The surviving members of the 114th New York Volunteer Infantry gathered in Norwich on May 30, 1897, to look once more into the eyes of the men who had carried them through the darkest days of the Civil War. They had fought fiercely at places like Port Hudson, Sabine Cross Roads, and Cedar Creek, where courage and loss walked hand in hand for the Chenango County regiment. With each passing year, the group photographs grew smaller and the hair of the old soldiers whiter, but the bond forged in battle remained unbreakable. Their annual reunion was a sacred promise to remember fallen comrades and the steep sacrifices that preserved a fragile Union.
