The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-07-24

enth Virginia; Lieutenant.Co COLONEL Bennett
TAYLOR, OF the Nineteenth; Masor McS ssfgh
Colonel Duke, and General Tarleton 4 80
lored), who was q bcaye soldier in the
Nineteenth, and who, when released from
attendance upon Captain Cochran, shout.
dered his musket and went boldly towards
the enemy. General Tarleton was received
with much enthusiasm. He said he chad
not expected to be called on to speak first,
because he was an uneducated man; and
second, because he was no orator or speaker.
But howsomdeyer, as the gentlemen had
done him the honor, lie would say that he
could not so back on his principles. He
followed the fight from John Browns raid
at Harper's Ferry to the
Surrender of Lee
Under the apple-tree,
and had remained firmly fixed In his prin.
ciples ever since. He was Virginian born,
and wanted to lay his bones beneath Vir.
ginia sod" General Tarleton's remarks
We're received with much cheering aud
laughter.
Judge Cochran paid o feeling tribute to
the late General Custer, and mentioned the
fact that amongst his Inflated band was M
tive Of Albemarlc christopher Criddie(, and
proposed as toast the memory OF Custer
and his fallen braves. This sentiment was
received by the troops with vociterous de.
monstrations.
Letters were received from many invited
guests, who. sent their best wishes for the
success OF the retinion.
The following was reads
RICHMOND, VA, July II, 1876.
Dear Wertenbaker,-It is with great re-
greet that I have to inform you that I shall
be unable 10 attend the retlnion of the Nine
teenth.
want You to present my most iraternal
greetings to my old companions and pa
tientS, the sta,lnch survivors of so much
powder and ball and quinine, and to tell
them how glad should be to meet and eat
with them again with no one to modest or
make me afraid, and where I could stand up
and confer with them like man instead OF
peering at them afar OFT from gully or be-
hind a hay-stack like grounding, as I
have had too often to do in the former evil
days. have an abiding regard for the
Nineteenth, Tor its members were always
kind to me; and I feel proud to know that
whereas surgeons, as q rule, were utterly
abhorred, I succeeded in getting myself
only partially despised. Tell Them that al
though I cannot be present bodily [ shall
remember them on the Dist, and ut least be
with them in spirit; and were it not for the
atrociouS rigidity Of the constitution and
bylaws Of the Noah's Flood Division OF
Sons Of Temperance, Of which, since [
ceased to be their surgeon, have become a
most unworthy member, | should be with
them in spirits, too.
And now, with all the power may pos
Sess to call down blessings upon those /
esteem, invoke the utmost prosperity for
my dear old-tinfe friends Of the Nineteenth.
Truly yours,
WILLIAM Fl. TAYLOR.
The regiment and Guard disbanded about
6 O'Clock, and the members scattered through
the town. There was one feature in the
procession which made it differ from the
regiment OF war times; that was the num-
Der Of one-armed and one-legged men who
were there. Your correspondent saw no
thing to raise the spirit OF 'G1 until the bull
let-riddled, stained, and tattered colors ap-
peared to view, borne by the man who had
carried them to victory on many battle
fields. Then the blood surged in the veins,
and IN involuntary movement OF the hand
towards the hat discovered that he was
about to commit an offence against order by
giving three rouSing cheers.
The day passed Off pleasantly, and the re-
union was considered grand success.
At night grand ball was given at the
Parish Hotel, when the youth and beauty
congregated to do homage to the "easy,
airy, gleeful, graceful motion OF the Ger
man. And thus ended the first rc0nion OF
the Nineteenth Virginia, on the anniversary
OF the first battle OF Manassas; and as those
veterans fought anew the battles they had
won and lost, let us hope they We're
strengthened by their victories and not
Inundated by their defeats. QUIP.