The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-02-17
THE BLUE AND GRAY.
The Veterans viii Meet Again on South
ern Soil.

| 9TH SUlIs
The celebration of Tennessee's Cen
tennial at Nashville this year, will
afford an opportunity for such JOY.
GUS reunion of the soldier element OF
the late war, both North and South,
| as has not been witnessed since peace
| was declared between the sections in
1865. Such reunion is in the high
| est degree proper when our country is
at peace with other nations, and at
| the same time political tranquility
prevails at home; moreover such an
| event is the more interesting because
of the nature Of the celebration which
is to be the occasion Of an immense
pilgrimage to Nashville from May l.,
to Oct. 30, of the present year. A
great commonwealth has completed
her first century of national existence,
and her sons and daughters have
wisely and properly decided to COM
memorate the event, and are asking
the sons and daughters Of sister States
to participate. In our young and
vigorous republic, hundred years Of
life is indeed long period, and the
celebration of a States centennial is
an Unprecedented event. To have
reached the age Of hundred years is,
of itself, a cause for rejoicing, but it
is the occasion for something more
than rejoicing when State has borne
herself with so much honor. and on
the field and in the forum has won
glory and renown. The American
people will never forget the difficult
ties attending Tennessee s admission
into the Union, nor the important
part she has played in the nation 8
history. Her name is written in glo-
rious deeds on every page of our coun-
try's record. At Kings Mountain, in
the Indian wars, at New Orleans, in
Mexico, and on every battlefield of
the civil war, the sturdy sons of Ten
nessee were always to be found where
honor and duty called them. Her
blood and treasure were always un-
grudgingly given, and hence the ap-
propriateness of her proud cognomen
of "The Volunteer State" 1t is not
enough to mention the wars in which
she participated, for that is no more
than every other State in this glorious
Union would have done !; we must en-
phasize the decisive consequences OF
her participation. 1t is not to say
"the Tennesseeans were at Kings
Mountain and at New Orleans" but
that their skill and valor won the day,
and to say that Jackson triumphed
over the skilled and renowned Pack
enham at New Orleans, does not carry
with it any idea Of the Importance of
his victory. 1t is within the bounds
of moderate assertion to say that "Old
Hickory's" victory at New Orleans, for
the first time, and for all time, secured
respect for America on land and on
sea, at home and abroad.
In view of all these interesting and
important facts of history, it is easy
to understand why the ex-soldiers Of
the Northern and Southern armies
should revisit the Tennessee battle
fields during this centennial year. 1t
is good time and an appropriate oc-
casion for the mingling of the blue
and the gray in that sunny Southland
that was once the red field of carnage.
Our holidays are not too many in
America, and the opportunities for
welding into an indissoluble union the
American people are few enough, God
knows, to make an outing at Nashville
this year, not only the pleasure, but
the duty of every brave American
no matter under what leader he fought
whether the brave Kentuckian who
went to Mississippi and afterwards
became President of the Confederacy,
or that noble Kentuckian who went to
Illinois and afterwards became the
President of the United States and a
martyr of our threatened Union.
What are the facts about Tennes-
sees participation in the civil war ?
In the late war Tennessee furnished
lis, 900 soldiers to the Southern and
"a 900 to the Northern cause. While
majority of her most distinguished
sons espoused the cause that was lost.
it must not be forgotten that Farragut
and Andrew johnson remained stead
fast to the Union.
Next to Virginia, the State Of Ten
nessee was the most active theatre OF
the great war between the States.
At least 100000 Union soldiers were
either on the march or we're in camp
within the boundary lines of Tennes-
see. The battles of the war most
decisive in their results, and the
bloodiest, were fought upon Tennes-
see soil. A fact of singular interest,
generally overlooked, is the applica
ton of the name Tennessee, and of
it's two most important rivers, to the
great armies of the North and South.
The great divisions of the Union
army, for example, were known as the
"Army of the Tennessee" the "Army
of the Potomac" the Army of the
Cumberland" and the Army Of the
Mississippi while the great divisions
of the Southern army were known as
the "Army of Northern Virginia and
the Army of Tennessee. ~ The army
of the West was known as the Army
of Tennessee and the army of the
East the "Army Of Northern Vir-
ginia." The army of the West con-
fronted by the "Army of the Cumber
land" the Army of the Tennessee"
and the Army of the Mississippi.
1t may be well to bear in mind that
the Northern armies were named for
rivers, while the Southern armies were
named for States.
The date of the annual meeting of
the United Confederate Veterans has
been changed from May 5, 6 and 7, to
June %, 90 and "a, and at that time
"all Confederate organizations and
Confederate soldiers and sailors of all
arms, grades and departments arc cor
daily invited to attend this, the sew
enth reunion of their comrades.
There are S75 camps enrolled in the
United Confederate Veterans organi-
zation with applications for over 15O
more.