The leader., 1903-06-03
THE CONFEDERATE REUNION.
"Jeems" Writes a Breezy Account Of
His Trip to the Great Gathering.
A Party OF Lincoln County Vets Quar-.
tered at the ST. Charles,
Thanks to the Noble Generosity Of Hamp
and Dunk E0Sterlin4.

-Uy heN. a. "A. OCaIuoiOuSH IOf
last weeks Leader, has lost moth
ing of interest by the delay;
Downing our suit of Confeder-
ate gray early Tuesday morning,
May 10Th, we boarded a south
bound special for New Orleans,
where we met our comrades in
arms from all over our South land.
On boarding the train we found
ourself in company with a large
delegation from Nashville, Tenn.
Some of them fought under Lee
and Jackson in Virginia, some I'M
der johnson; others under For
rest. Empty sleeves, wooden
legs, Scared faces, etc., all told
the bloody story of the COS. One
man wore. the same old gray,
bIood-stained jacket, in which
there were several bullet holes,
said bullets having inflicted Sc
we're wounds in his body. He
said that he would not take any
price for that old jacket; that he
wanted it handed down to coming
generations that they might
know that Tennesseeans are willing
to die by their convictions. On
our arrival at New Orleans, we
were taken in charge by that
prince of men, Dunk Easterling,
who informed US that his brother,
Ham, had perfected arrangements
at the St. Charles Hotel for the
accommodation of twelve veterans
and that we were one of the elect.
1t seems that Mr.. Ham Easter
ling had made this arrangement
and placed his brother, Dunk, in
charge of the whole affair to see
that his plan was executed to the
letter; and this Dunk did to per-
lection. On reaching the spa
cious building of more than eight
hundred rooms, almost in the
twinkling of an eye, we were
snatched to the 18th floor by a
lightning elevator, where every
room had the appearance of a
well-kept parlor, where twelve
old vets were made to feel that
they were not so much of back
number after all. After arrang-
ing our toilet, and "alI things
were now ready" Dunk came
in and placed tickets in the hands
of us all, which gave us free &C
cess to the great dining hall,
which, according to Long"
Perry Smiths estimate, covers
ten acres of ground" Anyway,
the great hall has a seating capac-
ity for one thousand people more
or less. While seated at the
table, prepared especially for
twelve, "Uncle" Tan Gatlin, who
was one of the elect from John
ston Station, amused the company
by relating what he saw once in
the way of a hotel sign where
they had different grades of fare,
which read as follows: Com
bread and common doins, Csc;
Biskate and chicken fixins, Soc
Boys, there is no corn bread and
common doins here" said Uncle
Tom. 1t would-not be lawful to
utter the words of praise spoken
of Ham and Dunk Easterling,
who did this of their own free will
and accord, at their own expense;
and we speak the true sentiment
of twelve hearts throbbing with
gratitude when we say that we
want the names of Ham and
Dunk Easterling to live in the
hearts of our children and grand
children long after our voices are
hushed in silence and our arms
folded never to be uplifted again.
In every way, the reunion ex-
celled anything in the past. For
awhile, some of us we're a little
apprehensive that New Orleans
would not be able to meet the
emergency of the occasion, but af-
ter taking the whole thing in, we
concluded that she did not only
equal, but surpassed any of her
sister cities in caring for the hun
dreds of thousands of people who
ate and slept within her gates
from May 10Th to May 22nd, 1903.
Time and space forbid our 60
ing into details concerning things
that we both saw and heard. The
character of the great reunion is
that of that peculiar nature that one
can see and hear things that will
make him laugh and make
him cry. On Aug. 21st of
last year a few of our old his
toric regiment, the 22nd Missis-
sippi, met at Castalian Springs,
where we perfected arrangements
for meeting of the survivors of
the old regiment in New Orleans;
and by a committee appointed
for that purpose, the second floor
of the criminal court building
was secured for that purpose. On
Wednesday at 5 p. m., this hum
BILE scribe delivered a speech, a
duty. which was previously as
signed us by our comrades in
arms. We had nothing cut and
dried for the occasion, but we just
let ourself loose for a bit, and
told old nature to caper and
she did it. The closing words
of our little grafton were in sub
stance as follows: .My fellow
comrades, the South has learned
that Abraham Lincoln was a great
and good man, and the whole