CHAPTER XXXII.

BUCKINGHAM DAY.

Unveiling of the Statue-How Ordered and How Dedicated-Gathering of Old Soldiers-Ceremonies and Addresses-Statue Placed Among the Battle Flags.

Almost as soon as the new Capitol building at Hartford was finished, the proposal to place in it a statue of the War Governor was brought forward. The suggestion was first put in form at a meeting of the Hartford Veteran City Guard in 1881. A petition was presented to the Legisla ture in the same year, and a special joint committee of the two houses was appointed. In the following year, on recommendation of this committee, a commission was appointed to procure a suitable statue. The commission consisted of Governor Hobart B. Bigelow, the Hon. Henry B. Harrison of New Haven, General William A. Aiken of Norwich, George G. Hill of Hartford, and Thomas I. Thurber of Putnam. They gave the commission for the statue to Olin L. Warner of New York, a native of Connecticut and of patriotic ancestry. The sum paid for the statue was $10,000, and $6,000 was appropriated for the unveiling ceremonies, of which an unexpended balance was returned to the treasury. The legislative commission on the statue ceremonies was as follows:

John Allen, Senator from the 21st District, Captain S. B. Home of Winchester, E. Barrows Brown of Groton, Jabez S. Lathrop of Norwich, General William H. Noble of Bridgeport, James W. Spellman of Suffield, George F. Speucer of Deep River, James R. Ayers of Orange, Thomas B. Walker of Coventry.

The statue was placed in the west corridor of the Capitol, where on two sides are preserved in glass cases the battle flags of the Connecticut regiments, which Governor Buckingham had put into the hands of his troops when he sent them into the field, and which he received when they returned, with the commendation and sympathy which their achievements merited. These flags, it should be mentioned, had already been removed from the State Arsenal to the new Capitol, in 1879, with the most imposing military ceremonies. And nothing could have stirred the patriotism of the people, or brought together more of the inhabitants of the State, than those ceremonies, which were only equaled in their perfection of arrangement, and civic decorations, and gorgeous military display, by these of the "Buckingham Day."

The unveiling of the statue was fixed for June 18, 1884. The city was hung with flags, and draperies, and inscriptions. The public buildings were, of course, richly decorated, while private dwellings excelled them in richness and taste, and some of the great business blocks were festooned along every story, with rich draperies trailing to the very ground. The inscriptions along the line of march were such as these: "The State will forever cherish his name;" "For such a man praise, honor and imitation, but not tears;" The Friend of Education;" "The Friend of the Slave;""Take good care of the Connecticut men;" "We honor him who was a tower of strength in Church and State;" "The earth which bears thee dead, has not alive a truer gentleman."

No buildings could shelter such a crowd, and so tents were pitched about the State House and over Bushnell Park. No hotel or restaurant accommodation could feed such a multitude, and it was done under vast pavilions and at the public expense. It was a beautiful June day, though the heat was excessive, and many of the troops and espe

cially the veterans must have suffered from their march and long parade. But the parade was carried out in perfect order by means of signals, when the movements of such a body were beyond the control of ordinary commands. About 7,000 men were in the line, and they were all virtually military organizations, save the few civil officers and guests of the State. Every organization that went to the war from the State was well represented, with the single exception of the Third Light Battery, which maintains no organization. Every regiment was there, 200 or 250 strong. The veterans were in dark clothes with white neckties and gloves, while the Connecticut National Guard in their State uniform, the Governor's foot guard in their Revolutionary and. antique costumes, and the New York Seventh Regiment, the guests of the State, with their choice membership, equipments, and drill gave brilliancy to the scene, while bands of music and drum corps filled in every interval of the procession, and responded to each other in every variety of martial music.

The procession was led by the grand marshal of the day, preceded by a platoon of police, and accompanied by his general staff, aids and signal corps. This officer was Major John C. Kinney of Hartford, acting signal officer with Admiral Farragut in the capture of Mobile Bay, to whom we are indebted for the exact and graphic account of that fight, as seen from the masthead with the admiral, to be found in the "War Book," Vol. IV, p. 379. His general staff was as follows:

Major General Henry W. Birgo, Thirteenth C. V., assistant grand marshal; Captain William Berry, Twelfth C. V., department commander G. A. R., chief of staff; Major J. Hartwell Butler, U. S. army, adjutant general; General L. A. Dickinson, captain Twelfth C. V, Hartford; General (Rev.) Erastus Blakeslee, New Haven, First Connecticut Cavalry; Dr. Archibald T. Douglas, New London, surgeon Tenth C. V.; Dr. William M. Mather, Suffield, surgeon 173d N. Y. V.; Rev. Henry Clay Trumbull, Philadelphia, chaplain Tenth C. V.;