The Opelousas courier., 1896-06-13
THE REUNION.

Chairman Peyton Wise, of the committee APP
pointed to prepare for the sixth annual reunion
of the United Confederate Veterans, has issued
the following stirring address:
RICHMOND, VA, March IS. 1896.
To the United Confederate Veterans every
where: Your Sixth Annual Reunion will be
held at Richmond, Va, on the goth June, LIST
and Cd days of July next.
Widely scattered since the war bN the ties of
family and old-time tiresides, by x1e demand
OF business, by your natural enc flies, and by
the necessities of life, you are a>dllng home
home to the city which is yoursHy the supreme
tests of the rain of fire through which you
went, and of the sea OF blood through which
you passed, on the mission of her and the com
mon defence. You have been no prOdigal sons,
for you inherited only the remnants of a rapa-
cious ravage that was rampant everywhere i'll
your land; because you had nothing left but
the manhood from which you were inSeparable.
But the fatted calf shall be killed for you, and
we shall be merry together, not because of pity
fuv your sins, but because pride in your fame
demands.
You shall traverse again the streets which
thfffeu to the tread of your legions while they
were passing to the ranks of the best army that
the world ever knew.
You shall be confronted by the Virginians
who were the comrades of your immortal glory
and who are your brothers forever.
You shall see again the women who nursed
you back to vigor from hefeebleness of wounds
and want, from the wretched woe of your losses,
and who pointed the dying gaze of your fellows
to the heaven which stopped to enfold them.
1OuF eyes Shall btuulu themselves III
| city which proudly wrapped herself in your
patriotic flames, from which she has emerged
a thing of beauty and a joy for always.
You shall revisit the battle-tields which have
been consecrated by your blood. and where, if
| you lost your country, You found a fame that
fills the world.
Heartily helped by our city and her citizens,
we are building for you a place of reunion i'll
| which ten thousand of you may make the vel
kin ring to the mssic of Dixie and to the chorus
of the Rebel YeK
On some appropriate day of the Reunion You
shall be part and parcel OF the rearing OF that
monument which shall be to Jefferson Davis,
not merely because he was your President and
dwelt as such i'll the capital of your Confeder-
acy, but because he was the u~nspeakable type
of that inetfable manhood which made the ar
mics of the SOUTH.
During youh stay here there will be many a
bivouac, wheff, not in bravado or disloyalty,
but for weetI2hemory's sake, will be sung over
again the olt1 songs, told over again the old
tales, fought ddcr the old fights, yelled again
the old yell, and raised again the old flag.
Come, then. Come to our hearts and homes
and to these bivouacs. Before we pass to the
| great beyond we ought to have one more bout
and toast together. The toast shall be to our
own memories and to our Confederate com
rades wherever they may be; but it shall carry
| along with it a brave blessing for our fellow
citizens everywhere, a determined devotion to
the safety, honor and welfare of the entire
country. PEYTON WISE, Chairman.