The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-05-24
The Confederate Reunion.

The Confederate Reunion.
Not many more Confederate reunions
will be held. The Civil War was
fought by boys" one historian tells
US, but it was half a century ago
when the youngsters marched away to
war, and even the 16-year-old SOL
diers are nearing three-s score years and
ten. They were as hardy a set as
ever shouldered a gun, but Time con-
ouers the bravest, and most of them
have fallen before the last enemy.
Tears come to the eyes as we watch
the this gray line'-tears in which
rride is mingled with regret, tears
for the dead, cheers for the living.
They will not be with US many years,
these men who survived the war and
reconstruction. They have been he
roes of peace as we'll as war. After
following Lee and Jackson, Long
street, Stuart and Johnston for four
years, they went back to what was left
CT their homes. From the ashes of
the Confederacy has arisen a greater
South, and they and their sons have
created 1t. AS / grow older" the late
Senator Daniel of Virginia said to a
friend, my mind turns back more
end more to my youth. seem to live
in the Confederacy quite as much as
in the present time. That was the
most glorious period Of our lives and
no man who went through 1t can fail
to feel a thrill as he recalls those
stirring scenes" The Southern Vet
Grams are rich In memories. Their
achievements are history. Fame has
written their names and deeds on her
imperishable scroll. Their descendants
take a proper pride In honoring them,
and at these reunions the young and
the old meet together. They link the
present generation with the old South
and are suffused with the spirit of
chivalry, devotion, loyalty that dis
tinguish the Southern people
Charleston was chosen for the next
reunion.
Battle of chicksmausa.
On the 18th Of September, 1853, was
fired the first gun of what is known
as the great battle of Chickamauga.
The position of the two armies that
morning. in brief, was as follows:
Rosecrans occupied the northwest
tank of West Chicakamauga Creek,
his line extending It's sinuous course
for a dozen miles or more, guarding
sn the fords, bridges. or other places
OF transit, for the purpose of prevent
Ing a crossing by the Confederate
army. The Confederates were on the
southeast side of the creek, which is
very muddy and generally quite deep;
and Bragg's idea was to force his
way over, at various points, and fight
the battle on the Chattanooga side Of
the creek. At Reeds Bridge, in Ca
tcosa county, Ca, some seven miles
west of Ringgold, a detachment of
Michigan cavalry was stationed, with
orders to prevent any advance by the
Ccnfederates. Having been there for
q day or more, their commander de-
tel mined, that morning, to send about
two hundred mounted men across the
bridge, for the purp,,se or reconnois-
sance, and developing the Confederate
position. At the same time he or
dered that the planks be loosened, so
that when the cavalry returned,
these could be dropped into the creek,
and the bridge thus practically de-
stroyed. The detachment crossed the
stream, as ordered, and the work of
loosening the planks was commenced
by the others.
The scouting party, however, had
scarcely begun deploy1ng on the east
SIDE of the creek before the Con-
federates, who had been watching
them some couple of hundred yards
distant, at the edge of the woods on
the summit of the elevation rising
from the bridge. opened fire, from a