In the distinguished gathering were Mayor Edson, Dr.Lyman Abbott, General and Mrs.George B.McClellan, Whitelaw Reid, Henry Ward Beecher, Parke Godwin, Elihu Root, Cyrus W.Field, Mr.and Mrs.John Bigelow, and Lionel Sackville-West, the British Minister.
At the supper, which was served at midnight, one of the features was the striking pieces of confectionery.

In gleaming white sugar was a model of the Capitol, and a tall monument supported statuettes of the President and his Cabinet.

Also there was a twenty-four-foot model of the Brooklyn Bridge with the President and troops crossing it.
At the banquet to Lieutenant Greely of Arctic fame, at the Lotos Club, on January 16, 1886, Vice-President General Horace Porter was in the chair, in the absence of President Whitelaw Reid.

Besides Lieutenant Greely, Chief Engineer Melville, and Commander Schley, who headed the expedition to relieve Greely, were guests of the club, and among others at the table were Chief Justice Daly, Colonel C.McK.Leoser, Robert Kirby, Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, Dr.Pardee, Frank Robinson, Herman Oelrichs, C.H.Webb, Colonel Thomas W.Knot, George Masset, J.
O'Sullivan, Douglas Taylor, James Bates, and Chandos Fulton.

In his speech the guest of the evening told the story of his expedition to the Far North and explained the reason for every action.