I hope you will all have a fine day and a happy one.
Yours truly
G. K. Warren
August 27th, 1879, found the survivors of the Thirty-ninth in Taunton, guests of Co. F with Capt. J. J. Cooper president of the day and 125 veterans on hand; Adjutant O. A. Barker welcomed the old soldiers to the city and after a short business meeting, line was formed for the Agricultural Fair Grounds where Hiram Maxfield of Silver Springs fame served one of his imitable clambakes. In 1880, Sept. 15th, Medford was the entertaining place with Co. C at the front, Jas. A. Harvey being President. Oct. 5th, '81, the "old boys" came back to Woburn again, the reception being in the hands of the following named men of Company K., C. K. Conn., Geo. E. Fowle, Capt. L. R. Tidd, A. L. Richardson, J. F. Ramsdell, A. P. Barrett, J. Fred Leslie, A. Thompson and A. R. Linscott. Again Woburn has the honor of entertaining General G. K. Warren and he is accompanied by General J. C. Robinson, the valiant Division Commander, along with General Peirson, the ever popular regimental commander. At the dinner which was served in Lyceum Hall, remarks were made by those named above, Col. Porter and others. Before another reunion, General Warren will have passed away.
The regimental line formed again in Natick, Oct. 10, 1882; again Co. I plays the role of entertainers with fully 150 survivors to honor the occasion. Dinner was served in Concert Hall; Col. C. H. Porter spoke at length in praise of General Warren who had died the 8th day of the preceding August; resolutions of sympathy and respect were passed by the veterans and a contribution was made to a Fifth Corps fund to honor the General's memory. Remarks followed by Comrades Barrett, "K"; Beck, "C"; Locke, "E"; Eames, "C"; Oliver, "E," and others. 1883 brought the veterans to Quincy again with Co. D. Point Shirley in Winthrop was the place of meeting, August 26, 1884, with Co. H as entertainers. Roxbury, the home of Co. B, entertained next, Sept. 23, 1885. Company G came to the front Sept. 16, 1886, at Nantasket. The ladies of Somerville, in behalf of Co. E, furnish the dinner for the reunion of 1887, Sept. 6th. Through the selection of the Executive Committee, Bass Point was the place of meeting in 1888. Sept. 11, 1889, brought the clans to Medford, once more, with Co. C.
Sept. 24, 1890, the beginning of another decade, brings the veterans to Woburn, the home of Co. K, for the third time. As usual, great preparations were made for the reception, the principal guests, aside from the veterans themselves, being the widow and daughter of General Warren, and General Peirson and wife who with the wife of Mayor Johnson and the wife of the Hon. John Cummings formed the receiving line in the hall of the Y. M. C. A. The formalities of the occasion were conducted by Colonel C. H. Porter and Sergeant Abijah Thompson, "K," and 166 survivors pressed forward, glad of the opportunity of grasping the hands of their friends. Dinner was served in Lyceum Hall. The after-dinner exercises were presided over most happily by Sergt. Thompson who introduced Mayor Johnson, General Peirson, the Hon. John Cummings, Colonel Porter and others. Company A was the host Sept. 7, 1891, at the old Lynnfield camping-ground, and the occasion was rendered notable by the following paper, prepared for the day by Lieut. Elbridge Bradshaw of Co. H:
A VACATION IDYL
Some thirty years ago, leading a sedentary life and gradually sinking into a semi-bituminated condition, my medical adviser, alarmed at my symptoms, ordered travel and change of scenery. Having learned that Virginia contained more travel and scenery to the square mile than any other spot on the globe, I determined on visiting that State. Being of a timid nature and fond of Company, I joined myself to about a thousand other invalids, similarly afflicted, and seeking the same remedy, forming ourselves into a methodical organization. For convenience we divided ourselves up into groups of one hundred men each, using for purposes of distinction the first eleven letters of the alphabet, omitting the letter J. For menial service, i. e. to look after our physical wants, each group hired for such purpose, six servants, viz. a captain, two lieutenants, with a cook, a drummer and a bugler or fifer, the latter two being hired to wake the excursionists in the morning. To keep these captains and lieutenants in order, we placed over them a colonel, a lieut. colonel and a major, at the same time they being our head servants or butlers. These people added to themselves an adjutant to run errands, a chaplain, a doctor and a pill-driver. To insure a faithful discharge of duty, from each group were chosen a dozen fellows called sergeants and corporals who were set over the others.
Virginia at this time being in a tumultuous condition, and the U. S. Government having heard of our organization's plan of travel and objective points, invited us, through its Chief Magistrate, to walk over Virginia as peace officers, punching the heads of belligerants and arguing with the discontented, an invitation which we accepted. When President Lincoln secured our services he loaded us with benefits, first massing us at Lynnfield, giving us canvass houses to protect us from the dew and damp, sweet straw to nestle in, a pretty blue uniform, a belt to keep us from bursting, an iron toothpick, a tube of iron with a wooden handle, a little black bureau, in which to keep our collars, cuffs and bric-a-brac, a black cotton pantry for provisions and plates, with a round tin vessel for whiskey. Uncle Sam also gave our servants (the shoulder-strapped ones) toasting forks to stick pigs with and red sashes with which to gird their persons when running and chasing the pigs down. Rendered proud and arrogant by their good clothes and shoulder straps, our servants rose on us and captured our organization, styling themselves our superior officers, and our entire body the Thirty-ninth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. To give the usurpation a flavor of legality, they procured from Governor Andrew commissions indicating officially their rank and authority. On the whole they exercised their powers with great moderation and kindness.
Though to the last, we suffered them to think themselves our superiors, yet in reality, they still continued to be our servants, caring for our food, clothing and morals, furnishing us clean, airy lodgings having adequate fire-escapes, so that in fact we had nothing on our minds worth mentioning and all we had to do was to travel and fight; in a word, take our pleasure. They also taught us many pretty and amusing tricks; how to stand up straight in rows to be shot at; to abstain from whiskey (with quinine in it); to use the pickaxe and spade with the least expenditure of muscular energy and, in mud and night marches, to say our prayers without even stopping. As soon as we could march without scalping each other's heels, we left Lynnfield for active service and mighty active it proved on the start, our first engagement being a footrace against time through Boston. We left Lynnfield with cooked rations, meaning saltpork and hardtack.
How dear to this heart is the old army hardtack,