Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-09-15
A Letter From an Old Soldier.

Ed. Register-Will you open the col
umns of the REGISTER that l may give
a brief statement of the reunion of the
Ozark Battalion of the old soldiers of
Southwest and Southeast Missouri.
which met at Salem, Missouri, August
31st and September 1st and I'd?
Wednesday morning, early, the boys
began to pour into camp, which was
already prepared by the good, gener-
ous-hearted people of Salem, and by
noon Thursday the blue-coats were as
thick as grasshoppers.
Now, Mr.. Editor, this letter is in
tended for the soldiers of Iron, Wash
ington. and other counties, who did
not take part in that grand reunion.
Why, boys, why didn't you go? You
missed one-half your life by not going
and having some of the old memories
revived. l believe there were soldiers
there from every State in the Union,
aud if you had been there you might
had one more opportunity of a hearty
hand-shake with the Captain, or Lieu
| tenant, or Colonel. or Sargent, Or Cor
poral, or some private with whom you
have not met since 1865. Think there
| were more than a thousand flags float
| ing in the air over the streets of Salem;
in front of almost every house could be
seen the banner of our country, and
wreaths of the red, white and blue ov-
er the yard gates; Chinese lanterns by
| the hundreds; and in letters as large
as circus posters, the word, '.Wel-
come" was waving in front of their
doors. Everything was done by the
people of Salem which could be done
to make the soldiers feel happy. The
ladies of Salem, too, will long be remem
bered by the boys in blue, more es-
pecially those young ladies who sang
so many of the dear old National airs
and war songs; and those declamations
and readings were grand. The Sons of
Veterns, too, were there, and we old
soldiers felt proud to see them come
up bravely and manifest willingness
to fill our places soon; for It will not
be long till we hear the last roll-call,
the last tattoo, the last reveille.
We cannot forbear saying that the
daughters of VETERANS were also present
and manifested to US old soldiers that
they, too, were not whit behind the
Sons of Veterans in displaying a spirit
of patriotism, and love for the flag
of our Country. 1t was daughter of
an old soldier who was so delighted
in baking the bread, making the tea
and coffee. frying the steak, and cook
ing the porridge for your writer, after
a long ride of 40 miles over the Ozark
mountains, and who did all she could
to make my stay in Salem a pleasant
one, which will ever be remembered
with pleasure. May God bless her and
her parents!
Now, my dear old comrades, let US
all go to the next encampment of the
Ozark Battalion, viii CHI will be at Gu
ba, Mo-, August Esd, oath, and 25th,
1898, and have one more good time.
We would here say that the Ozark
Battalion takes in all of this Congress
sioual district. Hence there were sew
eral 6. A. r. posts not represented at
Salem. 1 believe 1 was the only men,
Der from the post at Belgrade in Wash
ington county. Wake up the boys,
comrade Bryan, and let us all rally
round the flag at Cuba next year, and
hear that old familiar "Fall I'M" once
more before we go to sleep.
AN OLD SOLDIER.
%,,;o n