The South's Museum.
The Davis Mansion formally thrown open for the reception of relics. The battle-abbey of the Confederate States. An institution to preserve the record of the deeds of our soldiers. The Oration of General Bradley T. Johnson.
He is eloquently introduced by Governor O'Ferrall—Dr. Hoge's earnest Prayer—His Invocation a beautiful Tribute to the Southern Women—The historic structure thronged both afternoon and evening.The dawn of February 22, 1896, was auspicious—assuredly, in the historic city of Richmond. The chill or damp of preceding days was superseded by an exhilerating atmosphere, which was as balmy spring in contrast. Old Sol rose in all the vaunted splendor of Italy's skies. All nature was calm and serene. Who will say that it was not the approving smile of the Lord of hosts upon the truly reverential efforts of our most excellent women in the perpetuation of the truth—the treasuring of evidence and of memorials of the righteousness of the grandest struggle for constitutional right which has ever impressed the page of history? A representative building of the period of Richmond, the most happy probably in the exemplification of intellectual worth, of social grace and substantial comfort, was the residence of the Chief Magistrate of the Confederate States, whilst they blazed into undying glory. This memorable edifice, the patient, devoted women of Richmond undertook to restore enduringly to its original conditions of form, with the sacred purpose of dedicating it to the preservation of the materials of history and hallowed memorials of Southern heroism and sacrifice. The natal day of George Washington was happily chosen for the [355] opening of the building as a Confederate Museum, and to commemorate the formation of an institution for the preservation of the records of the glorious deeds of the Southern sons who went forth to battle in defense of honor, truth, and home, and the foundation of a permanent repository for relics of the war between the States. The former home of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, is a most appropriate place for the location of the Confederate Museum. Situated in the very heart of the capital of the Confederacy, the institution is where it will inspire the pride and interest of every Southern man, woman, and child, and will be ac-
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| (made from a Photograph taken during the War.) |
[356]
The formal opening.
One o'clock was the hour set for the mansion to be thrown open to the public, and the members of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society were out early arranging articles of furniture, putting up decorations, and getting the various rooms of the building into readiness for the formal reception to commence. By 1:30 P. M. the visitors began to arrive in large numbers, and they fairly poured into the historic structure until 2:30, when the opening exercises commenced. The ladies of the Memorial Literary Society were at their posts, the officers being on duty as a reception committee in the main hall, or the apartment assigned the ‘Solid South.’ In this hallway the guests were first made welcome, and, passing along, they were extended cordial reception in the rooms of the several States. Owing to the fact that a large crowd was expected to throng the building, only a few of the relics had been placed in the rooms. The apartments only contained the necessary furniture and decorations to make them look cosey and comfortable, and, at the same time, to allow sufficient space for the passing of spectators. On all sides were appropriate draperies and decorations of Confederate flags, and mantels were banked with ferns, palms, and cut-flowers of different kinds. The dining-room, which has been given to Virginia, was utilized as a refreshment-room, and it was generously patronized. The ladies attended the table, serving the salads, oysters, and other delicacies. There were present prominent gentlemen and ladies from Hanover, Chesterfield, New Kent, Goochland, and Henrico counties, besides the large contingent furnished by Richmond and Manchester. During the afternoon hours a continuous stream of visitors taxed the efficiency of the policemen wisely stationed about the building, who managed the crowd so admirably, however, that at no time was there a crush or confusion. It was an agreeable study of several things, including the faithfulness of the Southern heart, that this same crowd furnished. Gravity was present to an unusual and deep degree on the faces, which suggested the general appreciation that Confederate relics are not the exponents of a tradition, but of a memory of very vital quality. To your correspondent this social tone, if we may so speak, was very remarkable and very beautiful. There were old men and women, and young ones; prominent and [357] |
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Front view of the Museum.
(Reproduced by courtesy of the Richmond Times.) |
Opening exercises.
At 3 o'clock the formal opening exercises took place in the main parlor of the mansion, toward which visitors to the various rooms had gradually gravitated. The Governor and his staff entered about 2:45, and took positions about the platform, on which stood a small table covered with a battle-flag, whose age and signs of service were its veriest grace. The windows were curtained with flags, and the white of the walls was only trespassed upon by large portraits of Stonewall Jackson, Johnston, and Jefferson Davis. When the strong face and venerable figure of Rev. Dr. Hoge was seen to enter the main door, there was a general hush, for his arrival was the signal that 3 o'clock had arrived. The face and figure, the fine mind and splendid heart, have lived through so many crises in Virginia and Southern history, and the ministry of the great preacher been so thoroughly a part of the latter, that it was especially fitting he should be chosen to make the prayer, linking, as his years do, the present with the stirring past. Judge George L. Christian, always so happy a speaker, introduced Dr. Hoge, whose prayer, indeed a benediction, was as follows:Dr. Hoge's prayer.
Almighty God! Thou livest and reignest forevermore, and with Thee do live the souls of all who, having consecrated their lives to Thy service, died, committing their spirits to Thy hands and their memories to our hearts. By Thy help we will be faithful to the sacred trust. We will perpetuate the story of their virtue, valor, and piety as a precious legacy to all succeeding generations. We gather here to-day with hearts subdued by the tender recollections of the past and with devout gratitude for the mercies of the present hour. We recognize Thy kindness in permitting the noble women of our Southland to renovate and beautify this building, which we dedicate with these impressive ceremonies to all the sorrow-shrouded glories of our departed Confederacy. We come on this day, hallowed as the birthday of the Father of his Country, and by the inauguration of the Chieftan, who being dead, yet lives in the hearts of those who followed the [359] |
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Rear view of the Museum.
