April 27, 1918, was Ulysses S Grant's 96th birthday.  Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a judge in Northern Illinois and renowned orator, was the keynote speaker for the occasion.  Landis would in 1920 become the first commissioner of baseball, best known for his ban of the 1919 White Sox players, crushing any attempts at free agency, and staunch opposition to desegregation.

A parade met the speaker and soldiers from Camp Grant and proceeded up Park Avenue, across the river to Riverside Drive, down Main Street and out Broadway, circling back and proceeding back down Main Street to Green Street, across the Green Street bridge to Johnson Street and finally ending at Grant Park.

Among those sharing the stage were surviving soldiers from the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the last remaining veterans of the Civil War.

The Galena Daily Gazette published extensive coverage of the event, displayed below.