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QUARTER-CENTURY 
 
 BANQUET 
 
 Slst Regiment N, Y, Yolunteers 
 
 (SHEPARD RIFLES.) 
 
 2eth OCTOBER, 18B(> 
 
 Published by the VeteraiT^ Associeitioi 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
Bride of the Regiment March. 
 
 Hy WM. J. SMITH, 
 Veteiiui 61st llcgiment N. Y. S. V. 
 
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FREEDOM, TRUTH AND RIGHT. 
 
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 Dedicated to the Slat Regiment, N. Y. S. V. (Shepard Rifles). 
 By CARL HEINEMANN. * 
 
 
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 By permission HORACE WATERS. 
 

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 QUARTER-CENTURY BANQUET 
 
 'A Regiment N. Y, Volunteers 
 
 (SHEPARD RIFLES.) 
 
 KXC EXHIBITOR E I»I^XJIlIl«XJt?« XJNIJIM, 
 
 29thi OCTOBKR, 1886 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 /^Y 
 
NOTK. 
 
 Thie Fifty-first F^egiment, JMew York Volunteer Infaritry, was formed iq 
 New York City, aqd took for its patroriyrr\ic tl^e title of SHEPAF^D RIFLES, 
 in l^or|or of Co! Elliott F. Shepard, of Gov. Morgan's Staff. 
 
 Duriqg tf\e war for tl-^e Union, thie F^egiment f\ad iq successioq thie 
 following 
 
 colonels: 
 
 Edward Ferrero. 
 
 Robert B. Potter. 
 
 Charles W. Le Gendre. 
 
 John G. Wright. 
 
 The Regiment sailed fronq tl-je Sity of New York, October 29th, 1861, aqd 
 oq tf^e Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of that event all of its survivors who could be 
 assenqbled, qunqbering about oqe huqdred aqd teq, together witl^ iqvited 
 guests, sat dowq to a Banquet at Morelli's, 6 West 28th Street, to conq- 
 nqeiT\orate the day. 
 
QUARTER-CENTURY BANQUET OE THE 
 
 The Original Presentation of Colors. 
 
 It will interest the members of the Regiment and of the Veteran 
 Association, and all their friends, to recall the presentation and wed- 
 ding of the " Bride of the Regiment " at Palace Garden, in the City of 
 New York, on September 21, 1861, of which the following account is 
 taken from the Tribune of that date : 
 
 LOCAL MILITARY MOVEMENTS — SHEPARD RIFLES — PRESENTATION OF 
 
 COLORS. 
 
 Palace Garden, the head-quarters of the Shepard Rifles, com- 
 manded by Col. E. Ferrero, was yesterday thronged with ladies (a 
 black coat being interspersed here and there to harmonize the colors), 
 the occasion being the presentation of stands of colors to the regi- 
 ment, the gift of Col. Elliott F. Shepard, Aide to Gov. and Major- 
 General Morgan, whose name the regiment bears. With a punctu- 
 ality worthy of more general imitation, precisely at the hour named, 
 all the men who had uniforms were marched into the saloon and 
 formed three sides of a hollow square, Color-Sergeant Boppe, his guard, 
 and the officers in the centre. The colors, after some eloquent and 
 patriotic remarks by Hon. F. A. Conkling, who presided, were pre- 
 sented by Col. Shepard, who spoke as follows : 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Soldiers and Fel- 
 low Citizens : — It may perhaps be best for me to remark that, owing to 
 the rapid movem.ent of troops now going on — seven regiments having 
 gone from our city in the past seven days — some regiments have had to 
 go without their colors, much to their disappointment. It was con- 
 sequently determined that this regiment should receive its colors as soon 
 as it became a fixed fact, and before it received its arms, as this latter 
 is generally the signal for immediate departure. 
 
 This much premised, I will say that the honor you have done me, 
 by naming a regiment after so humble an individual as myself, both 
 surprises and, I will frankly confess it, gratifies me. You have 
 
FIFTY FIRST REGIMENT N. V. VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 5 
 
 inscribed my name on the American flag — tliat flag on which other regi- 
 ments have placed the names of Washington, Steuben, DeKalb, Scott, 
 McClellan, Anderson, and which have been rendered glorious by their 
 deeds. I have no claim to such an honor, unless a sincere love for 
 that emblem of our liberties, and a willingness to tight and die for it, 
 may furnish one. (Applause.) 
 
 That flag is God's own banner. All nations have taken the 
 design of their banners from natural objects. Egypt took an eye, Rome 
 an eagle, England a lion ; some, mountains ; some, landscapes; and all 
 selected objects of nobility or grandeur corresponding to the degree of 
 intelligence existing in the nation. God had flung His banner over the 
 world ; but men's eyes were not turned upward, and it hung unnoticed 
 until Columbia joined the nations, when, looking up to Heaven, and 
 worshiping God in the faith of the Pilgrim Fathers, she saw that banner, 
 and transferred it to the earth. (Applause.) With gorgeous red He 
 had striped the morning and the evening, and tinted the clouds between ; 
 so she striped her flag with red at its top and bottom — its morning and 
 evening — and put five red stripes between. He had painted the dome 
 of the sky with blue ; she caught the color and transferred it to her 
 Union, prefiguring that the dome of her Federal Union should be as 
 indestructible, no matter what storms might rise within it, as the very 
 dome of Heaven. (Cheers. ) He had spangled the sky with splendid 
 stars, and she, plucking them from the constellation of Liberty, threw 
 them on that fiekl of blue, and hers, too, became the Star-spangled 
 Banner. (Cheers.) To that banner the eyes of all the good and 
 patriotic are now turned ; the old, remembering the security they 
 have enjoyed under its folds, address it with aff'ection, and declare, — 
 
 " In youth it sheltered me, 
 And I'll protect it now." 
 
 The young rally to maintain it, and say, — 
 
 (Applause. ) 
 
 " Long float that standard sheet! 
 
 Where's the foe but falls before us. 
 With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, 
 
 And Freedom's banner floating o'er us!" 
 
 (Applause.) 
 
6 QUARTER CENTCKY BANQUET OE THE 
 
 The fair prays for its welfare ; for its white is as pure as her vir- 
 tue, its red as rosy as her cheeks, its blue as true as her love, and its 
 stars as bright as her eyes. (Applause.) All love it, and God will 
 bless all who honor it. 
 
 The sut)limest cliapter of secular history is yet unwritten. Greece 
 had her birth, Rome had her rise ; it remains for America to have her 
 eternity. If America be dead, then are you, and your 50,000 com- 
 rades from this State, and your 350,000 comrades of the North, not 
 soldiers, but dry bones of the valley. But, if you and they are soldiers, 
 then the spirit of the fathers is living still, and the national life is per- 
 petual, and the tragedy in which America frees herself from the assas- 
 sin is the most noble act in the drama of the world. (Great applause. ) 
 
 The North has received its equinoctial storm — its Bull Run. It 
 now remains for }'ou to follow the sun. To-day the sun has crossed 
 the line and begins to penetrate the Southern heavens, carrying with 
 him thunder and storm ; and when you enter, as soon you will. South- 
 ern climes, carry with you a tempest of vengeance for treason. (Cheers 
 and applause.) 
 
 The South derided us as being ready to sneak into any hole we 
 may find. If, with banners flying and martial music, to march into the 
 iv/iole 0/ the South be sneaking, let them make the most of it. 
 (Cheers. ) 
 
 Before presenting to you your Bride, the American flag, to which 
 your regiment is to be married, allow me to exhort you to make it 
 bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. Do you promise to love 
 it.-* (Yes.) Do you promise to honor it .'' (Yes.) Do you promise 
 to obey its authority } (Yes. ) In life and in death, in sickness and in 
 health, in poverty and in wealth, do you promise to sustain it } (Yes. ) 
 Then, what God hath joined together, let not Jeff. Davis put asunder ! 
 (Cheers upon cheers.) 
 
 In the presence of God and these witnesses, the field, rank and 
 file, have plighted their faith to the Star-spangled Banner; therefore, Col. 
 Ferrero, I present it to your regiment. I envy you that you are so 
 soon to have the privilege of fighting for it. That it will be safe in 
 your hands, I have every confidence. I congratulate your regiment 
 that they have so able and accomplished a commander. (Applause.) 
 
