TAPS ARE VOTED FOR VET REUNIONS
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Last Civil War Member of 17th Conn. Gone, Group Decides to Close Its Books
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Invitation to 75th (and final) reunion of the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Association. The last veteran of the regiment, Edward Pinkney, died the previous winter. The association disbanded after this meeting.
Photo courtesy of Carolyn Ivanoff
The final reunion of the 17th Connecticut Volunteers Association was held Saturday at Roton Point Park when the secretary of the association was ordered to close the books of the group and make provision for their presentment to a historical organization for preservation.
The association voted also to turn over all of its funds for the perpetuation of a custom observed by the regiment since the close of the Civil War, that of keeping its regimental flag continuously aloft over the battlefield of Gettysburg out of respect for the many members of the regiment who lost their lives there.
George Hyde Emory, 18 Melbourne road, this city, presided at the meeting. Harriet B. Blakeman of Stratford, secretary and treasurer of the group, was authorized by the families and friends of the historic regiment to close the books at this reunion, the 75th. The action, the members felt, was the only one to take since the death of Edward Pinkney of Danbury and Georgetown last winter. He was the only known last survivor of the regiment.
Concluding the affairs of this historic group came with much regret. Those who attended the meeting yesterday pledged that everything in the historical life of the 17th would be compiled. – from Norwalk Hour, August 30, 1937