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Show - - v-4V -uf r.-A,. v; Confederate battle flags captured In , the Civil war were returned to the ' Dixie states of Virginia, North Caro-, Caro-, lina and Texas with impressive cere-' cere-' monies at the capitol on December 16, ; 1927. The above photograph shows Gov. Ralph Brewster of. Maine (left), i President Coolidge (center), and Gen. i W. B. Freeman of Richmond (right), honorary commander of the United J Confederate Veterans, with some of the flags returned. T II i By ELMO SCOTT WATSON JN THE states of Alabama, 1 I ffl Georgia, Florida and Mis-jj Mis-jj pi sissippi Confederate Memo- j B rial day is observed on April j j '"'"j 26. In North Carolina and j (o M South Carolina it Is May 10 j antI Louisiana it is June j I 3. May 30, which was orig- p Inally the Federal Memorial S day, has become a national mnraaP holiday and, in so far as it honors the memory of both the men who wore the Blue and those who wore the Gray, as well as their khaki-clad sons and grandsons who fought in all of our wars since '61-'G5, it is observed in all states. As these dates are agaii;. approaching it is interesting in-teresting to note that there is now a project under "ay which, in the words of its sponsor, is designed "to oblit erate the last remnant of ill feeling between the sections of the North and the sections of the South as we once knew them." That project Is the proposal for a joint reunion of Union and Confed-. erate survivors in Washington this year and a bill already has been introduced intro-duced into congress by Representative Edgar .Howard of Nebraska as the first step toward bringing it about. The bill provides for the appointment of a commission consisting of the general gen-eral In command of the United States army, the governors of the states and such other members as the President may be pleased to name, to have general gen-eral charge of the reunion and for the authorization of an appropriation of sufficient money from the United States treasury to pay the expenses of the reunion. Press comment on the proposal, especially by Southern papers, pa-pers, indicates that the idea has made a good impression and the chances for the passage of the bill are considered con-sidered good. In introducing the bill Congressman Howard acknowledged his indebtedness indebted-ness for the Idea to two veterans of tlie War Between the States, Judge Morley Cain and L. D. Richards of Fremont, Neb., a former commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in his speech advocating the bill lie said : "1 feel I have a perfect right to propose tins legislation because of the fact that 1 am about as far removed re-moved from sectional feeling as any man might be. I recall, in recitation by my elders, that in the days of strife about one-third of the men of the blood of my kinsmen were in the Union army, about one-third in the Confederate army and about one-third one-third (being Quakers) were ministering minister-ing to the sick and wounded on both sides." I In answering n question of another member of congress, during the course of his speech, in regard to the number num-ber of old soldiers on either side who are still living. Mr. Howard said: According to the report of the commissioner com-missioner of pensions, who has better knowledge on this score, perhaps, than any other, I am informed that on the last day of November of this year there were still living 84. 478 men who served In the Union army. Now, 1 take It for granted that approximately the same number survive with reference to the Confederate side. How many would be able to attend such a reunion? 1 have talked with many of the old soldiers on both sides, and the general estimate Is I j der the caption "The Blend of the Blue i and the Gray." I refer to Maj. John Alleine Brown of Washington city. I know that many of you are personally f acquainted with him, and I would like I to leave as my closing plea in behalf of the proposed joint reunion the inspiring in-spiring lines by Major Brown: THE BLEND OF THE BLUE AND THE GRAY (By J. Alleine Brown.) Oh, swell the song of kindred fame, And blow, ye bugles, blow; Nor more doth burn with heated name , The passion of the foe; The battle long hath ceased to rage, There is no battle line. The Nation's pride engraves the p"age, Its joy invests the shrine. The blend of blue lights up the gray, The blend of gray the blue; Together now those colors sway With inspiration new. 'Tis patriot hands that sweep the lyre: They chant on high their lay; The blue invokes the Nation's choir, "My country," sings the gray. Then chant the blended blue and gray, Though once they faced each other; Tjhose tattered ensigns furled away Proclaim the name of brother. We've found at last the vaulted sky For us o'erspread alway; Eternally the blue on high Blends with the morning gray. Other incidents, similar to the return re-turn of battle flags, which are "obliterating "oblit-erating unpleasant memories" and which are in keeping with the idea back of the proposed reunion of Blue and Gray veterans, have been recorded record-ed in press dispatches recently as follows : Atlanta, Ga. Charred by sparks from campfires and bearing holes as evidence evi-dence of Confederate marksmanship, a woolen bedspread taken from the home of the late Gov. Joseph E. Brown at Canton, Ga., in 1864, by one of General Sherman's lieutenants has been returned re-turned to Atlanta. The spread taken from the home of Georgia's war governor when it way burned by federal troops, was returned to George M. Brown, Sr., son of the former governor, by Maj. E. L. Sivey of Chicago, whose father "borrowed" it in the War Between the