view of old ocean. Then, they were taken to Riv- erton, where lunch was served and enjoyed. On the evening before, at the banquet. Rear Admiral Coghlan had declined an urgent request for a recitation of "Hoch der Kaiser" — a recita- tion which not long before, at another banquet, had brought upon the Admiral a formal rebuke and word of caution from the Navy Department. At Riverton, after the lunch, the Admiral was 15 again importuned. In the comparative privacy of the hour he relented, and by his inimitable recitation he made the close of that social hour at Riverton a memorable one to the Companions who were so fortunate as to be present. At the meeting of the Commandery December 5, 1905, in an exceedingly interesting paper, one of our Companions, Acting Master John O. Johnson, called our attention to an incident of which the hero was a Maine bluejacket of the United States Navy, William Conway of Camden. In January, 1861, he was on duty at the Pensacola Navy Yard. Officers of the United States Navy, traitorously surrendering the Yard to a party of Florida seces- sionists, ordered Conway to haul down the United States flag. "I will not do it," said Conway. "This is the flag of my country, under which I have served for many years. I love it, and will not dishonor it by hauling it down now." How our hearts burned within us as we listened to this story of sturdy patriotism and fidelity ! The Commandery was moved to propose to the people of Camden that if they would provide a suitable boulder for a memorial, suitably located, we would place on it a tablet in bronze, commemorative of Conway's unswerving loyalty. The town promptly and favorably responded. A hvige boulder was selected and hauled to the High School yard, and upon it we affixed our tablet. The main facts connected with the unveiling of the memorial on August 27, 1906, you can easily recall — the coming to Camden of seven battleships and five destroyers of the United States Navy, and their appearance as they lay at anchor ofif the town — the landing of nearly a thousand sailors in order that they might have a part in honoring the memory of Conway — the presence of Rear Admiral Robley Evans and Rear Admiral Davis, with the Captains and other officers of the fleet — the crowds that had as- sembled from Camden and all the surrounding towns — the im- pressive words of General Chamberlain as he told the story of Conway's loyalty — and last of all, when the announcement of the unveiling was made by a signal from a nearby church-tower, the roar of the guns of the fleet, as over the waters of the bay they thundered out a national salute of twenty-one guns in Con- i6 way's honor — an honor, said Admiral Evans, that no bluejacket ever received before. Is not our sailor memorial a worthy one, and may we not lovingly think of it as telling in the schoolyard at Camden its lesson of patriotism and fidelity to generations for a long time yet to come ? Another memorial, also of a Maine man, we have placed on Paris Hill. March 3, 1909, General Chamberlain, by request of the Commandery, read to us the paper he had read in Philadelphia February 12, 1909, before the Commandery of the State of Penn- sylvania on the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abra- ham Lincoln. The paper made a profound impression upon all present, and at its close one of the members of the Commandery called attention to the fact that on August 27, 1909, would occur the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Hannibal Hamlin, Vice President of the United States when Lincoln was President. It was also remarked that Mr. Hamlin was a Companion of our Order, elected by the Pennsylvania Commandery under that pro- vision of the Constitution of the Order that makes eligible gentle- men in civil life who, during the Rebellion, "were especially distinguished for conspicuous and consistent loyalty to the national government and were active and eminent in maintaining the su- premacy of the same." This reference to Mr. Hamlin Was fol- lowed by a vote of the Commandery requesting General Connor to prepare a paper on the life and services of Mr. Hamlin, to be read at the annual meeting of the Commandery May 5, 1909. Certainly, no other member of the Commandery was so well qualified by association and otherwise to bring before us the long and honorable services of Mr. Hamlin, our most prominent rep- resentative in the great conflict between union and disunion, free- dom and slavery. How vividly and eloquently the public career of Mr. Hamlin was presented to us, fittingly handing on his name and fame to future generations ! The Commandery at once re- sponded to the impression the paper had made, and a committee was appointed to confer with the people of Paris, and make ar- rangements for the erection of a memorial and its unveiling on the one hundredth anniversary of Mr. Hamlin's birth. The citi- zens of Paris provided the boulder for the