FIFTY-FIKSr REGIMENT N. V. VOLUNTEERS. y 
 
 Your frieiuls will be watchful of^our iiUcrcsls, and pray, as well as work, 
 for your welfare ami that of your regiment. At your country's call yow 
 have drawn your sword ; sheathe it only when peace is established on 
 the basis of the C(,)nstitution. Do not sheathe it while we are robbed 
 of the rights of American citizenship in eleven States of the Republic. 
 (Applause.) Do not sheathe it while treason tries to establish that the 
 border of our country runs through its middle ; take only the Gulf of 
 Me.\ico for its Southern boundary. (Applause.) 
 
 You go forth to fight the battles of I.iberly ; to free us from the 
 threatenetl reign of usurpers and desjjots ; to reconcjuer our rights 
 throughout the Republic. You go from a soil rendered illustrious by 
 the battles of Stony Point and Saratoga, where battles for Liberty have 
 been won, to a soil rendered illustrious by the battles of Yorktown, 
 Fort Moultrie and New Orleans, where battles were also won for Lib- 
 erty. On the soil of the South as well as that of the North, glorious 
 memories will stimulate you and national monuments will behold you. 
 (Applause.) With this banner, sir, also accept these colors — the 
 guitlons — they are humble but useful flags in your manoeuvres, and as 
 you use them for guidons, may God guide on your arms to victory ! 
 (Applause. ) 
 
 Col. Ferrero's reply, on receiving the flags, was a model of military 
 brevity, but energetic and patriotic. Rev. Dr. R. D. Hitchcock closed 
 with a stirring and eloquent address, and then invoked the Divine 
 blessing upon the flag and the regiment. A bountiful collation was 
 served. Wallace's band discoursed eloquent music during the cerc^ 
 monies, which were closed with three times three for America. 
 
 The colors (a national standard and two guide flags) are of silk, 
 the standard bearing the name of the regiment embroidered on the 
 red stripes, and the guide flags the number 51. They are in worthy 
 hands, and all who know Col. Ferrero are well assured that they will 
 never be disu;racetl under his command. 
 
 The Regiment Re-enlists. 
 
 At the expiration of their fust term of service, the regiment re- 
 turned to New York for rest and recruiting, and then unanimouslv 
 
S QUAKTER-CENTCRY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 reenlisted for the war. The following is cut from The Herald of the 
 day : — 
 
 The 51ST Regimknt Volunteers — Chas. W. LeGendre, Colonel. 
 
 We like the way in which the Shepard Rifles came home on Tuesday. More 
 than two years ago they went from this city, and on their retmn to the city they 
 marched up Broadway antl Fifth Avenue, not depcndini^ u])on any regiment of 
 the " Home tiuard " to lend them cclal; but the people themselves turned out, and 
 expressed their affection for them by cheers and waving hats and handkerchiefs, 
 when they saw the blood-stained banners that had never trailed in the dust. 
 
 Clarkson N. Potter, Esq., who presided at the dinner given to the regiment 
 last evening, told the truth when he said that no matter how much views might 
 differ aboXit the Administration, all classes had confidence in the soldiers, and were 
 determined to sustain them. The regiment have all reenlisted for three years more, 
 and Colonel Elliott F. Shepard, after whom the regiment is named, compared 
 their return under such circumstances to that of the great Regulus, who, beinjjf 
 prisoner to the Carthaginians, under a promise to come to them again, returned to 
 Rome. Like Regulus, they now urged their countrymen to continue the war to a 
 victorious end ; and their advice, like his, would be followed. But unlike Regulus 
 —as they never had, like him, Ijcen taken prisoner— they would, with the blessing of 
 Heaven, live to see the final victory. The officers are experienced, and their past 
 services are a guaranty of their ability. 
 
 The Muster Out. 
 
 The regiment was mustered out of service July 25th, 1865, in the 
 City of New York, the day being the birthday of the officer after whom 
 the regiment was named. They were honorably and munificently 
 entertained by the Union League Club at their old club house, 26 
 East 1 7th Street. General John G. Wright was then the colonel com- 
 manding, and the regiment was reviewed by General Burnside. The 
 Governor of the State (Governor Fenton) was represented by Col. 
 Vincent Collyer, and the veteran appearance of the regiment, proudly 
 bearing its "Bride," the strains of martial music proceeding from its 
 band, and the consciousness of a blessed and permanent peace having 
 actually set in, filled the great spaces in and around Union Square with 
 thousands of our citizens, who cheered the brave regiment to the echo. 
 
FIFTY FIRST RFGIMENT A'. V. VOLUNTEERS. y 
 
 The Quarter Century Banquet. 
 
 OCTOBER 29TH, 1886. 
 
 Cirace was said by Rev. Dr. Hitchcock. After the removal of the 
 cloth. Colonel Shcpard, who had been invited to act as chairman of 
 the evening, called for order and was greeted with h)ng-continued 
 applause and cheers. He then said : 
 
 Frienils, Countrymen and Lovers: — At this time of celebrations, 
 when we (ind the President of the United Slates (Cleveland) visiting the 
 city for the luirpose of inaugurating the Liberty Light House, placed in 
 our harbor by the French and American peoples, it seems entirely appro- 
 priate that we, as a family, should gather together to celebrate the 
 organization of that institution which makes it possible for us to have 
 a President, for us to have a country, for us to have a harlior, for us to 
 be benefited by a light — the institution of the regiment. (Applause). 
 The regiment is the torch of the Almighty. Like all torches, it may 
 be used for destruction as well as for guidance; but after it has served 
 to destro}' or to j)rescrve, its bayonets may be used to throw light upon 
 our Constiludonal rights. You, who carried the banners of the Fifty- 
 first New York Regiment to the front, and helped to achieve the victory 
 which has given us a Constitution, a Union, a President, are now en- 
 gagetl in the peaceful discharge of your iluties as citizens under that 
 Constitution ; and 1 am glad to see that while you are now most loyal 
 citizens, you also show that you have an undying attachment to the 
 old Fifty-first of New York. (Applause, and a voice "And to 
 vShepard, too ! " Applause. ) 
 
 It was on the 21st of September, 1861, that you did me the honor 
 to receive at my hands the flags under which you marched forth ; and 
 those of you wht) were present on that occasion remember that you 
 were married to the American Flag. That the marriage ceremony was 
 gone through with, and you were called upon to respond, and did 
 respond, promising to love, honor, cherish and support that flag in 
 life and in death, in poverty and wealth, in sickness and health, en- 
 dowing her with all \()ur worldly goods, and thereto you pledged her 
 your troth. And at the end of the ceremony, the declaration was matle 
 in respect to you and to the "Bride of the Regiment, " "Therefore, 
 
lO QUARTER-CENTURY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 whatsover God hath joined together, let not Jeff. Davis put asunder, " 
 (applause) and you have not allowed him to do it. (Applause.) That 
 banner is here this evening. (Great applause and cheers.) A single 
 \vord will tell )ou the condition in which she appears here, and the 
 condition in which she was presented to yon, twenty-five years ago, at 
 Palace Garden in this city. She was then a flag of the dimensions of 
 this new Stars and Stripes, and she bore no inscription except your 
 patronymic. But }0u and she were to be carried up to a baptism of 
 blood. You inscribed her with the names of glorious victories which 
 you won. (Applause.) Pierced by many a bullet, and having lost 
 many a fragment to stop the wounds or save the life of some of the 
 gallant patriots who bore her in the fiery engagements, she is now in 
 the decrepitude of old age, leaning upon, and supported by, her 
 younger daughter ; and thus you see her sustained in this manner, being 
 thoroughly united to a new flag of the same dimensions and quality as 
 her own originally; every shred of the blood-stained flag that is left us. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 You know, and it is unnecessary for me to repeat to you, how 
 your regiment went down the Atlantic coast, and took part in the 
 capture of the very first fort that was cai3tured by the Union forces, and 
 was the first to plant the Stars and Stripes — this " Bride of the Regiment '" 
 — the first that floated over a captured redoubt. (Thinnlering applause 
 and cheers. ) That was at Roanoke Island. At Newbern, you remem- 
 ber how your second Colonel, then your Lieutenant Colonel, Robert 
 B. Potter (great applause) was shot through the bod}', and binding 
 himself up with his own sword-sash he continued the fight to victory. 
 (Great applause. ) He, who afterwards as a Major-General of Volun- 
 teers — (great applause) — was wounded again for America, at the battle 
 of Antietam. (Applause). I am sorry he could not be here to-night, 
 but he has partially fallen into the same state as the old Flag, and from 
 the same reasons — wounds — yet without a younger man to whom he 
 could be similarly lashed, and brought here. At Newbern also, your 
 third Colonel, then your Major, Chas. W. LeGendre — (applause) — was 
 also shot and reported dead, so that New York went into mourning. 
 That countryman of Lafayette, the friend of Washington, showed such 
 frontage of undaunted courage and patriotism that, being shot through 
 
