The following circular was sent to members of the Regiment:

The resident members of the Regiment will spare no efforts to entertain their visiting Comrades to make this reunion as interesting and as successful as many previously held. Our members are steadily decreasing. We cannot expect to meet many more years.

Every Comrade should make a special effort to attend, and report promptly on arrival at Headquarters, which has been established at the G.A.R. Hall, to register and to receive badges and tickets to the banquet.

It will also interest many Comrades to visit the gas and oil wells around St. Marys, which are not excelled anywhere. The reservoir is the largest artificial body of water in the world. Our hotels are now ample to entertain all, and furnish excellent accommodations at reasonable rates.

Members of the 37th Regiment began to come in September 9th, and by the evening of September 10th, a lively and goodly number of them, many with their wives, assembled at the Town Hall of St. Marys, which was beautifully decorated with bunting, flags and flowers. The old soldiers and their families occupied the front seats, while the rest of the hall was filled with ladies and gentlemen from St. Marys and surrounding towns. All seats had been reserved for soldiers and ladies, and standing room was all taken up.

PROGRAM: Tuesday evening, September 10, 1889

8:00 p.m. - Reception at the Town Hall, addresses by Comrades and invited guests, appropriate vocal and instrumental music, including by the Little Six Band, a quartette, and a grand chorus. Songs included "Tenting on the old Camp Ground", "Marching Through Georgia", and "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp” (see note at end).

10:00 p.m. - Banquet, concluding with "Kommers."

At 8:00 p.m. promptly, the meeting was called to order by the president, Major Charles Hipp. After the entertainment, the Regiment formed, and, headed by the Little Six Band, marched to the Dieker House, where the dining room and adjoining halls were prepared to seat all the Comrades at once. The tables were tastefully decorated and an elegant and substantial repast awaited the veterans as is shown by the following:

After the first assault on the tables had been successfully made, volunteer songs and addresses were in order, interspersed with music by the Little Six Band, and concluding in the early hours of the dawning morning with a march to the different quarters of the guests, with serenades by the band.

PROGRAM: Wednesday, September 11, 1889

10:00 a.m. - Meeting of Regiment at Town Hall.
1:00 p.m. - Boats will leave wharf for excursion to the St. Marys Reservoir and picnic grounds.
3:00 p.m. - Inspection of gas wells.
5:00 p.m. - Return to town.
7:30 p.m. - Kommers in Town Hall.

At 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, September 11^th, the members of the Regiment met at the Town Hall for the transaction of business. The roll of members was called, and the following are some of the veterans who answered to their names:

At 1:00 p.m., all members present, with their wives and families, accompanied by the Little Six Band, boarded the canal boat "Homer Meakham" under command of Comrade Fred Behm, and started gaily for the St. Marys Reservoir. Afterwards they took the woods for a social picnic and inspected some of the many natural gas wells in the vicinity.

Returning at sun-down, a procession was formed, including all the ladies and children of the party, and, preceded by the band, marched to the G.A.R. Hall, the headquarters of the Regiment, where most of them bid each other farewell and returned to their homes.

A few of the old guard mustered later in the evening for the KOMMERS, where the evening was passed with songs, stories, etc.

One of the addresses given in the program on Tuesday, September 10, 1889 was by William Schulenberg, as follows:

FROM MISSIONARY RIDGE TO LARKINSVILLE, ALABAMA

“Tramp, Tramp, Tramp” by Metropolitan Band (1902)provided by courtesy of Archeophone Records

Champaign, Illinois