The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-21
REUNION OF THE GRAZ.
The Confederate Veteran Encamp-
ment at Richmond.

ment at Richmond.
Sixteen thousand of the men who
wore the gray in the great civil strife
of a generation ago will assemble at
Richmond, Va, on June 80, to take
part in the sixth annual encampment
of the United Confederate Veteran as
ISOLATION. The programme arranged by
the citizens of Richmond and, by the
officers of the association covers a per-
iod of three days, but many of the old
warriors will remain for a longer per-
iod in the city for whose final preser-
walton the last year of the war was
stained the bloodiest in the history of
the nation.
Many of the old soldiers will make
their first visit to the former capital Of
the confed'eracy since the ending of
the war. Thousands of them formed
the valiant army which Lee kept be-
tween Grant and Richmond for many
weary months, fighting almost every
day in the week, marching at night,
and hungry all the time.
! Curious emotions will fill the breasts
of these men when they reach Rich
mond again. The last of. it that some
of them saw was on the night of the
| historic evacuation fire, when the best
part of the city was reduced. to ruins
This fire swept away many of the
places, which the old soldiers will hunt
for in vain. 1t was the, order of the
! day, the fatal April 8, 1865. to burn
everything connected with the canfed-
crate government. Scores of buildings
which would now be of vast historical
| interest to south and north alike, weht
| UP in flame and smoke, and with them
the homes of hundreds of families al
ready brought to the verge of destitu-
ton by the long war. Many of the SOL
dierS marched out of Richmond that
night crying as if their hearts were
breaking. They saw the devoted city
for which they had fought for years
crumbling into ruins.
A CHANGED CITY.
When those old warriors, with the
memory of that dreadful night still
fresh and sharply defined, again see
Richmond the spectacle will be more
than a surprise. The giant hand of
progress has been unrelenting in its
incessant work upon, the former cap
ital of the confederacy. Everything
that makes a city beautiful to the eye
and attractive to the active brain of
the present generation will be found
there in abundance. Those who cast
sentiment and the memory of hallowed
things aside say the fire was a bless
ing. But sentiment plays a leading
part with the soldiers of both sides
of the civil war and many of the old
fellows who knew Richmond in the
war days would like to see it again as
it was before the great fire did its
work
Aside from visiting Richmond again
the coming reunion is fraught with an
other matter of Importance to the ole
soldiers. This is the laying of the
corner stone of the great monument to
be erected to the memory of Jefferson
Davis, president of the confederacy
These ceremonies will take place on July
2. The monument will be erected al.
most in the center of Monroe park, on E
site now occupied by a large fountain
1t is the intention to spend a quarter
of a million of dollars on the monu
ment, and to make it the finest of it:
kind in the country. Twenty-sever
designs have been submitted to th'
committee by the leading architect!
of the country, and one of these will
be chosen during the encampment.
The idea of building this monumen
originated at a. mass meeting in Rich
mond on December q, 1889, and {
monument association was formed
with J. Taylor Ellyson president TIL
v ton since then, and when the design
/ has been settled upon the active worl
on the monument will be begun.
2 SIMPLE CEREMONIES.
The ceremony of laying the corne
;. stone will be simple. General John B
Gordon of Georgia, commander of tn
confederate veterans, will martial tn
parade to the site of the memorial, an
, there j. Taylor Ellyson and the othe
officers of the Monument association
will take charge. The Grand lodge o
Masons, Colonel J. P. Fitzgerald, com
mander will lay the corner stone, an
j. General Stephen D. Lee of Mississippi
a will deliver the Grafton of the day
a. Mrs. Jefferson Davis and Miss Winni
Davis will be present. ~
n In addition to the 5000 souther
e veterans who will march in the pa
rade, various militia organization
S from all over the south to the numbe
d of 1000 men will take part, also
large body of school children. 1t wi
. be the biggest military pageant. tina
Richmond has seen since the war. L
all, the city expects to entertain 5000
r visitors during the encampment.
}. special feature will be made of tn
-. l. a. t.