42 11 L. Planing from South Carolina, fifty were Georgians, one was from Illinois, one from Boston, and the rest were Alabamians. The Alabama Journal of this date characterizes the emigrants collected in Mont- gomery as a superior class of young men, quiet, gentlemanly, tem- perate. Later some members of the party seem not to have de- served this praise. On Saturday, April 5, Major Buford formed his men in line in front of the Madison House, and made a speech to them urging that they abstain from intoxicating liquors, and conduct themselves as gentlemen and good citizens. They were then marched to the Agricultural Fair Grounds and organized into a battalion of four com- panies under temporary officers, and Buford was elected General of the force. Saturday night a meeting of the citizens of Montgomery was held in Estelle Hall, and addresses were made by prominent gentlemen. Major Buford explained that he had undertaken this mission in order to settle Kansas with good and true Southern men who would uphold the right of their native land in the new country which was to be their future home. He was followed by other prominent speakers who declared that the fate of the South de- pended on the success or failure of the efforts now being made to save the new territory for the South. Resolutions were passed thanking the men who had so nobly responded to the call upon them for the defence of Southern rights against Northern aggres- sion. The battalion attended divine service on Sunday at the Baptist church. After the sermon the pastor. Rev. I. T. Tichenor, pro- posed that since some ministers at the North had been raising money to equip emigrants with Sharp's rifles, they present each man of Buford's battalion with a more powerful weapon — the Bible. The necessary amount was subscribed at once ; it being found that there was not a sufficient number of Bibles in Montgomery, the money was turned over to Major Buford, who was to purchase them at some point on his route. The next day the emigrants were marched again to the Baptist church where Rev. Mr. Tichenor on behalf of his congregation presented a handsome Bible to Major Buford, a song written by a lady of Montgomery was sung by the crusaders, and then the Rev. Mr. Dorman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, offered up a prayer asking the blessings of heaven for Buford and his men.' It was noticed that the battalion carried two banners with inscrip- > Full accounts of the stay of the Buford party in Montgomery will be found in the Montgomery papers, April 4-9, 1856. See also Joseph Hodgson's Cradle of the Coiifrd- I
