Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-12
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
First Annual Reunion of Bell County's
Association Grand Success.
Officers Elected-Letters of Regret from Jeffer-
son Davis, 6. r. Beauregard, James A.
Walker and Others.
Special to the Gazette.

! federate association of Bell county held
their first annual reunion at this place
/ yesterday. The number of ex-soldier:
included, probably, about one thousand
ex-Unlon soldiers. The line was forparE
on the public square and, preceded by
the s. S band discoursing martial mu-
sic and escorted by the knights OF
! Pythias on horseback and in full uniform
the crowd marched to the park under
| the command of Co.'s. J.. Anderson and
C. NJ. Campbell, where the association
was called to order by Capt James BOYds1
the president, when prayer was offesa
by the Rev. DR.. M. V. Smith, himself
| formerly captain in the Confederate
! army. AS the doctor invoked
| the heavenly blessing upon the surviving
soldiers who stood with uncovered heads
tears coursed their way down many a
| furrowed cheek.
The new officers were elected as fol-
lows: Mayor w s. Holman, president;
i r. II. Turner, secretary; w. B. Blair ;,
| treasurer.
| Miss Scott Talley, the accomplished
fourteen-year-old daughter of Dr.. R. 2 i.
| Talley, recited poem entitled, "The
Price Paid for Peace. During its re-
cital many an old soldier trembled and
wept when he remembered his own loved
| ones who now lie buried on distant battle
| fields.
DR.. John Hill Luther, president of
Baylor female college, read three differ
ent poems composed by himself during
the dark days of the war. For one of
these poems, published at the beginning
Of hn 2 n -,
move his tent poles further within the
Confederate lines. After dinner, of
which there was an abundance for all ;,
the following correspondence was read:
Bolton, Tex, May 6, 1889.
Hon. Jefferson Davis, Beauvoir, Miss.
My DEAR SIR am instructed by the
executive committee of Bell county ex-
Confederate association to respectfully
request that you be present and partici-
pate with us at our reunion of ex-Con-
federate soldiers, to be held in Bolton,
Bell county, Tex, on the 10th day of
July next. 1t is with pleasure that ex-
tend an invitation to you, whose whole
life has been devoted to the
interests of the people, and who has
guarded with jealous care the civil and
political freedom of the citizen, and
whose devotion to that great cause has
won the commentator of bitter enemies.
You will here meet a welcome at the
hands of the old soldiers of the Confed-
eracy as grand and spontaneous as was
their devotion to a cause for which they
offered every sacrifice, and which does
not now detract from their respect and
loyalty to a common country Hoping
you will be able to attend, 1 remain
yours truly, JAMES BOYD,
ed a
Association.
To this letter the following response
was made:
BEAUvoIR, MISS, May. Il, 1889.
James Boyd, Esq.
Mr. DEAR SIR-Accept my thanks for
your very kind letter of the 9Th inst. 1
regret that it will not be in my power to
meet you on the 10th of July as invited.
1t would be a sincere pleasure to me to
meet the survivors of the ever faithful
Texans who sustained the cause of con-
stitutional liberty in the war between the
states, but time and Its incidents deny
me the pleasure of travelling as freely as
L would. Very faithfully,
JEFFERSON DAVIS. .
A similar invitation was addressed 70
other prominent actors in the late war.
To this invitation the following replies
were made:
New ORLEANS, La, May u, 1899. ~
Mr. James Boyd. President of the Bell County,
Ex-C Confederate Association, Bolton, Tex. SO
DEAR SIR thank you and the execHzS
tive committee of your association tor the
kind invitation to its reunion at Belfon
on the 10th of July next. 1t would affbrd
me much pleasure to meet those brave
veterans of the late war who never hesi-
tated one instant in sacrificing all the
comforts of home to answer the call of
the South IN defense of what we consid-
cred our constitutional rights. But my
engagements will be such at the period
designated, that 1 will not be able to be
present on that occasion. Please present
my sincerest regrets to your association
and my best wishes for its present and
future prosperity. l remain yours very
truly, G. 7. BEAUREGARD.
From Gen. James A. Walker OF Vir-
ginia, ex-commander of Stonewan Jack
son IS brigade:
WYTHEvIILE, VA, May IL, 1889
Capt. James Boyd: 49,
My DEAR SIR-Thanking you fors1he
cordial invitation to be present at theEe-
union of ex-Conf ederates at Bolton on
the 10th of July next, can only eXpr6Ss
my regret at not being able to hs
with you. 1 love every memBe
of the old Twenty-fifth and Thlrteeflth&
Virginia regiments, and indeed all good
Confederate soldiers. God bless you all
and grant that we may meet some day
and fight our battles over again. Yours
very sincerely, JAMES A. WALKER.
Letters were also received from GoZ&
eruor Ross, Col. John H. Savage of Ten
nesse, Ex-Governor Hubbard and others,
expressing an intention to be present.
but, owing TO subsequent events, they
failed to materialiZe.
In presenting battle flag, little Min
ME Boyd, daughter of Capt. James
Boyd, made the following remarks,
which were much applauded, not so
much for the sentiments expressed per-
haps as for their neat and graceful de-
livery:
This flag once represented a people, a
principle, a government. The times
having called it into being, it became the
representative of theory recognized by
all the states of the late Ccnfederacy.
It represented a principle so just, so
true, so necessary for the wellbeing of
the people whose emblem it was, that
brave men yielded up their lives for the
principle it represented. Young men