The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-06
THE ooNFEDERATE REUNION.
Views and Observations by One of
the Visitors


the Visitors.
Richmond, Va. July S.-The last few
days have had upon Richmond the ef-
feet Of one Of these great commissions Of
nature. which for the time being change
the familiar face of the world and throw
into new relations the men who people 1t.
For the four days Just passed the his
toric old town has been torn from rs
mOorings. Through familiar streets and
beneath the shadow Of time-wOrn monu-
ments have again surged the serrled
ranks Of an invading army. and in the
mind of the oldest inhab!tant" must
surely have arisen memories Of the dark
days when the roll OF the drum was heard
upon the hills, and the thunder of cannon
sounded in bitter earnest.
1t IS all over now. The great confeder-
ate reunion IS as much a thing Of the
past as the days when the armies of the
cOntending sections deployed along the
Potomac. but II the god of war was pres
ent, either in spirit or in person, at the
great love feast, whose traces may still
be seen on every hand, his hungry eyes
must have seen much to raise in his mind
grave doubts as 10 MS continued useful
ness. It Is not too much to say that in
all that has taken place here-that in the
strange mixture Of sOutherner and
yankee, of blue and gray, not one Earring
note has been heard, and that wherever
In this country sectional feeling may be
| found, II is useless TO look for IL in the
ranks of those who lived through the
war, and who have lived down the ami
mOsities IL engendered.
The predominant. the characteristic note
| of the reunion that lives in my memory
/ and stands out clearly relieved above all
else Is the fraternal footing upon which
met the men who thirty odd
/ years ago were meeting in
fashion much mors deadly These men
stand together. an all will not be well
Il NnHfH al 10 fmFr
/ part them.
one of the sights Of this most memora-
/ bic OF reunions was the spectacle-and IL
| was an edifying one-of Corporal Tanner,
most doughty of legless radicals, seated
/ in the great corridor of the jefferson no.
/ tel the center OF an eager throng of con-
| federate veterans. constantly circling
/ around him and forever shaking him by
| the hands until it looked as II he might
/ lose the remaining members Of that stall
/ wart body of his. All through the re-
union-all through the city, in every place
| imaginable and in some that an ordinary
mind would not have deemed imaginable,
/ similar scenes were enacted; and at every
! turn the ears of the casual observer were
/ assailed by the deep-toned eagerness with
| which little groups Of veterans aired their
! "reminiscences.
What! were you on that hill?" one
grizzled old fellow, with perhaps an empty
sleeve, would cry. do you remember the
| day when we made that rush at Gettys-
| burg?" would come from another: and so
| 1t went on night and day. IL was a great
| opening for the photograph, but one that
offered little encouragement to the politi-
clan.
To my thinking the true significance
of the reunion was to be found In these
unconSidered trifies, rather than in those
! splendid and impressive ceremonies which
have been so faithfully recorded by the
| press associations. One old confederate
| whom l saw going through the ceremony
OF introduction to a veteran from the
| other side of Mason and Dixon's lines,
| put the entire question / thought with
| admirable neatness.
| Il am glad to see you" said the man
| who had worn the blue
| Som l." said the man of corn and cot
ton. Heap gladder n 1 was thirty years
ago, sir; and you all are using me heap
better than you were then" And then they
"shook," what was left of them, and the
crowd smiled audibly.
one pOint-and it IS not one altogether
| agreeable-haS not been much dwelt on
in the press dispatches: No observant
visitor could fail to be impressed with
| the fact that a very large proportion NOT
only of the confederate veterans but of
the country people who poured into Rich
| mond, We're men upon whom toll and pow
erty had set their seal. They We're not
only poor men; they were men who had
| obviously lived SO long on terms of init
macy with poverty that they felt quite
at ease in their narrow circumstances
The press dispatches have referred to
| the Jefferson hotel as the social center
of the occasion, but very little has been
| said of the house itself. In the slang of
| the drummer, ii is "a S5-a-day house +"
and most splendidly appointed of southern
| hotels. The house stands upon the side
Of one of the hills upon which
Richmond is built, and its in
terror is so arranged as to CON
form to the confguration of its site. Broad
marble steps lead from one level to an
| other, and the wanderer who saunters in
at the summit of the gorgeous pile of ma
| sonry-who passes through a long success
sion of spacious apartments. through ro-
tunda, corridor, grill room and bar-fnds
himself at last in the open air, upon tie
lower levels of the town, looking up in
| wonder at the distant stars that looked
down on Davis and Lee and saw the con-
federacy die. 1t is a great modern hotel
and when l saw one man pay a bill of S12
| for one days entertainment l realized that
| the old order of things had indeed made
way for the new.
| There is so much to see in Richmond
| that is worth seeing that many of us al
! most regretted the vast throng which was
| so packed and damned into the civ that
| locomotion was actually a matter for Sc
| rious consideration People in MANY
| cases, found five hours none TOO nncb
| margin to allow for reaching the depot
and many of those who left themselves
with less, found that they were literally
| left The management Of the trains.
| however, was excellent, and every facility,
| was offered the crowds that poured into
the town on the gaily decorated trains
| VI tlie ldiit sySNSlii WlOse vast resources
! were certainly taxed to handle the bust
| ness.
| The Florida contingent was well taken
| care of by Maj. J. A. Enslow. Jr. of the
! Second Florida brigade, who had secured
! quarters in the Woman's College. where
/ every provision was made for the horne
| people at reasonable rate.
/ The Oglethorpes and Cadets. from Sa-
vannah. attracted much attention upon
| their arrival, and occupied a prominent
| place in the imposing pageant that fol-
| lowed.
The site for the monument has been
| wei chosen, and the design decided upon
| by the judges IS sufficiently fmnrasei,Ja -