Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1885-09-19

'peeCu-DFle1, SOlulerly anu pdiTlOtiC-
md concluded it by reading the follow
ng Il tier:
ASHLAND, Ky, August II, 1885.
Major E. A. Hickman, Independence,
No., Dear Sir:-"YOurs of the 10th |
nst., Just received. asking for the bat
,le-flag of the Sixth Missouri regiment |
:. 5. A., to be used at the re union in |
Lafayette county on the 25th of the |
present month. 1t gives Inc pleasure |
o comply with your request. can |
we'll imagine the great desire the sur
1ivors feel To see again the flag they |
Ought so gallantly under and their |
latui al pride in showing to their chill |
lren Il relic made sacred by its baptism
n the lire ami smoke of battle. feel
happy in being instrumental in its |
Being. requested by
Col. Erwin to embroider the name of
VIM. Huff, ensign, upon it, | obtained
It tor that purpose from Adjutant Har-
wood. and it was with me during the
siege nf Eicksburg, at which time |
was favored with a guard furnished
through the politeness OF Gen. Farrell.
Of Burnside's corps.
JOSEPHINE CLAY.
Capt j. L. Payne, of the Independence
another SCARED veteran of the
Missouri infantry, received
this battle flag in the name of the
Sixth, and in receiving it made brief
address that was much remarked and
upon for Its eloquence. ap-
and classical beauty.
Afterwa ard, Capt. Payne turned the
flag over to MIR. Benjamin Huff, a pros
pf vI,O hnI
carried it triumphantly through
SIX BLOODY AND CONSECUTIVE BATTLES.
After this episode the re- union pass
ed into its second or social stage, and
thereafter nothing could be seen but
groups of men calling to each other,
hearty hand-shaking, continual greet
ings and embracings, and those happy
and exultant manifestations of pleasure
which succeed SO naturally to long
years of separation if not to say forget
fulness.
From the commingling of the two, it
was well nigh impossible to tell who
had been federal and who had been
confederate soldiers. Only the badges
revealed the sides the soldiers had
taken in the war. They met as COM
rades and friends, fought their
BATTLES DER AGAIN,
compared notes, sought in every way
to verify history, corrected one anoth-
er's data, where corrections were need
ed, and finally all went to dinner to-
gether, and sat together and around
innumerable hospitable boards as a ver-
liable band OF brothers.
Speeches were made by Senator F.M.
Cockreli, Ex-Gov. Thomas T. Critten-
cen, Probate Judge Xenophon Ryland,
of Lafayette county, and Capt. A. j.
Hall, distinguished young lawyer OF
Lexington. Messrs. Crittenden and
Ryland were federal soldiers, and
Messrs. Hall and Cockrell confederate
Captain Hall having served with sigma
gallantry under
GENERAL JOHN H. MORGAN.
OF themselves the speeches served sole
ly to add to the harmony OF the occa-
sion, and to bring the soldiers of the
two armies closer and closer together
Perfectly free from all invidious refiec-
tions or comparisons, they dwelt upol
American valOr as the common birth.
right of the nation, and argued t.
prove, from the splendid examples OF
heroism furnished by both the nortl
and the south, that America unitet
could defy the world.
To some more than to others is dut
the almost unprecedented success o
the re- e-union, and yet to draw the lint
accurately is task
BOTH DIFFICULT AND INvIDIOUs.
Perhaps among those who took th'
strongest personal interest in the mat.
ter and gave more time and attention
to all of the innumerable details of thu
event-without which the Reunion
must have been a failure-one nigh
mention, without injustice to anybody
else, Messrs. e. G. Catron, A. E AS
bury, RIA. Collins, W.P. Maytield,W S
ThOmpson,J j j .Fulkerson, Grove Y Young
and Hub. Campbell, all of Higgins
vile, Boone and Lucien MAJOR, Of Aull
vile ,and Major Fred Meet, of LeXing
ton, representing the federal army, AIT
Capt. j. D. Conner, also of Lexington
representing the confederate army
Major Meet, an old Lafayette count,
man, and gallant federal soldier, ha
been stirring and working for just sucl
a reunion for dozen years, and N
factor in all the delightful gatherin,
was more active, hOspitable, and ON.
nipresent than this generous, ,open-hand
ed, and cosmopolitan soldier. A
grand marshal of the occasion, Capt
Conner
WAS SIMPLY INIMITABLE.
His whole heart was in the cause. H
knew everybody and everybody knew
him. Brought up in the rigid drill ant
precision OF Shelby's own peculiar cav
airy tactics. he could almost hit
waiting column to its feet by motto
of his hand, or dress line to perfectio
by single bugle note. Enthusiastic
in addition, and sleepless, untiring
rollicking, instant in execution, All
knowing better than anybody how t
choose his aides de-camp, he guaran
teed soldierly evolutions from the yer
beginning
BECAUSE OF HIS PRESENCE,
and soon had the vast crowd under sue
perfect discipline that it thereafter, an
for all the balance of the day, handle
itself as piece OF well regulated ma
chinery. To second him in his every e
fort he had at his right hand and his lei
such splendid soldiers as WillFerrell,J ,J
Elliott, Mike Sandidge, Abe Furs
John Wheatley, 81 Crispin, j. S. White
John Nlirick, Dick Collins, Buc
Thornton, Perry Catron, George Cor
don, Ben Neale, j. q. Plattenburg
and Frank Trigg. With such adjutanl
soldiers of four years OF real war
aud with such chief, what else coul
the military part of the reunion hav
been but just what it was-as perfect j
its marching, its evoluions, ,and its dis
cipliue, as an army going into bat
tie?
OF course the great bulk of the wor
to make
THE REUNION A COMPLETE SUCCESS
Was done by the people of Higgins
vile en- maSse, with those we have pei
sOnaliZed III the lead, committee, a
it were, to give form, voice, substance
and expression to what everybod
wamted-the manitestion of universe
and unstinted hospitality. TO this ell
the whole population of Lafayette
county rose up as a body and poure
provisions enough into Higginsville
and those of the very choicest kind, Il
feed 10000 visitors for As hours, III
stead of the 10000 who were pesent fo
, hours In short, other counties ma
equal Lafayette in the prodigalitv o
their welcome, but none on this cart
can ever surpass the one which foun
such perfect expression at Higgins
vile. 1t was the talk of the state Il
the time, and it is yet the talk OF tn
state.