William Smith, Governor of Virginia, and Major-General C. S. Army, hero and patriot.
Unveiling of the statue to, in the capital Square, Richmond, Virginia, May 30, 1906.Ceremonies incident thereon.
Presented by Judge James Keith, President of the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and accepted by Governor Claude A. Swanson in appealing addresses.The ceremonies relating to the unveiling of the Smith monument began this afternoon at 2.30 o'clock, when, under instructions of the chief marshal, the mounted escort and militia and veterans, assembled between Fifth and Seventh Streets, in Grace Street, moved East to the Capital Square, the military escort swinging in through the Grace Street gate, and the occupants of the carriages and dismounted horsemen moving to Capital Street and entering from that gate. The speaker's stand was already crowded with State and city officials and invited guests. Gradually the hum of many voices ceased, and as Chaplain J. William Jones raised his hand, as he opened the exercises proper, a perfect stillness fell over the gathered throng, and heads were bared and bowed as the veteran chaplain invoked the blessing of God and offered thanks for the past blessings lavished on Richmond, the South and the United States.
Address of Judge James Keith.
Following the prayer, Judge James Keith, who was to deliver the presentation address, stepped to the front of the platform, and in the following terms presented the statue to the Commonwealth of Virginia:[223]
Fellow-citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
A distinguished son of Massachusetts has said of the Virginia of the Revolutionary period, that ‘We must go back to Athens to find another instance of a society so small in number and yet capable of such an outburst of ability and force.’ Into this society, in the County of King George, on 6th of September, 1797, was born William Smith. The public opinion of the day was dominated by the sentiments which had caused the War of Independence and carried it to a successful conclusion. From his earliest infancy, his mind was fed and his character formed with stories of heroic deeds. At the fireside he would hear recounted incidents of the stern struggle for freedom in which all with whom he was brought into association were engaged. The mighty figure of Washington still lingered upon the stage; Light-Horse Harry Lee, the hero of the Southern campaigns, great in himself, but to be remembered in all coming time as the father of Robert Edward Lee; and Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Marshall were at the zenith of their great careers while William Smith was in the tender and receptive days of his early youth. What lessons he learned! What examples he saw around him! What inspiration to form his ideals upon that which is noble in life, and what incentives to high achievement! In order to rouse his ambition, to kindle the sacred fire in his soul, there was no need to turn to books of chivalry or romance, to pore over Plutarch's Lives or Livy's pictured page. It was a saying of the great Doctor Johnson that ‘The man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.’ If such be the force of environment, how great must have been its influence upon a boy of ardent temperament, of fine intellectual gifts, reared in such an atmosphere and among such surroundings! We shall see that in the breast of William Smith it kindled a fervid love of country which age could not cool, and which, to the end of a long life, retained all its warmth, like Hecla with its crown of snow and heart of fire. Fitted by a liberal academic and professional education, on reaching man's estate he entered upon the practice of law, and attained distinction in that profession, which along with other business pursuits, furnished an ample field for the display of his talents and [224] energies. But he was soon to be called to play a distinguished part in public affairs. In 1836, he was elected to the Senate of Virginia as a Democrat. He always had firmest faith in the integrity, the patrotism and the ultimate wisdom of the great body of people. He thought the people equal to the task of self-government, and therefore placed the strictest construction upon governmental powers by which their freedom of action and of choice are to be fettered and restrained; in other words, he thought with Jefferson, that the least governed were in the main the best governed communities, and that the voters, when a question of expediency or policy is discussed before them, were quite capable of a wise and just decision. As this opinion was honestly cherished and consistently maintained, and as he reposed his trust in the people, he was in turn loved and trusted by them with a passionate devotion which knew no variableness nor shadow of turning. To vouch all this I have only to turn to the inscription, which records in bare outline the many positions of honor and trust he was called to fill. What a busy life it was; time would fail me were I merely to catalogue the more striking incidents of a career so crowded with varied experiences! That inscription tells you with the highest eloquence, because with truth and simplicity, the places he filled with so much honor to himself and such advantage to his country that not a moment of private life was permitted to him. It tells you the principles and sentiments by which he was guided and controlled, the great central idea of which was, ‘Virginia's inherent sovereignty,’ which in time of peace he maintained with ‘fearless and impassioned eloquence;’ and that when ‘the storm of war burst, his voice was in the sword.’ For the men of the generation which is rapidly passing away, the war is and must be the one great overshadowing fact. It looms up in the memory in such vast proportions that all else which happened before and since seems trivial and of little worth. More especially is this true of this day of all days, when North and South, all over the land, there is an outpouring of the people to honor themselves by paying a loving tribute to the memory of our glorious, our happy dead—happy, because nothing can harm them further, while the memory of their heroic deeds, of their lives offered as a willing sacrifice upon the altar of duty, is sweeter and more fragrant far than the flowers with which we bestrew their honored graves. [225] In April, 1861, the storm so long threatened burst upon us. The land was alive with men hurrying to the front. It is scarcely a figure of speech to say, that the plow was left in the furrow, and the bride at the altar, by those eager to be in place when the curtain was rung up on the greatest tragedy of ancient or modern times. In Virginia, Manassas was the first point of concentration, with an advanced post at Fairfax Courthouse composed of a company of infantry from Fauquier under John Quincy Marr, a cavalry company from Rappahannock under Captain Green, and another from Prince William under Captain Thornton. Such was the beginning of the Army of Northern Virginia. Drawn from all ranks and employments in life, it represented every social phase, condkion and occupation, fused and welded by the seismic force of that tremendous upheaval into an organization whose deeds were predestined soon to make all the world wonder. On the night of the 31st of May, or more accurately in the early morning of the 1st of June, a body of United States cavalry charged into Fairfax Courthouse, effecting an almost complete surprise, coming in with the videttes whose duty it was to give warning of their approach. Everything was in confusion. But it chanced that on the preceding evening Governor Smith, like a knight errant in search of adventure, had arrived upon the scene and was spending the night at the house of a friend. Awakened from his sleep before the dawn, he quickly dressed and armed, and with that break-of-day courage which Napoleon loved and found so rare, he hurried to the scene of conflict. Colonel (afterwards General) Ewell was in command, but he being presently wounded, our old friend took charge. What then happened has always been to me a wonderful thing. It is said by Byron, that when you have been under fireonce or twice,But here we see one verging upon sixty-four years of age, kindly in all his dealings with his fellow-man, whom the gentle Cowper might well have called his friend, for he would not needlessly have set his foot upon a worm, and yet he springs from his bed with arms in his hands, and with the coolness of a veteran and the skill of a born soldier he at once grasps the situation, and by his example rallies a part of the men from the disorder into which they had [226] fallen, disposes of them most judiciously, inspires them with a portion of his own courage, and finally repulses the enemy with loss. On this day, June 1st, John Quincy Marr fell in battle. Was he the first to fall? It is bootless to inquire. He answered the first call of duty, and he fell upon the field of honor. Virginians call trust posterity and the contemporary opinion of foreign nations, which, it is said, stands towards us in somewhat the same attitude with that of posterity and anticipates its judgment, to make a just award and to assign to us our due share in the glory of that mighty struggle. For that award we shall wait with serene confidence, and with it we shall be content, certain of this at last, that there is enough and to spare for all. We next hear of Governor Smith as colonel of the Forty-ninty Virginia Infantry at Manassas. To follow his career in detail would be to give the story of the Army of Northern Virginia. At Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, the seven days of battle around Richmond, at Sharpsburg, at Gettysburg, he displayed upon greater and bloodier fields the high soldierly qualities of which he gave promise and earnest at Fairfax Courthouse. At Seven Pines we see him seize a fallen banner and bear it to the front, heedless of a storm of shot and shell; at Sharpsburg all day upon the perilous edge of the fiercest battle of the war, he displayed the highest courage and by his example lifted his men above all fear of the carnival of death, in the midst of which they stood unshaken during that awful day. Oppressed by the weight of years, weary from almost superhuman exertion, bleeding from grievous wounds, his constant soul, mounting with the occasion, was careless of all save the command he had received and the promise he had given to hold the position. Can you conceive of anything finer than that? And yet it is no fancy picture; it is cold, sober, unadorned truth. What fancy could add to it? The attempt would be wasteful and ridiculous excess. Marshal Ney, reeling from wounds and exhaustion covered with blood, staggering into a Prussian town and exclaiming, ‘I am the rear guard of the Grand Army,’ was not a more heroic figure. At Gettysburg his conduct was equally admirable, and his readiness to perceive and promptness to meet situations as they disclosed themselves during the ever-changing fortunes of a great battle were again conspicuous and of inestimable value. He had that quickness of physical and intellectual vision which enabled him [227] to see the crucial point, to catch the moment of a crisis, and thus to do the right thing at the right time—one of the highest