where also
Colonel John Withers (the old
Assistant Adjutant-General of the
Confederacy) and his efficient committee had made all arrangements to give us a hearty reception and elegant entertainment.
The committee met us at the depot, and escorted us to comfortable quarters at the
Menger Hotel.
General Fitzhugh Lee—as a young officer of the famous old Second Cavalry—had been accustomed to stop at this hotel in 1859-60, and he met in
San Antonio many of his old friends.
Despite the pouring rain, a fine audience assembled at the Casino, and among those on the platform were
General C. C. Augur,
General Thos. M. Vincent, and
General Swiser, of the United States Army, while scattered through the audience were a number who ‘wore the blue’ in the late war, but were willing to hear the story of
Chancellorsville, told by a gallant, and true Confederate.
General Lee had some of the same class of hearers everywhere he lectured, and many of them took occasion to express their great pleasure at hearing him, and high gratification at the character of his address.
Major Jacob Waelder presided on the occasion, and introduced
General Lee in a very neat and appropriate little speech.
The lecture was received with every demonstration of hearty enjoyment.
After the lecture there was an informal entertainment in the rooms of the Casino, and a very enjoyable season of social intercourse.
Spending a quiet Sabbath in the historic old town, now the busy, bustling, progressive city—it was pleasant to worship in their churches, and to recall in passing the memories of the
Alamo and the stirring deeds of other days.
We found that old citizens here never tired of talking of
Albert Sidney Johnston,
R. E. Lee,
Hardie,
Kirby Smith, Van Dome,
Fitzhugh Lee, and others of the officers of the old Second Cavalry, which gave seventeen
Generals to the late war.
Early Monday morning, March the 5th, we were off to meet an engagement for that night in