Bedford, Virginia

"Worlds Best Little Town"

Page Six

SPECIAL OCCASIONS IN OLD BEDFORD

     Memorial Day used to be a big event in the lives of the citizens of Old Bedford. It was a time of paying annual tribute to the memory of the Confederate Dead, and the ceremonies were conducted under the auspices of the William R. Terry Chapter of U.D.C. On this day the streets, places of business, and even individual houses were appropriately decorated.  The following is a brief account of an observance re­ported in 1910:

·       A committee of the chapter, headed by Mrs. S. Griffin, president, repaired first to the cemetery on Piedmont Hill, leaving a tribute of flowers to the 500 soldiers from many states buried there. Then they moved on to Longwood Cemetery and adorned the graves of nearly 100 soldiers with flowers and small flags.   At 10:45 the chapter officers drove to the courthouse on Main Street to greet the veterans who had assembled there, and escorted them in a march to the Belmont Theater, where the chief ceremonies were to take place. They were cheered along the way by hundreds of onlookers waving banners.  The veterans, many attired in Confederate uniform, were commanded by Gen. S. Griffin, Chief Marshall, and his aides, Maj. W. H. Mosby, Maj. W. F. Graves and Captain T. S. West.  The invocation was offered by the Rev. S.S. Lambert D. D., who served with distinction throughout the war, and the speaker was the Hon. James W. Marshall of Craig County, a noted orator of the day.  Later the soldiers marched to the courthouse lawn, where a splendid monument had been erected to the Confederate dead the year before. Here a prayer and benediction were offered by the Rev. T. C. Page, after which the veterans repaired to the Alliance Warehouse, where a sumptuous banquet had been prepared for them, and were served by young ladies dressed in white with sprigs of red roses pinned on their shoulders.