VOL. 1871 the Association of the Graduates of the United States
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L 'X ,2tiacrntz sf 1^tit dXil 1tA OF THE UNITED STATES tILITARY ~CADEMY. ANNUAL REIUNION, JUNE 17th, 1871. [LBRARY U#SIM.A WALMRON & PAVNY. Printers, 37 Park Row, New York. ANNUAL REUNION, JUNE 17 1871 MINUTES OF THE BUSINESS MEETING. WEST POINT, N. Y., June 17, 1871. The Association met in the chapel of the United States Military Academy, and was called to order by General Thomas G. Pitcher, class of 1845, Chairman of the Executive Committee. The roll being called, the following Graduates answered to their names: Class. Class. 1815 SIMON WILLARD 1848 THOMAS D. JOHNS. CHARLES DAVIES. 1850 ZETUS B. SEARLE. 1819 EDWARD D. MANSFIELD. ALEXANDER PIPER. 1822 BENJAMIN H. WRIGHT. 1851 GEORGE L. ANDREWS. 1823 GEORGE S. GREENE 185 ALEXANDER S. WEBB. HANNIBAL DAY. A. T. A. TORBERT. AH ^ c(4DDENNIS H. M AN. E RT ALL 1824 ROBERT P. PARROTT. 1856 JOHN ICL. HILDT. JOHN M. FESSENDEN. EDWAm HOPKINS. S W,WILLIAMI H. C. BARTLETT. 1860 R.. 1826 SILAS CASEY. 1861 EMORY UPTON. 1828 ALBERT E. CHURCH. 1863 PETER S. MICHIE. ^4 (^CPRAFTS J. WRIGHT. 1864 GARRETT J. LYDECKER. 1829 THOMAS A. DAVIES. CHARLES W. RAYMOND 1830 FRANCIS VINTON JAMES C. POST. a,0~~~~~~~~~ ~JOHN P. POST. o 1831 WILLIAM CHAPMAN. JOHN P. STORY. 1832 WARD B. BURNETT. 1865 EDWARD H. TOTTEN. 1833 GEORGE W. CULLUM. WILLIAM S. STARRING. C GEORGEMORELLW. SAMUEL M. MILLS. (1835 OELMENDORF~~GEORGEW· P. SLOAN. 1835 HENRY L. KENDRICK. THO3IAS B. ARDEN. 18 RICHARD P. CHURCHILL 1866CARLES KING 1838 IRVIN MCDOWELL. CHARLES KING. 1841 ZEALOUS B. TOWER. JOHN C MALLERY. 1842 JOHN S. MCCALMONT. 1867 WILLIAM E. ROGERS. G PFREDERICK A. MAHAN. 184 THOMIAS G PITCHER. 185 HENRY B . CLITZ, 1869 PHILIP M. PRICE. o ^ ii q ^ ^ 4 ANNUAL REUNION, JUNE 17, 1871. MR. SIMON WILLARD, class of 1815, the senior graduate present, was called upon to preside, but declined in favor of the next, whereupon Prof. Charles Davies, LL.D., was conducted to the chair by Edward D. Mansfield, class of 1819, and Benjamin H. Wright, class of Z22. ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR DAVIES. FELLOW GRADUATES: The day of our annual meeting has again brought us together. Let us rejoice that we have seen this day. Let us rejoice that we are per- mitted again to meet and welcome each other, at the place so dear to us all, and to bring to the cradle of our youth the offerings of affection and love. Here we first assumed special obligations to our country, and here, in the fulness of age, we again renew our allegiance at the altar of duty; and may that altar stand here through all time, be seen by all eyes, and receive the homage of all hearts. But why should I congratulate you in feeble words, when all nature bids us welcome. The forests have put on their richest robes-the mountains receive us with the dignity of patriarchs-the river welcomes us with the graces of maternal love; while the little nooks and by-ways, from which, in early life, we looked out on all that is grand and lovely in nature, like the younger sisters of a household, greet us with their sweet smiles of perpetual youth; The flag, the emblem of our nationality, which has symbolized to this institution the power and dignity of the nation for seventy years, waves us a cordial welcome. A day spent here together is a volume of living history reaching over more than half a century. It is a day full of memories and full of joys. The reveille of the morning seems the reveille of a new life. The morning light is fresher than the morning light of other days, the noon has a fuller glory, and the evening a softer radiance, while all around points to the past and to the future. If the spirits of the illustrious dead are permitted to surround the monuments which affection and patriotism have here raised to their memories-if they are per- mitted to revisit the scenes dear to them in life-then we are not alone here to-day; for those who are ever present with us in their lives and their example, participate in all that we do and in all that we feel-and these occasions become, as they were intended to be, connecting links between the living and the dead. But these gatherings have yet another significance. They admonish the young cadet, that when he enters the Military Academy, he writes his name on a leaf of history where it becomes an abiding record, and where the whole country will read it. He then connects himself, permanently, with his Alma Mater, sharing in all its past honors and all the glories of its future history. In his hours of labor these thoughts will nerve him-in his hours of weakness they will strengthen him-in his hours of sadness they will cheer him-and in his hours of triumph they will reward him. But above all, fellow graduates, let us remember that the nation which sustains and has spread its mantle over this institution, expects from every graduate, at all times, and wheresoever he may be, the full measure of his duty. And when the evening of life shall come, and each one of us shall look back, for the last time, on the fading scenes of the past, may he be cheered by the thought that he has never for a moment been unmindful of this obligation, and that guided by it and by a higher wisdom, he has walked always in the path of duty, virtue, and honor. ANNUAL REUNION, JUNE 17, 1871. 