Firry FIRST REGIMENT N. Y. VOLUNTErRS. n 
 
 the face, his jaw carried away, and the surgeon saying he could not sur- 
 vive, he yet hved to get well and return to the line of battle at the 
 Wilderness, only again to be wounded by a sharp-shooter and lose an 
 eye and a part of his nose — his face always being to the foe ! (Ap- 
 plause). You remember how through perilous marches, with difficult 
 transportation by sea and land, you dotted a great part of the United 
 States with your heroic deeds. (Applause.) Mississip[)i is a witness to 
 your strategy and prowess. Kentucky, Tennessee and a dozen other 
 States of the Union witnessed your valor; and if they were called upon 
 to testify to-night as to whether you had kept your marital promises 
 and done your part towards this spiritualizetl "I5rideof the Regiment," 
 every one of those States would say unanimously that you had kept 
 your marriage vows. (Applause.) 
 
 From the earliest times, the right to bear names as inscriptions of 
 honor and records of triumphs has been esteemed a pri\ilcge and a 
 glor}'. The High Priest of God was to bear the names of the twelve 
 patriarchs upon his breast-plate, as insignia of his representation of all 
 the tribes of his countrymen, and as the objects of his prayers to 
 Almighty God for their welfare. With a somewhat similar object, as 
 it were, the " Bride of the Regiment" has had officially assigned to her 
 the right to wear the following names : Roanoke Island, Newbern, 
 Manasses 2d, Chantilly, South Mountain, Antietam. Fredericksburg, 
 Vicksburg, Jackson, Wiklerness, Spotlsylvania, North Anna, Coal 
 Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Poplar Spring Church. 
 
 These names, drawn from all parts of the country, exceed in 
 number the original thirteen States, and are a pledge to the various States 
 in which you respectively achieved the right to wear these names, that 
 the Stars and Stripes will forever give glory to the citizens who main- 
 tain them, and protection and peace wherever throughout the land 
 they may go. (Applause. ) 
 
 These names, like those set in the High Priest's breast-plate, seem 
 each engraved upon a precious stone, which flashes the light of Lil)erty 
 and Union: and the national flag seems to perform a High Priestly 
 office in atoning for the sins of the rebels, at the same time that it pre- 
 sents the symbols of a just and indestructible authority. (Applause.) 
 
12 QUARTER CENTURY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 You have blockaded by water and have besieged by land. You 
 have stormed v^^orks and have taken forts. You have taken prisoners, 
 flags, guns, horses and trains. You have nursed the wounded and 
 buried the dead of friend and foe. You have accomplished great 
 marches ; garrisoned forts ; bivouacked in the field ; constructed 
 mines, built defenses, charged the enemy and captured cities. (Ap- 
 plause.) And you have given about one thousand lives of martyrs 
 towards the edification of the Temple of the Union ! (Applause.) 
 And now )Ou have exchanged the rifle for the ballot, and in peaceful 
 pursuits as private citizens, you demonstrate the worth of those insti- 
 tutions for which you fought, and succeeding generations have seen, 
 and will see, that you fought more wisely than you knew. (Applause.) 
 
 Yet it was not always a fight ; sometimes the amusements that are 
 incident to a state of seige would set in. We have an example here, 
 in ihh ingenious carving [showing it] of how, when sold'ers are off 
 dut}', they could exercise their ingenuity upon cracker-boxes. (Laugh- 
 ter). This proves — this intricate, curious souvenir, of which I was 
 made liie recipient — that the siege of Vicksburg lasted for months. 
 Here are thirty-five different jointed forceps, scissors, lanterns, chains, 
 dividers and various other ingenious implements, all carved out of one 
 solid piece of wood — all holding together, without a seam, never sepa- 
 rated, and still but one piece ! This was a sensible way of whiling 
 away the hours when off guard : this was much better than gambling 
 or idling. It is like the Fourth of July, because it makes the crackers 
 fly. (Laughter.) 
 
 The Commissioners of Allotment helped you to turn your backs 
 on the table. (Laughter.) Our great and distinguished citizen, the 
 late Theodore Roosevelt, father of the candidate for maj-or, was one of 
 the first to show in a most efficient manner that soldiers could send 
 their pay, or portions of it, home for the support of their families : 
 and he also helped to originate and carry out the plan of soldiers voting 
 on the field, for which I labored so earnestly. (Applause.) 
 
 One of the incidents of the capture of Vicksburg, at which you 
 were present, was the surrender of the office of the Daily Citizen, pub- 
 lished in that city. The paper had dwindled down to this [showing 
 "ti. From being n four-page paper it had become not even a two-page 
 
FIFTY FIRST RFGIMENT N. V. VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 13 
 
 paper, for it is wall-paper, printed on one side ! (Laiifi^hter. ) On the 
 2d of ful\', 1863, this r7(;/'i'(5«/-^ Oi'/se// announced that "General Robert 
 K. Lee had given Hooker, Milroy & Co. one of the best and sound- 
 est whippings on record, and the '(lalorious Union' is exceeding!) 
 weak in the knees, and old Abe Lincoln has fled Washington for parts 
 unknown. (Laughter.) And that a certain loyal Southerner is a pink- 
 nosed, lob-sided, toad-eating Yankee, a lineal descendant of Judas 
 Iscariot, and a brother-german of the greatest Puritanical, sycophantic, 
 howling .scoundrel unhung — Parson Brownlow." ("Oh! oh!" and 
 laughter. ) 
 
 But this same paper has a "Note,"' dated July 4th, 1863, saying 
 "The banner of the Union floats over Vicksburg ! (Applause.) General 
 Grant has caught the rabbit ; he has dined in Vicksburg, and he did 
 bring his tlinner with him. " (L'proarious laughter.) That shows the 
 ditference of the stuff on which the Rebs and the Feds were 'i^^. 
 (Laughter.) 
 
 Gentlemen, we had hoped to have with us one of the commanders 
 of the Ninth Army Corps ; but as that is impossible, I will read you 
 Major-General Parke's letter, in which he says : 
 
 16 Lafayette Square, j^" 
 Washington, Oct. 26, 1886. \ 
 
 My Dear Colonel Shcpard : 
 
 I regret extremely that my duties here prevent my being with the Shepard 
 Rifles on Friday evening, Oct. 29th. 
 
 What memories does that name, Fifty-first New York, recall ! Go back to 
 the time of our meeting in Annapolis and look at these regiments of nolile men, all 
 ready and prepared for active service. See lliem embark to sail they knew not where. 
 Follow them to North Carolina, then to Virginia to Maryland and again to Virginia. 
 Thence to Kentucky, and before reaching their destination hurried off to Mississippi 
 to support and assist their comrades in the reduction of Vicksburg and reoccupalion 
 of Jackson. Thence returning to Kentucky, and joining the nohlc Burnside in Ten- 
 nessee. Thence to return to Virginia to assist in all the operations leading up to 
 the grand finale, the surrender of I^e. And in all this the glorious Fifty-first Nc^ 
 York bore its share most nobly and gallantly. 
 
 To be so kindly rememl)ered by you all is indeed an honor which I heartily 
 appreciate, and I beg you will tender to your committee and to the organization my 
 most sincere thanks. 
 
 Regretting that I cannot be with you on this memorable occasion, I am 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 John G. Parke. 
 
14 QVARTER-CENrURY BANQUET OE THE 
 
 [Three clieers were then given for General Parke, once Commander 
 of the Ninth Army Corps.] 
 
 The Chairman — The first sentiment on the programme tonightis, 
 
 'J'he United wStates of America : Our Beloved Country — 
 Founded, Preserved and Ruled by Providence. 
 
