But our city has a special interest in your history. You have been led by the honored Col. Beach; and the name of your Lieutenant-Colonel, he who would not leave his regiment for the colonelcy of another, he who has been with you in the camp, in the battle, in the prison and on the march until now, than whom there is none better, or braver on all the veteran roll, his name, John H. Burnham, has long been with us as a household word. Think it not strange that the Hartford City Guard extends a warm and earnest welcome to you, for the names of Burnham, Cheney, Tennant, Pasco, Burke, Lockwood, and Blakeslee, are all ours. As brothers we have watched your history during all these years of war. But while you are privileged to return all covered with honor and glory, and are to go to your homes, to be welcomed by mothers, wives, sisters, and lovers, noble patriotic women, in whose life there dwells the tenderest sentiment for you and country ever unlocked from the starry skies,—while you are to enjoy all this, I cannot forget the brave, devoted boys, comrades in all your trials until death, who will never, never come home again. They died, as you have fought, for country, for the restoration of law and order, for the complete emancipation of a race, for the eternal principle of liberty, and for the final solution of the great problem of self-government. They fell away from home and friends, and most of them rest in Southern graves, but though they fell thus, they died at their posts. History will keep fresh their memories, and write their names on more than granite shaft or marble column.—
After an eventful life and a noble death, they rest well.
"Sleep sweetly, tender hearts, in peace,
Sleep, holy spirits, blessed souls,
While the stars burn, the moons increase,
And the great ages onward roll."
The friends of the dead of your regiment are more than of the living, and my heart was sad as I saw the tears start in the eyes of the little child, the tender maiden and the mother with her little ones, as they looked in vain among your passing ranks for their friends. But they will never again watch their returning footsteps, or hear the sweet sound of their voices. No words of mine can heal their wounded hearts. I can only say they have the highest claim upon the nations' gratitude. The noble deeds of their martyred dead will ever live in the archives of the State, and their memories will be embalmed forever in the feelings of the American people.
Thrice welcome then, tried and faithful veterans of the republic. Go bear your honors and your trophies to your homes, and around your own hearths be as great and good as you have been in war.
Breakfast was provided for the regiment at the Trumbull House and United States Hotel, after which a short street parade was had, the City Guard and Colt's band furnishing escort. Arms were then stacked in the armory of the Guard, and the regiment was dismissed, the men being allowed to go to their homes as most of them live in this vicinity, and fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and wives were waiting to extend their welcome. Before leaving the armory Colonel Burnham read the following farewell order:
Headquarters 16th Conn. Vols., Infantry,
Hartford, Conn., 29th June, 1865.
General Orders No. 10.
Soldiers of the Sixteenth Connecticut—Glad as I am that the war is over and we are all to rejoin our families and friends again, I cannot repress a feeling of sadness at the thought of severing, perhaps forever, the ties that have bound us together for the last three years. Although a less amount of glory in the field has fallen to our lot than to some others, no regiment from the State has been subjected to so much suffering. Whatever you have been ordered to do, you have done promptly, cheerfully, and well; and whenever in future I am asked of what in all my life I am proudest, I shall always answer "that I belonged to the 16th Connecticut, in the Union army." Placed in charge of the regiment under circumstances that might have made my task a difficult one, it will always be a source of the highest gratification to me to remember that I received the generous support of all, and to the effective co-operation of every officer and the high character of the men, belongs entirely the credit of the fine soldierly appearance and superior military condition in every respect you so soon acquired, and have not failed to maintain to this day. For those gallant comrades who have laid down their lives on the battle-field and in the hospital, and for those heroic men who have endured so much more than death in Southern prisons, let us shed a silent tear and ever cherish their memories tenderly in our hearts.