(Reproduced by courtesy of the Richmond Times.) |
The Governor Introduces the orator.
Governor O'Ferrall here arose, and introduced to those assembled General Bradley T. Johnson as the orator of the day. The Governor spoke substantially as follows: Ladies of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: I think I can say boldly that the bloody strife of 1861 to 1865 developed in the men of the South traits of character as ennobling and as exalting as ever adorned men since the day-dawn of creation. I think I can proclaim confidently that for courage and daring chivalry and bravery, the world has never seen the superiors of the Southern soldiers. I think I can assert defiantly that the annals of time present no leaves more brilliant than those upon which are recorded the deeds and achievements of the followers of the Southern cross. I think I can proclaim triumphantly that, from the South's beloved President, and the peerless commander of her armies in the field, down to the private in her ranks, there was a display of patriotism perhaps unequalled (certainly never surpassed) since this passion was implanted in the human breast. But, as grand as the South was in her sons, she was grander still in her daughters; as sublime as she was in her men, she was sublimer still in her women.Devotion of women.
History is replete with bright and beautiful examples of woman's devotion to home and birthland; of her fortitude, trials, and sufferings in her country's cause, and the women of the Confederacy added many luminous pages to what had already been most graphically written. [362] Yes, these Spartan wives and mothers, with husbands or sons, or both, at the front, directed the farming operations, supporting their families and supplying the armies; they sewed, knitted, weaved, and spun; then in the hospitals they were ministering angels, turning the heated pillow, smoothing the wrinkled cot, cooling the parched lips, stroking the burning brow, staunching the flowing blood, binding up the gaping wounds, trimming the midnight taper, and sitting in the stillness, only broken by the groans of the sick and wounded, pointing the departing spirit the way to God; closing the sightless eyes, and then following the bier to a Hollywood or some humble spot, and then dropping the purest tear. They saw the flames licking the clouds, as their homes, with their clinging memories, were reduced to ashes; they heard of the carnage of battle, followed by the mother's deep moan, the wife's low sob—for, alas! she could not weep—the orphan's wail, and the sister's lament. But amid flame, carnage, death, and lamentations, though their land was reddening with blood, and their beloved ones were falling like leaves in autumn, they stood, like heroines, firm, steadfast, and constant. Oh! women of the Confederacy, your fame is deathless; you need not monument nor sculptured stone to perpetuate it. Young maidens gather at the feet of some Confederate matron in some reminiscent hour, and listen to her story of those days, now more than thirty years past, and how God gave her courage, fortitude, and strength to bear her privations, sufferings, and bereavements and live. But I must not permit my feelings to secure the mastery of me. My soul must be still. I have felt that this tribute to the Daughters of the Confederacy, poor and brief as it is, would not be inappropriate on this occasion. And now, why is it we are here? What has brought us together? What means this concourse of people? The answer is ready upon every tongue. Southern women's love for the memories of a generation ago; Southern women's devotion to the cause which, though enveloped in the clouds of defeat, yet is circled by a blaze of glory, has called us from our firesides and business to this spot. The daughters and granddaughters of the women who did so much to make this sunny clime of ours so classic and rich in historic lore in time of war and battle-sound, are here to attest their fealty to the traditions of that period by dedicating this structure as a depository of Confederate relics, setting apart a room for each of the States [363] whose sons followed the star of Lee, Johnston, Beauregard, or Smith, and assigning it to the care of a regent, herself the worthy descendant of some patriot who wore the gray or gave aid and comfort to those engaged in the terrific struggle. Burning with a desire to establish such an institution in this old city, the Capital of the Confederacy, whose very streets seem to be consecrated ground, still resounding in the imaginative ear with the tramp, tramp, tramp of that army that wrought renown imperishable from Gettysburg Heights to these city gates, from Bethel to Appomattox, these devoted women determined to raise the necessary funds for the purpose. When this resolution was formed, success was assured. In March, 1890, the Society was organized. Soon thereafter Colonel John B. Cary, as a member of the City Council of Richmond, offered a resolution donating this property, and the resolution was promptly passed. The Society has expended about $14,000 in repairs and improvements. Where all have acted so nobly and done so well it would be almost impossible to accord special credit to any, yet I feel sure I will voice the sentiments of the individual members of the Society when I mention as worthy of particular notice for their untiring and efficient efforts Mrs. Joseph Bryan, president of the society, and Mrs. E. D. Hotchkiss, chairman of the Building Committee. Hastily passing on, let me ask what building is this we dedicate?It was our White House.
