This incident occurred just as the Dixie Rifles were on the eve of
leaving home to go into the army, and was swallowed up in the vortex
of the terrible war we then thought was to be of such short duration.
I think to mention it now, for its blending of the beautiful and
ludicrous will bring it back to the minds of the survivors and their
descendants of Company E of the old Thirteenth Regiment.
On a glorious June morning, with just that buoyancy in the air that
makes mere existence a pleasure, the company assembled in the little
village of Moscow, Fayette county, to receive a most beautiful and
elegant Confederate flag that the ladies of the village had made for
the company. The then Miss Fannie Steger (now Mrs. Dr. R. L. Knox of
Memphis) had been selected to make the presentation of the colors.
I do not know if she will thank me now for attempting to bring back
the speech that she, a winsome and lovely young lady, made to us on
that morning. Of course I cannot recall all that she said, but I can
remember enough to know that it sounded like the blast of a bugle,
like the playing of exquisite music, and inspired every member of the
company with intenser patriotism and with profound admiration for
the fair speaker. Feeling myself (then as now) utterly incapable
of making a speech, I called on a young member of the company to
receive the flag from the fair hands of those who had woven it. He
stepped on the platform with every appearance of self-confidence, but
to his surprise and to that of all the rest of us, he found himself
overwhelmed with embarrassment. Blushing, stuttering and stammering,
he began with, "Ladies and gentlemen, we accept," and then broke down.
After swallowing a glass or two of water, he began again, "Ladies and
gentlemen, we accept," and, still stammering and stuttering, once more
took water. This occurred a third time, when one of the boys called
out from the rear, "D--n it, say to her, We accept the flag, and will
follow it to h--l or to victory." Amid yells of applause the young man
reached for the flag and sat down. This flag was kept throughout the
whole war, and today, thirty-two years since the struggle ended, is
carefully preserved by my friend, Dr. T. B. Yancey, of Somerville, Tenn.