FELLOW-SOLDIERS: It is reported that an old Roman once said: “If I were not a Roman citizen, I would be a Greek.” This is an anniversary of the First Kansas, and upon such an occasion, and in a similar spirit, I declare that if I was not an Eighth Kansas man, I would like to be a First Kansas man. This is especially a reunion of the First Kansas, but to their festival, with true soldierly fellowship, they have invited all other soldiers who care to join in celebrating the anniversary of one of the most desperate battles of the war, and especially all who have, not exactly “drank from the same canteen,” but served in the same commands. With the exception of my own regiment, I had, during the war, a more familiar acquaintance with the First than with any other body of Kansas troops. And the First represented, probably more than any other regiment, that magnificent uplifting of national pride, patriotism and enthusiasm which succeeded the first shot at Sumter. No man who cannot remember the spirit of that hour can have any conception of the fierce, strong, irresistible outburst which flowed over the whole land when the flash of that gun revealed the Nation’s danger. There was more coolness and deliberation, and no doubt quite as much sincere patriotism and noble consecration to a great cause, in the formation of regiments under subsequent calls. But the men who responded to Abraham Lincoln’s first call for 75,000 men, represented, more than any others, the passionate resentment and white-heat enthusiasm of that most startling and momentous event in American history. To them belonged the soldiers of the First Kansas. And the regiment nobly sustained the promise of its rapturous and wonderful organization. Within two weeks after the Governor had called for volunteers the regiment had its full complement of companies; in ten days more it was in Missouri; within a month after it was sworn into service it had formed a junction with General Lyon at Grand River; and in but little more than two months it had taken part in one of the most desperate and bloody battles of the war, losing over one-third of its effective force, and by its unflinching courage, determination and coolness, reflecting imperishable honor upon the name of the State. Its subsequent career was alike creditable and distinguished. It participated in thirty battles and skirmishes; the tramp of its feet was heard in eight different States, from the Missouri to the Gulf; it marched over six thousand miles; it followed the flag it loved during the revolving seasons of three long, gloomy and eventful years; it made history wherever it went, and did its full share in the work of suppressing rebellion and annihilating slavery; and finally, when the term of its service was concluded, a large number of its soldiers reënlisted as veterans, to see the war through to the end.