USA > Virginia > Post-bellum campaigns of the blue and gray, 1881-1882 > Part 12
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[Southern Historical Society's Papers, May, 1882.] EX-CONFEDERATES IN NEW JERSEY.
During the Centennial celebration at Yorktown the Aaron Wilkes Post, No. 23, G. A. R., of Tren- ton, N. J., extended their trip to Richmond, and
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were entertained at an impromptu banquet by the veterans of the Richmond Howitzers, the old First Virginia Regiment and the Otey Battery.
So pleased were the visitors at their hospitable reception that soon after their return home they sent a committee to Richmond, bearing gifts and a hearty invitation from Wilkes Post to visit them in Trenton.
The kind invitation was accepted, and arrange- ments for the visit entrusted to a committee. Captain David N. Walker was made officer in charge. About seventy-five men, representing the three organizations above named, composed the visiting party.
We left Richmond April 12th, on the 5 A. M. train, all hands having been made "Colonels " by the officer in charge. It was a jolly party "on pleasure bent."
At Baltimore we received several recruits in the the persons of old Otey Battery men, resident there, and at Philadelphia more still. Here also the party was met by a committee of gentlemen from Wilkes Post, who had been sent on to meet and welcome us at, as it were, the outer wall. The enthusiasm there was great, and evidenced great heartiness of esteem. Captain Wilkes, the genial commander who came with the Wilkes Post to Richmond, was with this committee, and his countenance was radiant with pleasure as he grasped the many hands extended to greet him.
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The arrival of the train at Trenton was an- nounced by an artillery salute. The entire mili- tary force of the town were in waiting for escort duty, and Wilkes Post and its Auxiliary Corps were out in full force.
The lines was formed, military and Wilkes Post in front and ex-Confederates following. The line of march led through the principal streets of the town, which were filled with people, cheering, waving flags, and indulging in every possible form of welcome. The whole town was out. Bells were rung on engine houses, churches, locomotives and fire engines. Whistles were blown in the workshops and cannon fired from the house tops. Many residences were handsomely decorated.
After the march the visitors were left at their hotel long enough to brush up and lunch, and were then taken to the Wilkes Post Industrial Exhibition at Taylor Hall, where they were re- ceived with marked courtesy by the ladies and gentlemen in charge.
The visit to the Exposition over, at about 10 P. M., hosts and guests assembled at the hotel, and arm in arm marched into the banquet, spread on three immense tables in the dining-hall. Senator John Taylor, of Trenton, presided. Toasts were read to "The South," " The Old First Virginia," " The Otey Battery," "Our Country," "Richmond," "The Old Dominion," &c., &c., and appropriate responses were made.
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The speeches on both sides were manly, gener- ous, free from cant, and such as befit soldiers. It was "the next day" when the whole company united in singing the Star Spangled Banner.
On the morning of the 13th, carriages appeared at the hotel as if by magic. The private carriages of many of the best citizens of Trenton were amongst them. Each carriage contained at least one Wilkes Post man as guide. So we went to see the sights.
The first place visited was the State House, a very neat and handsome building, where we were welcomed by his Excellency, the Governor, in a very pleasant little address, to which Major Chas S. Stringfellow responded. And this reminds me that the Major had already been called upon to respond to the address of welcome of the Mayor of the town, and had done it handsomely.
We were then guided to all the places of inter- est in and about the town, seeing, in the course of the ride, a great Stud Farm, the wonderful Pot- teries, the great Steel and Iron Works, Rubber Works, &c., &c.
This accomplished, the guests returned to the hotel and prepared for the reception tendered by the ladies, at Taylor Opera House.
The parquette of the fine theatre was planked over for dancing, and the house was tastefully decorated. A fine band was in attendance and discoursed appropriate music.
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The Governor and his Staff were present in full dress, and were very agreeable and earnest in their attentions.
The ladies, maid and matron, were there in full force, and were, of course, the "light " of the occa- sion. Did we dance ? Why certainly !
On the morning of the 14th, after a most de- lightful visit, the ex-Confeds. left for home, bear- ing with them a keen sense of the extreme good taste, hospitality and generosity of the entertain- ment which they had received-for, notwithstand- ing the number and variety of the means used to make our stay agreeable, and the fact that we numbered nearly one hundred, we were not allowed to pay for anything in Trenton.
I sincerely believe that friendships were formed there which will endure till the parties to them are no more.
C. McC.
[Baltimore American, June 22, 1882.]
NATIONAL UNITY.
