Is it truly a legend or possibly a prophesy of things to come?
The ‘Legend of the Gray’ is told here exactly as it was passed on to me during the summer of 1992, while I was then making a living at transporting what was termed ‘disadvantaged and disabled’ people.’ Oftentimes the job required me to drop off one or more people at a medical facility, then standby until the completion of their appointment, and return them to their home or to some other place. It was while sitting in the parking lot one day waiting for my passengers, the following legend was revealed.
After speaking to a gentleman indicating he was from Arkansas, then later noting that his license plates did indeed indicate` he was from the Little Rock region, that I concluded he himself believed the story he told me, to be absolutely true. Time did not permit a more detailed questioning of the gentlemen, since he had to go his own way.
None-the-less, after a little checking on my own, his recollections of the Confederate Veterans Meeting, held in Little Rock in 1911 later proved to be accurate. However it is for the reader to decide, if the ‘Legend of the Gray’ is actually a prophecy, or else just another legend that people who love the Confederate Cause, speak about from time to time..
There is a legend I'd like to share with you! On 10 May 1911, there was a Confederate Veterans meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas, to mark the 50th year since the War for Confederate Independence. While the event was originally scheduled for 12 April that same year, there were the inevitable delays. It was the largest gathering of Confederate Veterans since the war, and the atmosphere was jubilant to say the least. The town overflowed with people, so much so, that tent cities surrounded the city itself. The streets were filled with Confederate Flags and Southern pride filled the air.
When the festivities were over, these aged Confederate Veterans gathered at the train depot, which at the time was the only mass transit system. As they exchanged their parting "goodbyes" the feeling was that this would likely be the last great gathering of the Confederates in gray; as so many of the veterans among their numbers, were very old men by now, and would not live to see another year. About that time a very elderly Negro woman, who was in attendance, heard them talking, and slowly walked over to the group of white veterans and began to speak.
"You white folks got it all wrong!" she said
"What wrong?" asked one old Confederate soldier.
"This ain't the ‘Last Great Gathering of the Gray!" spoke the elderly Negro woman. She went on, "Far beyond your lifetime and mine, there will be another Great Gathering of the Gray; so great will it be, that when it happens, history will be changed for all time." the woman continued, "They will come from the four winds, and this sir, will be the ‘Last Great Gathering of the Gray."
This legend lay forgotten by most folks until the summer of 1992, at which time word came to me from a Rodeo Cowboy from Arkansas. He was a fine gentleman, that told of a handful of elderly Negro women, in Arkansas, that were little girls in 1911 and witnessed and heard for themselves, the words that the elderly Negro woman spoke to the Confederate Veterans. The cowboy stated that this legend was being spoken of again! What these Negro Ladies are now saying is; that the time of fulfillment draws near and we are to prepare for the "Great Gathering of the Gray!"
Almighty God is not restricted in time, and He has remembered the prayers of our fallen warriors: delivered unto Him in blood, sweat and tears of agony. Those anguished prayers of our forefathers and foremothers are now being combined with our own. The victory, for which they fought and died, will yet be granted! When the fullness of time has come, God answers prayer in the wisdom of His own Divine Providence.
God save the Confederacy
The Legend of the gray is told as an inspiration to those who have held out faith, that somehow the Almighty God will intervene and we will in due course of time again witness, a pass and review of long columns of our Men in Gray. The legend did not completely register in my mind, not until the Confederate Legion was established on 12 April 2006 and the Confederate Legion Youth Corps on 22 May that same year. The result has been, that I am convinced, our modern day Legionnaires will be those who will bring to pass the ‘Great Gathering of the Gray’, as foretold so many years ago by a Negro Woman, and witnessed by her female friend, then only young girls.
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