 We hear a great deal to the effect that certain men have 
 founded our country ; that certain men have saveil our country, 
 have regenerated our country : but I think that everybody who has 
 stood the test of battle, as you have, will say that this is a very low 
 plane. Vou feel that this country was formed by God for the highest 
 and noblest purposes ; you feel a sacred responsibility to defend the 
 Constitution which He caused our forefathers to adopt and our genera- 
 ti(Mi to amend ; and you feel that the safety and welfare of this country 
 is not in the hands of men, but that she must look to the protection of 
 God Almighty. (Applause.) The more we inculcate this sentiment, 
 the better and more worthy of our love will our country become. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 There have been prepared, as you will see by the programme, 
 bronze badges,— one to be given to each member of the Shepard 
 Rifles, with the charge that he shall never part with it till death ; and 
 that, in the preparation for death, he will endeavor to leave it to some 
 one of his family, so that it will be preserved and treasured as a 
 memento of the valor of that member. (Applause.) These medals 
 and badges are here to be distributed before we separate this evening. 
 
 We have regretted that there were some absentees whom we would 
 like very much to see this evening ; but we have kept for the last to 
 refer to the first colonel of the regiment — (apJDlause) — Edward Ferrero. 
 (Cheers upon cheers.) You do not need me to introduce him to you ; 
 you know him already. Nor is it necessary for me to speak of his 
 exploits. What could you have done if you had not been so gallantly 
 led } And, from being your Colonel, he rose, for valor on the field, to 
 be a Major-Gcneral of Volunteers ; and not only this, but he ranked 
 foremost in elevating that class of men for whom Lafayette came over 
 a second time to our country to intercede- -the Negroes. (Applause.) 
 
FIFTY-FIRST REGIMENT N. V. VOLUNTEERS. 15 
 
 (General Fcrrero, belicvinj,^ thai iho Negro could show good qualities 
 on the field, trusted them and educated them, until he made his col- 
 ored troops the object of the admiration of the whole country. (Ap- 
 plause.) I shall call upon him to respond to the next regular toast, 
 
 The Ninth Army Corps : It Survives in the Unioivj. it Helped 
 TO Save. 
 
 General 1'errero, on rising, was received with rounds of api)lause, 
 and said : 
 
 ]Mr. Chairman, Comrades, Gentlemen : — I am afraid you have 
 selected a poor person to respond to this toast. I am not an orator, I 
 could drill you — (ai)plause) — itot harangue }-ou ; but 1 would be igno- 
 rant, indeed, if I could not say a few words about the Ninth Army 
 Corps. I cannot say anything to embellish its career. It has no 
 equal in the army. It was called the " Geograi)hical Corps," as we were 
 sent to all parts of the country. The Corps had for its niotti), "Vic- 
 tory or Death." (Apidause. ) Surrender never entered into its vocabu- 
 lary. 'J'he Nation must be proud of such a Corps. 1 am sure she is, 
 antl if she ever has occasion to meet an enemy she can depend on such 
 men as were in the Ninth Army Corps. (Applause.) \ thank you for 
 your welcome. We all thank the father of the regiment, Colonel 
 Shepard — (a[)plause) — for the noble way in which he assisted in the first 
 organization of the regiment ; the way he always stood by it, befriend- 
 ing it ami everybody in it ; for the colors he gave us, and m(;st espe- 
 cially for the " Britle of the Regiment" (a|)plause); for the medals in im- 
 perishable bronze which he has had struck in commemoration of its 
 deeds, and for all the services he has rendered the country. (Ap- 
 plause. ) 
 
 The Chairman — In 'response to the next toast, I shall call upon 
 the same minister who invoked the Divine blessing ui)on the "Bride 
 of the Regiment," when you w^ere married to her. I-ike her, he too 
 has been preserved — the Rev. Dr. Roswell D. Hitchcock, President of 
 the Union Theological Seminary, (.\pplause. ) 
 
 The Toast — 
 
 The Pulpit : Through the Loyai, Services of the Ministers 
 oE Religion, Patriotism was Strength en eo by Faith. 
 
1 6 QUARTER-CENTURY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, when the applause had subsided, sj)oke as 
 follows : 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Soldiers and Gentlemen ; — If I were not so 
 young a man, I would say that we are commemorating events which oc- 
 curred about three-quarters of a century ago. (Laugliter. ) Such 
 strides as our country has taken, since this flag started on its mis- 
 sion, I think are unmatched in history. More than one gentleman who 
 hears me to-night will remember how uncertain it was at that time 
 whether a New England regiment would be j)ermilted to pass peace- 
 fully through the streets of this great commercial metropolis. More 
 than one gentleman who is here to-night will remember when that first 
 colored regiment went down Broadway. I thanked God for the sight 
 and prophesied the victory! (Applause.) 
 
 It may not be modest in me, Mr. Chairman, but I am very sure 
 that in your toast you do no more than justice to the clergy of the 
 North, in that tremendous struggle for the life of the Nation ; but I think 
 it is simply a matter of duty and honor for me to say, that the trust in 
 Providence was not wholly with the clergy of the North. The clergy 
 of the South, pitted against us in prayer and on the battle-field, were 
 just as honest as we. (Applause.) 
 
 Allusion has been made this evening to Lafayette. When he was 
 in this country in 1784 — it was not the visit of 1824, but immediately 
 after the war in 1784 — he said to Washington that his three great hob- 
 bies, as he called them, were the closer Federal Union, the alliance 
 with France and the abolition of slavery. (Applause.) 
 
 As for the French alliance, our old traditional policy is best : 
 " Entangling alliances with none, friendship for all." In regard to the 
 closer Federal Union, that was in our blood, but not in our muscle, 
 until the recent war had closed. We never knew what Daniel Webster 
 had been doing for our generation until the rebel shot at Fort Sumter, 
 and then we learned that the sentiment of years had passed not only 
 into the blood, but into the muscle and the bone of the nation ; and 
 what Lafayette desired in 1784 had become at last an established fact. 
 (Applause. ) 
 
 And then, in regard to the abolishment of Slavery. You all 
 know that at first we had no idea of anything of the sort. Sla\'ery was 
 
FIFTY FIRST RFGIMFNT N. V. VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 17 
 
 protected by the Constitution. We resisted the idea of hberating the 
 slaves until the constraint of Providence was put upon us ; and what 
 you have said, Colonel Shepard, is eminently true — we fought more 
 wisely than we knew. The true doctrine of the Constitution had to be 
 baptized in blood. Those poor negroes by the millions would have been 
 slaves to-day as for any one of us. There is not a man here to-night 
 who would have liberated those men, had not the constraint been put 
 upon us. The great lesson of the struggle is to trust in Providence 
 more and more, and in men less and less. (A{)plause. ) 
 
 One word in regard to this matter of national sentiment. I 
 happened to be in Portland just before the outbreak of the Civil War, 
 in the last days of that predecessor of Lincoln whose name I have been 
 trying to forget these many years- (hisses for Buchanan) — in the last 
 days of that Administration wlien we seemed to be going all to pieces 
 — and was talking with a man of superior intelligence, who remarked, 
 "If we go to pieces, what will we do down here in Maine.-' We will 
 connect ourselves with Canada. The government of Queen Victoria is 
 good enough for us. We are not going to exist as a part of a poor, 
 shattered American Government. We shall go where there is law and 
 liberty and the fear of God." You know how these Maine boys fought 
 afterward. (Applause.) One fact is, we have been the pupils of Provi- 
 dence. We have been educated up into- our present national feeling, 
 and there is no danger that it will ever decay. (Applause.) 
 
 I thank you for the privilege of being here to-night. Clergymen 
 are sometimes chargetl with having too much admiration for military 
 pomp and prowess ; I suppose it is because we represent the Church 
 Militant. (Laughter.) 
 
 The Ch.\ikm.\n — You remember lunv, at Newbern, your tiagstaff 
 was shot in two, and so you sent it with the " Bride '' to New York for 
 repairs. When she returned to you at Newport News, there fell from 
 her folds an address to you in words of a song which you used to sing 
 with enthusiasm. She has brought down her address to the present day 
 by adding ft)ur new verses, and here it is. 
 
 The whole assemblage then arose and joined heartily in singing — 
 
QUARTER-CENTCRY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 Jhe Bride to Her Regiment. 
 
 By Elliott F. Shepard. 
 
 Yk gallant Fifiy-first New York! 
 
 Ye Shepard Rifles bold ! 
 I come again, your battle flag, 
 
 To lead you as of old. 
 
 I am your Bride, and proudly wear, 
 
 Emblazon 'd on my breast, 
 The names of victories you gain'd, 
 
 When on the foe you prest. 
 
