Usually, ex-Confederates were pleased to receive any donation that would help fund their state soldiers homes. Some, however, drew the line when the money was coming from their old foes.
At a meeting of the veterans of the Army of Tennessee (U.C.V.) held in New Orleans in September 1902, they took up the matter of contributions offered toward the building of a Confederate soldiers home in Alabama. General Torrance, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, had officially requested that G.A.R. posts contribute what they could toward the planned home.
Thanks, but no thanks, the ex-Confederates said.
According to newspaper accounts, they passed a resolution making "it emphatic that the Army of Tennessee was very grateful for the proffered assistance, just in the same way that a man is grateful to a neighbor who offers financial assistance when the angel of death visits the home, but which must be politely and firmly declined nevertheless."
See New York Times, September 11, 1902
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
So much for reconciliation and reunion. ;-)
I've found it interesting, Andy, that relations on the matter of soldiers' homes between factions of the UCV and GAR were on-again-off-again over the years. (Virginia's ex-Confederates, for example, successfully solicited contributions from GAR members and camps to build the Richmond home in 1885.)
Kentucky, Texas and Georgia welcomed contributions from former foemen. Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana, not so much.
Post a Comment