Qass Book 3^"^- OETleiAL DONATION. RECEPTION PEESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES CITY COUNCIL OF BOSTON. BOSTON: ALFRED MUDGE ft SON, PRINTERS TO THE CITY. 1867. RECEPTION ^«2.3 PEESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES CITY COUNCIL OF BOSTON. BOSTON: ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS TO THE CITY. 1867. Fl3 .5" EECEPTION OF THE PEESIDENT. The President of the United States having signified his intention to accept an invitation from the Grand Lodge of Masons of Massachusetts to visit Boston on the twenty-fourth of June, 1867, and take part in the ceremonies connected with the dedication of the new Masonic Temple, the City Council, by an order approved May 28, 1867, requested His Honor the Mayor, "to tender the hospitalities of the city to Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, on his contemplated visit;" and the following named gentlemen were appointed a committee to make the necessary arrangements : Aldermen — GEORGE W. MESSINGER, ALBERT S. PRATT, CHARLES R. McLEAN. Councilmen — WESTON LEWIS, JOHN C. TUCKER, CHARLES R. TRAIN, WALBRIDGE A. FIELD, FRANCIS A. OSBORN, HENRY D. HYDE. In accordance with the request contained in the foregoing 4 RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. order, the Mayor seut the following conimuuication to the Presi- dent : Mayor's Office, City Hall, Boston, June 7, 18G7. Dear Sir: In accordance with the unanimous vote of the City Council, I have the honor to tender to you the hospitalities of the City during your contemplated visit to Boston. If you would be pleased to signify your acceptance at as early a day as convenient, it will greatly oblige Your most obedient servant, OTIS NORCROSS, Mayor. To Andrew Johnson, President of the United States. On the thirteenth of June, the following reply was received : Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, June 11, 1867. Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, tendering to pie, in accordance with a vote of the Council, the hospitalities of the City of Boston during my contemplated visit. I intend being present at the dedication of the new Masonic Temple in your City on the 24tli instant, and, during my short stay in Boston, 1 will feel honored to accept the hospitalities of your City, receiving them with a reciprocation of the friendship and courtesy which prompted the Council in their oifer. With great respect, Very truly yours, ANDI^EW JO^NSON. To his Honor Otis Norcross, The Mayor of Boston, Mass. Upon the receipt of this communication, the Joint Special RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. O Committee of the City Council were called together, ami the preliminary arrangements were made for the proper reception of the Chief P]xecutive of the nation. His Excellency, the Governor of the Commonwealth, communicated with the committee, through Brigadier- General John H. Reed, Quartermaster-Gen- eral, and tendered an escort from the volunteer militia. The escort was accepted, and Colonel John Kurtz was appointed Chief Marshal of the military and civic proces- sion, to be formed at the City line. Hon. Thomas Russell, Collector of the Port, and Hon. Charles Levi Woodbury, of the Grand Lodge of Masons, conferred with the Committee in rela- tion to the part which should be taken in the reception and entertainment of the President by the Federal officers and the Masonic societies. The Committee were informed that the President, accompa- nied by several members of his cabinet and a number of distin- guished military officers, would arrive in Boston on Saturday afternoon. Alderman Messingcr, Chairman of the Committee, and Hon. John C. Tucker were deputed to meet flie President at Springfield. Alderman Pratt and Hon. Charles R. Train were appointed a sub-committee to proceed to New York and make arrangements for the comfort of the distinguished party on their journey from that city to Boston. Alderman McLean, President Weston Lewis, Gen. Francis A. Osborn and Henry D. Hyde, Esquire, were appointed to arrange for the reception at Cottage Farm Station. The members of the City Council were invited to meet the President in the ladies' parlor at the Tremont House at half past nine o'clock on Saturday evening. His Excellency the Governor informed the Committee that he would call on the President soon after his arrival. On Saturday morning, June 22d, at eight o'clock, the Presi- dent, accompanied by Honorable William H. Seward, Secretary b RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. of State, Major-General L. H. Rousseau, Major-General Gordon Granger, Colonel W. G. Moore (the President's secretary), Dr. Basil Norris, Surgeon U. S. A., Mr. James Donaldson, of the State Department, and several otlier gentlemen not holding official positions, left New York in a special train from the New York and New Haven Railroad Station. An elegant car, taste- fully decoi-ated, was furnished for the special accommodation of the President and his suite. At two o'clock, the train arrived at Springfield, and the President alighted and was entertained by the Mayor of that city, for a short time, at the Massasoit House. Upon returning to his car again, the President was welcomed to the State by General Reed, acting as the representative of the Governor, who, immediately after, introduced Alderman Messinger as the representative of the City of Boston. Alder- man Messinger said : President Johnson : As the Chairman of the Com- mittee of Arrangements of the