 With every piece which I have lost 
 
 I turn'd a ball away, 
 And saved some hero in your band 
 
 To win th' eventful day. 
 
 My Stars and Stripes, whicli float o'er you, 
 
 O'er Washington did wave ; 
 And God by them gives Liberty, 
 
 The triumphs of the brave. 
 
 I am my country's war-worn flag, 
 
 With scars in every fold ; 
 I love tlie thickest of the fight. 
 
 And glory in the bold. 
 
 Baptized I am with patriot's blood, 
 
 My standard-bearers true ; 
 Their spirits went to God who gave — 
 
 They left their work to you. 
 
 No traitor hand has e'er held me, — 
 
 I'd burn it off complete ; 
 But you and I in loved embrace 
 
 Have never known defeat. 
 
 Together we have freed the slave, 
 
 Together saved the State ; 
 Columbia's Union fills the land — 
 
 America the great. 
 
 Now glory be to God on high ! 
 
 The Lord of Hosts is He ! 
 Sound forth that peace has come again. 
 
 With laurels for the free. 
 
FfFTY-FIRST REGIMENT N. V. VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 The Bride to Her Regiment. 
 
 19 
 
 Words by Eliiott F. Sukpard. 
 Suit. & Alio. 
 
 •"1— I -|: 
 
 53!-3~:EE.- 
 
 Music by J.\s. Hazard Wilson. 
 
 I. Ye gal - lant Fif - ty - first New York ! Ye Shcp - anl 
 Tenor. 
 
 
 ^^^m ^= F^fm^^^^m 
 
 Ri - ilcs bold! I come a - gain, vour bat - tie Flag, 
 
 S3E=i 
 
 ^— •— ir— 
 
 ¥ 
 
 
 
 e^-^; 
 
 &—.—^ — 
 
 fi^ 
 
 :^=:1= 
 
 -^=*=:r^=£E?^ 
 
 
 =f-Ffz=3:zat=fz=!=iriE^=i=t^-Et,T33=i=^^ ' 
 
 •r ^'^ r-M ■* T 1^ t ^ ^\ 
 
 To lead you as of 
 
 old,.... To load you as of ok 
 
 f7s 
 
 ;^l^^^i^3^5ii^^^|ipiEi 
 
 
20 QUARTER CENTURY BAXQUET OF THE 
 
 The Chairman — The next toast is, 
 
 Peace : The Victors and Vanqiiished have Embraced and are 
 Friends again. 
 
 In response to this toast, I shall call upon another survivor of 
 the quarter-century — the soldier who presided at the presentation of 
 "The Bride of the Regiment," in 1861 — our distinguished fellow- 
 citizen, Colonel Frederick A. Conkling, who has also repeatedly served 
 the State and the country in the halls of legislation. (Great applause. ) 
 
 Colonel Conkling then addressed the veterans as follows : 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen : — My physician says that merri- 
 ment at the table is conducive to digestion ; and I would attempt to 
 say something funny upon this occasion if it were not for the gentleman 
 whom I see before me — the champion humorist of the dinner-table, 
 Hon. John R. Brady — and his presence warns me to keep aloof from 
 every such attempt. (Laughter.) 
 
 Now, Mr. President and Gentlemen, I am going to ask your 
 permission to preface what I have to say in response to the toast by a 
 briefreference to the distinguished gentleman, our Chairman, whose name 
 the Fifty-first Regiment bore. (Applause.) Standing as I did in my 
 capacity as a Representative in the Thirty-seventh Congress, which was 
 elected with Lincoln's — (applause) — first election, I stood very near the 
 person of the Governor of this State, Edwin D. Morgan — (applause) — 
 and, by reason of that relation, came to know a great deal about 
 the services of Colonel Shepard — (applause) — who was Aide-de-Camp 
 upon his staff, as Commander-in-Chief of the New York State Naval 
 and Military forces, and Major-General of Volunteers commanding this 
 Department. 1 do not know whether history has recorded, or will 
 properly record, the valuable services of this gentleman ; but I am 
 justified in saying here, that he seemed during the war to be empowered 
 with ubiquity. One day helping in organizing regiments for the seat 
 of war, the next on the field ; he was instrumental in putting into the 
 field 47,000 men. When in command of the Depot of Volunteers at 
 Elmira, he served simultaneously as Aide-de-Camp, Assistant Inspector- 
 General, Assistant Adjutant-General, Mustering-in Officer, Ordnance 
 Officer, Assistant Quartermaster-General, and in almost every other 
 
FIFTY-FIRSiT REGIMENT N. Y. VOLUNTEERS. 21 
 
 capacity; for he was at such a distance from head-quarters at 
 Albany and Washington, and such was the confidence reposed in his 
 judgment by both the State and National Governments, tluil he was 
 clothed with the authority of these different departments. He com- 
 manded, and justly deserved, the encomiums of his general and every 
 patriotic man in the State and Nation. (Applause.) He placed himself 
 upon a footing with his general, amounting almost to the affection which 
 a proud father bears toward his son, until that general, finally departing, 
 left this rude sphere to join the blessed band of the great who have 
 been with Washington and Franklin — our sages of old — and Lincoln, 
 yet mourned by the country. (Applause). Governor Morgan never 
 ceased to speak of Colonel Shepard as one for whom he bore an 
 affection amounting almost to the ties of consanguinity — (applause) — an 
 affection which you have echoed to-night. (Applause. ) 
 
 You will also allow me to express the great pleasure I feel in 
 seeing present here to-night another of those gentlemen who met with 
 us twenty-five years ago, the Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, whose patriotism is 
 surpassed by that of no mah, and whose learning is as great as his 
 patriotism. I remember receiving from him, long since, a correction 
 of Plato's mis-quotation in his De Legibus, VI., 19th, from the 17th 
 Book of Homer's Odyssey, 322-3, the original Greek of which he 
 rendered into English as follows : 
 
 ' Zeus takes from man one half his worth away, 
 When on him falls the day of slavery ' 
 
 — a sentiment which it would have been well for our forefathers to have 
 studied before instituting slavery in this country, and which also shows 
 the broad and national lines in which the studies of our greatest con- 
 temporaneous scholars have been pursued. (Applause.) 
 
 Now a few words with reference to the Fifty-first, whicli }'ou did 
 me the honor to wish me to meet on the occasion of the presentation 
 of its colors. Having stood in that relation to the Fifty-first, it was but 
 natural, in my capacity as a Congressman and as a cili/en. to follow 
 that regiment from State to State throughout its career ; and I tell you 
 here to-night, that while Old Ocean shall continue to chant its solemn 
 requiem along the shores of the Carolinas ; while South Mountain and 
 Blue Ridge shall continue to hft their summits to the sky ; while the 
 
2 2 QUAK7'ER^CENTURY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 mighty Mississi[)pi shall roll its waters to the sea, the New York Fifty- 
 first shall be treasured, honored and commemorated by every patriotic 
 citizen of the United States. (Applause.) 
 
 Mr. President, I heard some time ago, that if you would only 
 give Conkling a chance he would talk any audience to death. (Laughter, 
 and cries of "Go on. Go on.") I have been thinking about things in 
 connection with that old flag. It looks so natural to me, having stood 
 there, as head man, giving orders on the occasion of its presentation. 
 I dare say some of you may recollect my face, although I am not so 
 young a man — not quite so young as I was then. (Laughter.) There 
 is something I read a great while ago about that flag : 
 
 " I am your Bride, and proudly wear, 
 Emblazoned on my breast, 
 The names of victories you gained 
 When on the foe you prest." 
 
 (Great applause.) I don't know whether everybody understands that 
 flag as I do. As I understand it, gentlemen, the stars and those dark 
 marks you see are the relics of the old flag transferred upon this new flag. 
 ("Aye, aye.") How historical, how glorious ! and thus to preserve it is 
 to embalm it with youth. (Applause. ) Seven color-bearers laid down 
 their lives upon the altar of their country bearing that old flag. 
 (Applause. ) 
 
 Well, now I am coming back to business with regard to peace. 
 "The victors and vanquished have embraced, and are friends again." I 
 hardly know how it happened that that sentiment came to be assigned 
 to me. To tell the truth, I feel a little guilty about it. I recollect, after 
 the battle of South Mountain and Antietam, I went over to the Whiie 
 House and said to President Lincoln : "It appears to me that we are 
 not prosecuting this war with the degree of determination and spirit 
 that we ought. These Southern people are multiplying like their own 
 rattle-snakes. I am in favor of making their country a monument of 
 vengeance. I want to see every city and every town, and every village 
 and hamlet and plantation made a blackened waste." In saying this, I 
 represented the spirit of very many of my fellow-countrymen. But 
 Mr. Lincoln said, "Stop; don't talk so." I reflected a great deal upon 
 that. When peace came, I saw what it meant. There was something 
 
FIFTY FIRST REGIMENT N. V. VOLUNTEERS. 23 
 
 very touching and solemn in the attitude, in tlie manner, in tlic intona- 
 tion of his voice, in the words he utteretl. 
 
