Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1899-05-16
confederate Veterans, Reunion.

The annual reunion of Confederate
veterans at Charleston, S. C., last week,
was agrand affair. ATT O'Clock Wednes-
day morning every steam whistle and ali
the church and fire bells of the city gave
greeting TO the $4,000 people in attend
ance. The city was a mass of colors and
the streets were filled with martial music.
The bells in old St. Michaels chined
necessarily during the morning, playing
Ny Country. Tis of Thee, Star
Spangled Banner =. MY Maryland -,
and other patriotic airs.
The feature of the day was the parade
of the veterans followed by the reunion
exercises at the new auditorium. Ten
thousand veterans were in line when the
parade moved, shortly before 3 o'clock.
The first indoor session was held in the
reunion auditorium, which was dedicated
Thursday night The auditorium seats
1900 people and several thousand were
turned away. Gen. John B. Gordon, as
orator, was escorted to the chair by
General Moorman and received an enthu-
siastic demonstration.
Mrs. Jefferson Davis was introduced
by Gen. Gordon as the one whom Teffer-
son Davis loved better than the Confed-
eracy and better than his own life. AS
Mrs. Davis stepped to the platform, the
veterans went wild with enthusiasm.
The general introduced Mrs. Stonewall
Jackson, and shouted: 81 am going to
hug her, and caught her i'll his arms and
pressed her to his bosom.
Gen. Gordon closed his speech with
these words:
feel empowered by your confidence
TO send to every patriot in every section
and State the fraternal greetings of this
convention and of the whole people, to
pledge in the name of every Confederate
and son and daughter of a Confederate the
South's eternal loyalty to every cause for
the uplifting of American manhood, the
perpetuity of American freedom. the
unity of the American people that by all
these agencies we may accelerate the
onward march of the republic in its
benign mission to humanity"
Gems. Joe Wheeler and Wade Hamp-
ton were greeted with tremendous an.
pIause.
The following resolutions in regard tic
the care of Confederate graves were
adopted:
THE United Confederate Veterans in
this annual reunion assembled desire tc
place upon record their sincere apprecia
ton of the utterances of the President oil
the United States at Atlanta in December
last concerning the assumption of the
care of the graves of our Confederate
dead by the national government.
we appreciate every kindly sentiment
expressed and we shall welcome any
Legislation which shall result in the care
of the graves of our comrades in the
Northern States by our government.
I'm regard to our dead whose remains
are resting in the States which were rep.
resented in the Confederacv and Mary.
land, the care of their final resting places
are n sacred trust, dear to the hearts of
Southern women, and we believe that we
can safely let it there remain
Gen Clement a. Evans presented the
report of the board of trustees of the
Battle Abbey" 1t dealt fully with the
progress of the work, stating that salts
factory arrangements are being made for
the location of the building. Only $40.
900 of the 100000 is still lacking, and is
TO be raised during the coming year.
The veterans selected Louisville as the
Place of the next convention.