The Batesburg advocate. [volume] (Batesburg, S.C.) 1901-1911, 1901-06-05
THE VETERANS IN GREY.
Convention Called to Order With a
Historic Gavel.

Historic Gsvel.
Tuesday of last week was gala day
in Memphis. On every hand were
aged veterans, many from every State.
in the South. The city Vas prns,oIr
decorated and banneIs-AHll-S,gs S,gs So;ns
from ono end sS<he city to the other
There were thousands of Confederate
'SsS sns present. Thousands more are
arriving by every train and soon the
city will be filled with veterans and
visitors.
General George W. Gordon, of Mem.
phis, Tuesday morning called to order
the annual convention of the United
confederate veterans with gavel made
from tree which shaded the Sayorite
seat OF Jefferson Dsy,s.s-af Besuyoir.
Miss. The Rev1~J. William Jones. OF
hlcSm2ond, Va. offered a touching
prayer, while the veterans stood bare.
headed. General Gordon then introduc
cd Governor Mcmillan. of Tennessee.
Governor Mcmillan gave q most
hear.y welcome to the visitors. Hc
com plimented the men of the South
on their glorious record in the war and
deptored the fact that so many had
passed away. Mayor Williams of Mem.
phis was next introduced. He ex.
tended to the visitors a most cordial
welcome. Mayor Williams address OF
welcome was In part as follows:
Er, Chairman and Confederate Vet.
crans: just forty years ago, you left
your peaceful homes and went out to
submit to the arbitrament of the sword
great constitutional questions. which
craftsmanship had beon unable to post
pone or decide. Imbred with the deer
conviction that you were in the right,
you fought with courage and heroisn N
"hloh has been equSiied in no country
aud In no age. For four long yea1s
you marched and fought over hill and
valley and field, leaving your blood
your comrades strewn behind you. til
overwhelmed by numbers the S:ars and
Bars went down in glorious defeat.
when the dust Of battle had clear
ed away and the cause for which you
fought dies sud your homes your ranks
deeimated, your fields desolated, your
beloved south turned and shattered by
tho scourge of war, but with true he
rolsm you set your hand to the work
of reconstruction. You gathered to.
gether your families, you rebuilt your
homes, you cleaned the rust from your
axe and plow aod began again the de-
| vclopment and cultivation Of your ma
tive land.
Veterans, it is fitting that you
should reunite in the city of Memphis.
The men of Memphis fought and died
on the fields of Shiloh and Franklin
and Murphreesboro and Chickamaugs
and wherever the fight was hot and the
work hard. 1t is fitting that you should
meet ii Memphis, because here was the
home OF that great Boiler and cavalry
man whose daring deeds ana daring in
war have won the admiration of mill
tsry critics in Europe and in America
Nathan Bedford Forrest"
The most interesting address, Of the
day WAS made by the famous Southern
veteran and orator General John B..
Gordon. General Gordon said in part:
Governor, Mr.. Mayor, Bishop Gailor
and Representatives Of Memphis:
For the third time it is my duty and
high privilege to respond to Tennes-
crate Veterans. For the third time
since our organization this State EN-.
braces with maternal arms these i'm
mortal remnants of Souths matchless
armies, first, she welcomed us at Chat.
tanooga, then at Nashville, now at
Memphis, and what place could be
more fitted for such q gathering than
this city, by the great river which was
once the highway for ironclads, whose
waters were churned by torpedoes in
a seething cauldron and whose bluffs
were ramparts of defense for strug-
Cling people.
-Four thousand years ago the anci-
ent Memphis, built upon the banks of
the Nile, was the home Of the Gods,
the seat of Eastern learning and wor.
ship the proudest metropolis of the
Great Egyptian delta. In this Memphis
IL no ancient seat of sceptered mon
archs, but it was for long time the
home of Jefferson Davis, who, even in
his deepest humiliation and woeful ex-
perlence lowered in moral grandeur
to far noble stature than the Egyptian
modes or Persian monarchs or Greek
or Roman invader ever attained in all
their glitter of royal equipage and
ephemeral glory.
Here in this Memphis no Alexander
the Great ever worshipped in life or
laid In state when dead, but here liv ed
here fought, here died and here rests
the hon0red ashes of Nathan Bedford
Forrest tho equal in native untutored
geEious of the greatest cavaltymen Of
any age.
I'VE are glad therefore to meet in
Memphis. 1t is appropriate because Of
its graphical position and by the stead
fast adherence Of its people to the i'm
mortal memories Of the past, it is in
the very heart of the lost but forever
loved Confederscy. 1t is appropriate
because it is built upon the bank of
the great river which binds together
with its liquid links the distant sec
tions of our great common country,
for this city of Memphis is one of the
fountsin'heads of that stream of Amer
ican brotherhood and unity which
flows with ever increasing volume
through all liberty loving American
hearts"
Committed for Arson.