Milford chronicle., 1913-07-04
HEAR REBEL YELL
BY DI&IE'S MEN
Reply TO Gov. TGn0T'S Wei
coma to Gettysburg,
THE CAMP IS OVERCROWDEO
Many Veterans Return Home, While
Thousands Get Temporary Quarters
In Tents Used For Reunions.

sent the mercury bubbling over the
100 mark, made clothes a burden and
a bath only a 6elusion, the armies ct
the north and the south began the for
NAL exercises to mark the semi-cen-
tennial Of Gettysburg.
Veterans to the number of $4,000,
the army officers estimated, filed into
the big tent set apart for the exer-
cises, sat in the haze of heat for two
hours and shook the camp with their
cheers when the speakers made refer
ence to a reunited nation.
Every seat under the canvas was
taken long before Secretary of War
Garrison and Governor Tener, the ora
tors of the day. came chugging up in
their automobiles.
Although the men in gray were far
outnumbered by those in blue, there
were possibly a thousand sou;herners
through the amphitheater, and what
they lacked in numbers they made up
in lung power. When Governor Tener
finished his speech, General Bennett
H. Young. commander-in-chief OF the
United Confederate Veterans, rose
slowly and bowed to him.
Il can give you something that no
one else can give you he said. We
will now give you the rebel yell.
Nine famous Confederate generals
and thousand veterans of the south
gave it so loudly that it was heard far
back in camp towards Gettysburg.
When General Young stepped for
ward to deliver his address he was
greeted with wild enthusiasm, the
Union veterans. led by Commander
in-Chief Beers. giving him three lusty
cheers and a tiger.
He took as his keynote the convic-
ton of each side in the great struggle
that It fought for a principle which It
believed was the truth. One of his
opening statements was that the
northern soldiers deserved more
credit than the southerners for their
PRONUNCIATION and successful realiza-
ton OF the present great reunion,
which he characterized as the great
est movement of its kind in the world.
He then discussed the question Of
government pensions for the soldiers
still alive who fought under the Stars
and Bars
Among the 200 guests on the plat
form were Governors Mann, of Vir-
ginia; McCreary. of Kentucky, and
Eberhardt, of Minnesota; Senator
Penrose, Of Pennsylvania, and the fol-
lowing Confederate generals: Robin
son, Texas: West. Georgia; Thomas
J. Shaffer. Louisiana; A. d. Williams,
Florida; f. ~ Law, Florida, and Carr,
North Carolina.
The invocation was delivered by
Rev. George Edwards Lovejoy, chap
lainin chief of the Grand Army Of the
Republic. The benediction was 10 have
been delivered by Rev. H. NJ Hamill,
chaplain general OF the Confederate
Veterans. who didn't show up.
Tie veterans poured into camp, took
grscicusly what small blessings late
passed out to them for a few hours
and found permanent quarters when
the hard pressed regular army officers
could get them ready. Major Nor
mOyle, second in command to Briga-
dier General Liggett, estimated that
more than $4,000 men are quartered in
a camp intended to hold only 10000
men.
Through persistent effort. however,
every man has been cared for as well
as possible Thousands have been
given quarters in the big tent and
hundreds of others in smaller tents,
used in the daytime for speechmaking
and reunions. No officer cared to esti-
mate the number of southerners. 1t Is |
probable oneQuarter of the total num-
Der is represented by the men from |
Dixie.
Many veterans got no further than !
one meal in camp and one look at the |
tents, and then started back |
for home as quickly as they could go. |
The real exodus. however. will not
begin until Thursday or Friday, for
thousands who might have left sooner /
expect to stay over the Fourth TO see
President Wilson.
Before the exercises began. and af
ter the veterans quarered there had /
made their slim toilets, the reunions
Of regiments and companies and |
sQuadrons began. COnfederates who
we're in Picketts charge took keen
delight in marching with fife and drum
10 Spangler's woods, where the col
umns of Pickett formed on July 3,
1868, to begin the charge that marked
the high tide Of the Lost Cause"
On the edge Of the Union side OF
the camp the veterans of Meredits
iron brigade and of Pettigrew's bri
gade of North Carolina got together
10 go over the story Of the fight Of the
lst OF July. The struggle between. the
regiments OF these two brigades was
the most disastrous in numbeT@of those
killed in the entire three days Of
lighting and was seldom equalled in
lhe whole history Of the war They
met, many Of them, for the first time
since 1868 Fb
The death OF J. d. Albert, OF Wash
ngfOn, was the sixth fatality among
lhe veterans, Over 500 received treat
nent at the dispensaries.