 "The victors and vanquished have embraced, and are friends 
 again." They would not have embraced so soon if I had had my way. 
 But they have embraced, and that embrace is due to the man who stood 
 on the battle-field of Gettysburg, at the dedication of the monument, and 
 said, " Let us here resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain ; that 
 the Union, under God, shall ha\e a new birth of freedom, and the 
 Government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall 
 not perish from the earth."' (Applause.) The state of things that now 
 exists — the happy relations, unparalleled in the history of all former wars 
 — the happy relations that now exist arc due in a great measure, in my 
 judgment, to the advice of Abraham Lincoln. (Loud applause.) Upon 
 the enclosure of his statue in Union Square are inscribed his own words, 
 "With malice toward none; with charity for all. " (Applause.) They 
 speak, gentlemen, the sentiments of that man's heart and purpose of his 
 utterance. Nothing pictures his temper toward the South more fully 
 than those words. 
 
 Another man also played an important part in bringing about the 
 existing relations between the two sections of the country — between the 
 great American family — and that man's name is Ulysses S. Grant. (Loud 
 applause. ) When the surrender took place at Appomattox Court House, 
 he ordered rations to be issued to the Southern army as soon as they 
 had surrendered. (Applause.) They had fought to the last extremity. 
 They had nothing to eat, and were gaunt with hunger and starvation. 
 The moment he became cognizant of that fact he issued those orders. 
 When the terms of surrender began to be arranged, his Chief of Staff, 
 who wrote down the terms, put in that the force's horses were to be 
 surrendered. But Grant said to the rebel chief, "No. you keep your 
 horses; your people will want them to put in their crops." 
 (Applause.) 
 
 Well, now, suppose I say a word before 1 stop about what lesson 
 we should all learn from the past. Let me say, then, above all. that 
 we ought for ourselves to hold most dear the just claims of the friends 
 ofliberty in other lands, who look to America for encouragement and 
 guidance in their struggle for freedom. (Applause.) 
 
24 QCAKTER-CENTURY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 In the name of the whole family of mankind, let us take care 
 that this fair fabric of free government, reared by our fathers and so 
 recently cemented by our brothers' blood, shall not perish in our hands ; 
 but that it shall descend, like the unclouded sun, bright and glorious, 
 to our posterity. (Long-continued applause.) 
 
 The Chairman — The next toast is, 
 
 The Press : It Rang out its Clarion Voice for the Union in 
 HER Hour of Peril, and now Disseminates Intelligence which is 
 intended to Bind Together all Parts of the Country. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Henry M. Field, of The Eikitigelist, being called upon 
 to respond to this toast, was received with hearty applause. The Chair- 
 man introduced him as the author of that recent patriotic work, " Blood 
 is Thicker than Water." He said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — My words this evening will 
 be very {qw. The voices w^hich you like to hear, and the faces you 
 like to see, upon an occasion like this, are the voices you have heard 
 and the faces you have seen in the smoke of battle — your own comrades 
 and brother soldiers. But, perhaps, I can say something for a moment 
 that may be of interest to you. 
 
 I have visited more recently than you, perhaps, the spot where 
 your comrades sleep. I was in Vicksburg a few months ago, and spent 
 a most touching hour in the cemetery where are gathered so many 
 soldiers. You can read upon the stones many familiar names — man}- 
 who went out as gay and strong as you, and gave their lives to their 
 country. It is a beautiful spot, looking over the river — the peaceful 
 river — flowing on silently, with none of the vessels of war afloat on its 
 waters, and no batteries with their din of arms. All was peaceful and 
 quiet. And yet, of those eleven thousand graves, the names of only three 
 thousand of those who sleep in them are known ! Of the rest, there they 
 lie — the unknown dead ! Not even their names preserved, who gave 
 their lives that the country might not die. (Applause. ) Now, gentle- 
 men, it may seem strange for a minister of the Gospel to say anything 
 in favor of war; but I believe in war. (Applause.) It is the worst 
 calamity with which God scourges the tran.sgressor. Sometimes 
 nations sin, and the time comes when a nation becomes demoralized 
 and corrupted, and it needs war to purify the atmosphere. The time 
 
FIFTY-FIKSr REGIMENT N. V. VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 25 
 
 had come when war was inevitable, and it came upon the generation to 
 which you belong. Thank God, that its course was as it should have 
 been, and its desired end was achieved. 
 
 I remember well the scene to which Dr. Hitchcock alluded when 
 the Fifty-first marched down Broadway ; when we thought how many 
 were going never to return. Bitter are the memories of war. How 
 often that song, " When this Cruel War is Over," and "The Boys Come 
 Marching Home, " was sung. How many never came ! Mothers sat 
 at their windows and watched down the street, and wondered why 
 Charlie did not come, when all that was left of her boy was sleeping 
 by the river side or in the mountains of Virginia. We remember 
 our dead while we honor the living. Thank God, at last peace has 
 come, antl come to stay. (Applause.) And here it may not be 
 improper for me to say one word of those who were your adver- 
 saries during the war. Braver men never marched to battle. (Ap- 
 plause.) It was to your honor and pride that they came, for you 
 met foemen worthy of your steel. I have lately been through the South, 
 and I am here to-night to bear witness of the present loyal, noble spirit 
 of those who were in arms against the Union. (Applause.) I think 
 there is nothing in history more pathetic than the conduct of the 
 Southern soldiers after the war. You came home elated with victory ; 
 when our boys marched through Washington everyone was buoyant 
 with the thought that victory had been gained. The Rebels w-ere all 
 scattered — all was gone ; and there they stood in desolation amid the 
 scenes of their former prosperity. 13ut the spirit of true soldiers — the 
 spirit of Americans — was in them, and, laying aside the weapons of 
 war, they went to work to restore their former condition. Nobler, if 
 anything could be nobler than they, was the contluct of the Southern 
 women, who put their hands to manual duties and services, and en- 
 deavored in all they coukl to restore the happiness, the domestic welfare, 
 and the general prosperity which had been destroyed. (Applause.) 
 Now, I say, these women are my countrywomen. (Applause.) "God 
 forbid that I should ever complain," said an old lady. ■ Said another, 
 "My father was killed at Gettysburg." Oh, the horrible necessity which 
 rendered necess-.ry such carnage anil destruction ! It is delightful for 
 me to see the returning of the South. I never was so much at home as 
 
26 QCARTER-CENTURY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 under the quondam Confederate roof. One of Stonewall Jackson's 
 lieutenants said he rejoiced in the peace now restored ; and the only 
 cannon shot I heard in the whole South was in the capital of Alabama, 
 fired in honor of the Union General Hancock, when he was laid in his 
 grave. (Sensation.) A judge at the West, writing to me the other day, 
 said, ' ' I have made the acquaintance of a great many Confederate 
 officers and, strange to say, I have become very fond of them and have 
 made friends with all of them. There was not a man but has said 
 to me that he was not only glad the war was over, but that it ended as 
 it did." I repeated that remark this very day, in this city, to Roger A. 
 Pryor, who carried the summons to Fort Sumter to surrender. God 
 bless our Union ! May it live as long as the sim and moon endure ! 
 (Loud applause.) Towards this perpetuity an intelligent, patriotic 
 press constantly contributes. During the war, the press did much to 
 inform the country of its course, with its fluctuations of victory and 
 disappointment, and to kindle the invincible determination of the 
 people to preserve the Union. May the press always be found as 
 loyal and wise. (Applause.) 
 
 The Chairman — The next toast is, 
 
 The Legal Profession : It Furnished its Full Quota for the 
 Union Armies ; and now, in Legal ways. Defends and Maintains the 
 Amended Constitution. 
 
