[153] The streets were crowded with a great multitude of spectators, and when the State House was reached General Couch addressed the Governor as follows:—
May it please Your Excellency: We have come here to-day as the representatives of the army of volunteers furnished by Massachusetts for the suppression of the rebellion, bringing these colors in order to return them to the State, who intrusted them to our keeping. You must, however, pardon us if we give them up with profound regret,—for these tattered shreds forcibly remind us of long and fatiguing marches, cold bivouacs and many hard-fought battles. The rents in their folds, the battle-stains on their escutcheons, the blood of our comrades that has sanctified the soil of an hundred fields, attest the sacrifices that have been made, the courage and constancy shown, that the nation might live. It is, sir, a peculiar satisfaction and pleasure to us that you, who have been an honor to the State and nation, from your marked patriotism and fidelity throughout the war, and have been identified with every organization before you, are now here to receive back, as the State custodian of her precious relics, these emblems of the devotion of her sons. May it please Your Excellency, the colors of the Massachusetts Volunteers are returned to the State.Governor Andrew replied in the following address:—
General: This pageant, so full of pathos and of glory, forms the concluding scene in the long series of visible actions and events, in which Massachusetts has borne a part, for the overthrow of rebellion and the vindication of the Union. These banners return to the government of the Commonwealth through welcome hands. Borne, one by one, out of this capitol, during more than four years of civil war. as the symbols of the nation and the Commonwealth, under which the battalions of Massachusetts departed to the field, they come back again, borne hither by surviving representatives of the same heroic regiments and companies to which they were intrusted. At the hands, General, of yourself, the ranking officer of the Volunteers of the Commonwealth (one of the earliest who accepted a regimental command under appointment of the Governor of Massachusetts), and of this grand column of scarred and heroic veterans who guard them home, they are returned with honors becoming relics so venerable, soldiers so brave and citizens so beloved. Proud memories of many a field; sweet memories alike of valor and friendship; sad memories of fraternal strife; tender memories of our fallen brothers and sons, whose dying eyes looked last upon their flaming folds; grand memories of heroic virtues sublimed by grief; exultant memories of the great and final victory of our country, our Union and the righteous cause; thankful memories of a deliverance wrought out for human nature itself, unexampled by any former achievement of arms; immortal memories with immortal honors blended,—twine round these
