On Wednesday evening, October 27th, 1880, a large crowd packed the Hall of the House of Delegates to its utmost capacity.
At the appointed hour the orator of the evening, Major H. B. McClellan was escorted into the hall by the president of the Association (General W. H. F. Lee) and members of the Executive Committee, and was received with loud applause.
General Lee called the meeting to order, and Rev. Dr. J. William Jones opened with prayer.
General Lee said that he esteemed it a pleasure and an honor to extend to the audience a cordial welcome to this tenth annual reunion of the Virginia Division of the Army of Northern Virginia. He concluded from the brilliant audience before him that the people still cherished the memory of the brave men who during the four years of the unequal contest bore themselves nobly, and proved themselves worthy of the land that gave them birth and the cause for which they fought.
