The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-11-25
MOBILE REUNION
COMES TO CLOSE
General George P. Harrison
Again Heads Veterans
GOVERNOR Conner SPEAKS
In His Address the Governor Pays
TFibUte To the Confederate
Cause and To the Heroes
Who Wore the Gray.

Mobile, November 24.-The annual meet
ing of the Alabama division, United Con-
federate Veterans, was brought to a
close this afternoon. Montgomery was
chosen as the .next meeting place by a
unanimous vote. The following officers
We're elected:
Division commander, George P. Harri-
son of Opelil1a; commander of First bri-
gade, John w. Sanford of Montgomery;
commander of Second brigade, Pinkney
d. Bowles of Evergreen; commander of
Third brigade, j. n. Thompson, Tuscum-
bia; commander Fourth brigade, John w.
Bush 6f Birmingham.
Governor Corners Speech.
Tie governor spoke as follows
!, Soldiers of the Confederacy, as COVER
nor on behalf of the state | greet you,
and at the beginning of this address
want to assure you every one that the
state loves you, and to those who are
about to cross lifes great, divide, please
assure the thousands that have gone
before that we love you and will always
hold your memory dear in Dixie. Not
only our affections, but our treasures
are open to you and we are glad today
to again pledge our faith in the Lost
Cause, and our eternal love and regard
for those who carried our flag to glory,
if not to victory.
l was born amongst you, and as a boy
was a part of you l remember going
to the funeral of an only child and son
who was shot to death at the battle of
Seven Pines. This boys parents hearts
wrung to the breaking of every fiber.
A monument in a country church yard
marks his last resting place. At my
grandmother home / saw her parting
with her son, Jimmie Good bye, mother
Good bye Jimmie-God bless YOU
saw that boy brought home from At
lanta in a rude pine coffin. He now sleeps
besides the other in that lonely church
yard.
- My own brother was shot in Atlanta.
Recovering, he surrendered at Green's
boro, broken in health, yet unconquered
i'll his love for state and country. These
came home, but thousands, yet, tens
of thousands never returned and today
sleep in unknown, unmarked graves, L
have seen the Confederate burial ground
at Richmond where tens of thousands lie
in serried ranks-acres and acres Of
them.
On your principal street in this city
you have built a monument to man
who carried the Alabama on every
sea. With a handful of men and few
guns he wrought dismay everywhere he
went. That man was Admiral Raphael
Semmes At Jacksonville, Ala, l have
seen the statute of a mana monument
to Pelham. Slender, with a face and
figure almost like a girl s. Scarce %
years of age, he had charge of Lees ar
tillery, and when he fell in the thiclSest
of the battle at the head of his COM
nand, General Lee exclaimed, 1.-THE gall
liant Pelham" What name for our
brave boy.
At the capitol, as you enter the front
door, you step over the five-point star
which marks the place where Jefferson
Davis took the oath of office as pres-
dent of the Confederacy. 1t is the BIRTH
place of the Confederacy Looking out
of my window in the governors office
stands the Confederate monument, on the
four sides of which, in heroic relief, are
statues representing the four arms of
the service, cavalry, infantry, navy and
artillery. and round and round the shaft
march the struggling, fighting col
umns. Surrounding the shaft is the fig
ure of a woman representing the mother
hood of the state. In one hand she holds
a flag, and in the other a sheathed sword.
The implication is, '"rhe war is over, the
flag is at peace" We trust for peace
and a final victory for the great prin-
patriotic sentiment are engraved around
this monument. May they live forever.
The Home Coming.
I have spoken of the dead. Let me
speak now of the living as to how they
came home. At least some of them. AT
Florala, in the then piny woods of Gov
ington county, there came back home a
lone soldier to his wife and baby boy.
They erected a rude cabin with a dirt
floor made pine puncheon bedstead,
fireplace stove, a frying pan and skillet.
They cleared away a part of an old field,
and with a steer and a few bushels of
corn commenced anew the struggles for
life. Both of them worked. The wife
grubbed and scrubbed while the re-
turned soldier drove the patient steer.
The crop planting was near completed.
One day the father heard the baby cry
ing, as if in distress, and called the
mother to go in the house and see what