Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 19.djvu/396

 390 Southern Historical Society Papers.

drenching rain,) and the banks and public offices in all were closed. The Confederate Veteran Corps of the city of New York, and the Confederate Army and Navy Association of Baltimore, Maryland, each commemorated the occasion by a banquet with reverential ex- ercises. The day is now by statute, a legal holiday in the States of North Carolina and Georgia as well as in Virginia, and the day was observed in Raleigh and Atlanta, and doubtless in other southern cities of which the Richmond papers have not as yet given report.

The accounts of the observance which follow, have been compiled from the reports published in the issues of the Richmond Dispatch and Times, of January 20:

Robert Edward Lee's birth- day was quite generally observed in Richmond yesterday, though the inclement weather prevented the celebration from being a more general one. As it was, veterans and militia braved the elements, and orators and speakers told of the patriotism and bravery of those who followed the fortunes of Lee. Previous to the day it was arranged that there should be a grand parade of the entire military force of Richmond, accompanied by Lee and Pickett Camps, but the pitiless rain prevented this con- summation. Early in the day the orders given the Blues and Stuart Horse Guards were countermanded, and a communication was sent Colonel Henry C. Jones, of the First regiment, which stated that the veterans would not parade the proposed line of march. It was afterwards arranged that the regiment would act as escort to the veterans from Seventh and Broad streets to the House of Delegates. This pleasant duty was to have been performed by the Blues. About four o'clock the regiment, in their service uniforms and overcoats, and headed by the regimental band and drum corps, marched from the armory, and through the mud, slush and rain, es- corted the veterans to the Capitol. The latter immediately took pos- session of the hall of the House of Delegates.

The regiment then proceeded out of the Ninth street gate to Cap- itol street, thence to Governor, up Main to Eighth, up Franklin (passing General Lee's residence) to Seventh, and thence to the armory. The men were then dismissed by Colonel Jones.

PUBLIC OFFICES.

Business in the city offices was at a standstill yesterday and mat- ters at the Capitol yesterday were dull. Many wholesale houses