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Summary of results.
We realized from the tour as follows:
Knoxville, $105.70;
Montgomery, $95.75;
Mobile, $109; New Orleans, $833.75;
Galveston, $376;
Houston, $355.75;
San Antonio, $100;
Austin, $288.50;
Waco, $86.80;
Corsicana, $146.50;
Dallas, $125;
Little Rock, $253;
Memphis, $320;
Nashville, $467;
Gallatin, $52. Total, $3,714.75. Less travelling expenses, etc., $234.75. Total net proceeds, $3,480.
But far beyond the handsome pecuniary result our visit has stirred up an interest which will tell on the future of the Society.
In connection with each lecture of
General Lee the
Secretary made a statement of the origin, objects, and plans of the Society, and made an appeal for contributions to our Archives, and help in our work.
There were everywhere manifestations of interest which are already beginning to bear fruit, and we shall be woefully disappointed if they do not result in large accessions to our subscription-list, important contributions to our material, and liberal subscriptions to our endowment fund.
Our tour, then, has been one grand ovation to our gallant and accomplished friend,
General Lee (to whom we can never be grateful enough for the splendid service he has rendered us), and a spendid success for the Society.
we acknowledge valued and appreciated courtesies on our recent tour from the following gentlemen:
R. W. Fuller,
General Ticket Agent Chesapeake and Ohio railway;
W. M. S. Dunn,
Superintendent Virginia Midland;
Henry Fink,
General Manager Norfolk and
Western,
East Tennessee and
Georgia, and
Selma,
Rome and
Dalton;
M. H. Smith,
General Manager Louisville and Nashville railroad;
J. G. Schriever,
Vice-President of the
Morgan railroad;
Colonel W. H. Harding,
General Manager of the
Galveston,
Henderson and Houston Railroad;
Colonel T. W. Peirce, Jr.,
Vice-President Southern Pacific;
Colonel G. Jordan,
Vice-President and
General Manager Houston and
Texas Central;
H. M. Hoxie,
Vice-President of the
Missouri Pacific and
Texas Pacific railroads; and
Governor J. D. Porter,
President Nashville,
Chattanooga and St. Louis railroad.
These courtesies, cheerfully granted, enabled us to travel in comfort over these splendid lines, and we were favored in not encountering on this long journey a single a single accident, and in having no detention or failure of connection that seriously interfered with our programme.
W. W. Corcoran,
Esq.,
Vice-President of our Society for the District of Columbia, has recently done a very graceful and warmly appreciated act in purchasing from
Dr. George W. Bagby, and presenting to the Society, a very valuable collection of war ‘annals’—embracing many thousand extracts from Confederate newspapers and other publications, containing heroic, patriotic, pathetic and humorous anecdotes, personal sketches, accounts of battles and sieges—incidents of the prison, the camp, the march, the bivouac, and the hospital—extracts from striking editorials—prices of commodities at different periods of the war—anecdotes of Southern women—and a general miscellany, too varied to be specially described— making a mass of material, which, if put in book form, would make probably one thousand six hundred octavo pages.
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Dr Bagby is busily at work completing the arranging of this material into scrapbooks and the preparation of an index of the same, and hopes soon to turn over to us his completed work.
We need not say that this will be a very valuable addition to our material, and that far beyond its intrinsic value we shall prize it as a new evidence of the wise and liberal interest which
Mr. Corcoran has always taken in our work, as he does, indeed, in every ‘good word and work.’
A meeting of the Southern Historical Society in
Nashville has been arranged for May 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, in response to a cordial invitation from the
Tennessee Historical Society, and the
Tennessee Soldiers' Association.
We are not yet able to announce fully the programme, (which is in the hands of a local committee, of which
General John F. Wheless is chairman,) but may say that we have every prospect of a large and interesting meeting,
We have already the promise of the following papers:
I. The
Battle of Franklin.
Discussed in papers by
Generals B. F. Cheatham,
G. W. Gordon,
W. B. Bate, and
E. Capers.
2. Biographical sketch of
General Bedford Forrest—By
Rev. Dr. Kelly.
3. Sketch of
Major Strange, of
Forrest's Staff—By
Colonel M. C. Galloway, of
Memphis.
4.
Tishomingo Creek (
Sturgis's Raid)—By
Captain John W. Morton, of
Nashville, late
Chief of Artillery of
Forrest's cavalry.
5.
Forrest's Raid into
West Tennessee—By
Colonel Cox, of
Franklin, and
Major G. V. Rambaut, of
Memphis.
6. Recollections of the
Battle of Shiloh—By
Captain S. W. Steele.
7. A paper by
General J. B. Palmer, of
Murfreesboro.
8. Prison Experience at
Johnson's Island—By
Captain Beard.
9. Memoir of
General Pat Cleburne—By
General John C. Brown.
Other papers and addresses will be announced.
The meeting will be held during the week of the great competitive drill, and at such hours as not to conflict with that; the railroads will all give reduced rates of fare, and we urge our friends from every section to arrange to be present.
our endowment Fund project grows in favor, and we have now every confidence of realizing our
goal-afire-proof building for our archives, and at least $100,000
as a permanent endowment fund, only the interest on which can be used for current expenses.
If this scheme seems visionary to any, we beg them to note the following methods by which it can be accomplished:
I. Are there not men or women of large means who would be glad to
link their names to a Society having for its object the vindication of the name and fame of our Confederate leaders and people, by giving large sums towards its endowment or building?
We hope there are, and that our friends will help us to find them.
2. Will not the other Legislatures of the late
Confederate States follow the lead of
Texas, and make appropriations to our Society?
We believe they will when the matter is properly presented to them, and we beg our friends to
work up a sentiment in that direction.
3. It will only require one thousand contributions of $100 each, to raise $100,000, and we can surely find these among our many friends.
At all events we mean to
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make the effort.
And even before we have begun our effort we have received the names of fifteen who agree to go on this list.
We shall publish the names in our next number, and sincerely hope that we may have by that time many others who will make the same pledge—$1,00,
to be paid towards an endowment of $100,000. Send on your names at once, and get others to go in with you.
4. That much can be accomplished by lectures, concerts, and other entertainments, the great meeting in New Orleans last Spring, the lecture of
Father McGeveney, in
Baltimore, and
General Lee's lectures, abundantly show.
Let our friends (and especially our noble women) organize in every city and town in the
South, to have lectures or entertainments for the benefit of this fund, and the work can be speedily accomplished.
In a word, we have ‘enlisted for the war’ in this enterprise, and we beg the warm sympathies, wise counsels, and active help of
all lovers of the Truth of History.