attributes of a soldier. Let us pause here for a moment. Think of what the Army of Northern Virginia was, of what it suffered and endured, and of what it achieved. To have belonged to that army and to have passed through that fierce ordeal in any capacity however humble, provided one did his duty, is warrant for no small meed of praise—that army of which an eloquent historian of its great adversary, the Army of the Potomac; has said: ‘Who can ever forget that once looked upon that array of tattered uniforms and bright muskets, that body of incomparable infantry, the Army of Northern Virginia, which for four years carried the revolt upon its bayonets, opposing a constant front to the mighty concentration of power brought against it, which receiving terrible blows did not fail to give the like, and which vital in all its parts died only with its annihilation.’ What then of the man who joined it at sixty-four, and without military training, by sheer force of his own high qualities, won his way to the rank of major-general under the eye and with the approval of Robert E. Lee, and whose conduct in battle extorted the warm admiration of that Rhadamanthine judge, General Jubal A. Early? Their approbation was praise indeed. In the spring of 1863 he was for a second time elected governor. During his first term in that office, to which he was chosen by the legislature in 1845, he discharged his duties in a most satisfactory manner. There is but one circumstance of that administration to which I wish to call particular attention. In the various schemes for constructing internal improvement, a subject which then engaged to a great degree the attention of the people of this State, he advocated a system which would have promoted the unity and solidarity of all sections of our Commonwealth, and which converging upon Richmond was designed to make this city the commercial as well as the political capital of the Commonwealth. He contemplated the construction of railroads from the western and northwestern parts of the State, which would have had a strong tendency to diminish, if not to obviate, the disposition towards separation along those natural lines of cleavage, the Alleghany mountains. Other counsels prevailed, other plans were adopted, the interests of the western part of the State were alienated from us; and, when the time of stress came, Virginia was [228] dismembered, and she who had created the Union of States was torn asunder by her offspring. Succeeding Governor Letcher, who had during three years of war had been our zealous, able and patriotic chief magistrate, Governor Smith, on January 1st, 1864, entered upon his second term. The strain upon the nerves, the energies and the resources of our people was terrific. Already the seemingly impossible had been accomplished. Vast armies had been raised and equipped. The enemy with equal ardor and with unstinted abundance of men and supplies to draw upon, came again and again to the attack with unwearied, unabated constancy. Our men in the field must be fed, and the supplies must be drawn from those at home who were themselves in want. The commonest necesaries of life were exhausted. There are men here to-day who lived and toiled and fought on four ounces of raw pork and one-half a pound of coarse corn meal a day. I, myself, to relieve the hunger of a gallant infantryman, have robbed my horse of his scant supply of unshelled corn. Governor Smith was called upon to take office under these appalling conditions. The tide of war had for three long years swept over the land, but his undaunted soul was in unison with the unshaken fortitude, the unfaltering resolution of our people. He bent every energy, he strained every nerve, to alleviate the wants of the people, to supply the absolute needs of the army. So long as rations and cartridges could be supplied he knew that the thin gray line of steel which hedged us about could be trusted to keep the enemy at bay, to ‘carry the revolt upon its bayonets;’ and with all his heart he set himself to his task. With absolute unselfishness, with perfect singleness of purpose, he toiled at his more than herculean labor. He had no friend to serve, no enemy to punish. The cry of his soul to God was, that he might serve his people. All that man could do he did. He seized upon every material resource that was within his reach; he rekindled the spirit of our people; he reanimated the courage of our soldiers. But he could not reverse ‘fix'd events of Fate's remote decrees.’ It is a pleasing and yet an idle thing to speculate upon what might have been could we reconstruct the past and cause things to happen otherwise than as they actually occurred. What might have been had Fate called Governor Smith to a wider and a higher field of action; to guide the destinies, not of a State, but of many States through that titanic struggle? [229] The war ended, he returned to his home in Fauquier, where he lived in dignified retirement, broken more than once by the voice of the people who demanded his services in the legislature. His hospitable home was always open, and there he spent the peaceful evening of his days. He had lived a long life filled with great events. Indeed the chief difficulty in speaking of him is to select where material is so abundant. Almost coeval in time with the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, the story of his life involves the history of his country, which he served in the legislature of the State, in the congress of the United, as the executive of the State in time of peace and again in time of war. He might truthfully have said with old Aeneas:
The ear becomes more Irish and less nice.
