Ho! comrades of the brave old band, we gather here once more,
With smiling eye and clasping hand, to fight our battles o'er.
To quaff from out the brimming cup of old-time memory,
And bright relight the pathway of our old Tennessee.
As myriad sparks of war's romance our meetings warm inspire;
The heady fight, the anxious march, the jolly bivouac fire;
The days of doubt, of hope, of care, of danger, and of glee;
Oh, what a world of racy thought illumines Tennessee!
Our roster thins; as years pass on we drop off one by one;
Ere long, too soon, to yearly call, there will be answer—none;
Then as along the record page these mourning columns creep,
The whisper comes to closer still our living friendships keep.
Another thought we forward cast to that not distant day,
When left of all our gallant band will be one veteran gray,
And here's to him who meets alone—wherever he may be,
The last, the lone survivor of the grand old Tennessee.
MAJOR-GENERAL G. M. DODGE AND STAFF
Commanding the Army and Department of the Missouri.
Front Row—Colonel T. J. Haines, U. S. A., C. S.; Major-General G. M. Dodge; Colonel William Myers, U. S. A., Q. M.; Colonel James H. Baker, Tenth Minnesota, P. M. G. Back Row—Colonel Benjamin L. W. Bonneville, U. S. A. (retired), C. S. of Musters, age 72; Captain William Holcke, A. D. C, Chief of Engineers; Major J. F. Randolph, U. S. A., Surgeon; Captain Frank Enos A. A. G.; Colonel John V. Dubois, A. D. C, Inspector-General; Lieutenant Edward Jonas, Fiftieth Illinois, A. D. C.; Major John W. Barnes, A. A. G.; Major Lucien Eaton, Judge Advocate; Lieutenant George C. Tichenor, A. D. C.