Iron Brigade Association Correspondence

The invitation below was found in the files of the Gettysburg National Military Park Library. Charles McConnell, then President of the Iron Brigade Association and former Quartermaster Sergeant of the 24th Michigan, was quite wealthy, and may have provided the entertainment at his own expense. He had paid for a separate Iron Brigade tent at the 50th Anniversary Reunion at Gettysburg in 1913. 

R. H. Hendershot, a popular figure among Michigan Veterans, was one of those slated to attend. One of his advertising cards from the author's collection is displayed at right.  The advertising card probably pre-dates the invitation by at least 20 years.   "Colonel John Pattee" (a veteran of the 24th) and his Old Soldiers Fiddlers were also scheduled to appear.

Although the letter indicates that this may have been the last reunion of the Iron Brigade Association, the organization remained active into the 1920's, and it is very likely that additional reunions were held. In 1923 the association published the "Roster of the Survivors of the Iron Brigade."

Chicago, Ill., August 6th, 1914

At a reunion of the survivors of the Iron Brigade held at Los Angeles, Cal. at the time of the National Grand Army Encampment in 1912, at which the attendance of about 100 Comrades was surprisingly large considering that we were meeting some 3000 miles from where the Iron Brigade was recruited, the undersigned was elected President of the Association for the express purpose of directing an appropriate celebration by the Iron Brigade of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg July 1-5, 1913. How well he did his part is for those comrades who were present at Gettysburg to say.

As there has been no meeting for the election of officers since Los Angeles, the undersigned has yielded to the urgent request of a large number of his Comrades to organize another reunion of the Iron Brigade to be held at Detroit at the time of the National Encampment G.A.R. In this he asks the cordial co-operation of all survivors who can possibly attend, and judging by the great success of the Gettysburg reunion, where nearly 400 survivors of the Iron Brigade registered in our exclusive tent—the only one of the kind on the ground, and in which meetings were held twice a day, drawing an attendance of 1200-1500 each—there can be no doubt of a successful reunion at Detroit.

The reunion will be made exceedingly attractive by short addresses from the dignitaries of the state and city and leading orators of the Grand Army, and our old friend and comrade Col. J. A. Pattee, who was the big attract of our reunion at Gettysburg, has volunteered the service of this "Old Soldier Fiddlers" of the Blue and the Gray to enliven the occasion; other attractions will be Major R. H. Hendershot "The Drummer Boy of the Rappahannock" and his son; Capt. Jack Crawford "the Poet Scout;" vocalists of note, and a male quartette to sing the old war songs that used to rouse us to enthusiasm in the days that tried our souls—and haven’t lost their power to do so again, fifty years later! Some of them now draw tears, of which we are not ashamed.

Full particulars concerning the reunion will be published in future circulars and in the newspapers of Detroit. Come on boys, bring your families! First care will be taken of such, and if there is any room left the citizens generally are welcome.

Let this most probably last reunion of the Iron Brigade be its greatest.

A copy of this letter is in the collections of the Gettysburg National Military Park Library.  Used with permission.  Photograph from author's collection.

I would like to express my gratitude to Nancy Howe for typing this letter.

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