quaeque ipse miserrima vidi,He outlived every antagonism, he hushed every discord, and when his end came he was at perfect peace with his God and his fellow-man.
Et quorum pars magni fui.
Of no distemper, of no blast he died,And now we are gathered to unveil a monument to his memory and to present it to the Commonwealth of Virginia, in whose service his life was spent. To erect monuments that we may perpetuate the memory of noble deeds, seems to me an inversion of the true order of things. It is striving to make the perishable bear witness to that which is imperishable; to call upon that which is earthly to keep alive that which is spiritual and immortal. You may stand at the tomb of Achilles and hear Troy doubted. Gone are its towers and battlements, its stately temples and gorgeous palaces, but the Iliad which tells the story of the siege and fall of Troy is as fresh today as it was three thousand years ago. This bronze will yield to the remorseless touch of time, this granite pedestal will crumble into dust; but the influence of a noble life is never lost, nor its memory wholly forgotten until the day when [230]
But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long—
Even wonder'd at, because he dropped no sooner.
Fate seemed to wind him up for four-score years,
Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more;
Till like a clock worn out with eating time,
The wheels of weary life at last stood still.
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like an insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind.
Unveiling of the State.
Immediately following the presentation address, Miss Eleanor Smith, of Fauquier County, grandniece of the old governor, gently pulled the unveiling rope, and the heavy hood fell from the statue, leaving the proud figure of the ‘Virginian of Virginians’ standing alone, grasping his sword and casting off his cloak, advancing to the aid of his State and country. At the sight of the statue thus exposed to the public view for the first time, the audience burst into long and enthusiastic applause, the thunder of their clapping and cheering being heard for squares around the capitol.Address of Governor Swanson accepting.
The statue had been presented, and all that remained was its acceptance by the State. Upon Governor Swanson the duty fell, and raising his hand to quiet the applause and command attention, he said: Judge Keith and Fellow-Citizens. By the authority vested in me as Governor and in behalf of the people of this Commonwealth, I gladly and gratefully accept this gift. It is fitting that the statue erected to commemorate the achievements of this distinguished Virginian should be placed in these lovely grounds and in this superb city. The bewitching beauty of these grounds is due mainly to his refined taste, earnest efforts and generous aid. It is but proper in the coming years that he should survey the scene of loveliness he formed while Governor of this State. He stands here erect in fit company and with worthy associations. Not one of the illustrious company whose statue adorn yon magnificent monument ever had heart stirred with a purer patriotism, or thrilled with a deeper love for Virginia than Governor Smith. From early manhood to mature old age, in peace, in war, in the days of her power and splendor, in the hour of her gloom and defeat, this devoted son of Virginia firmly, [231] faithfully and fearlessly served her. Virginia's honor was his honor, her wrongs were his wrongs, her failures were his failures, her success was his success. In his deep passionate nature flamed an eternal love for this State; Speaking for the people of Virginia, we are proud to have placed here this memorial of this beloved son, making worthy addition to yonder monument around which cluster the forms of so many eminent Virginia patriots. In the future, Virginia, like the mother of Gracchi, can point to this son as one of her brightest and purest jewels. It is appropriate that this brave son should stand here in company with Virginia's immortal soldier, Stonewall Jackson. At the battle of First Manassas he was close to Jackson and as Colonel of the gallant Forty-ninth Virginia Regiment, he participated in the fierce fighting and contributed to that splendid victory. It is well for all time that he should gaze upon the ancient capitol of this Commonwealth, whose foundations antedate the Federal constitution and whose edicts once ruled from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. This old capitol has been the scene of his many civic triumphs and can bear witness to his ceaseless public toil and great public service. Governor Smith was the highest type of a Virginian; a name synonymous with the most splendid attributes of human character. Sunshine scintillated in every lineament of his pleasing face. It has been well said: ‘He had the whitest head and the lightest heart that marched with the Confederate colors.’ Geniality ever radiated from his warm, generous heart. Kindly courtesy characterized his manly deportment. To women he ever extended a deference and reverence, bespeaking innate refinement and purity. A devoted husband and father, a kindly neighbor, a loyal friend, he possessed in a pre-eminent degree those sterling Anglo-Saxon home virtues which constituted the foundation of its greatness and has made it the world's conquering race. The pleasing personal traits were adornments that gave charm to a strong rugged nature. He was a man of tireless energy, strong convictions, superb courage. No misfortune could bring despair to his brave and stout hear. At the age of 53, when from public service and sacrifice he found himself indebted and bankrupt he left his home and family in Fauquier, traversed the continent, and amid the mining camps and wild scenes of California, earned the means to pay his debts and provide a future competence for his family. These years of wild and fierce struggle speak volumes of sterling strength and heroism. He [232] was a man of positive convictions and without the shadow of turning, adhered firmly and steadily to his party's tenets and principles. For almost half a century he was one of the ablest and most eloquent defenders of Democratic principles in this State. On the hustings, in the press, in the legislative halls of the State and nation, he was the bold, brave champion of Democracy; its acknowledged and most beloved leader. When a small minority of Democrats bolted the Democratic caucus united with Whigs and defeated him of his election to the United States senate, which he had richly earned and deserved, he manfully acquiesced, never sulking or swerving from party fealty. He was too good and great a man to desert his people because they failed to crown him king. Governor Smith was a man of absolutely scrupulous honesty. A great orator well said: ‘Honesty is the oak around which all other virtues cling; without that they fall and groveling die in weeds and dust.’ The paths of his public life were crowned with vast power, responsibility and opportunity, yet no stain ever followed his footsteps. His pure, clean hands were never soiled by betrayal of private or public trust. Governor Smith was a man of unflinching courage and intrepid spirit. When the Civil War commenced he was more than 64 years of age, yet, so ardent was his patriotism, so brave his heart, so resolute his will, that he volunteered and was commissioned as colonel of the Forty-ninth Virginia Regiment. Directed by his valor and military genius, this regiment soon attained a fame exceeded by none of the great Army of Northern Virginia. In the night assault at Fairfax Courthouse, almost the first of the war, he exhibited a coolness, a courage, a resourcefulness that made a profound impression at the time and marked him as one eminently fitted for military command and responsibility. At the battle of First Manassas, rallying around his regiment other troops that were disorganized and retreating, he stationed himself on Jackson's left, fought heroically and kept his line unbroken in all the vicissitudes of that fierce and terrific conflict. Subsequently, at Seven Pines, he attained yet loftier heights of courage and endurance. The figure of this old hero, waving his flag and with sunny smile leading his troops against the enemy under a murderous fire that wounded and killed more than half will live in the hearts of all Virginians as long as courage and gallantry are cherished. The annals of war can scarcely furnish a [233] more striking and picturesque scene of valor and daring. But it is at Sharpsburg that we love and admire him most. He was assigned a critical position in that terrible battle, the holding of which was absolutely necessary to the safety of the Confederates. Fierce attacks and assaults were made upon him. The situation seemed desperate; with calm heroism he said to his troops: ‘Men, you conquer or die where you stand.’ When General Jackson sent him orders, ‘To hold his position at all hazards,’ with steady eye and serene smile he replied, ‘Tell General Jackson that is just what we are going to do.’ His promise was fulfilled. Though wounded thrice, and dangerously, he refused to relinquish his command, but firmly and bravely held his position until the battle was finished. The commendation given him by his superior officers for this conduct was eulogy sufficient to satisfy any soldier's heart. On the fateful and bloody third day's fight at Gettysburg the heroic courage and firm resistance of General Smith and his command saved Lee's left flank. The glory of that day has placed him forever among the immortals. These great achievements brought reward and soon was he promoted to the rank of Brigadier-general and subsequently to that of Major-general. If he had not been called to other fields of usefulness, he would unquestionably have become still more illustrious as a soldier. By the universal acclaim of his people, he was soon called for the second time to fill the important