When General Grant determined upon demanding the surrender of the Confederate forces, the first communication upon this subject was carried by Colonel Nugent to an officer of General Lee’s Army. This famous order was as follows: “April 7, 1865. “_General_: “The result of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate States Army known as the Army of Northern Virginia. “(Signed) U. S. GRANT, “_Lieutenant General_.” Thus from Bull Run to Appomattox, from the firing upon Sumter to the fall of Richmond, the 69th Regiment was in continuous service, participating in all the decisive battles of a four years’ war unsurpassed in magnitude and fierceness. When mustered out of the service, after passing in the grand review at the National Capitol, May, 1865, with decimated ranks and shattered banners, it could claim the proud record of never having disobeyed an order, of never having lost a flag. In Fox’s Regimental Losses in the Civil War the 69th heads the roll of regiments recruited in the Empire State in the number of killed and wounded. By Chap. 477, L. 1862, passed April 23, entitled “An Act to provide for the enrollment of the Militia, the organization and discipline of the National Guard of the State of New York, and for the public defense,” the uniformed and equipped militia of the State became recognized as the National Guard. The 69th Militia as the 69th regiment, National Guard, entered the service of the United States in May of that year and served until the September following, when it was mustered out. It was again in the service of the United States for the thirty days between June 25th and July 25th, 1863, and again in 1864, it was mustered into the service of the general government for three months, or until October of that year. Colonel Bagley was in command of the regiment during these years and until February, 1866, when General Martin T. McMahon was selected to succeed him. This distinguished citizen soldier merits more than passing notice. He, with two of his brothers, served with distinction during the great war; one of them—John Eugene McMahon, Colonel of the 164th Regiment, New York Volunteers, Corcoran Legion, died of disease contracted in the service in March, 1863, and the other, James Powers McMahon, who after serving as Lieutenant Colonel of the 155th New York Volunteers, was selected to succeed his deceased brother as Colonel of the 164th. This daring soldier was killed in action at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864, while planting the colors of his regiment on the breastworks of