It is what was the White House, the executive mansion of the Confederacy. Within these walls councils of State and councils of war were held; policies discussed, and campaigns mapped. Beneath this roof statesmen met statesmen, and warriors met warriors, all filled with a loyalty that knew no quenching and a zeal that knew no lessening. Through these corridors rang voices all in harmony, all proclaiming allegiance to a cause about which clustered the affections of a people who had staked everything in its maintenance and defence. Yes, this was the official home of the Chief Magistrate of the new American republic, founded upon the eternal principles of right and justice, but whose life was crushed out of it under the juggernaut wheels of superior numbers and merciless power—numbers recruited from the four corners of the earth, power secured from the combined nationalities of the globe. How precious are the recollections that hang round these precincts. [364] Every spot is sacred, every room is hallowed. If these walls could but speak what tales of joy and anxiety, happiness and woe they would unfold. In their massiveness they stand indeed as a memorial to the great man who once occupied them, and in their stateliness as a reminder of the lofty character of the beloved chief magistrate of the short-lived but glorified and immortalized Confederacy. But while the tendrils of all our hearts entwine his historic structure, there is no lingering feeling of bitterness engendered by internecine strife in our breasts. Neither are we engaged in this work in any spirit of disloyalty to our reunited land. Oh, no. We are one people under the aegis of one flag, affirming allegiance to one constitution, worshipping at one altar, and moving forward to one goal. While we have no retractions to make, no recantations to sing, while we intend ever to be true to ourselves, to our martyred dead and our heroes, dead and living, to our traditions and civilization, to everything that characterized a brave and chivalrous race, we proclaim ourselves loyal sons and daughters of this Union. I must now discharge a duty which has been assigned me. I must perform a task which, though pleasant, will be labor lost. I have the honor of introducing to you a gentleman who needs no introduction to a Richmond or Virginia audience—the distinguished soldier and honored citizen, General Bradley T. Johnson, who will address you.General Johnson's address.
When the applause which followed the Governor's eloquent presentation of the distinguished orator subsided, General Johnson arose, made graceful recognition, and said: Ladies of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, Friends, and Fellow-Confederates, Men and Women: To-day commemorates the thirty-fifth anniversary of the inauguration of the last rebel President and the birthday of the first. It commemorates an epoch in the grandest struggle for liberty and right that has ever been made by man. It celebrates the baptism of a new nation born thirty-five years ago to-day. And this commemoration is in the capital city of the Old Dominion and of the Confederacy. More than a generation after the utter failure of the attempt, it is by the statesmen of Virginia, by her public authorities, by the [365] government of the city of Richmond, who honor themselves in honoring this occasion, and by the free sentiment of this great and noble people. There is nothing like it in history. No Greek general, no Roman consul, was ever welcomed with a triumph after a defeat. Nowhere, at no time, has a defeated side ever been so honored or the unsuccessful apotheosized.A success in A sense.
Success is worshiped, failure is forgotten. That is the universal experience and the unvarying law of nature. Therefore, it would seem that the fall of the Confederacy was in some sense a success and a triumph, for it cannot by that universal law have been set aside, for this sole exception, the glorification of the Lost Confederacy, its heroines, and its heroes. I shall endeavor to make clear in what respects there was success and triumph. I believe our first and most sacred duty is to our holy dead, to ourselves, and to our posterity. It is our highest obligation to satisfy the world of the righteousness of our cause and the sound judgment with which we defended it. And we injure ourselves, we impair the moral of our side, by incessant protestations of loyalty to the victor and continual assertions of respect for his motives of forgiveness, for his conduct, and of belief in the nobility of his faith. There never can be two rights, nor two wrongs—one side must be right, and, therefore, the other is, of course, wrong. This is so of every question of morals and of conduct, and it must be pre-eminently so of a question which divided millions of people, and which cost a million of lives. The world is surely coming to the conclusion that the cause of the Confederacy was right. Every lover of liberty, constitutional liberty, controlled by law, all over the world begins to understand that the past was not a war waged by the South in defense of slavery, but was a war to protect liberty, won and bequeathed by free ancestors.Principle of the Revolution.
They now know that the fundamental basic principle of the Revolution of 1775 upon which the governments of the States united, were all founded, Massachusetts and Virginia, Rhode Island and North Carolina, was that ‘all government of right rests upon the [366] consent of the governed,’ and that they, therefore, at all times, must have the right to change and alter their form of government whenever changed circumstances require changed laws. They now know that the English settlements in America were made in separate communities at different times, by different societies; that they grew and prospered until an attempt was made to deprive them of an infinitely small portion of their property without their consent. The whole tea tax would not have produced £ 1,500— less than $7,500. That they resisted this attack on their rights as distinct colonies; that as separate States they made treaties with France and the continental powers in 1778; that their independence as separate States, by name, was acknowledged by Great Britain in 1783; that Maryland fought through that whole war until 1781 as an independent and separate State, and never joined the confederation until the last-named year; that North Carolina and Rhode Island refused to enter the union created by the constitution of 1789, after the dissolution of the confederation, and for two years remained as independent of the States united, and of each other as France and England are to-day; and, therefore, they know that these independent States, when they entered into the compact of the Constitution of 1789, never did (for a State never can, by the very nature of its being, commit suicide), consent and agree forever to give up the right of self-government, and of the people of a State to make governments to suit themselves. There can be no such thing as irrepealable laws in free society. Society is immortal. Its atoms arrange and crystallize themselves from generation to generation, according to their necessities, but society grow and expands, and constant changes are required in its organization.Cannot abandon the right.