States. Richmond, Va. Alfred L. Aiken, formerly governor of the Federal Reserve Re-serve bank of Boston, has returned to the senate of Virginia a gavel that was carried off from the senate chamber by a young ofTicer cf the Union army on April 2, 1805, the day of the evacuation of Richmond. The historic relic, with handle of walnut and head of lignum vitae, was presented at special ceremonies recently recent-ly and was accepted by Lieut. Gov. Junius E. West, presiding officer of the senate. The young officer who carried It away was Lieut. J. Lewis Spaulding, adjutant of the Twenty-ninth Connecticut Connecti-cut infantry, which was among the first Union troops to enter the city after af-ter Richmond fell. He gave it to William A. Buckingham, Bucking-ham, Mr. Aiken's grandfather, then governor of Connecticut, afterward United States senator, whose home was at Norwich. For more than sixty-two years it had remained in possession of members of the family there. The gavel was used not only by the Virginia senate, but also by the Confederate Con-federate senate, which held its sessions ses-sions in the same chamber. Washington. D. C Maj.-Gen. John L. Clem, retired. Union veteran, and Vivian Fleming, a Confederate veteran, have been designated by Secretary Davis of the War department as members mem-bers of the Spottsyl vanian county battlefield bat-tlefield memorial commission, which also al-so will Include Capt. George F. Hobson, army quartermaster corps. Both Gen. Clem and Fleming served on the preliminary pre-liminary commission and already have detailed knowledge of the fields which wtii be under their Jurisdiction. I that the number would be less than 10,-000. 10,-000. How do I gather that, or, ratner, how do they reach that estimate? They reach it by taking the figures of the pension commissioner, which show that in round numbers 50,000 of the 80,000 living Union soldiers are now physically physical-ly incapacitated, requiring the constant aid and attention of some other person to care for them because of infirmity; and of the remainder, the estimate is made by those who have taken account of the attendance at the annual reunions re-unions of the Grand Army of the Republic Re-public and of the United Confederate Veterans. He then referred to the scene, shown in the picture above, as follows fol-lows : Out here this morning on the steps of the capitol we witnessed the return of some captured Confederate flags by the people of the Northern state of Maine to the people of North Carolina. Those people up there in Maine, whom the Southerners used to call the coldblooded cold-blooded Yankees, are now warm, and they come down here bearing their captured cap-tured flags to the North Carolinians, and 1 understand that if North Carolina Caro-lina did capture flags from the Maine regiments she has already or is to return re-turn them to the state of Maine. I recall an incident a little while ago when the state of New Jersey, through its , governor, returned some Confederate flags to a Southern state I think it was North Carolina also and here I have a little editorial from the new York Times, which says of that action: "The decision of the governor of New Jersey to' return to North Carolina flags of that state captured by New Jersey regiments during the Civil war will be approved in the North as well as in the South. Ever since the World war brought the sons of Northern and Southern veterans Into close contact, the last remaining vestige of regional feeling has disappeared. The North has taken Lee to heart as a great American. The South has recognized the splendor of Lincoln. As one mark of the new spirit, many Confederate flags taken by Northern troops and Union Hags taken by the Southerners have been returned. In following this custom New Jersey Is contributing her share to the obliteration of unpleasant memories." 1 do not think of any better plea that 1 might leave with you, my friends, as a last remark on this subject, sub-ject, than to quote some of the utterances utter-ances by the splendid ones who have represented us in high capacity in our government in peace and in war. I recall it may have heen at Appomattox, Appo-mattox, 1 do not know, but certainly soon thereafter when the great Uen-eral Uen-eral Grant uttered that immortal expression, ex-pression, "Let us have peace." It was only a little while after that that the wonderful Lee said, "We are all one now." It was not long after when dear, old General Gordon said, "The American people will forever remain an unbroken brotherhood from sea to sea": and it was not long after when the princely McKinley said, "Let us strew flowers alike on the graves of those who wore the Blue and those who wore the Gray, for American valor is the common heritage of the nation." Living here In Washington today Is a wonderful old soldier of the Confederacy Confed-eracy Ah, he knew what service was and he knew what suffering was. He was in the war for four and a half years, and the last part of it he spent in prison. His heart is so full of a desire de-sire to accomplish a final wiping away of all thought of bitterness between the two peoples that he has written a poem which has been set to music un- Larry Kopf, former Cincinnati shortstop, short-stop, has been named baseball coach at George Washington university in Washington. He succeeds Ben Egan, who is to act as cvich for the Baltimore Balti-more Internationals. Ilokey Garcia, a young Spanish pitcher who comes from the sand lots of Houston, has been bagged by Manager Man-ager Jim Galloway for his Beaumont Exporters of the Texas league. Senor Garcia makes it known that he much prefers baseball to his native pastime of jai alaL |
