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Lee Monument Association.

The next move towards the monument was instituted by Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, the senior surviving officer of the Army of Northern Virginia, in the following address, which appeared in the public prints October 25th, 1870:

To the Surviving Officers and Soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia:
Comrades—The sad tidings of the death of our great commander came at a time when, by the interruption of all the ordinary [189] modes of traveling, very many of us were debarred the privilege of participating in the funeral ceremonies of attending the burial of him we loved so well, or by concerted action of giving expression to our feelings on the occasion. While the unburied remains of the illustrious hero were yet under the affectionate care of friends who were bowed down with a sorrow unutterable, the hoarse cry of ‘treason’ was croaked from certain quarters for the vile and abortive purpose of casting a stigma upon his pure and exalted character. His fame belongs to the world and to history, and is beyond the reach of malignity; but a sacred duty devolves upon those whom, in defense of a cause he believed to be just, and to which he remained true to the latest moment of his life, he led so often to battle, and for whom he ever cherished the most affectionate regard, we owe it to our fallen comrades, to ourselves, and to posterity, by some suitable and lasting memorial, to manifest to the world, for all time to come, that we were not unworthy to be led by our own immortal chief, and that we are not now ashamed of the principles for which Lee fought and Jackson died. Already some steps have been taken by some Confederate officers and soldiers, assembled at Lexington, the place of General Lee's death and burial, to inaugurate a memorial association; and being, as I believe, the senior in rank of all the officers of the Army of Northern Virginia now living in the State, I respectfully suggest and invite a conference at Richmond, on Thursday, the 3d day of November next, of all the survivors of that army, whether officers or privates, in whatever State they may live, who can conveniently attend, for the purpose of securing concert of action in regard to the proceeding contemplated. I would also invite to that conference the surviving officers and soldiers of all the other Confederate armies as well as the officers, sailors and marines of the Confederate navy. The call would have been made sooner, but for my absence, up to this time, in a country where there are no railroads or telegraphs, and where I was detained by imperative duties.

Your friend and late fellow-soldier,

Jubal A. Early. Lynchburg, Va., October 24, 1870.

Pursuant to this call there assembled at the First Presbyteriar Church, in Richmond, on Thursday evening, November 3d, 1870, the grandest gathering of Confederate soldiers which had met since the war. This church then stood upon the upper portion of the site now occupied by our imposing City Hall. [190]

Among the leading officers who participated in the meeting were Generals Early, John B. Gordon, Edward Johnson, I. R. Trimble, W. B. Taliaferro, William Smith, W. N. Pendleton, Fitz. Lee, M. Ransom, William Terry, Benjamin Huger, Robert Ransom, L. L. Lomax, George H. Steuart, C. W. Field, W. S. Walker, B. T. Johnson, J. D. Imboden, R. L. Walker, Harry Heth, Samuel Jones, John S. Preston, Henry A. Wise, George E. Pickett, D. H. Maury, M. D. Corse, J. H. Lane, James L. Kemper, J. A. Walker, and others; Colonels Thomas H. Carter, Hilary P. Jones, Thomas L. Preston, Robert S. Preston, William Allan, William Preston Johnston, Charles S. Venable, Charles Marshall, Walter H. Taylor, Henry E. Peyton, and Robert E. Withers; Commodore M. F. Maury, Captain R. D. Minor, of the Confederate States Navy, and scores of others of our leading officers, and hosts of the ‘ragged veterans’ of the rank and file.

The meeting was called to order by General Bradley T. Johnson, General Jubal A. Early was appointed temporary chairman, and Captain Campbell Lawson and Sergeant George L. Christian, of Richmond, and Captain George Walker, of Westmoreland county, temporary secretaries.

Ex-President Jefferson Davis was made permanent chairman.

General Early, on taking the chair, delivered an eloquent and worthy address, concluding as follows:

Monuments of marble or bronze can add nothing to the fame of General Lee, and to perpetuate it it is not necessary that such should be erected. But the student of history in future ages, who shall read of the deeds and virtues of our immortal hero, will be lost in amazement at the fact that such a man went down to his grave a disfranchised citizen by the edict of his contemporaries—which infamous edict, by the fiat of an inexorable despotism, has been forced to be recorded upon the statute book of his native State. We, my comrades, owe it to our own characters, at least, to vindicate our manhood and purge ourselves of the foul stain by erecting an enduring monument to him that will be a standing protest, for all time to come, against the judgment pronounced against him. The exact locality of that monument I do not now propose to suggest. When we are in a condition to erect it, it will, in my opinion, be the proper time to settle definitely the locality, and I merely say now that it should be where it will be accessible to all his boys and their descendants.

Something has been suggested with regard to the resting-place [191] of all that is mortal of our beloved commander. This is a question, at this time, solely for the determination of the immediate family of General Lee. I am sure that the soldiers who followed him through such dreadful trials, will have regard for the wishes of that noble Virginia matron, who, being allied to Washington, has through life been the cherished bosom companion of Lee.

Comrades, I am more than gratified at the fact that the great statesman and patriot who presided over the destinies of the Confederate States—who selected General Lee to lead her armies, and gave him the entire confidence throughout all his glorious career—is here to mingle his grief with ours, and to join in paying tribute to the memory of him we mourn.

Richmond, VA. 1889.

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