and responsible office of Governor of Virginia. Virginia never bestowed upon any of her eminent sons higher evidence of confidence and affection than she did upon Governor Smith when she called him for the second time to the governorship. Virginia was then the battle-ground of the nation. Nearly her entire territory was the scene of terrific conflicts between contending armies. A strong, energetic, fearless, patriotic man was needed to direct State affairs during these existing and coming troubles. In this hour of danger and responsibility, the greatest that ever confronted this State, the people almost unanimously selected him to be their guide, counsellor and defender. Never was greater love and trust given by a people. Be it said to Governor Smith's greatness and glory, never was trust more faithfully and fearlessly discharged. His brow will ever be decorated with an eternal laurel of praise for his superb conduct during the declining days of the Confederacy. My countrymen, the character of Governor Smith and the natural aspects of his native State always to me seemed to have a strange [234] and striking conformity. Virginia is largely composed of rich, fertile fields, large and broad plains, decorated with hill and mountain scenery of surpassing beauty—so with this great son; he was endowed with a strong, broad masculine mind and heart, sparkling with the fascination of geniality and humor, and glittering with the corruscations of courage, eloquence and genius. Sirs, the greatest of all English novelists in his masterpiece— Vanity fair —has truly said that the world is a looking glass and casts back to each man the reflection of his own face. If he smiles upon the world, it smiles upon him; if he frowns upon it, it frowns upon him; if he hates it, it hates him; if he loves it, it loves him. Invariably reflecting back the picture presented. How profoundly is this truth illustrated in the magnificent career of this distinguished soldier and statesman. He faced the world with a genial, tender smile, and it received him with open, loving arms. He loved humanity and the world and he lived the idol of his people. He trusted the people and with implicit confidence his people in their hours of trial and gloom placed with loving faith their hands in his and followed his leadership and guidance. His people showered upon him great honors and important trusts. What a splendid career does his life present. A lawyer of fine attainment, with a large and lucrative practice, a successful business man of large and varied enterprises; an eloquent speaker and a splendid debater. He served with great reputation in both branches of the general assembly of Virginia and in our national house of representatives. In each of these bodies he was a potential member, an acknowledged leader. Without effort on his part he was accorded the rare distinction of being twice Governor of this State. His administration of this high office was equal to that of any of his predecessors or his successors. By splendid military achievements he was promoted from colonel to Brigadier-general and finally to Major-general. Few public men, few statesmen, have ever been endowed with accomplishments so varied and brilliant, have experienced a life so crowded with grave and great responsibilities, so resplendent with success and honors. My countrymen, Carlyle, in his splendid essay on Voltaire, has truly said: ‘The life of every man is as the well-spring of a stream, whose small beginnings are indeed plain to all, but whose ultimate course and destination, as it winds through the expanse of infinite years, only the Omniscient can discern. Will it mingle with the [235] neighboring rivulets as a tributary or receive them as their sovereign? Is it to be a nameless brook and will its tiny waters among millions of other brooks and rills increase the current of some world-famed river? Or is it to be itself a Rhine, a Danube, an Amazon, whose goings forth are to the utmost land, its floods an everlasting boundary on the globe itself, the bulwark and highway of whole kingdoms and continents?’ As to what a man's life shall be, whether a tiny stream giving the current of its life to others, or a magnificent river, receiving the waters of thousands of smaller rivulets, depends largely upon one's talents and opportunities, but more than all else upon one's efforts, will and ambition. Governor Smith, possessed of high qualities of mind and splendid talents, aspiring and ambitious, chose to make and did make the stream of his life as it ran with its pure waters to the great eternal ocean, a large and majestic river, known far and wide, fertilizing broad fields, enriching States and carrying on its bosom rich treasure for his country and mankind. It is by the lives and sacrifices of such men that States and nations are made strong and great. A poet has well expressed it: What builds a nation's pillars highAnd makes it great and strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng.
