Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-05-01
GEN. 3. 2 cHEATHAM.
Complimentary Dinner to the Gallant Chief
by Officers Of his Old Dlvisi0n---
A Pleasant Reuaion.


General p. F. Cheatham has been in the
city for several days,a and many and pleas
ing have been the event incident TO his
meeting again with so many Of the
members of his old command, and for the
first time with a majority Of them since
the sad parting of 1865, at the surrender.
There is no one who could come to West
Tennessee and receive a more hearty and
cordial welcome than General rank, or
4" Mass Frank" as his boys Familiarity
called aim. A majority of the regiments
composing his old division were raised in
West Tennessee, and from the many fire.
side stories of his exploits-his soldierly
daring in every hour of danger, and his
womanly kindness and tenderness to-
ward his men, his name is the household
word, familiar to every circle.
One of the happiest of these events oe-
CURED on Friday evening at the oYerton
Hotel. A few of his old command invited
The General to dine with them
that evening. Dinner was served
at half-past o'clock in the ladies'
ordinary, and included in its bill OF
fare all the choicest viands, and wines
of the best vintage. The printed bill of
fare was in itself both tasteful and appro-
pirate, printed elegantly in gold, and in
scribed Complimentary Dinner to Gen.
B. r. Cheatham, at the OvertOn Hotel:
s.. B. Robins & Co, Proprietors; Friday
evening, April %, 1870"
If one familiar with General Cheatham
couldhave looked only at the face OF
present, and forgotten for the m the
changed dress, sumptuous banquet and
tine banquet hall, he would have almost
imagined the last five years unearthed
and himself witnessing a scene from
the camp life OF the c~hieftaiu.
The General sat at the head ofthe table.
with DR.. r. W. Mitchell opposite, while
Major John Ingram, Drs. Frank Rice, W.
G.. Cavonagh and Emmett Woodward, and
Major b. +. White and Captains James
Z. Beasley and L. r. Mcfarland, of his
old command, with several other of the
friends of General Cheatham, were ranged
to the right and left, respectively. There
was an entire freedom from all that re-
straint and formality usually incident to
such occasions, and the whole affair was
more like b friendly and accidental
meeting of comrades around a camp fire
han a formal dinner.
Many incidents of the wal familiar to
all presRHe were referred to, and,
among them, several gOOOd jokes on the
General himself and of the party, sug-
costing that there were several members
of the Confederate Historic Association
present, and the propriety of their hear
ing his own statement of certain vexed
events, and asked the General to give
them an official report of the celebrated
engagement known as the "Cheatham
and Irishman engagement at Humboldt
referring, we would state, to those
who never heard the same, to a fight
between Cheatham and An Irishman 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
msrriment said, HE didn't want to
anil o rood fnlra - lint aIan a1Iaa -,FAo-
soto UOce, his ruiz was, since a boy,
never to acknowledge it If he was
whipped.
Another asked him 8 if it was true" as
the Sixth and Ninth Tennessee (regi-
ments of his first brigade, and with him
all the war, and to tax pleasure in play
fully suggesting " that he was shot in the
back at Shiloh. The truth of this he &C.
knOwledged, and said he was shot in tbs
back not only once there, but twice.
Among the different tOasts proposed,
all of which were entirely imprOmptu,
was the first by DR.. MITCHELL:
1.-THE soldier we honored, the man we
admired, and the friend we loved. Our
true and oft-tried friend and honOred
guest, Gen. B. z. Cheatham."
To this the General responded in his
own peculiar, happy style; said we all
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 ofthe C~onfederacy reached
them in camp n night in North Caro-
lima; that then the boys all gathered
around him as they would, and asked
him to tell them what to do; some
wanted to fight it out still, others to 20
to Mexico, etc. that he told them to 60
home, obey the laws and make good citi-
zens; 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 wanting 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 tenderest and sad
dest recollections.
AS the General is a great lover of the
turf. sOme n proposed:
"The old war-horse C the army of Ten
nessee, who, whenever a retreat tol0ard
the enemy was ordsged, always had the
heels on thet field"
DR.. Woodward su ested: "Mrs. Cen
eral Cheatham and 3 little Cheathams.n
Major Ingram: THAT il 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
to those who are with MS. let ms
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. I propose the memory of our fall
len comrades, from Albert Sydney John
SON
A man tried in many high offices
And critical enterprises,
Aud found faithful in ALL
n tho hurU,ah1naN ..TuvnN, ~ |
unknown grave. Let us keep their men,
cries alive"
This was received standing and in 81
lence, and the party then retired from the
ordinary; and thus, after many parting
wishes for the continued prosperity and
happiness of each, closed one of the most
pleasant and agreeable social events ever
1aDDaninp in the citv |