 I shall call upon a distinguished jurist to respond to this toast. 
 One who, though born in the United States, has the whole world for 
 his country — (laughter and applause) — one who has been elected and 
 reelected unanimously to a great office — that of Justice of the Supreme 
 Court of this State, and has for so many years worn the ermine that 
 everybody believes it was his swaddling bands — (laughter) — except for 
 the fact that there is no stain on it. (Laughter.) When the Republicans 
 were trying to prevent this city from being sold to the slaveocracy by the 
 Democratic party, a lo\al judge upon the bench was a first necessity, 
 and it was then that the\' voted to a man for the loyal Brady. (Great 
 applause.) We are honored with the speaking presence of His Honor, 
 John R. Brady. 
 
FIFTY-FIRST REGIMEXT N. Y. I'OLl'XTEERS. 27 
 
 Judge Brady was received with hearty cheers, and said — 
 
 Mr. Chairman : — The profession to which you and 1 belong did 
 certainly send their full quota to the war. They are (juite fond of litiga- 
 tion and always ready for a fight. (lyiughler. ) These bronze medals 
 are most approjtriate tt)kcns of the service of the gallant Shc])ard Rilles. 
 I see on the list of their recipients the honest name of Patrick Renalian, 
 an Irishman who was in the battle of Antietam, and who, upon his 
 return home, being questioned about that fight, took great glory to the 
 cause of "Owld Ireland," because that battle was won by Irishmen. 
 Being asked who they were, he succeeded in naming General Ferrero 
 (who, by the way, is an Italian), the aforesaid Patrick Renahan, and a 
 third, whose name he forgot. (Laughter.) 
 
 I also see the firm and true name of Dennis McNamara, as good 
 a Catholic as he is an Irishman, who was set to guard a church where, 
 unfortunately, a priest in his robes had been killed during a fusilade. 
 Dennis thought the killing of a murderous "Secesh '" was all rigiit ; "but, 
 alas!" said he, "to think of thim vistments, with a bloody hole thro' 
 thim, a spilin' them. "' (Laughter.) 
 
 Judge Brady continued his response to this toast in a pla\ ful vein, 
 intermingling illustrative anecdotes with his theme ; but in concluding 
 said that the memories of the past great struggle for the preservation 
 of the Union were for the moment driven back by the more impressive 
 presence of the heroes who perilled their lives — God bless them ! — to 
 maintain and to perpetuate the Republic ; to hold for ever in brilliant 
 brotherhood all the stars of our tlag. (Loud and long applause.) 
 
 The Chairman called upon Captain William S. .\ndrews to re- 
 spond to the next toast — 
 
 The Ladies : The Stars ok the Union. (Ap])lause. ) 
 
 Captain Andrews said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Comratles : — General Ferrero suggests that I 
 speak of the wives of the Ninth Army Corps. I will say I wish they 
 were with us here to-night. It is proper that they should be, because 
 no man, certainly no army of men, ever went forward to battle who 
 were not sustained and made courageous, and held up amongst the 
 vicissitudes and trials and dangers of army life, by the recollection 
 
28 QUARTER-CENTURY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 and memory of the dear ones whom they had left at home. (Applause.) 
 I am one of those — and I mean it in no light or frivolous sense — who 
 believe that men live for women, and that it should be so. Our 
 first and greatest duty in this life is toward our mothers, our wives, 
 our sisters and our daughters — (applause) — and there are no men in 
 any rank or walk of life who know the value of the society, friendship 
 and kindly guidance of woman so well as soldiers who have been 
 deprived of that society, that aid, that love. Those of us who have 
 been sick and lying upon a bed of fever and pain in a hospital will, no 
 matter how long we live, never cease to remember the women who came 
 and ministered unto us. (Applause.) Those who were so cared fur 
 will never cease to recollect those women as if they were angels. I 
 remember being taken from a march in Virginia (I was taken down 
 with fever), being put into an ambulance and carried into Alexandria, 
 and while we were there the second Battle of Bull Run was fought. 
 The hospitals were crowded with the wounded. I happened to be in 
 a ward which was presided over by a great, big, fat Dutch woman. 
 (Laughter.) She was homely, and there was nothing attractive about 
 her; and yet I have never been able to think of that woman without 
 the warmest affection. I recall how she bustled about among the 
 eighteen or twenty men, taking the best care of us, and every one of us 
 loving her as though she had been a beautiful young girl ; and when 
 the young medical gentleman who attended us got our medicines mixed, 
 and 1 got that intended for my friend in the next bed, and he got that 
 intended for me — (laughter) — although our complaints were diametri- 
 cally opposite, I think the sicknesses that might have resulted were 
 prevented by the kindness and attention of this dear old nurse. 
 (Applause. ) 
 
 Now, if I have done my duty to the ladies, I want to say that I have 
 always been proud of having belonged to the old Ninth Army Corps. 
 (Applause. ) I was a special aide, having charge of secret service on 
 the staff of General Burnside. When you went to Hatteras, I was there. 
 I furnished all the pilots that were put upon the boats. I have always felt 
 that I had some part in, and have some reason to be proud of, the exploits 
 of the Ninth Army Corps ; but the brightest part of my experience is, 
 and always will be, that, after I had become a signal officer, I was for 
 
FIFTY FIRST RFGIMFXT N. V. VOLUNTEFKS. 2i) 
 
 a time attached to the staff of (ieneral Ferrero— (applause) — and became 
 one of " Fenero's Fighting Brigade.' (Applause.) So they were known, 
 and so will they be known, as long as the history of our armies lasts. 
 (Applause.) I would say that he was then colonel of )our regiment, 
 although commanding your brigade. (Applause.) 
 
 In that brigade was the 21st Connecticut Regiment, the dear old 
 chaplain of which never had a horse, so he used to steal a ride on the 
 baggage wagon. Well, one day he went into a fanner's barn anti 
 took a horse and saddle. The owner came in great distress to (ieneral 
 Ferrero, but it was hard to convince the old chaplain that the horse 
 and saddle didn"t lielong to him, being, as he thought, contraband, 
 and all things being fair in war, that he was entitled to them as a cap- 
 ture. (Laughter.) He was very much disgusted when the (General 
 compelled him to give them up. (Laughter.) 
 
 I am asked to tell the story of an old colored man who, after 
 the battle of Fort Donelson, was sitting on the deck of one of the 
 Mississippi River steamboats, and appeared acquainted with camp 
 life. I said to him, "I suppose you were in the battle of Fort 
 Donelson. Were you in the fight.?"' He : "I had a little taste of it.'" 
 " You didn"t see it all ?" " No, sah ; I run."" (Laughter.) " What, ran at 
 the first fire.?" "Yes, sah ; and would habe run sooner had I knowed 
 it was comin". " "Well, that doesn't speak very well for your courage." 
 "Courage, dat's not in my line, sah. Cookin' is my profession." 
 (Laughter.) " But have you no regard for your reputation ?'' "Repu- 
 tation ! what am dat by de side ob life, sah ?" " Why, do you think your 
 life is worth more than other men's .■* " "Well, it's worth a heap more 
 to me.'" (Laughter.) "You. must value your life very highlv. "' "Yes, 
 sah ; moren a million dollars ; case what would that be to a man with 
 de breff out ob him .? '" ' ' But why regard your life as worth more than 
 other men's.'" " Well, sah, different men .sets different values on their- 
 selves. My life ain't in de market. "" (Laughter.) " Well, if you were 
 killed, you would have had the satisfaction of knowing that vou had 
 died for your country." "What satisfaction would it be to me, with 
 the power of feeling gone.'" "Then you care nothing for i)atriot- 
 ism and bravery? "' "No, sah ; I regard dem as among de vanities." 
 "If all the soldiers had been like you, the Government might have 
 
30 QUARTER-CENTURY BANQUET OF THE 
 
 been destroyed.'" "Yes, sah, dere would habe been nothing to pre- 
 vent it. I wouldn't put my life in de scale 'gainst any government ; 
 case no government could replace de loss to me.'' (Laughter.) "If 
 you had been killed, do you think any of your company would 
 have missed you?" "May be not. Dese soldiers don't pay much 
 'tention to a dead white man, let alone a dead nigger ; but I'd a missed 
 myself, sah, and dat's a heap more 'portant to me." (Laughter.) 
 
