Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 7.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

Editorial Paragrpahs.

There seems to have been more interest than usual taken in the proper observance of the day, and we regret that our space does not allow us to give in detail accounts which come to us from all parts of the Confederacy of how loving hands strewed with flowers the graves of sleeping heroes, or of how, in several instances, fitting monuments to our Confederate dead were unveiled.

But we must speak briefly of two memorial services which it was our privilege to attend.

At “Loudoun Park Cemetery,” near Baltimore, on Thursday evening, June the 5th, we had the privilege of uniting with our comrades of the Confederate Army and Navy Society of Maryland, and the large crowd of ladies and citizens who were present, in paying respect to the memory of the Confederate braves who sleep in this beautiful city of the dead.

The statue of finely chiselled marble, which stands guard over “the bivouac of the dead” --the marble head-stones, which mark each grave — the perfect order in which the cemetery is kept, and the tasteful decorations of evergreens, immortelles and various floral designs — the procession of over four hundred old soldiers of the “Maryland line” --the immense crowd of the very best people of Baltimore, and the enthusiasm with which the oration was received — all told that Baltimore still cherishes in her heart of hearts the memory of “the boys who wore the gray.”

The orator of the occasion had been happily selected in the person of Hon. A. M. Keiley, of Richmond, who made an address of rare appropriateness, eloquence and power.

The Secretary was the recipient of many courtesies at the hands of Maryland comrades, which he highly appreciated.

The ceremonies at Winchester, Virginia, on Friday, June the 6th, were of deepest interest, and we esteemed it a high privilege to be permitted to mingle in them.

Winchester--battle-scarred, heroic, glorious old Winchester — has been first to carry out the eloquent suggestion of Bishop Elliott, of Georgia, and to rear a monument to “the unknown and Unrecorded dead.” And surely there is no spot more appropriate on which to erect such a monument. Standing in the beautiful “Stonewall Cemetery,” one can see the line of march by which the first troops who moved in Virginia in 1861 hurried to the capture of Harper's Ferry and the defence of our border. Yonder is the camp from which “old Joe” Johnston moved out to meet Patterson, and from which, after ably eluding his foe, he started on that “forced march to [350] save the country,” which terminated in the brilliant victory of first Manassas. Looking southward, we see the field of Kernstown, where Stonewall Jackson first taught Shields the caution which he afterwards used with such discretion. There are the hills from which we drove Banks on the morning of May 25th, 1862, and in full view the streets of the town, through which we rushed pell-mell after the enemy, amid the waving of handkerchiefs by the noble women and the cheers of the whole people. Yonder is Milroy's Fort, which, in June, 1863, General Early says, was “surprised and captured by Colonel Hilary P. Jones' battalion of artillery.” And the very location of the cemetery is on a part of the field where, on the 19th of September, 1862, Early's little army had won a splendid victory over Sheridan's overwhelming numbers, when it was wrested from its grasp by a flank and rear movement of the enemy's cavalry, which alone considerably outnumbered Early's whole army. Indeed, as one looks out on this beautiful landscape, every hill, and valley, and stream, and hamlet, seems redolent with memories of those stirring movements by which Winchester changed hands no less than eighty-three times during the war, and we can almost see Johnston, Jackson, Stuart, Ewell, Ashby, A. P. Hill, Early, Breckinridge, Gordon, Rodes, Ramseur, Pegram, and other chieftians leading their brave men to the onset.

How appropriate that, amid such scenes as these, a monument should be reared to the “unknown and unrecorded dead” of the rank and file who followed these splendid leaders.

But above all, there stands hard by the heroic old town of Winchester, whose people, from 1861 to 1865, threw open their doors to the Confederate soldier, and esteemed it a sweet privilege to share with him their last crust of bread, and whose noble women were “ministering angels” in the hospital, and always ready to make any sacrifice, endure any hardship, suffer any privation or risk any danger for the land they loved so well and the cause they served so faithfully.

We would have expected these people to have honored the Confederate dead and accordingly we find that as early as the autumn of 1865 (before any similar movement, North or South, had been inaugurated), two ladies of Winchester (Mrs. Phil. Williams and Mrs. A. H. H Boyd) conceived the plan of gathering into one cemetery and properly caring for the remains of the Confederate soldiers scattered through the Valley. They called around them their sisters, and went to work so vigorously that in October, 1866, they dedicated “Stonewall Cemetery,” and announced that they had collected and buried in it the bodies of 2,494 Confederate soldiers.

They have continued to improve the cemetery, until it is now one of the most beautiful in the land. Each State has its own section, and the dead from Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Kentucky are all arranged in well kept graves, each one of which is marked with a neat headboard; and in the center of each section is a wooden shaft, appropriately inscribed to the fallen heroes of that particular State. Each section is under the charge of a committee of ladies, who vie with each other in honorable rivalry for the proper care of “our graves.” [351]

The plan is that each State shall substitute this wooden shaft by one of marble or granite, appropriately carved and inscribed, and when this design has been fully realized, there will be here a perpetual memorial of the gallant sons of all of these States who marched forth so gayly at their country's call and gave their lives so freely to the cause of constitutional freedom.