Therefore, a State never can abandon its right to change—it is the law of nature, which neither compacts nor treaties, constitutions nor congresses can change. When the Constitution of the United States was formed, the institution of slavery existed in every one of the States, though emancipation had begun in New England. Found to be unprofitable as an economical organization, it was rapidly eliminated from the northern society, which was and is based on the idea of profit and loss. In the South it developed and prospered. It produced an enormous expansion of material and consequently [367] political power. It developed a society, which for intelligence, culture, chivalry, justice, honor, and truth, has never been excelled in this world, and it produced a race of negroes the most civilized since the building of the Pyramid of Cheops and the most Christianized since the crucifixion of our Lord. The Southern race ruled the continent from 1775 to 1860, and it became evident that it would rule it forever as long as the same conditions existed. The free mobocracy of the North could never cope with the slave democracy of the South, and it became the deliberate intent of the North to break up an institution so controlling and producing such dominating influences.Moral question subordinate.
Slavery was the source of political power and the inspiration of political institutions, and it was selected as the point of attack. The moral question was subordinate to the political and social one. The point of the right or wrong of slavery agitated but a few weak-minded and feeble men. The real great, dominating, and controlling idea was the political and social one, the influence of the institution on character and institutions. There was forming in the South a military democracy, aggressive, ambitious, intellectual, and brave, such as led Athens in her brightest epoch and controlled Rome in her most glorious days. If that was not destroyed the industrial society of the North would be dominated by it. So the entire social force, the press, the pulpit, the public schools, was put in operation to make distinctive war on Southern institutions and Southern character, and for thirty years attack, vituperation, and abuse were incessant. It was clear to the States of the South that there could be no peace with them, and there grew up a general desire to get away from them and to live separate. The Gulf States urged instant separation when this hostile Northern sentiment elected a President and Congress in 1860. But Virginia, who had given five States to the Union, Virginia, whose blood and whose brain had constructed the union of the States, Virginia absolutely refused to be party to the breaking of that which was so dear to her. She never seceded from the Union, but, standing serene in her dignity with the halo of her glorious history around her, she commanded peace. The only reply vouchsafed was the calling out of 75,000 troops and the tramp of hostile footsteps on her sacred soil. [368] Like the flash from Heaven her sword leaped from its scabbard, and her war cry, ‘Sic semper tyrannis,’ echoed round the world, and her sons circled the earth with the blaze of their enthusiasm as they marched to the call of the old mother. Student from Gottingen, trapper from the Rockies, soldier and sailor, army and navy, men and women, staked life and fortune to stand by the mother of us all. And Virginians stood in line to guard their homes from invasion, her altars from desecration, her institutions from destruction. She resisted invasion. It cannot be too often repeated or too plainly stated.Only resisted invasion.
Virginia never seceded from the Union. She resisted invasion of rights, as her free ancestors for 800 years had done with arms and force. Before the ordinance of secession was voted on Virginia was at war with the Northern States, and all legal connection had been broken with them by their own act in the unlawful invasion of her soil. God bless her and hers forever and forever. She bared her breath and drew her sword to protect her sisters behind her, and took upon herself the hazard of the die. And I will presume to record my claim here for her kinsmen who flocked to her flag from beyond the Potomac, and who died for her on every battle-field from Shepherdstown to Appomattox, that the survivors love her now with the devotion of children adopted in blood. It is this constant and growing consciousness of the nobleness and justice and chivalry of the Confederate cause which constitutes the success and illuminates the triumph we commemorate to-day. Evil dies; good lives; and the time will come when all the world will realize that the failure of the Confederacy was a great misfortune to humanity, and will be the source of unnumbered woes to liberty. Washington might have failed; Kosciusko and Robert E. Lee did fail; but I believe history will award a higher place to them, unsuccessful, than to Suwarrow and to Grant, victorious. This great and noble cause, the principles of which I have attempted to formulate for you, was defended with a genius and a chivalry of men and women never equalled by any race. My heart melts now at the memory of those days.What our women stood.
Just realize it: There is not a hearth and home in Virginia that has not heard the sound of hostile cannon; there is not a family [369] which has not buried kin slain in battle. Of all the examples of that heroic time; of all figures that will live in the music of the poet or the pictures of the painter, the one that stands in the foreground, the one that will be glorified with the halo of the heroine, is the woman, mother, sister, lover—who gave her life and heart to the cause. And the woman who attracts my sympathy most and to whom my heart melts hottest, is the plain, simple, country woman and girl, remote from cities and towns, back in the woods, away from railways or telegraph. Thomas Nelson Page has given us a picture of her in his story of ‘Darby.’ I thank him for ‘Darby Stanly.’ I knew the boy and loved him well, for I have seen him and his cousins on the march, in camp, and on the battle-field, lying in ranks, stark, with his face to the foe and his musket grasped in his cold hands. I can recall what talk there was at ‘meetina’ about the ‘Black Republicans’ coming down here to interfere with us, and how we warn't goina to ‘'low it,’ and how the boys would square their shoulders to see if the girls were looking at 'em, and how the girls would preen their new muslins and calicoes, and see if the boys were ‘noticen,’ and how by Tuesday news came that Captain Thornton was forming his company at the court-house, and how the mother packed up his little ‘duds’ in her boy's school satchel and tied it on his back, and kissed him and bade him good-by, and watched him, as well as she could see, as he went down the walk to the front gate, and as he turned into the ‘big road,’ and as he got to the corner, turned round and took off his hat and swung it around his head, and then disappeared out of her life forever. For, after Cold Harbor, his body could never be found nor his grave identified, though a dozen saw him die. And then, for days and for weeks and for months, alone, the mother lived this lonely life, waiting for news. The war had taken her only son, and she was a widow; but from that day to this, no human being has ever heard a word of repining from her lips. Those who suffer most complain least.Another pathetic story.
