Reunion of Company D, Hampton
Legion
Anderson Intelligencer August 23,
1883
There was held at Williamston on Wednesday,
August 15, a reunion of the survivors of the Gist Rifles, Company D,
Hampton Legion, at which was organized the “Gist Rifles Survivors’
Association,” with the following officers: Presidents – Captain W.H.
Austin. Vice Presidents – J.M. Glenn, Laban Mauldin, R.V. Acker,
Thomas Crymes. Secretary – J.L. Mauldin.
Upon enrolling
names, it was found there were twenty six members present, viz:
Captain W.H. Austin, Lieut. A.J. Stringer, Sergt. Thomas Crymes,
Sergt. J.W. Crymes, Sergt. S.D. Stewart, Corp. B.L. Crymes, Corp.
J.P. Glenn, Privates R.V. Acker, W.H.H. Ariall, H.D. Boggs, J.A.
Boggs, W.M. Cooley, M.H. Deal, J.M. Glenn, G.A. Green, H.A. Griffin,
A.M. Hamilton, W.W. Holder, W.F. Lee, J.L. Mauldin, J.A. Majors,
T.W. Martin, J.S. Newton, W.M. Scott, J.V. Whitt, J.R. Wilson and
Caesar Wilson, colored.
The names of such as were present,
representing other branches of the confederate service were
enrolled, viz: E.H. Acker and J.I. Halliday, Company E., Hampton
Legion; D.V. Garrison, Company B, 7th S.C. Cavalry; W.A. Pepper,
Company C, 2nd S.C. Cavalry. Upon examination of the roll prepared
for the occasion, it was revised and corrected, showing number of
commissioned officers, 10; number of non-commissioned officers 26;
number of privates, 194; number killed in battle, 32; number died of
disease, 15; number died of wounds, 4; number died in prison, 1;
number wounded, 37; number discharged, 25. (It was impossible to be
exact as to how many were detached, on unlimited furlough, in
hospital, & C., so no estimate was made.)
A resolution
was adopted thanking Lieut. S. E. Welch, late Adjutant of the
Hampton Legion, for contradicting and correcting that part of Gen.
Sheridan’s account of the surrender of Gen. Lee at Appomattox, as
reflects discredit upon Gary’s Cavalry Brigade.
The meeting
was a pleasant reunion of old comrades and mess mates, some of whom
met for the first time in eighteen years. Many an incident of camp
life, grave and gay, long forgotten, was brought forth, proving an
interesting item to all present. Some of the “boys” are now
gray-haired men, but to each other they are still the same boys, as
when, marching and fighting, ill-fed, half-clad, but hopeful and
cheerful, till at Appomattox, where they surrendered to Grant’s
countless host- struggling to the last and bringing up the rear,
they probably were among the last in the army of Northern Virginia
to cease firing, and then only after “Mart. Gary” gave the command.
The next annual meeting will take place at Williamston, on first
Tuesday in August, 1884, at 10 o’clock a.m.
|