bronze tablet prepared 17 by the Commandery, and August 27th, the date of the Hamlin centennial, was made the day for the celebration. A cold northwest wind swept over the hill-top that morning, but it could not chill the hearts of men, women and children, moving on all the roads leading to Paris and the Hamlin birth- place. General Chamberlain wias the officer of the day. Those who participated in the centennial services in front of the village church were Governor Fernald, now about to follow Mr. Hamlin to the Senate of the United States ; John D. Long, born in nearby Buckfield, a former distinguished Governor of Massachusetts and later an efficient Secretary of the Navy ; Eugene Hale, born in nearby Turner, and long a conspicuous member of the Senate of the United States ; Charles S. Hamlin of Boston, honoring in high public office the Hamlin name, and representing the Hamlin family ; and the Reverend Doctor Henry P. Forbes, born in Paris, who, as the poet of the day, returning to the Hill, closed these in- spiring tributes to Mr. Hamlin with graceful lines entitled "Our Boulder." On that boulder, as on the boulder at Camden, the Maine Commandery has recorded, in enduring bronze, its own tribute commemorative of Mr. Hamlin's eminent public services. Is the memorial work of the Commandery done? Has a half century exhausted our energies? Are there no new tasks to which we can put our hands ? Pennsylvania has the great honor of having had at Gettysburg, in high command, three of her sons — Meade, Reynolds and Hancock. Equestrian statues, in promi- nent places on the battle lines, have long been the appropriate memorials of these distinguished soldiers of the Keystone State. Maine, too, had a conspicuous part in what was done at Gettys- burg. Major General O. O. Howard, after General Reynolds was killed, was in command of the whole field from about eleven o'clock on the first day until General Hancock, at four o'clock in the afternoon, appeared as the representative of General Meade ; and because of his services on that day, especially in selecting the lines on which the battle was successfully fought. General Howard received the thanks of Congress in the same resolution with which the thanks of Congress were extended to General Meade. Another distinguished son of this State, Major General J. L. i8 Chamberlain, in command of the Twentieth Maine, held the ex- treme left of the Union line at Little Round Top; and the serv- ice which he and his regiment did there at a critical period in the battle, makes a brilliant page in the history of Gettysburg's peril and triumph. Both names — Howard and Chamberlain — have long been honored by names of avenues there, Howard on the line of the Eleventh Corps, and Chamberlain between the two Round Tops. Shall this be all ? In 1911, this Commandery appointed a committee to ask the Governor of Maine to appoint a Commission for the purpose of selecting at Gettysburg sites for suitable memorials of each of these distinguished soldiers. Governor Plaisted designated, as members of this Commission, General Chamberlain, General Tilden and Colonel Gordon, all members of our Order. They proceeded to Gettysburg and selected sites. In accordance with the rules governing such memorials, equestrian statues are desig- nated for Army and Corps Commanders, and bronze statues for officers in less prominent commands. The Gettysburg National Military Park Commission, in its report for 191G, referring to the visit of the Maine Commission in 1911, remarks that no action in Maine has been taken with reference to the sites thus selected. Is there to be no action? Does not the approaching session of the Legislature of Maine ofifer an opportunity for an appeal to the State with reference to these memorials? It was in connection with Maine regiments that Howard, as Colonel of the Third Maine, and Chamberlain as Lieutenant Colonel of the Twentieth Maine, went to the front, representing Maine, and the traditional loyalty of Maine. They honored their native State by distin- guished services at the battle of Gettysburg. Why should not Maine now honor herself by honoring Howard and Chamber- lain in the erection of appropriate memorials on that historic battlefield, as other States have honored their distinguished sons ? In other words, has not the time fully come when, as a Com- mandery, we should make an appeal to the Legislature for the erection of such memorials? This is a State matter, and it is a matter of so much importance that we may very properly, as 19 it seems to me, ask for such a hearing in the evening in order that in the presence of all the members of the Legislature, we may have an opportunity for presenting such considerations with reference to these memorials as the occasion may seem to demand. With such action, begun and continued, our Fiftieth Anniversary may fitly crown a half century of honorable and delightful Companionship. 20 '^w^:'mms^0i