FROM COLONEL DOUGHTY. Clinton, Tennessee, October 21, 1870. Messrs. John Coon and others, DEAR SIRS: I received your very kind invitation to attend the meeting of the Army of the Cumberland, to be held in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the 24th and 25th of November next. I should be very much pleased to be present, and mingle with my old comrades, as I did on one occasion in the city of Cincinnati when our beloved chieftain, GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS, was with us. No public or national man held a higher place in my esteem and affections. Yea, I loved him with an enthusiasm scarcely equaled for any man in the history of the world. I therefore would like to be present, and hear the masterly oration of GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD to be delivered on that occasion. I know it will be a great and eloquent effort of a great man, but it will fall short of telling all his good qualities. May the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, in all its members, prosper and be happy, and float down the stream of time, unmolested to its confluence with eternity, and lie down in peace and rest until the morn of the resurrection, when may they awake to newness of life and live forever with the King of Peace, and reign with him forever, is the prayer of a comrade. JAMES A. DOUGHTY, Formerly Col. 17th Tenn. Cav. FROM COLONEL PARSONS. Major John Coon, West Point, N. Y., November 12, 1870. Of Committee on Invitation, etc. MY DEAR MAJOR: I have received your circular of the 6th ult., and I regret to be obliged to state in reply, that the nature of my duties at the Military Academy will prevent me from being present at the approaching annual meeting of my former associates of the Army of the Cumberland. You know how sincerely I unite with you, and all who served under him, in lamenting the loss of GENERAL THOMAS, and I therefore need do no more than to tell you that I feel it to be a great deprivation when I am obliged to lose the opportunity of listening to the anticipated oration of GENERAL GARFIELD. It is much to say, but it is true, that the orator is worthy of the honored dead, and the honored dead is worthy of that place in the roll of his country's heroes above which no name can be written. I am, With earnest personal regard, Very faithfully yours, CHAS. C. PARSONS. FROM COLONEL MENDENHALL. Fort Johnson, N. C., November 6, 1870. Messrs. John Coon and others, Committee on Invitations. COMRADES: I regret that I will not be able to meet with you in Cleveland on the 24th and 25th inst. With my best wishes, which shall be with you, and the hope that you will have a successful and a happy meeting, I am, Very truly, JOHN MENDENHALL, Brevet Col. U. S. A. FROM COLONEL HUNT. Lexington, Ky., November 14, 1870. General G. M. Barber and others, Cleveland, Ohio. GENTS: I regret the necessity to decline your very kind invitation to be present at the Fourth Annual Reunion of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland on the 24th and 25th of this month. With assurances of high regard, and the sincere wish the meeting may be a success, I sincerely regret that I am unable to join you on the 24th inst. If it is proposed, as I hope it will be, that a monument be raised to the memory of GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS, I think it would be well to appoint a committee for each State we represent to solicit subscriptions, believing that our fellow-citizens will gladly share the expenses of a monument worthy of his deeds and fame. With kindest regards to all, I remain, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, MESSRS. JOHN COON AND OTHERS, SAM'L B. LAWRENCE. Cleveland, Ohio. FROM MAJOR COLBURN. Chattanooga, Tenn., October 20, 1870. Committee of Invitation, etc., Cleveland, Ohio. GENTLEMEN: Your favor of the 6th inst. is at hand, and I regret that "circumstances over which I have no control" will prevent me from meeting you and my comrades of the Army of the Cumberland in November. It would afford me peculiar satisfaction to be present at the Reunion in November, and unite in commemorating the noble qualities of our departed chief, who is justly esteemed by his army as the beau ideal of a Christian soldier. Words are inadequate to picture the admiration in which he was held by the defenders of the republic, while the nation must mourn the loss of a man whose virtues and deeds as patriot, Christian, and soldier illumine the brightest page of the world's history. With high regard, I remain, Your obedient servant, W. J. COLBURN. FROM COLONEL HAIGHT. New York, November 10, 1870. Messrs. John Coon and others, Gentlemen of Committee. DEAR SIRS: Your invitation to attend meeting of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, at Cleveland, on the 24th and 25th, received. I regret exceedingly that I shall be unable to attend. With respect, gentlemen, I remain, Your obedient servant, EDWARD HAIGHT, JR., Brevet Lieut. Col. U S. A. |