Doug Stout Guest Columnist NEWARK - In the spring of 1878, the “Soldiers and Sailors Society of Licking County” was busy planning for the reunion of the soldiers and sailors of Ohio on July 22, 1878. The date had a special significance to the Ohio troops that fought in the Western Theater of the Civil War. It would be the 14th anniversary of the death of the beloved General James McPherson, who was killed at the Battle of Atlanta. The reunion was advertised in newspapers across the state and personal invitations were sent out to a virtual who’s who of government officials and former commanders of the army inviting them to come and say a few words. Major Charles Dana Miller, as secretary of the society, wrote some of the letters. An invitation was mailed to former Lieutenant General and former President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. Miller wrote to Grant, who was touring Europe, on April 12, 1878.