The introductory words at the Monument by the Vice-President of the Regimental Association, Captain Robert Johnson, were highly appropriate to the occasion, and marked the earnestness of the ceremony in which the Soldiers of the 84th were now engaged.
The Chaplain of the Association, Rev. John P. Norman, Surgeon of the Regiment, offered Prayer.
Letters from absent Comrades were read by Adjutant Mather.
Gen. Joseph B. Carr, whose Brigade (the 1st, 2d Division, 3d Corps) in the Gettysburg Campaign included the 84th, had expressed his earnest wish to be present at the dedication, a feeling on his part highly gratifying to Soldiers who had served under so able a Commander.
While desiring it to be understood that he was there as a hearer, to witness the services, he felt that he could not properly refuse to respond to the request for a talk, which he did most cheerfully.
His words, written in granite, would stand as a Monument of Honor to the Regiment so long as the stone would endure.
A group picture, taken at the time of the dedication, will be of lasting interest. At no time since their muster-out had there been so many Soldiers of the Regiment touching elbow, and never, this side, will there be again so many.
The Address by Captain Merchant, Chairman of the Committee on Monument, is published in compliance with the expressed desire of the surviving members of the Regiment.