5 The Secretary being called upon for the Necrology of Graduates, for the year ending June 16, 1871, presented the following: JOHN E. HOSIfER, No. 2100-CLAss oF 1865. Died July 13, 1870, at Camp Douglass, Utah: Aged 29. LIEUTENANT JOHN E. HOSMER was born in Templeton, Mass., November 15, 1841. He was appointed a Cadet in 1861, and upon graduating was assigned as Second Lieutenant in the Sixteenth Infantry, where his soldierly qualities soon caused him to be selected as Adjutant of his regiment. In January, 1867, he was made A. A. A. G. Department of Georgia, in addition to regimental duties, and in the many delicate and important matters requiring his decision he acted with singular judgment and ability. In the summer of 1868, he was detailed on signal duty in Washington, and remained as Signal Officer for two years, four months excepted, when he was on duty at West Point as Assistant Instructor of Tactics. At the time of his death he had just joined the Thirteenth Infantry, to which he had lately been assigned. (Lieutenant John P. Story.) WILLIAI T. H. BROOKS, No. 1104-CLAss OF 1841. Died July 19, 1870, at Huntsville, Ala.: Aged 49. BRIGADIER-GENERAL WILLIAM T. H. BROOKS was born in Ohio. At the age of sixteeen, having received the appointment of Cadet at the U. S. Military Academy, he entered that institution July 1, 1837, as one of a class of 113 members. At the time of his admission he was full-grown, possessing a tall, manly figure quite in contrast to a majority of his class who were boys in stature. With a temperament rather quiet than restless, his deportment while at the Academy was noticeable for native simplicity alike free from assumption and diffidence. Neither taciturn, reticent, nor factious, he possessed sufficient geniality to be companionable. His calm dispassionate nature, his simple unaffected manners, and his manly soldierly qualities, as might be inferred, carried him peaceably through his academic career- antagonistic to none, but friendly and companionable with all his class-mates. Lieutenant Brooks served in the war with Mexico with marked efficiency and gal- lantry from the beginning to the end, from the battle of Palo Alto to the capture of the Mexican Capital, September 14, 1847, being present and taking his part in every battle on both lines of operations, excepting only those of Buena Vista and Molino del Rey. Throughout this war, whether acting as company officer or adjutant-general of a division, he evinced high soldierly qualities, and no one will question that the two brevets conferred upon him were distinctions well earned and well deserved. In fact, at this time he was one of the prominent young officers of the army. Promoted to a Captaincy November 10, 1851, he served for the next ten years, except while on sick leave, at Western frontier posts, mostly in New Mexico, where he was frequently engaged in scouting against the marauding and troublesome Indian tribes-a laborious duty, bringing little reward to the soldier, but involving the hardships of campaign life with loss of health. _ _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~fl____1" 1 '6 ANNUAL REUNION, JUNE 17, 1871. Captain Brooks was commissioned a Brigadier-General of Volunteers September 28, 1861. Few officers of the army at this time were more experienced in the duties of actual warfare than General Brooks, for he had passed nearly twenty years in active service in Florida, in Mexico, and on the Western frontiers. So in the War of the Rebellion, till the failure of his health and his resignation July 14, 1864, his service was mostly in the field in the presence of the enemy. In the campaigns of the Peninsula and Maryland, in each of which he was wounded, on the Rappahannock, and at the operations in front of Richmond and Petersburgh, he was engaged in a series of battles too numerous to be set forth in this brief notice. They are on record, however, in that invaluable register so ably and accurately prepared by a well-known member of this Association.