The surviving members of the Seventeenth or Fairfield county regiment, met in annual convention at Norwalk on Friday. The men were met at the depot by Co. D, Eight regiment, C.N.G., with band and drum corps, and a large number of citizens in carriages and on foot, and escorted to Lockwood Hall, where the exercises were held. The hall was tastefully decorated with flags and mottoes, and portraits of the honored dead of the regiment, among which were those of Lieutenant Colonel Wilcoxson, killed in Florida, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Fowler, killed at Gettysburg, and Lieutenant Colonel Walters, killed at Chancellorsville. An attractive object on the stage was a flag which was presented to the Fowler Guards of Norwalk, at the time of their leaving for the war. At the battle of Chancellorsville it was hidden for safe keeping on the breast of a soldier of the regiment, who was captured and from whom it was taken by the rebels. Some six or seven months ago, this same flag was returned by the captors to the company.
The exercises were opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Hall of Norwalk, the chaplain not having arrived, after which the widow of Lieutenant Colonel Wilcoxson personally presented a very handsomely arranged basket of flowers, the ground work being of mixed colors, and in the center of the flowers in pure white the words – “To the Seventeenth Regiment.” Several letters were read from distinguished officers and others who were invited to attend the reunion, but were unavoidably absent, among which were letters from Generals Burnside and Gilmore and Senator Buckingham. Addresses were made by the Rev. H. Clay Trumbull of this city, the Rev. A.S. Hall, and Frank B. Smith of Norwalk, who belonged to the Army of the West, the Hon. A.H. Byington of the New York Sun, and Chaplain Hall.
The exercises were closed by the election of the following officers: – President, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Allen; First Vice President, Captain James E. Hubbell; Second Vice President, Sergeant Chas. F. Loomis; Recording Secretary, First Lieutenant Harry McDonough; Corresponding Secretary, Adjutant George C. Peck; Treasurer, First Lieutenant A.W. Peck; Executive Committee – Captain H.P. Burr, Corporal James R. Middlebrook.
After the election the company sat down to a splendid dinner, which was spread on five tables running the whole length of Norwalk Hall. The tables were abundantly furnished with choice edibles and handsomely decorated with flowers. This was followed by a “feast of reason and flow of soul,” and the whole affair was concluded with a dance. The people of Norwalk provided liberally for the entertainment of the regiment, and their guests will not soon forget their generous hospitality and kindly welcome.
From the Hartford Daily Courant, August 31, 1868