On the return of the Society from Mount Vernon, assemble at the Arlington at 7 o'clock, and proceed to the Executive Mansion as per invitation of the President of the United States; at 10 o'clock attend the promenade concert in the rotunda of the Capitol; then break camp, and for home.

All officers of the Army and Navy and Marine Corps were requested to attend all the ceremonies and meetings in full uniform.

All members of the Society, Committees, and invited guests requested to procure their appropriate badges at the rooms of the Reception Committee, Arlington Hotel, that they might be properly recognized. Citizens were requested to decorate their houses, and illuminate on the night of the 19th. All of which requests were cheerfully complied with.

Thus, in brief, we submit a report of our work, to which we cheerfully devoted much time and our best efforts. Trusting that our future Reunions may be many, and fraught with the kindly feeling of the Eleventh,

MINUTES.

Willard's Hall, Washington, D. C., Nov. 19, 1879.

BUSINESS MEETING.

The Society was called to order by GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD, who said:

Gentlemen of the Society:

As Chairman of the Local Executive Committee, it is my pleasing duty to call this meeting to order. Although Chairman of the Committee, I have no credit for any work that has been done. GENERAL MCCOOK and COLONEL CORBIN have done whatever has been done to make the preparations for this meeting.

I call the Society to order to say that, to my very great regret, I learn that the President of the Society, GENERAL SHERIDAN, is too ill to leave home to come here. His physicians have examined his condition carefully, and have ordered him to remain at home. He sends us, however, a telegraphic report of the fact, stating his very great regret.

The first duty of the Society is to provide for some one to preside in his absence. Our Secretary, GENERAL CIST, is on the ground, I see, and we had better determine what we will do in selecting a President.

COLONEL CORBIN moved that GENERAL JEFF C. DAVIS, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society, be called upon to act as Chairman of the meeting, which motion was carried unanimously.

A member here proposed three cheers for JEFF DAVIS, which were given amid considerable merriment.

GENERAL DAVIS was then conducted to the platform, and, on assuming the Chair, made the following remarks:

I shall have but a few words to say in assuming the Chair. It has now been three years since we met at Philadelphia. We then met on an eventful occasion-that of the Centennial, a celebration of the one hundredth year of the existence of our Nation. We have met many times since then in spirit. We are now met on another eventful occasion, in the Capital of our Nation. We have met for the purpose of unveiling the equestrian statue of our beloved and honored leader, GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS. I am glad to see such extensive preparations as have been made by every one interested-not only the members themselves, but also the citizens of Washington. Having made these few remarks, I will announce that we are ready to proceed to business.

He then introduced CAPTAIN PHELPS, the President of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, who delivered the following address of welcome:

Gentlemen of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, Officers, and Soldiers:

It is a pleasant duty devolved upon me to welcome you to Washington, in behalf of the Government and people of the District of Columbia.

While thus welcoming you, we are mindful that your deeds of

bravery did much to preserve this as the Capital city of an undivided Nation and people-that we owe you such a debt of gratitude. Now, you come and erect in our midst a beautiful statue of your great Captain, placing it with loving hands in the keeping of this people, to be an ornament to the Capital and an object of deep interest for coming generations, those to follow us in the remote and great future of our country. We hope that your visit will prove so enjoyable that you will carry away with you only pleasing memories—that each of you in his own neighborhood may become the center and source of a growing interest in the future of Washington, thus giving rise to a public sentiment which will demand of Congress to beautify and embellish the city, that it may become a capital worthy of a great and free people soon to number more than 100,000,0:10 souls. Again I extend to you a cordial welcome to the District of Columbia.

GENERAL McCook suggested that GENERAL SLOCUM be invited by the President to take a seat upon the platform. On taking the seat, in answer to the invitation, GENERAL SLOCUM was called upon for a speech, and, in response thereto, said:

Gentlemen :-The honor of being called upon to speak is entirely unexpected to me. I know that you who followed GENERAL THOMAS on the battle-field have come here with pride and pleasure to take part in the erection of this statue to him, and that you will need no word from me to attest his worth. You all know the love of all those who were brought in connection with him. Others, who knew him by reputation only, will not deny that no one of all the heroes of the war is more entitled to a statue at the Capital of the Nation.

I know that your feelings of regard for GENERAL THOMAS are participated in by the whole people. We who followed him, and who knew him intimately as a soldier and a gentleman, believe that there has never been a man who wore the uniform of the

United States better entitled to have a statue erected to his memory than our GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS.

I knew him for many years before the war, and can speak from a personal stand-point. He was my first instructor at West Point. What he was then he remained all through his life. As an instructor at West Point he was the favorite of every student at the Academy. When 1 entered the army, and joined you at the West, I found among the officers and soldiers the same feeling toward him which had been manifested at the Military Academy. Love and devotion moved those around him, and impelled them to follow wherever he led.

I believe his name will go down to posterity second to that of no man who ever wore the American uniform.

COLONEL HENRY STONE moved, if it was in order at that time, and as it would tend to facilitate business, there being no particular subject just then under consideration, that a Committee of Five be appointed by the Chair to nominate a list of officers for the ensuing year of the Society. The motion was carried.

The President said he was informed by the Corresponding Secretary, GENERAL CIST, that he had a letter from GENERAL SHERIDAN, which, if it was in order, he might read to the Society.

GENERAL CIST thereupon read the following letter from GENERAL SHERIDAN, President of the Society:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF MISSOURI,

CHICAGO, ILL., November 16, 1879.

To the Members of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland:

GENTLEMEN: To my deep regret I am compelled to state that my physicians have forbidden my attendance at the forthcoming