The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-04-08
PLAYED BANJO FOR THE ARMY.

War Time Merrymakers Who Kept | Confederate Troops in Good Humor.
 The smiling face of Sammuel Moor
 man Gregory is passport to hundreds
 of Virginia homes. A comtempory
 banjoist with old Joe Sweeney, through
 disabled by wounds ~ from Federal
 bullets, his banjo makes him well
 come guest wherever he is known, his banecdotes never grow stale and his
 joyous nature defies the corrGding
 hand of time.
 An honored and respected inmate of
 Lee Soldiers Home, of which privilege
 none is more deserving, he is the be-
 sought guest of many friends in the
 counties around Richmond, where he
 is widely known. Sixty years ago, Mir.
 Gregory was taught the art of playing
 by old Joe Sweeney, says the Richmond
 Times Dispatch, and as his brother,
 Sam Sweeney, became famous in the tents of the cavalry for his magic hand
 on this merry instrument. so Samuel
 Moornnan Gregory shared with him the
 same glory around the infantry bi-
 vouacs of the army of Lee.
 | II IOu wait lo nave q Nouu llLiCs
 line the Cavalry" sang Sam Sweeney
 on the march with Stuart, the gay
 cavalier. "Old Joe Hooker Come Out of the Wilderness" enrolled his con- temporary, Gregory, in Lees trenches around Richmond. and each perform | ed a valuable service to the spirits of men tried almost beyond the endurance of the human frame. e ~. ] As a contemporary of Sam Sweeney MT. Gregory won a deathless fame as Ian entertainer in the army, and was lnever happier than when, obtaining leave he could join Sam Sweeney in the tent of Gen. J. F. B. .ituart and make merry for the bold cavalry lead- CT and the gay friends who thronged his camp.
 Often they played together around the campfire and, with those who drank in the matchless spirit of their music, forgot that there was ever such a thing as war.
 MT. Gregory is known to the Confed- crate veterans as 'the only original old time Southern comedian of Lees army" And now, with the infrmities of old age drawing near, he is the hap piest of amiable, cultured Virginia gentlemen. Long may he live!
 He marched and fought and played the Confederate war through, carving his gun and his banjo.
 He marched and sang his war songs of the deathless brave before Lee, the Christian chieftain; Jackson, the rigid ~ ,ofa o,.& from May, 1861, to April 4, 1865. A very few know that Gen. Lees army stacked their guns on the Sweeney farm, one and a half miles from Appo- mattox Courthouse.
 Old Joe Sweeney was the originator of the banjo and had the honor of playing before the Qeen of England. He
 died some years prior to the great 1 struggle between the States, and was not Stuart's banjoist, as many suppos- ] ed. There were three brothers and two sisters. None of the brothers ever
 married-Joe, Dick or Sam.
 1 Sam, the youngest, was with Gen. J. l E. aB. Stuart, He died of smallpox at {, Orange Court House during the war. 4 His banjo was Gen. Stuart's favorite
 instrument. and his favorite song was, ] If You Want to, Have a. Good. Titfie,.
 Jine the Cavalry"
 l Gen. Stuart had Sam Sweeney to fride ahead of his column to play the ] banjo and sing comic and sentimental
 songs to break the weariness of the march. When Gen. Stonewall Jackson re-
 quested Gen. Lee to turn his command over to "Jeb" Stuart at the battle of Charlottesville, Sam Sweeney in the
 midst of the fight to the same tune
 (Jine the Cavalry ), sang "Old Joe
 Hooker, Get Out the Wilderness .'' 1 It was in 1S45 when MT. Gregory was a