Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-05-31
SCENES OF SOLDIER LIFE.

SCENES OF SOLDIER LIFE.
There is no soldier of honorable record
but that delights in reviewing in memory
or. better still, I'm discussion with com
rades, the campaigns in which he served.
The veteran lighting his battles GER
and gesticulatlng with his crutch as If 1t
were a musket, sword, or lannon's
hammer. is "a subject that has adorned the
canvasses OF many painters and been
made the central figure in innumerable
books and stories.
And when more than thirty years have
passed since the veteran laid off his uni
form, tho retrospect is, that of one who
in the evening of life looks back upon the
morning Of manhood, and summons from
the mists Of the past loiig.forgotten faces
and objects.
Wen lie remembers the jacket that he
wore. the canteen upon which he had
carved his name, the woods and fields
where he bivouackcd the springs and
branches from which he quenched his
thirst, the roadside houses where he
halted and where fair women gave
him to eat and drink. the groves whose
kindly shade sheltered him from the
scorching sun, and the dead and gone
comrades with whom he shared his
scanty rations and his army, blanket. All
these are impressed upon memory almost
as indellbly as are those scenes of danger
where he lived lifetime in a few minutes.
For the average soldier the battlefield
was no panorama, but a narrow strip of
ground. with the enemy in front and the
ambulance corps in the rear. One re-
members the very spot of earth where he
lay waiting with throbbing heart the COM
mand TO rise and charge upon some we'll
remembered battery. lie recalls where it
was that he fell wounded; where the
doctors were when he found himself in
their presence; what hospital at Rich
snond Petersburg, or Fredericksburg ii
was that he was sent 10; what woman
what angel OF the hospital-it was that
nursed him, prayed with him. and con-
jured him to lie. All these faces. all
these localities. the veteran would like 10
rest his eyes upon again. Yes. he wishes
20 put his recollection to the proof and
see IL what he has recorded upon the
tablet of memory is really what is or was.
And 1t is not only the ensanguined
fields that he. would revisit but all the
scenes of the camp and the march which
for three decades memory has preserved
and on.hrined among the treasures Of Il
hallowed past.
Animated by these feelings, and craving
one more sight of the scenes of his sol
der life, the heart of the old veteran who
served in Virginia yearns nightly as he
hears Richmond and the Confederate re-
union mentioned. Richmond he knows Is
the central spot in the great battlefield
region Of Virginia. fredericksburg Nor
folk. Yorktown. Williamsburg Peters
burg and Appomattox are within a few
hours railway run of Richmond while
Seven Pines, Mechanicsville. Gaincs's Mill,
Cold Harbor. Fraziers Farm. Malvern
Hill, Fort Harrison, Drewrys and Chat
Ans Bluffs. Dutch Gap. the Hewlett
House. Yellow Tavern. etc, etc, are but
distant suburbs Of the city.
Farther OF, but yet in convenient
reach by ran. are all the great battle
fields of the Valley OF Virginia. made
glorious b3 s,onewau Jackson's cam
paign and those OF Midland ana Northern
Virginia. SO Visit to Richmond ON June
3oth July LIST and "a means not only an
opportunity TO compare the Richmond OF
lS6i'65 with the Eichruond OF 1896, but an
opportunity. at trifing additional cost, to
visit the neighboring cities and battle
,.I IL.
veterans to visit Richmond comes not
only from the people OF this city. but from
the people of Virginia
The great day OF the reunion will be
July I'd. when the Grand Encampment OF
Confederate Veterans will cut short its
session. and there will be grand parade
OF veterans and sons OF veterans and
volunteer militia 10 assist in the laying
OF the cornerstone OF the monument 10
President Jefferson Davis Then there
will be tens of thousands of men and
scores OF bands OF music In line, aad
General John Il. Gordon. OF Geor-
gla. will act as the chief marshal and
l General Stephen ID: Lee. of Mississippi
will deliver the Grafton.
by the way. the question Is frequently
asked why such hot season as June
July was selected for the Confederate re-
nnion. over and over has the answer
been given. but We give It once more.
The last days Of the month Of May was
> the time selected by the Richmond COM
snittec for the reunion. bu, soon there
after a scheme was advanced by certain
libeTal-minded New Workers TO have a
2eunion OF the Blue and Gray in that city
on July %th. Thereupon influential ex-
Contederstes from farther South than vir-