Or, I recall that story of Bishop-General Polk about the woman in the mountains of Tennessee, with six sons. Five of them were in the army, and when it was announced to her that her eldest born had been killed in battle, the mother simply said: ‘The Lord's will [370] be done. Eddie (her baby) will be fourteen next spring, and he can take Billy's place.’ The hero of this great epoch is the son I have described, as his mother and sister will be the heroines. For years, day and night, winter and summer, without pay, with no hope of promotion nor of winning a name or making a mark, the Confederate boy-soldier trod the straight and thorny path of duty. Half-clothed, whole-starved, he tramps night after night, his solitary post on picket. No one can see him. Five minutes walk down the road will put him beyond recall, and twenty minutes further and he will be in Yankee lines, where pay, food, clothes, quiet, and safety all await him. Think of the tens of thousands of boys subjected to this temptation, and how few yielded. Think of how many never dreamed of such a relief from danger and hardship! But, while I glorify the chivalry, the fortitude, and the fidelity of the private soldier, I do not intend to minimize the valor, the endurance, or the gallantry of those who led them.Memories outlast time.
I know that the knights of Arthur's Round Table, nor the Paladins and Peers, roused by the blast of that Font-Arabian horn from Roland at Ronces Valley, did not equal in many traits, or nobility of character, in purity of soul, in gallant, dashing courage the men who led the rank and file of the Confederate armies from lieutenant up to lieutenant-general. There were more rebel brigadiers killed in battle for the Confederacy than in any war that was ever fought. When such men and women have lived such lives, and died such deaths in such a cause, their memories will outlast time. Martyrs must be glorified, and when the world knows and posterity appreciates that the war was fought for the preservation and perpetuation of the right of self-government, of government by the people, for the people, and to resist government by force against the will of the people, then the Confederacy will be revered like the memories of Leonidas at Thermopylae, and Kosciusko, and Kossuth, and all the glorious army of martyrs.The Confederate Memorial.
It is to commemorate these principles, and this heroic conduct, this patriotic sacrifice of men and women, that we propose to erect here a memorial hall of the Confederacy. [371] When William, the Norman, had destroyed the English nation at Hastings, so the inscription read, he erected a grand memorial in the sight of the thickest fray, and placed the high altar of the Abbey over the very spot where Harold fell. This memorial he called Battle-Abbey. He dedicated it to the Norman, St. Peter, and placed it in charge of an order of Norman monks. The banner and the shields of those who died on that stricken field were hung up in the chapel, and the roll of their names and dignities inscribed on its record. Here for four centuries daily prayers were offered for the repose of their souls, and matins and even-song celebrated their devotion and their death. But the Abbey of Battle has long ago passed to profane uses, and the flags of the conqueror and his knights have faded into dust. It cannot be so with the memorial of the Confederacy. The Battle-Abbey commemorated a ruthless raid of robbers, who took by the strong hand and lived with disregard of blood. There was not a principle of honor, of chivalry, of justice, or right in that attack upon a nation and in that overthrow of a race. With the power that established it, Battle-Abbey fell and disintegrated.No ‘lost cause.’
Our memorial will be here in Richmond, the heart and grave of the Confederacy, and around it hovers the immortal soul of love and of memory, which for all times will sanctify it to all true men and women. They will know that it is a memorial of no ‘Lost Cause.’ They will never believe that ‘we thought we were right,’ they will know, as we knew, that we were right, immortally right, and that the conquerer was wrong, eternally wrong. The great army of the dead is here, the sentiment of the living is here, the memories of the past are here, the monuments of the future will be here. As all roads lead to Rome, so in the ages to come all ties of memory, of sentiment, of heart, and of feeling, will vibrate from Richmond. As every follower of the prophet at sunset turns his face to Mecca, and sends up a prayer for the dead and the living, so everywhere in this great South Land, which was the Confederacy, whenever the trumpet call of duty sounds, when the call to do right without regard to consequence rings over the woods and the meadows, the mountains and the valleys, the spirit of the Confederacy will rise, the dead of Hollywood and of Oakwood will stand in ranks, and their eternal memory will inspire their descendants to do right whatever it cost of life or fortune, of danger and disaster. Lee will ride his bronze horse, [372] Hill (A. P.) will be by his side, Stonewall will be there, Stuart's plume will float again, and the battle-line of the Confederacy will move forward to do duty, justice, and right. The memorial of the Confederacy is here, not built by hands—made by memory and devotion! What else could it be? The following officers of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society and the Regents of the Solid South and of Virginia received in the entrance hall and reception room: Mrs. Joseph Bryan, president; Mrs. E. C. Minor, first vice-president; Mrs. James H. Grant, second vice-president; Mrs. R. T. Colston, third vice-president; Mrs. E. D. Hotchkiss, honorary vice-president; Mrs. M. S. Smith, treasurer; Mrs. Stephen Putney, recording secretary; Mrs. Lizzie C. Daniel, corresponding secretary; Mrs. James R. Werth, chairman of Committee on Relics; Mrs. Hunter McGuire.Solid South.
