The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1902-04-25

asEN
went To the war, besides several of
my uncles on my mothers side.
They made good soldiers and all
but one lived to get home. / thus
caught the spirit that prompted the
Confederate soldier to shoulder his
musket and go forth to battle and i
am still in sympathy with the cause
for which the grand old heroes
fought. One of the proudest mo-
ments of my life was when more
than q year ago Camp Winnie Davis
made me an honorary member, and
a few days ago when the badges
were being distributed among the
veterans to wear to the reunion one
was handed me by Capt. Carder,
commander Of the camp, who COM
manded me to wear 1t TO the reunion
and IIproudiy pinned that sbadge on
Tuesday morning and hit the Cen
trial train, with many members OF
che camp and of we were to the
great reunion OF the bravest and
most heroic soldiers the whole
earth has any account of.
AT Garrett our train was side
tracked for a while TO wait for some
special trains from Arkansaw and
Alabama to pass, and with brass
band the old soldiers went by with
O whoop. One man on that train
called Innocence and ] knew some
Of my Arkansaw friends had recOg-
niEsd me and sure enough in Dallas
I found him. Two hundred thous-
and people In Dallas was the least
sgtimate | heard made of the crowd
and they filled every nook and cor
ner of Dallas. AT the far. grounds
at III O'Clock Mayor Cabell and Col.
Crawford, a prominent lawyer, de-
liyered addresses OF welcome to the
veterans. General q. ID. Lee and
many other prominent officers also
delivered addresses. Hon. John II.
Reagan, who liz the last surviving
member OF jefferson Davis cabinet,
and who has been quite sick Mt his
home In Palestine, was able to be on
the stage among the speakers and
many times during the morning he
was cheered, Gen. John b. Cor
don, Of Georgia, arrived just before
twelve O'Clock and the Veterans all
said he made the finest speech of
his life. He has been commander
fn-chisf of the Confederate Veter-
ans Association for many years
and all confederases love him as .
father, The General lie thin and
looks weak but he, still has . full,
strong voice that can be heard dis
tinctly In the largest building, and
Tuesday his voice rang ont in ciar-
Ion notes and cheer after cheer went
up as he proceeded with his speech.
Headquarters for all the different
states were established inside the
circle of the race track and at these
headau arters men mounted goods
boxes and called out names Of men
whose acquaintances wanted TO see
them. visited all these head
quarters and Witnessed brothers
who had not seen each other since
the war meet and hng each other.
i Witnessed the meeting of several
old veterans who parted on the bat
tie field and 1t was an affecting
scene to see the tears roll down
their wrinkled cheeks as they EN-
braced each other. ! went to the
South Caroline headquarters and
found q nan who was neighbor to
my fathers relatives. | went to
the Arkansas and Alabama head
quarters and heard from friends and
relatives. The Tennessee head
quarters were possibly the most
.numeroasly attended, as there are
more Tennesseeans In Central Tex
as than any other state, and then
great many from that state had just
come in. IL we lost a man in the
crowd il was almost impossible to
find him again Cannons were fired
at intervals all day and frequently
when one was fired the famous old
rebel yell would be heard from
every Confederate on the ground.
Veterans, most of them, are grow
ing old and many of them looked
like this would be their last reunion.
one man had 4 sapling tree cut
rom the ChEckamauga battle field
that WAC three or four feet long and
as large as . mans leg that Was
shot full AZ ballete. There seemed
70 be as much lead In IL as there
was wood aud we wondered how any
man u0& out of that fawhk alive