 That darkey was a great joker, and really no coward at heart ; 
 for he did good service afterward, like many of his race — one of the 
 effects of freedom. (Applause.) And the darkey ladies did, too. 
 (Laughter.) 
 
 The Chairman — The next toast is, 
 
 Our Absent Comrades : God Bless the Living. We Honor 
 THE Dead. 
 
 This toast was drunk standing, and the company remained stand- 
 ing while the Chairman said : 
 
 There is a large roll of absent-ees, which will occur to each man's 
 heart readily. You have heard some of their names pronounced to- 
 night — Burnside, Reno, Boppe. Immortal names, to }'Ou most dear 1 
 
 You all remember and venerate the memory of your first chaplain, 
 Benton, who lost his life at Newbern, N. C, whilst ministering to the 
 wounded and dying on the field. 
 
 Who will ever forget the gallant Sims, pierced with nine bullets at 
 the mine of Petersburg ! 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel R. Charlton Mitchell is not here to-night. 
 
 The dead have gone from us, and the living feel the ravages of 
 time. We all feel that twenty-five years have made us older than we 
 were when we first started in on behalf of the LTnion. 
 
 And there are some who are not here to-night, although not in 
 their final resting-places. Major-General Robert B. Potter — (applause) 
 — is so near his glorification that he cannot mingle with us in this earthly 
 scene. General Charles W. LeGendre — (applause) — is in Japan, 
 where he has helped to kindle the new light that is gilding the Orient. 
 General John G. Wright— (applause) — is with us in spirit, although 
 his bodily presence is across the Mississippi. So is Surgeon Bird. 
 
FIFTY- FIRST KFGIMEXT N. V. VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 31 
 
 General Gilbert \\. INlcKibben — (applause) — has been with us this 
 evening, but has been obliged to retire on account of impaired health. 
 
 Occasionally an old veteran is in a Soldiers' Home and can march 
 no more. The intirmitics of age, the disabilities of the service, or the 
 press of circumstances keep others of our members from being with us 
 to-night. 
 
 From Surgeon Bliss comes the following dispatch : 
 
 Saginaw Crrv, Mich., Oct. 29, 1886. 
 C. VV. Walton, Secretary: 
 
 I send geeeting to Colonel Shepard and your comrades, and regret that I am 
 unable to meet you. I expected to be present to uncover my head to our " Hride," 
 and roll back with you a quarter of a cenlury for one more rally around her. 
 
 LvMAN Bliss. 
 
 We are, all together, present or accounted for, about one hun- 
 dred and ten, out of some si.xteen hundred who joined the regiment 
 first anti last ! As the circle grows smaller, each one should feel a 
 greater a rtection for the remaining members. If all the members of 
 this regiment could come here to-night, how many graves would be 
 opened ! And yet I do not think you would recall a single one of 
 them. No; their earthly lives are closed, but their works do follow 
 them, ^\'e drop a tear upon their graves and honor them. 
 
 " They sink to rest 
 With all their country's honors blest." 
 
 The company were then seated. 
 
 The Chairman — As (General Potter is not able to i)e with us, I 
 will read you a letter which 1 received from him not long after its ilale ; 
 
 IIiiAi)i^)UAUTEus 5isr Regimknt, N. Y. V. \ 
 Near Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. i8th, 1S62. \ 
 
 Since I wrote you last we have been in another engagement, and did as well, if 
 not better, than ever before. Our brigade had the hardest fighting, and in the hottest 
 part of the field. My total strength was sixteen officers and 280 enlisted men. My loss 
 seventy-four (six of whom were officers) or exactly one-quarter. I have also several 
 missing, whom I fear are killed. At first we were detached, supporting a battery, 
 Dickinson's, which was driven from the field. I held the position, liowevei — (ap- 
 plause)— until ordered up to support the rest of the brigade. In advancing across 
 the plain I was entirely alone, no other troops being in motion. I conse(]uenlly at- 
 tracted all the enemy's attention, and lost sixty men from the fire of their batteries in 
 
32 QUARTER-CENTURY BANQCET OF THE 
 
 advancing 300 yards. We held our position on the field until one o'clock on the 
 morning of the i6th. For desperalion, this was the fight of the whole war ; we had 
 scarcely 50,000 troops under fire, but our loss is going to be a good deal over 
 10,000. Where we attacked (1 mean the 2d and 9th Corps), the enemy's posi- 
 tion was impregnable. I don't think our Generals could have had any idea of it, or 
 tliey must have been mad to try it. Our colors are in a bad way — the staff of our 
 American color, the "Bride of the Regiment," has been shot away again, and that 
 and the State color are well riddled. 1 intend sending them on to New York to have 
 the names of our principal battles in the last four months put on them, viz.: Man- 
 asses, Aug 29tli and 30th ; Chantilly, Sept. ist ; South Mountain, Sept. 14th ; Antie- 
 tam, Sept. 17th ; Fredericksburg, Dec. 13th and I5ih. I want the broken slafi 
 spliced in each place, and a little silver plate with the inscription, " Shattered by a 
 grape shot, Newbern, March 8th, 1862 ; shattered by a grape shot, Fredericksburg, 
 Sept. 13th, 1862," In this fighl every single man of the color guard ivas hit. On 
 the afternoon of the iithinst., when they feared they would have to abandon the 
 attempt to throw a bridge across the Rappahannock in front of the town, and the 
 enemy concealed in the houses on the opposite bank drove everyone off, General 
 Burnside sent for my regiment as a forlorn hope. Before I could get down, how- 
 ever, they had thrown enough men across in boats to hold the " tete du pont " till 
 they could finish it. I have but 245 men left for duty — how can I get any more ? I 
 think I can safely say that no regiment can show a more honorable record than the 
 " Shepard Rifles." 
 
 In haste. Yours, ever, 
 
 ROHERT B. PoxrER. 
 
 To Colonel E. F. Shepard. 
 
 (Applause.) 
 The Chairman — That letter is a pretty good speech. (Applause.) 
 You furnished five general officers to the Union armies. You 
 were a kind of West Point. And if all the other regiments from this 
 State had done as well, New York would have had all the general offi- 
 cers of the whole army. (Applause.) 
 
 The Chairman called upon Captain Charles W. Walton, of Com- 
 pany B, author of " Burnside and the Generals of the War," who was 
 greeted most heartily, and said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Comrades and Gentlemen : — I believe I have 
 had the pleasure of hearing a word from all of you while we were ar- 
 ranging preliminaries for this banquet, and I want to deliver a message 
 for some forty or fifty of the regiment who are absent to-night. They 
 told me to say to you all that they wished they could see you once more. 
 One said he would have given ten years of his life to be here to-night. / 
 
FIFTY-FIRST REGIME XT X. Y. VOLUXTFERS. 
 
 33 
 
 (Applause.) Another said, " Remember me to all the boys. " But they 
 are thinking of you all, and I know that they would like to join us ; 
 and I wish, for one, that they were here. I have felt very happy to- 
 night to hear some remarks about our old regiment ; and I begin to feel 
 prouder than ever that, before I was twenty-one, I received from the 
 Governor of the State of New York three commissions, and I am here 
 to-night to welcome you as officers and men of the old Fifty-first, the 
 Shepard Rifles, and I hope you will all live to a good old age. I had 
 the pleasure of marching down with you when I was enrolled in the 
 ranks of Company B, and came back in its command. (Applause.) 
 Our regiment crossed, took, and held the Stone Bridge of Antietam. 
 (Applause.) I heard the brave Potter's last words before he led us 
 over, "Fifty-first New York, will you follow your old flag?" You 
 followed and went across the Bridge. The Fifty-first Pennsylvania went 
 with us. (Applause.) This, my comrades, was done when the Rebels 
 lay in the near cornfield, and our Brigade marched doM-n in 
 close proximity to the guns, whose shells came over our heads. We 
 were then, at the last moment, brought into requisition. The conse- 
 quence is what you all know, — that we live in history, and everv report 
 states that we, the Reno Brigade, the Ferrero Fighting Brigade, cap- 
 tured the Antietam Bridge ! (Applause.) 
 
 I want to say that I think some of the boys are growing 
 younger instead of older, and I hope we may continue young as long 
 as possible. (Applause. ) 
 
 The evening was ended by singing " Rally 'Round the Flag, " and 
 the distribution of the Bronze Badges, a fac simile of which follows. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 002 005 549 2 % 
 
\ 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 002 005 549 2