Mrs. V. Jefferson Davis, Regent; Miss May Greer Baughman, Vice-Regent; Mrs. Frank T. Crump, alternate. Committee: Mrs. Jas. D. Crump, Miss Minnie Baughman, Miss Mary Quarles.Virginia room.
Miss Mildred Lee, Regent; Mrs. J. Taylor Ellyson, Vice Regent; Mrs. J. B. Lightfoot, alternate. In the east room, which is the Virginia room, refreshments were served to all desiring them at small cost. The menu was a particularly fine one, the qualities of the coffee particularly appealing to the general taste. In this room hospitalities were extended by Mrs. George West, Mrs. James Gordon, Mrs. Randolph Norris, Miss Ann C. Bentley, Mrs. Bowden, Mrs. Little, Mrs. R. S. Christian, Mrs. Smith Redford, Mrs. Small, Mrs. Fellows, Mrs. Larmant, Mrs. George W. Mayo, Mrs. H. W. Rountree. The bureau in this room is one which occupied a place in the house when used as the executive mansion. The bust standing upon it (of Mr. Davis) is that which stood at the head of the dead chief's coffin when the body lay in state at the Capitol, before the reinterment in Hollywood. It is the gift of Colonel J. Bell Bigger.[373]
North Carolina room.
Mrs. Christopher Woodbridge McLean, Regent; Mrs. T. D. Neal, Vice-Regent; Mrs. A. T. Broadnax, alternate, of Atlanta, Georgia. Reception Committee: Mrs. W. S. Forbes, of North Carolina; Mrs. Gordon, of North Carolina; Mrs. Gregory, of North Carolina; Mrs. McMaran, of N. C.; Mrs. Strudwick, nee Miss Nannie Hughes, of North Carolina; Miss Hughes, and Mrs. McLean, sister-in-law of ex-Governor Ellis; Mrs. Gordon, of North Carolina; Mrs. Bennahan Cameron, now of North Carolina, and others; Mrs. W. J. Whitehurst, Mrs. Wingo, Mrs. W. J. Blunt, Mrs. T. J. Jeffries. The State colors were conspicuous in the decorations of this room.South Carolina room.
This room was one of the most richly-decorated and most interesting of them all. On the wall was the State seal and legend ‘Semper parati.’ On the east wall was a particularly beautiful flag of blue silk, upon which a palmetto tree and crescent were worked in silver. Beneath it hung a palmetto wreath, sent by the members of the Memorial Association of South Carolina for the Jefferson Davis reinterment. On the north wall was a portrait of General Wade Hampton, in a palmetto wreath. In a corner of the room, on a large easel, was a portrait of the last battle-flag at Fort Sumter. Miss Mary Singleton (‘Daisy’) Hampton, Regent; Mrs. W. P. DeSaussure nee Logan, Vice-Regent; Mrs. L. B. Janney, alternate. Reception Committee: Mrs. Herbert A. Claiborne; whose mother was Miss Alston, of South Carolina; Mrs. Jackson Guy, formerly Miss Hemphill, of South Carolina; Mrs. Clinton Boudar, formerly Miss O'Conner, of Charleston, S. C.; Mrs. Basil Gwathmey, of Henderson, S. C.; Mrs. Ann Gwathmey, Mrs. A. H. Reynolds, Miss Helen Bennett, all of South Carolina families; Mrs. Caskie Cabell, Mrs. O. A. Crenshaw, Miss C. B. Bosher, Mrs. Hugh Taylor, Mrs. Winn, Miss Guillaume, and other ladies who helped at the South Carolina table of the memorial bazaar of 1893.Georgia room.
Mrs. Robert Emory Park, Macon, Ga., Regent; Mrs. J. Prosser Harrison, Richmond, Va., Vice-Regent; Miss Lucy Lily Temple, alternate. [374] The following ladies, native Georgians, were in charge, with the Vice-Regent as chairman: Mrs. Barton Haxall Wise, Mrs. Thomas E. Binford, Mrs. Luther Warren, Mrs. Peyton Wise, Mrs. Ashton Starke, Mrs. Charles Ellis, and with the committee the following young ladies: Misses Tatum, Peebles, Causey, of Delaware, Mary De Noble, Morgan, of California, Jenkins, Harrison, and the Misses Mosby, daughters of the celebrated partisan ranger, Col. John Singleton Mosby. These ladies were all in full dress. Maryland room. This room was very artistic in its decorations. Oriole and black were the conspicuous colors in this room; over the main window of which the State name appeared in evergreen. Among its interesting contents was a bust of Gen. Robert E. Lee, executed by the late Frederick Volck; presented by the Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States of Maryland. The bust was undertaken about the time of the battle of Chancellorsville, when General Lee was in his mental and physical prime. The lineaments were carefully taken by actual measurement, and Mrs. Lee herself arranged the hair of the General for the sitting. The clay model was carried to Europe, and the bust was cast in bronze at Munich, by Weber, under Volck's direction. Volck had received a commission to execute a statue of Stonewall Jackson, and was in Europe for that purpose when the collapse of the Confederate States came. A pocket handkerchief belonging to the great General, given by Mrs. Henry C. Scott, of Ashland; a crucifix made of bullets collected from the battle of the Crater, and given by Mrs. Randolph Tucker. Although the display is as yet small, the ladies have had assurances from the Confederates of Maryland, upon whom they rely, for gifts which will speedily make the Maryland room one of the most appealing and attractive in the building. In this room were Mrs. Charles Marshall, Baltimore, Md., Regent; Mrs. Charles O'B. Cowardin, nee Anne Moale, of Baltimore, Md., Vice-Regent; Mrs. Thomas H. Leary, Jr., alternate; Mrs. J. D. Patton, Mrs. H. Frazier, nee Nannie Turpin Maryland; Mrs. E. T. D. Myers, Jr., nee Grace Adams, Maryland; Mrs. Waller Morton, nee McIntosh, Maryland; Mrs. Alfred Gray, Mrs. B. Saunders Johnson, Maryland; Mrs. John Goode, nee Lelia Symington; Mrs. Bradley T. Johnson, Maryland; Mrs. Thomas Symington, [375] nee Maude Randolph; Mrs. John K. Jones, nee Wilkinson, of Annapolis; Mrs. Innes Randolph, and Mrs. James Pleasants.Tennessee and Florida rooms.
