AT the close of the war and after their discharge the members of the 21st Missouri Regiment scattered over Missouri and other States of the Union. No effort was made to keep the organization alive until 1888, when T. W. Holman, responding to the whisperings of memory for a sight and hand clasp of the old comrades of ’61-’66, on his own responsibility published a call, in August, 1888, for a meeting of the survivors at Arbela, Mo. The result was a large gathering of the veterans and the organization of the 21st Missouri Infantry Veteran Volunteers Association. From that date to the present time annual meetings have been held. At the meeting in 1896, Messrs. T. W. Holman and N. D. Starr were made Regimental Historians, to compile and perpetuate the history of the regiment. At the next meeting, in 1897, these comrades made a partial report, and at the Edina, Mo., meeting in 1898, submitted the result of their labors in manuscript form. A motion was then made and carried that T. W. Holman continue the labor and revise and prepare the manuscript for publication and have it printed for the use of the Association. In accordance with the foregoing instructions the succeeding pages are respectfully submitted.

T. W. Holman.