Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-05-04
BLUE AND GRAY.
RECEPTION OF COLONEL WILLIAM B
AyLgrT IN PHILADELPHIA.
Eis Speech AZ the Academy Of Eusie-Inei-
dents Of the war-FrateYnsl
Feeling.

gives the following account OF tno Iecep-
ton of Colonel William II. Aylett at the
Academy Of Music in that city Wednes-
day night:
MANY prominent citizens were in the
audience. In the righthand box we're
Mrs Pickett and her son. George Pick
ett. Mrs. Banes, Miss Aylet,, Mayor
Wilkinson OF West Point. Va, and Mrs
wilkinson, and Mrs. Whitecar. There
was burst OF hearty applause when
Colonel Aylett walked on the stage.
John w. Frazier called tho meeting 10
order and introduced Adjutant Whitecar,
who read letters OF regret at not being
able TO DO present from General Joseph
T.. Johnston and Governor Beaver. Mir.
Whitecar then introduced General James
G. Lynch as chairman. General Lynch
made q stirring speech, recounting the
meeting OF the Philadelphia brigade
with Pickoits division ut Gettysburg in
1868 and again year ago. Then with
fine effect he turned TO Colonel Aylett.
"To you, sir" he said, "on the part
of the Philadelphia brigade. extend the
hand OF frsternal love. "
The Press also has this synopsis OF
Colonel Aylett's address:
"This warm reception you have Just
given me, said Colonel Aylett when he
could make himself heard, "goes very
close to my heart" Another burst Of
applause interrupted him, and, bowling
again, Colonel Aylett said that he hoped
his hesrt was large enough 10 hold kind
illness for everybody whether they lived
on the Kennebec, the Delaware, or the
James. lie thanked the Philadelphia
brigade and the citizens OF Philadelphia
for the kindness they had shown him.
He also offered thanks in behalf of Mrs.
Pickett Mr.. Pickett. Mayor and Mrs.
Wilkinson. and the little southern flower,
Miss Aylctt, brought from his own
home. AT this the audience cheered
again. Then the lecturer went on TO
speak Of the object to which the pro
ceeds of the lecture will be devoted. He
said:
AT that spot on the heights of the
battlefield Of Gettysburg known as the
Bloody Angle, forever halloved by the
blood OF tho North and the South. which
flowed there in q mingled current when
the Philadelphia brigade and Pickett's
division met in deadly combat on the 81
day Of July, 1853. the survivors of these
far-famed historic organizations met
again on the Sd day OF July. 1887, as
friends aud brothers. Pickett's veterans
came as tho invited guests of the Phils
delphis brigade. Thoy shook hands
across the walls Of the Bloody Angle.
the place sacred with their blood and
consecrated forever by their heroism and
afevb
God and the angels approved it. No
event ever so thrilled the national heart
as that meeting that day.
Born of that meeting Of the Blue
and Gray was a resolution that tho Phlla.
delphia brigade and Cowans battery
would erect at their own expense where
Armistead foil inside the Union works d
monument to his memory. Was there
ever reconciliation so complete, magma |
nimity and generosity so sublime? But /
the silent and mighty Influences which |
brought the veterans there expanded the /
resolution into something grander than |
the original conception. and it was dc. |
termined under the inspiration of scenes |
which will never be forgotten by those |
who saw them that n Joint monument TO |
a
now forever joined in union aud brother |
hood, should he erected at the farthest |
point of the Confederate penetration Of |
the Union lines, where tho heroic |
Armistead fell, leading the charge OF
Tickett's division.
1T has been suggested to me that |
Gettysburg in 1863 and 1885 should benny |
subject, but l shall not tell as much about |
Gettysburg as my friends have mapped |
out for me. / DO not care to rohearse
the bloody annals of that awful conflict,
but TO show in what | have 10 say that
the Blue and the Gray were not only the
bravest of foes but the first pescemakers
OF the land. The Blue and the Gray
have settled the public peace OF this land |
forever, and no sensibleman at the South |
would have the issue reopened, or the
work of the armies, or the will of God, !
as displayed in the results, altered or re-
versed.
CHfvALRY OF THE OPPOSING FORCES.
Colonel Aylett then cited incident
after incident to show the chiyalry OF
the contending forces. "After tho bat
tie of Five Forks, when Pickett's div-
sion was part of the rear guard of
Lees army, marching and fighting for
six days on psrched corn, they would
have died" he said, from starvation"
after their capture at Sayior's creek, if
the Boys in Blue had not shared their
haversscks with them until General
Grant issued them rations. The union
of the Blue and the Gray began then,
and these kind acts were victory over
their hearts more enduring than that of
war-it softened more than lead and
steel. IL was the voice of common
blood and ancestry speaking in the
midst of the battle smoke aud roar OF
cannon, and the Boys in Gray have not
forgotten it.
during the march TO Gettysburg
Pickett's division, hating at one place,
separated on opposite sides of the road
a mother and her little girl, whose father
was in the Union army. General Armi-
stead kissed the little girl and sent her
to her mother by an orderly with this
message: "Tell her she need not DO
alarmed, that We do not war npon women
and children, and thai the wife and
daughter of Union soLier, absent from
his home and fighting for his faith and
land as we are for ours, will never lack
sympathy and protection from any true
soldier of the army of Robert L. Lee
he cited similar incident when Gen
eral Mcintosh, Of the Union forces, en-
canped on his Virginia home, and when
the officers protected his wife and chill
dren and won his everlasting gratitude.
These were only few Of 1he incidents
OF the beginning OF the reunion Of the
Blue and Gray. He said "General !
Hancock won the southern heart when, :
though wounded himself, he found and ..
cared for his old dying comrade and !
classmate, General Armistead. Sherman
did much 10 atone for his march to the
sea by granting to General Johnston I,
terms so liberal that the Government OBJ
jected to them. Judge Underwood caused
an indictment TO be found against Lee in !.
his court-it was the great soldier Grant
who stepped sublimely to the front and ,
claimed that Lee was protected by his :
parole and the terms OF his surrender,
and that the prosecution must be dis.