City Council of Boston, I have the honor of paying my respects to you, and of stating that our citizens are desirous of seeing you, and that such arrangements have been made as will enable them to do so. I assure you that they highly appreciate the honor of a visit from the Chief Magistrate of the nation; and that everything will be done to make your stay with us agreeable to your- self and to the distinguished gentlemen who accom- pany you. On your arrival at Boston, I shall have the honor of introducing to you our Mayor, who will give you the official welcome of the City of Boston. At various stations along the route, the people assembled in large numbers aud greeted the President, and tiie distinguished RECEPTION OF THE TRESIDENT. i officers who accompanied him, with enthusiasm. At half past five o'clock, the train arrived at the Cottage Farm Station. A State Salute, of twenty-one guns, was fired by a Section of Capt. Cummings' Light Battery. The Knights Templars of Washing- ton, who had acted as the President's escort up to this time, filed out of the cars, and formed in line on the platform. The President and his suite then appeared, accompanied by the Com- mittee of the City Council of Boston, and Gen. Reed, and were delivered up by the Masonic body to the Cavalry Escort fur- nished at this point by the State. A procession was then formed in the following order, the carriages containing the visitors being provided by the city : Major Lucius Slade, commanding escort. Adjutant, Charles B. Barrett. Quartermaster, James H. Pushee. Company D, First Battalion of Light Dragoons, Captain George Curtis commanding. A barouche containing the President, Brig.-Gen. J. H. Reed, and Alderman George W. Messinger, drawn by four horses. A barouche containing the Honorable Secretary of State, Major-Generals Rousseau and Granger, and Weston Lewis, Esquire, President of the Council. Fifteen carriages containing the members of the President's suite, the Committee of the City Council, prominent United States and State officers and representatives of the Press. Company A, First Battalion of Light Dragoons, Captain Albert L. Sanborn commanding. Company B, First Battalion of Light Dragoons, Captain Albert Freeman commanding. Company C, First Battalion of Light Dragoons, Capt. Daniel Hill, Jr., commanding. The procession marched through Essex, Mountfort, Prescott, Joy, Carlton, Beacon, Hawes, Colchester and Kent streets, and O RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. Long-wood Avenue to the Roxbury line, where the INIayor of Roxbury and a Committee of the City Council met and welcomed the President to that city. The Mayor then took a scat in the President's liarouche, and the procession moved down Western Avenue to Francis Street, thence past the Norfolk House and the City Hall to the Boston line. Salutes were fired, and the bells of the Clmrchcs rung, during the passage of the procession. At the line between the two cities, three regiments of infantry and the marine corps, under the command of Gen. Isaac S. Burrell, were drawn up on the west side of the street. His Honor the Mayor of Boston, in a barouche drawn by six horses, occupied a position on the east side of the street at the right of the line. Before reaching the line the cavalry escort halted, and the President's carriage, under the escort of Gen. Burrell and staff, was driven down the line and halted opposite the carriage occupied by the Mayor. The occupants of the two carriages then rose, and Alderman Messinger said : Mr. Mayor: Allow me to present to you Andrew Johnson, President of the United States. Mayor Norcross, standing in his carriage, addressed the Pres- ident as follows : ]Mr. President : I welcome you to the city of Boston ; nnd as the representative of the City Council and of the citizens, I tender you those hospitalities due so distin- guished a visitor. During your stay we desire that you should be the special guest of the city ; and, at your con- venience, we shall be pleased to visit with you our edu- cational and charitable institutions, and such places as are of historic interest in our neighborhood. We trust your time will allow you opportunity to visit some of the RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. V manufacturing cities and towns in our neighborhood, that you may witness the thrift and industry of our people, and more readily appreciate the source from which, in New England, we have derived the means which enable us to sustain so large a proportion of the burdens of the country. Again, Mr. President, I bid you welcome. The President replied : For this reception, tendered in such a cordial manner, on this my first visit to the State of Massachusetts, and the first placing of my foot upon her soil, please accept my sincere thanks. The civilities and the kindnesses which you propose, I accept in a spirit which I know you will appreciate. Permit me then to repeat that for this cordial reception upon my first visit to the State of Massachusetts, under peculiar circumstances, I return my sincere thanks. The President then took a seat beside the Mayor, and, under the escort of the Chief Marshal and his Aids, they rode down the line until they reached the centre, where they halted and received the sakite due the rank of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy. The procession was formed in the fol- lowing order: DETACHMENT OF POLICE. Brigadier-General Isaac S. Burrell, Commanding Escort. Lieutenant-Colonel Chas. W. Wikler, A'