Old Soldiers Reunion

A noteworthy reunion of old soldiers was held in Palacios last Saturday in response to the invitation of Mr. N. N. Estes to all old soldiers of the civil war residing in the city to take dinner with him that day at his home near the Methodist church.

The invitation was to all old soldiers both confederate and federal and in response there was sixteen to assemble around the sumptuously laden tables, and it was an unexpected coincidence that the forces were evenly divided, there being eight who were in the northern army and eight in the southern. The names of the war heroes, together with the States they are from and their ages are as follows:

Which were the northern and which were the southern soldiers the reader can easily decide by the States they hail from, but to remove any doubt we will say that the eight first named were in the southern army while those last named were northern soldiers. The guests were seated at two tables, eight at each, but who were the victors in the attack upon the good things to eat our reporter failed to state. Another singular division was discovered in that the soldiers were equally divided as to church membership eight being members of some church and the others belonging to none. This division, however was not on the old sectional line, and how they stood in their church relations we leave the reader to discover. After the feasting these old veterans of the blue and the gray enjoyed the afternoon in telling incidents and relating stories of the great war as they occurred on both sides. It will be noted that in this company twelve states were represented, seven northern and five southern, with Texas the most fully represented. The average ages of the notable party is seventy and seven-eights years.

Palacios Beacon, April 4, 1913
 

Old Soldiers Enjoy a Feast

Mr. Jacob Sherman entertained a company of twenty-three old soldiers at dinner at his home last Saturday. Of the company ten were confederate and thirteen union soldiers of the Civil war. The good things to eat were in great variety and bounteous supply, and most appetizingly prepared under the skillful direction of Mrs. Sherman. The guests present, with their ages and the States from whence they came were as follows:

After the splendid dinner the veterans of the blue and the gray spent the afternoon most delightfully in recounting war time experiences.

Palacios Beacon, May 23, 1913
 

As has been the custom here for several years, on the last night of the year the Sons of the Confederacy gave a banquet to the Veterans of the civil war, mainly to the Ex-Confederates, but inviting also those who wore the blue.

The banquet was spread in Stennett's dining room, and two long tables seated about one hundred persons, the Sons, of course being largely in the majority; in fact there were about fifteen Veterans of the war, and near eighty of the Sons.

Judge G. B. Robertson acted as toastmaster and well he did it. The Judge began with a beautiful story of the earth's formation centuries ago, and the discovery by scientists of coal in the bowels of the earth and under that coal tar, and in that aged substance they found the trees and plants of many centuries before, and even the perfumes and colors of the flowers, and, yea, the brilliant plumage and songs of the birds--the moral of which was that nothing was wasted. This he applied to the war which was sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Lost Cause," and said that the contest had not been in vain, that lessons came from it which were valuable, and he sought to bring out additional thoughts along that line, during the enjoyment of the sumptuous repast spread before them. He proposed a toast, "The Spirit of the Confederacy Lives Today," and called on Dr. Batt Smith to respond. The veteran surgeon of Forrest's cavalry rose and began to speak, but, suffering with his throat, asked to be excused, and said he would try to talk later. Judge Robertson then called on Capt. J. F. Lewis to respond to the toast, "The Spirit which Prompted the Action of the Men of the Confederacy Inspires the Sons of Today," which the Captain did entertainingly. The toasts were many and interesting, enjoyed by both the Veterans and the Sons, including reminiscences, sentiment and humor from quite a number of speakers, breathing respect, love and veneration for the Confederate soldier, of whom we recall the following; Capt. Jones, Commandant of the Veterans, Capt. Carrington, Commandant of the Sons, Mr. Coston, Dr. C. H. Williams, Will Davant, T. M. Castleton, Charlie Jones, W. H. Vaughn, W. F. McLean, Louis Huebner, Geo. T. Southwell, C. E. Gilbert, R. W. Jeter, J. D. Moore and J. M. Miller of the G.A.R.

Judge Robertson in closing the exercises made another pretty speech in which he said the old soldier now stands at parade rest waiting for the long roll which calls him to fall in line for a march to that bourn from which no traveler returns, and with many of them taps are beginning to sound and one by one the lights are going out; but bye and bye the reveille will sound calling them once more to stand together in the brighter realm above.

The following veterans were in attendance: Dr. C. H. Williams of Gainesmore; Chris Zipprian of Matagorda; W. F. McLean, of Markham ; Judge A. Currie, of Caney; and Dr. H. L. Rugeley, J. F. Lewis, Capt. J. A. Jones, Frank Rugeley, T. C. Dodd, J. P. Mason, Dr. Batt Smith, D. A. Coston and Capt. Pressley, of Bay City .

The Matagorda County News and Midcoast Farmer, January 4, 1915
 

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