That Baltimore should indulge itself in a hur- rah over the pleasant and historic incidents of the Grand Army of the Republic festival is inevi- table. The circumstances are so remarkable that they cannot possibly be slighted. Here are thou-
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sands upon thousands of men-veterans of as san- guinary a war as ever was known-meeting upon southern soil and finding a welcome as warm as friends of a lifetime could exchange. They came with the old army blue upon them, they came with their battle-scarred flags, and they are brought into immediate contact with other men who fought against them for four years with a courage and persistency that refused to acknowl- edge defeat, until Robert E. Lee gave up his sword to Grant. Is there no significance in the fact that there is going on this reunion of the enemies of twenty years, now, ago ? Does it mean nothing that southern military companies salute the battle flags of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic, and that the Union Veterans cheer " Dixie," " The Bonnie Blue Flag," and "Maryland, My Maryland ?" Is it a mere coincidence that the gallant colonel of the Second Maryland Confeder- ate Regiment, commands a division in a parade that Ayres heads and Sherman reviews? These are not accidents. They are the finest and nicest and most positive proofs of the development of that sentiment of national unity, which is the foundation stone of the republican structure. There was not a man who walked the streets of Baltimore yesterday in uniform-there was not a man or woman who cheered the parade-that was not a living witness to the solidarity of the American Republic. It was a manifestation of
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that patriotism-of that love of country-which is almost the noblest and loftiest sentiment of the human heart. A nation would be poor and weak indeed, if it could not gather to its defence the services of its sons in the face of any possible dan- ger. All of us know, now, that the United States is safe. It is a nation that is impregnable in its strength and glory. The soldiers who marched in procession through the streets yesterday, were the nucleus of an army that, at necessity, could be brought together by hundreds of thousands to oppose any foreign invasion. Perhaps it is a ven- turesome thing to say, but The American does not hesitate to utter the opinion, that the citizen sol- diers, who filed through the streets twenty-four hours ago, are as excellent a military body as can be found in the world. We mean that they are better soldiers than the conscripted troops of foreign nations; and we know that they are bet- ter, because every man of them is a citizen of a nation he loves, and before whose emblems of national unity he lifts his cap, or comes to a shoulder arms with his musket. Let us never despair of the Republic while it has these defend- ers.
[Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1882.]
Whether the joyousness of the day is to be
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ascribed to the exhilarating atmosphere, the sight of marching thousands, or the strains of martial music, or to all these things together, it cannot be doubted that it tended to foster what is the only proper object of such reunions-the growth of amicable sentiments between the representa- tives of the sections. Social intercourse and com- munity of interest, are the sole remedy for wounds given and received in the past. The spectacle was one calculated to suggest the thought: What if those men were marching again to war ? What bitter sentiments, what passions in suspense, would animate their purpose and burn within their hearts ? But the reality of peace illuminated the scene with a radiance that left no shadow in a single heart, in which war might lurk, or sec- tional antipathies find a brooding place. Look- ing each other in the face, men forget the abstrac- tions, constitutional or political, over which they have warred. It may, indeed, be asserted that the exhibition made yesterday, upon our streets, possesses peculiar value in the eyes of the patriot. Localities made historical by conflicts, over issues now happily extinct, were thronged with soldiers of the Northern States marching in column with those of the Southern, and all alike were saluted and welcomed by the assembled people of Balti- more, with hearty plaudits. Baltimoreans, busied about the great future of their city, have ceased to dwell upon the solved problems of other days.
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So with the entire South. It cannot be too often insisted upon, that, for practical purposes, the people of that section, like the people of Baltimore, believe the past is past.
But whether this lesson be received in its entirety, or be only partially learned, the effect of the events of yesterday can- not but be happy. The cordial attentions shown to our visitors by our municipal authorities, by committees of our principal citizens, and by the people 'generally, have gone far to speed the day when every sectional feeling will have been ex- tinguished, and only the true principles, upon which each side fought, live to take their proper place in history.
[Richmond Dispatch, June 10, 1882.]
THE OTEY BATTERY REUNION.
The survivors of the Otey Battery had their annual reunion, yesterday, at the James River Brewery Park, and had a very enjoyable time. A large number of the veterans were present. Among those from a distance were James H. Reid, of Alexandria; J. H. Sharp, of Wilmington, N. C .; C. M. Smith and J. C. Frederick, of Parkers- burg, W. Va., and George Savage, of Baltimore. The magnificent punch-bowl, which was presented to the Ex-Confederates, last winter, by Aaron
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Wilkes Post Grand Army of the Republic, of Trenton, N. J., was christened with appropriate honors. Mr. Savage made the christening speech in happy style. The dinner was a sumptuous one. Lieutenant R. B. Gunn presided ; and ap- propriate addresses were delivered by Major C. S. Stringfellow, J. H. Sharp, George Savage, C. M. Smith, and others. Among the invited guests were Major Thomas Brander, and members of the Howitzers and Old First Virginia Infantry.
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