Not gold, but only men can make
A nation great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor's sake
Hold still and suffer long.
Brave men, who work while others sleep,
Who dare when others sigh;
They build a nation's pillars deep,
And lift it to the sky.
At the close of the Governor's words a heavy salute was fired by the military escort, and with a crash of music the ceremonies were brought to a close, and the military, veterans, escort, etc., reformed in column and proceeded to Hollywood to attend the memorial exercises there.
[236]
Monument inscriptions.
The figure of Governor Smith stands on a heavy pedestal surrounded by a swinging chain fence. On the several sides of the base are the following inscriptions: front face:William Smith.
Virginia.
Born Sept. 6, 1797. Died May 18, 1887.
1836-40 1841-2
Member of Virginia Senate.
1846-49
Governor of Virginia.
1841-3 1853-1861
Member of United States Congress.
1861-62
Member of Confederate States Congress.
1861-2
Colonel Forty-ninth Virginia Volunteers.
1862-3
Brigadier-General of Confederate States Army.
1863-4
Major-General Confederate States Army.
1864-5
Governor of Virginia.
Second face:
A man of strong convictions, bred in the strict States' Right school, He yielded paramount allegiance to his mother State, And maintained, with fearless and impassioned eloquence, In the Congress of the United States the Sovereignty of Virginia,When the storm of war burst,
‘His voice was in his sword.’
Third face:
Though past threescore, he entered the military serviceAs Colonel of Virginia Infantry,
And rose by sheer merit to the rank of
Major-General.
[237] At First Manassas, Seven Pines, the Seven Days Battle,
Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg,
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville
and Gettysburg.
His fiery, yet ‘cheerful courage’ was everywhere conspicuous,
And the only fault imputed to him by his superior was
‘A too reckless exposure of his person,’ Thrice wounded at Sharpsburg, he refused to leave the field,
And remained in command of his regiment until the end of that
sanguinary engagement.
Fourth face:
Called from the army to guide again the destinies of thisCommonwealth during 1864-65
He displayed such energy, resource and unshaken resolution,
As drew to him the heart of the whole Southern people.
Tried by both extremes of Fortune proved equal to the trial,
And died as he had lived,
A Virginian of Virginians. The following description of the statue was prepared for The News Leader by William L. Sheppard, who designed it in drawing and molded the clay model from which the work was made:
The action of the figure illustrates the turn in Governor Smith's public career in which he abandoned the civil for the military office. He has seized the sword in his right hand, having freed himself of the drapery on that shoulder. With his left hand he is in the act of casting the cloak from his person. This pose was selected from several drawings from which a small model was made. This was approved by the parties in interest and several friends who were asked to inspect it, among them Colonel Cutshaw and Mayor McCarthy. The large figure, from the design, was modeled by William Sievers, of New York, formerly of Richmond. He was first a scholar and subsequently instructor in modeling in the Mechanics' Institute. Mr. Siever's afterwards studied in the schools of Rome. His work on the figure thoroughly represents the spirit of the design and is done with bold technique. W. Cary Sheppard designed the pedestal, which was cut and erected by Albert Netherwood.[238] Mr. Sheppard's other work in the city is the Libby Hill monument, Howitzer and A. P. Hill. Within the last two years he has done soldiers' monuments for Lewisburg, W. Va., and Louisa, Va., the latter being a high relief lifesize figure.