The rooms representing these States communicate. The ladies in the Tennessee room were: Mrs. Kellar Anderson, Regent of Tennessee; Mrs. Norman V. Randolph, Vice-Regent; Mrs. J. W. White, alternate, of Lee Camp Auxiliary. Committee: Mrs. Wilbur Armistead, Memphis, Tenn.; Mrs. L. M. Hart, and others. It was prettily decorated, and contained interesting relics, including a memorial to William Taylor Watson, eldest son of John W. C. Watson, Confederate States Senator from Mississippi. A step across the threshold of the Florida room transported the visitor to the very land of the palmetto. There were tall, overtopping palms, Florida moss, flowers from Tallahassee and Jacksonville, and a general suggestion of the far South. Relics were in every direction-indeed, the appointments of the room were almost exclusively of relics. There were battle-flags, one bearing the significant legend, ‘Any Fate but Submission’; a cutlass taken from the first Confederate privateer, Jefferson Davis; Captain Fleming's sword, canteen, and uniform; company muster and pay-roll of the Second Florida Infantry; a piece of crockery made for the Confederacy, and numerous others. The ladies here were Mrs. F. P. Fleming, wife of ex-Governor Fleming, of Florida, Regent of the Florida room, who sent growing palms; also cut-palms and flowers, for the decoration of the room; also money and some valuable relics, among them a valuable washstand from the gun-boat Chickamauga. Vice-Regent, Mrs. R. A. Patterson; alternate, Mrs. J. Preston Cocke; Committee, Mrs. R. S. Chamberlayne, formerly Miss Byrd, of Monticello, Fla.; Mrs. Burton, formerly Miss DuVal, a resident of Florida for twenty years.Alabama room.
Miss Mary Clayton, Eufaula, Ala., Regent. Over the entrance to the Alabama room was the State seal and the interpretation of the State name—‘Here we rest.’ In this room were Mrs. James H. Drake, nee Lizzie Ott, Eufaula, Ala., Vice-Regent; Mrs. Joseph A. White, nee Sophy Berney, Montgomery, Ala., alternate; Mrs. Roy Mason, nee Lizzie Bacchus, Eufaula, [376] Ala.; Mrs. James Walker, Mrs. Robert Reynolds, Mrs. W. H. Fitzgerald, Mrs. Moncure Perkins, Mrs. General Little, Mrs. Frank Nalle, Mrs. Robert B. Munford, Mrs. Frank Dean, Miss Belle Perkins, Miss Lou Adkins, Miss Willie Rogers, Miss Virgie Drewry, Miss Mary Mayo, Miss Nellie Mayo, Miss Lina Mayo, Miss Lily Wilson, Miss Daisy Wilson, Miss Kate Montague, Miss Judith Deane, Miss Ella Thomas, Miss Mary Thomas, Mrs. William A. Moncure, Miss Merrill, Miss Graham, Miss Laura Wilkinson, and Mrs. Powell, Huntsville, Ala. The room was richly decorated, and contained numerous relics of particular value and interest, including an original manuscript account of the battle of Manassas by General Beauregard, presented by Mrs. Augusta Evans Wilson, the popular Southern authoress; sword, epaulets, field-glass, Bible, spur, bit, saddle, blanket, and coat belonging to General H. D. Clayton, and sent by his daughter, Miss Clayton, of Eufaula, Ala.Mississippi room.
The west rooms on the first floor were those representing Mississippi and Georgia. The first was decorated with the Confederate colors, and contained numerous relics of special interest. Over the doorway was the State name in letters of gold. Miss Winnie Davis, ‘Daughter of the Confederacy,’ Regent. In the room were Vice-Regent Mrs. R. N. Northen, Mrs. J. H. Capers, whose husband was a Mississippian; Mrs. H. Clay Drewry, formerly of Vicksburg, Miss.; Mrs. Edmund C. Pendleton, Miss Margaret Humphries, Columbus, Miss.; Mrs. J. E. Stansbury, and Mrs. E. F. Chesley. Among the relics were a copy of General Lee's farewell address to the army at Appomattox; a sword belonging to Colonel Thomas P. August, epaulets belonging to Captain Pitt, slippers made of carpet taken from one of the rooms in the Executive Mansion during the war.Arkansas room.
