Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-29
The South Raises Army
Which Will Clash on
Battlefield With Blue
Enemies of Old, in a
CannOnade of Remi-
nlSCenCeS.

Il TLANTA is the rendezvous again to-day
y for the boys in gray of Georgia who are
marching on Gettysburg the scene on
July "a of the semi-centenniaI celebration of the
world-famous battle of the war between the
States.
The invasion of Atlanta began Saturday,
when hundreds of veterans from every nook
and corner of the State opeyed the call to arms
of General A. J. West, in change of the Georgia
delegation. Here they will bdvouac to-day with
the sixty or more Atlanta comrades who saw
the rapid rise of the Confederacy at Chancel-
louisville, at Fredericksburg, and finally the
fall on that memorable field to which millions
of eyes are turning to-day.
Tomorrow the entire Georgia delegation
about 500 in al-the last remnants Of those
armies which swept Northern Virginia In the
sixties" will invade the North for the reunion
which is being participated in by $4,000 vet
Grams Of the blue and the.g gray from, every sec
ton of the Union.
Fifty years have rolled away since that mem
orable conflict Time has left its scars on the
men who survived that ordeal. Aged, yes; tot
tering. many of them, to be sure, but filled with
that same fire" and zeal and determination
which placed the quiet little Pennsylvania vii
SSStAS VI
mightiest conflicts of modern times.
The span of fifty years has been bridged to-
day. Comrades from all of Dixie, recounting
with the ancient foes of New England the deeds
of valor and daring on the field of Gettysburg
on Little RouDdtop, DEVILS Den, Plum Run,
the Wheatfeld 1t all comes back to them.
Again these men, in the bloom of youth in the
sixties. see Pickett and his brave men join the
I,g-l
DAYS strife Again they picture dawn with the
cannons belching, and through pail of smoke
they see Pickett's men emerge from Long
streets lines and march slowly and steadily up
the hill, and the famous charge, the scathing
fire. the repulse, the second charge and the
third
All these things these veterans see to-day
in their minds eye as they talk of the old, old
times. Tomorrow the lettering remnants of
the famous Tenth and the Third Georgia and
the others, some of which are represented by
q pitiful half-dozen comrades or more will be
en- route, and Tuesday they will be on the his
toric ground. They will be able to go to the
exact spots on which they stood dnring the con
dict for the battlefield has been preserved re-
markaby well.
The whole memorable conflict can be recon
structed by the veteran as he passes over the
field. once more ne can picture ButordS Cav
airy as it came into contact with Heth's Con
~federate Division just beyond the little town
of Gettysburg on that first day of July, 1853 He
can see Reynolds Doubleday and Howard as
they came up to reinforce Buford and were
driven back, step by step, until they had re-
treated through the village.
All of this and more the veteran may pic
ture again as he stands on the historic battle
field. But there is another pleasure which will
be his-the opportunity Of clasping hands not
only with the men of the gray with whom he
fought side by side on those memorable July
days, but with the men of the blue the enemy,
whom he fought with all the grim vigor he
could summon on those memorable July days.
Not only will the comrades of Southern
States clasp hands with their comrades of
the North, however They will eat with them
talk with them, sleep with them in 5000 mod
ern tents which have been erected by the
United States Government, which makes no
distinction between the men who wore the blue
and the men who wore the gray.
All of these things the veterans from Geor
gia are anticipating with the keenest of pleas
ure General West has spared no pains to make
Georgia's part of the invasion a complete sue
cess and in this he has been aided by a score
or more of Atlanta veterans who saw service
at Gettysburg and elsewhere including Colonel
4 j. Mcbride of the old Tenth Georgia; Colo
mel J. w Lindsay Of the old Third; Captain
George HiIyer now Judge Hillyer; Ex-Governor
Henry D. Mcdaniel and others.
General West was appointed to the Gettys-
burg Commission last year by Governor