Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-05-03

4
GEN. q. y. eEsEsTHaMk1
Gem ELEMENTARY Dinncr Co the Gal.
lssnt Chief by OFFICERS o. isas oia
TDtvisioH--A Pleasant fsessniosssA /
On SUNDAY we mentioned the fact that
a complimentary dinner was given at Mem
phis on Saturday to our distinguished fell
low citizen, Gen. b. i. CheathaEn, and
ventured the assertion that it would be q
recherche affair Fromthe Appeal OF Sun
day. we take the following account OF the
interesting event:
Gen. b. f. Cheatham has been in the !
city for several days, and many and pleas
ing have been the events incident to his |
meeting again with SO many OF the mem
bers of his old command, and for the trst
time with majority of them since the SAD
parting Of 1865, at the surrender. There
is no one whe could come to West Tonnes
see and receive more hearty ane cordlaI
welcome than Gen. Frank, or Mass
Frank" as his boys familiarity called hlm
A majority of the regiments composing MS
old division were raised in West Tennessee,
and from the many fireside stones OF MS
exploits---his soldierly daring in every hour
of danger. and his vomanly kindness ana
tenderness toward his men, his name Is tne
household word, familiar to every circle
One of the happiest of these events oc-
Cured on Friday evening at the Overton
Hotel A few of his old command invited
tba General to dine with them that eve
ninp. Dinner was served at half-past
o'clock in the ladies' ordinary, and IN
cluded in its bill of fare all the choicest
viands. and wines of the best vintage. The
printed bill of fare was in itself both taste
full and appropriate, printed elegantly IN
| GOLD. and inscribed Complimentary DIM
! ner to Gen, B. F. Cheatham, at the Over
| ton Hotel: s. B. Robins & Co., Proprle-
tors; Friday evening, April 20, '1S7c.
| II one familiar with Gen. Cheatham
/ could have looked only at the face OF those
present, and forgotten for the moment the
changed dress, sumptuous banquet and
fine BANQUET hall, he would have almost
imagined the last five years unearthed and
himself Witnessing scene from the camp
| life of the chieftain.
The General sat at the head of the table,
with DIR. R. w. Mitchell opposite, while
Major John Ingram, Drs. Frank Rice, w:
G. Cavenagh and Emmett Woodward, and
Major B.. +. White and Capts. James Z.
Beasley and L. B. Mcfarland, of his old
command, with several others of the friends
of Gen. Cheatham, we're ranged to the right
and left, respectively. There was an en-
tire freedom from all that restraint and for
mality usually incident to such occasions,
and the whole affair was more like the
friendly and accidental meeting OF COM
rades around camp fire than formal dln-
ner. ;,
MANY incidents of the war familiar to all
present were referred to, and, among
them, several good jokes on the General
himself, one of the party, suggesting THAT
there were several members OF the Con-
federate Historic Association present and
the propriety of their hearing his own
statement of certain vexed events, and
asked the General to give them an official
report of the celebrated engagement known
| as the s'Cheatham and Irishman engage
ment at Humboldt" referring, we would
state, to those who never heard the same,
| to fight between Cheatham and an Irish
! man at Humboldt, which, rumor said, was
| Cheatham's first defeat of the war. The
| General declined to give any statement Of
the affair, and amid much humor and mer-
riment said, ''He didn't want to spoil a
| good Joke, but also added, rather soto
goce. his rule was, since boy, never to
acknowledge it if he was whipped.
Another asked him ''if it was true, as
| the Sixth and Ninth Tennessee (regiments
of his first brigade, and with him all the
| war;, used to take pleasure in playfully
suggesting ''that he was shot in the bach
! at Shiloh The truth Of this he acknowl-
edged, and said he was shot in the back
| not only once there, but twice.
Among the different toasts proposed, all
of which were entirely impromptu, was the
first by DIR. Mitchell;
''The soldier we honored, the man we
admired, and the friend We loved, oul
true and oft-tried friend and honored
guest. Gen B. f. Cheatham.
To this the General responded in his
own peculiar, happy style; said we al
knew he couldn't speak; we had seen him
try that the longest speech he ever made
was when the disheartening news OF the
last days of the Confederacy reached then
in camp one night in North Carolina; that
then the boys all gathered around him &c
tell them what to do some wanted to fight
it out still, others to go to Mexico, etc.
that he told them to go home, obey the
laws and make good citizens; said he could
see their heads droop as if all hope was
gone, and one by one they quietly went to
their quarters said he had been long want
ing to come to Memphis to see the boys
but this was the first time he could do so
that they were all here, and every day he
was meeting with familiar faces, which
called up some of the most stirring events
of his life, and yet many of its saddest ano
tenderest recouections.
AS the General is a great lover OF the
turf, some one proposed:
1.-The old war-horse of the army of Ten
nessee, who. whenever a retreat t0oCdrdtht
enemy was ordered, always had the heels
on the field.
DR.. Woodward suggested: "Mrs. Gen.
eral Cheatham and the little Cheathams.
Mai. Ingram: THAT it might often be
our pleasure in future to thus gather around
our chieftain.
The hour growing late-it being twelve
o'clock-Mr. Mcfarland rose and SAID
THAT while we take pleasure in paying
tribute to those who are with US, let us also
remember those who are not-while We
weave our laurel for the living, let US also
Irvine with it the cypress for the dead.
propose the memory of our fallen comrades
from Albert Sydney Johnson
"A man tried in many high offices
And critical enterprises,
And found faithful in ALL
to the humblest private, who sleeps in al
unknown grave. Let US keep their mem
cries alive"
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