[229]
of the Confederacy was organized.
The day is fixed by the constitution of the Chapter as that of the annual meeting.
This year, in view of the recent terrible onslaughts made upon the memory of Robert E. Lee by a few of the northern press, and the remarks that he, the purest and the noblest of the great patriots of America, was a traitor to his country and unworthy of a place in the Hall of Fame, aroused the just indignation of the women of the South, and the Daughters of the Confederacy, sworn to perpetuate and guard the truth and beauty of Southern patriotism and the memory of the Southern heroes, could not allow such an aspersion to pass unnoticed.
They therefore resolved to make this anniversary of the birth of General Lee the occasion of a public protest to the insult offered to his memory.
Dr. Palmer, the beloved patriot and noted divine, and Judge Charles E. Fenner were therefore both invited to be present at the annual meeting of the Association and deliver a tribute to Robt. E. Lee. Mrs. Mary Ashley Townsend, one of the South's most gifted writers, was requested to write a poem especially for the occasion; a selection from Father Ryan's beautiful Southern songs, ‘The Sword of Robert Lee,’ was placed among the numbers on the programme, and tributes to the memory of the South's greatest and best were among other incidents of the evening.
Through some delay in receiving his invitation Judge Fenner was unable to be present; but Dr. Palmer was there, and Mrs. Townsend was present; members of the armies of Northern Virginia and Tennessee, and old veterans from the Soldiers' Home thronged Memorial Hall, and some 300 ladies, the great majority Daughters of the Confederacy, were present, filling the hall to the very doors.
It was a magnificent gathering, a grand outpouring of Southern chivalry and Southern womanhood, to do honor to him of whom Father Ryan wrote: Forth from its scabbard never hand
Wore sword from stain as free,
Nor nobler chief led braver band,
Nor braver band had cause more grand,
Nor cause a chief like Lee.
The annual meeting of
the Daughters of the Confederacy
opened at 2:30 P. M. The first portion of the evening was devoted
Wore sword from stain as free,
Nor nobler chief led braver band,
Nor braver band had cause more grand,
Nor cause a chief like Lee.
The annual meeting of
the Daughters of the Confederacy
opened at 2:30 P. M. The first portion of the evening was devoted
