Youngblood-Armstrong & Allied Families
line of march on Pennsylvania Avenue. Mr. Strickland, seventy nine years old and the youngest member of Longstreet's Camp, U. C. V. refused aid of the Boy Scouts which was frequently offered.
"Son, you won't live long enough to be as strong as I am right now," he said to one of the Scouts. When a newspaper reporter asked to interview him, the bent old veteran spoke in husky tones; "Just say that I was one of Longstreet's sharp shooters an' there ain't no bigger glory for me this side of Heaven."
On the occasion of the Final Reunion of the Blue and the Gray held on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, Frances and Dorothy Youngblood attended the unveiling of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The trip to the world famous battlefield was made with a War Department insignia on the windshield of the automobile to insure them the courtesy of traffic aid in reaching the little Pennsylvania town. Thomas M. Owen, grandson of Senator John Hollis Bankhead, and his wife, the former Elizabeth Storrs, made the pilgrimage with them. On this occasion they placed a wreath on the Alabama Monument in memory of their father and the other Alabama men who fought in the battle.
William Youngblood's friendship with Charlie Mallett, his boyhood school mate and his war time tent mate and with Captain Joseph Bell of Troy was deep and sincere. Captain Bell was Commander of the Quitman Guards, U. C. V. Camp for many years and kept William Youngblood informed of the illness and passing away of their former war comrades.
The following letter from Captain Bell reveals the love which existed between these men who wore the gray.
Troy, Alabama
April 22, 1913.
Hon. Wm. Youngblood,
Birmingham, Alabama.
Dear Bill:
Comrade Jas. C. Hill passed out from this existence to answer the Last "Roll Call" yesterday morning. Poor Jim was a sufferer for a long time. He was almost as thin as a shadow. I would not have known him in an unexpected place. He could not eat and on that account, I think, perished to death. His suffering here is over and he told his folks that he was ready to go.
His funeral will occur at ten o'clock today. All the old Com-
143