The room representing Arkansas was brilliantly decorated, and here numerous relics were on exhibition also. Miss Francis M. Scott, ‘Arkansas' Daughter,’ Van Buren, Ark., Regent. The ladies in this room were Mrs. Decatur Axtell, Vice-Regent; Miss May Cantrell, daughter of Dr. William A. Cantrell, an old and prominent physician of Little Rock; Miss Frances M. Scott, daughter of the late Charles G. Scott, Arkansas; Miss Lelia Dimmock, and others. [377] At the head of the stairway, on the second floor, was the flag which lay at the head of Mr. Davis' casket prior to the interment.Louisiana room.
This room was very attractive, although those in charge were not prepared for a display of relics. —— ——, Regent. Vice-Regent, Mrs. George Wayne Anderson, nee Estelle Marguerite Buerthe, of New Orleans; Mrs. John C. Freeman, alternate. Reception Committee: Mrs. W. Benjamin Palmer, nee Nellie Nalle, of New Orleans; Mrs. Parker Dashiell, nee Margaret May, of New Orleans; Mrs. William C. Bentley, nee Lula Logan, of New Orleans; Mrs. George Ainslie, nee Miss Buerthe, of New Orleans; Miss Anna Boykin.Texas room.
Mrs. A. V. Winckler, Corsicana, Texas, Regent; Mrs. Cazneau McLeod, Vice-Regent; Mrs. G. W. Mayo, alternate. Reception Committee: Mrs. M. P. Branch, Mrs. Fanny Crump Tucker, Mrs. Maria P. Moore, Misses Phronie Pegram, Anna McCaw, Evelyn Gordon, Lina Mayo, Louise Mayo, Virginia McLeod, and Florence McAnerny, of New York city. A ‘Lone Star’ of evergreen was the sole attraction in the Texas room, which, however, will shortly be brilliantly attractive.Missouri and Kentucky.
Missouri and Kentucky shared one room, which was as full of interest as any in the house. Conspicuous in it was a portrait of General John C. Breckenridge, given by the artist, Mr. Hunleigh, of Lexington, Ky., and the Missouri coat-of-arms, on satin, given in memory of Lieutenant William Keith, Company D., Fourth Missouri Cavalry (Marmaduke's Brigade), by members of the family. The ladies present representing Missouri were: Mrs. L. B. Valliant, St. Louis, Mo., Regent; Mrs. G. P. Stacey, Vice-Regent; Mrs. Nannie D. Werth, who is a sister of Rev. P. G. Robert, a well-known St. Louis minister of the P. E. Church. Representing Kentucky—Mrs. Norborne Gait Grey, Regent; Miss M. P. Harris, Vice-Regent; Mrs. E. V. Valentine, alternate; Mrs. C. C. Walker, Mrs. M. J. Dimmock, Mrs. J. P. Yancey, Mrs. H. A. Williams, Mrs. Philip Taylor, Mrs. Lindsey Walker, Mrs. R. G. Rennolds, Mrs. S. G. Wallace, Miss Cary Larus, Miss Fannie [378] McGuire, Miss Mary Donnan, Miss Bessie Catlin, Misses Leary, Miss Lelia Dimmock, Mrs. B. S. Smith, Miss L. M. Knox, Miss Estelle Clements, New York; Misses Williams.Projectors of the Museum.
The idea of the establishment of the museum originated with Mrs. Joseph Bryan, to whom, more than any other, is due the honor of success. This statement is made at the very urgent request of many members of the Society. Next to her, no one, says the general voice, has been so indefatigable as Mrs. E. D. Hotchkiss. Miss Isabel Maury, who had charge of the relic department at the bazaar, has been appointed temporary superintendent of the Museum. The permanent appointment will be made later.At night.
The Museum was also open to the public from 8 to 11 o'clock at night, between which hours the historic structure was packed to its utmost capacity. Hundreds of people, eager to honor the auspicious occasion by their presence, could not get near the doors of the old mansion, so large was the crowd. The standing room of the stairways and corridors, as well as of the rooms, was taxed to its utmost. The regents and vice-regents and the ladies composing the various reception committees, were attired, mostly, in evening dress, and this added beauty and inspiration to the scene. The Governor, accompanied by his staff, in full uniform, visited the Museum, both afternoon and evening, but at night they visited all the State rooms, and viewed the relics on display with much interest. The Richmond Light Infantry Blues and the veterans from the Soldiers' Home also attended the evening reception. The historic battle-flags on exhibition were objects of considerable attraction and curiosity, and they were gazed upon and discussed by many. The refreshment-room was merry with laughter and the music of silverware and china the entire evening. The ladies in charge, with Mrs. George M. West as chairman, were kept exceedingly busy, and the results were very gratifying. The bust of General Lee, presented to the Maryland room by the Confederate Society of the Army and Navy of Maryland, arrived, and was placed in position. [379] |
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Mrs. Belle Stewart Bryan, President of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society and of the Association for the preservation of Virginia Antiquities.
(Reproduced by courtesy of the Richmond Dispatch） |