Always in the lead in efforts to honor our Confederate dead, a few ladies in Winchester organized themselves together as the “Virginia Shaft Association,” and by their earnest efforts secured, paid for, and unveiled, on the 6th of June, a beautiful marble shaft for the Virginia section, which has been greatly admired, and is considered very cheap, at $1,500. Cannot our devoted women of other States do the same for their respective sections?

But besides these marked graves, there have been gathered 829 soldiers,. who were buried in separate coffins, but of whom nothing could be learned, save that they died in the gray uniform defending the “stars and bars.” It is over these that the central monument to the “unknown and unrecorded dead” has been erected, and who so beautifully realize the inscription on one face of the monument:

Who they were, none know;
What they were, all know.

We regret that we have not space for a full description of the monument, which is forty-nine feet high, and of Italian marble, resting on a base of Richmond granite — the base and faces being beautifully carved and appropriately inscribed, and the crowning figure being a private soldier — not the jaunty militiaman, the disciplined “regular,” or the “holiday” soldier of times of peace, but the veteran who followed Stonewall Jackson — standing with bowed head and hands folded upon his reversed rifle.

The monument is the work of Mr. Thomas Delahunty, of Philadelphia (a gentleman who lost a brother in the Confederate army), and is certainly most beautifully executed. The cost of the whole was $10,000--of which the committee have paid all except $1,500, which they would have realized by a collection on the day of the unveiling except for the rain, which dispersed the vast crowd. [Let us say, by way of parenthesis, that any one desiring the privilege of helping to complete this good work can do so by sending a contribution to James B. Russell, chairman Finance Committee, Winchester.]

Nor will our limited space allow any detailed account of the ceremonies of unveiling the monument. By every train and every highway, the people poured into the old town, and a crowd assembled which the most careful estimates put at full 25,000. The military and civic procession was under charge of General J. E. Johnston, assisted by General Dabney H. Maury, Colonel L. T. Moore, Major R. W. Hunter, Major S. J. C. Moore, Major H. Kyd Douglass, General J. R. Herbert, Colonel H. E. Peyton, Captain Wm. N. Nelson, Colonel Wm. Morgan, Major F. H. Calmes, Colonel C. T. O'Ferrall, Captain S. S. Turner, General Geo. H. Steuart, Colonel R. P. Chew,. Captain P. P. Dandridge, Captain Ran. Barton, Colonel Harry Gilmor, Colonel R. H. Lee, Captain Wm. L. Clarke, Dr. W. S. Love, Dr. S. Taylor Holliday, and Dr. Cornelius Baldwin--names which will all be recognized as [352] among our most gallant Confederate soldiers. In the line were (besides a number of artillery and infantry volunteer companies) several remnants of Ashby's old cavalry, the Maryland Confederate Army and Navy Society, 400 strong; survivors of Murray's company of the Maryland line, a large number of the old “foot cavalry” who followed Stonewall Jackson, and numbers of the men who rode with Ashby.

In carriages were Governor Holliday, General John T. Morgan, of Alabama; Rev. Dr. A. C. Hopkins, the chaplain of the old Second Virginia infantry; J. Wm. Jones, secretary Southern Historical Society; General Fauntleroy, General W. H. F. Lee, General Eppa Hunton, General Marcus J. Wright, Colonel Wm. Allan, Hon. A. M. Keiley, Judge Jos. H. Sherrard, president of the Monumental Association; Mrs. Mary E. Kurtz, president, and other lady officers of the Virginia Shaft Association, and a number of other invited guests.

As the procession moved through the principal streets, amid the waving of handkerchiefs and the cheers of the crowd (the veterans bearing a number of tattered Confederate battle-flags), one was very forcibly reminded of the brave old days when the battle raged to and fro through these streets.

At the cemetery, the monument was unveiled by Governor Holliday, Rev. Dr. Hopkins led in an anpropriate prayer, Dr. J. Wm. Jones read the report of the monument committee, Governor Holliday made an eloquent and appropriate address in introducing the orator of the day, and General John T. Morgan, United States Senator from Alabama, made a magnificent oration worthy of the occasion and the reputation of this gallant soldier and distinguished statesman.

The people of Winchester threw wide open their doors, and entertained all comers with the princely hospitality which always characterized them.

It will be a sad pleasure to hearts all over the South, which bleed afresh as they think of manly forms which marched forth at the call of Duty, but came not back again to their accustomed places, to know that they sleep well beneath this green sod, with these noble women to deck their graves, these grand old mountains to sentinel their tombs, and these clear streams to murmur their praises.

But let us see to it that we build them a monument more enduring than marble, “more lasting than bronze,” as we put on record the true story of their heroic deeds, and enshrine them forever in the hearts of generations yet unborn.