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GALLANT COL. A. B, ANDREWS.
Col. Alexander Boyd Andrews, son of William J. Andrews, was born in Franklin County, N. C., July 23, 1841. He enlisted in the 1st North Carolina Cavalry as second lieutenant of Company B in June, 1861. He still carries lead from a wound in the battle of Jack's Shop in September, 1863. He was married in September, 1869, to Miss Julia M., daughter of Col. William Johnston, of Charlotte.
Colonel Andrews enlisted early in the railroad business, and before his marriage he was Superintendent of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company from 1867 to 1875. Next he was Superintendent of the North Carolina until 1888, then he was a Vice President of the Richmond and Danville Company until 1894, when he was called to the second vice presidency of the Southern Railway. A year later he was made First Vice President, a position that he still holds. Upon the unhappy death of Samuel Spencer his promotion to the head of the great system was tendered him, but he declined, being unwilling to undertake the increased responsibility.
Colonel Andrews is as easily approached as was Gen. Frank Cheatham in war times, and as he had been so long a loyal patron of the VETERAN, he was asked recently, through a comrade's solicitude, in regard to his affairs, and he said he had five children, and in grateful manner remarked that he had provided liberally for them. Then, taking from his pocket two much worn silver dollars, he said: "These were given to me at the close of the war, and I have kept them, resolved that if the worst should come I could get one good meal." He is a Director in the Southern Railway Company, Vice President of the Citizens' National Bank at Raleigh, and president of various railway companies owned by the Southern, Director of the Sloss Sheffield Steel Company, Vice President of the National World's Fair Commission and a member of the Committee on Awards, and a Trustee of the University of North Carolina. The work in which Colonel Andrews has doubtless taken greatest personal interest is that of the North Carolina Soldiers' Home since its organization, in 1891.
SEVERE EXPERIENCES AT GETTYSBURG.
BY WILLIAM PAUL, WILDWOOD, FLA.
The 48th Georgia Regiment was in line of battle, fronting Gettysburg, and we were ordered forward. The first line of Federals was behind breastworks made of rails from which we soon drove them under a heavy fire to that noted rock fence. By the time we reached the rock fence all the officers in Company I, "Wilson's Tigers," had been killed or wounded. We had seventy three men when the fight began, and only three men escaped without a bullet piercing their bodies. I was a corporal, and led the company to within twenty yards of the rock fence, when I was shot down, and the few remaining fell back.
I remained on the battlefield fourteen days, unable to move or help myself, lying between two corn rows smeared with my own blood, until I was sunburned from head to foot, my clothes having been torn off, and two of the wounds had become fly blown. After this we were removed from the battlefield to Baltimore, and there lay on a street for several hours. Some pitied and others reviled us. The most charitable act done for me was by a fine looking lady, dressed in black, who gave me a fine comb, and I was not long in making my head more comfortable. If that lady is alive, I would like to send her a nice Florida present.
I was finally moved to Chester Hospital, where I had to plead with the doctors to prevent amputation of my leg. It had so decayed that the bone and leaders were visible. After a long spell of typhoid fever, I was moved to Point Lookout Prison, where I was detained for about seventeen months before being exchanged. Then a thirty days' furlough was given me. After leaving Richmond, it took the thirty days to reach home, as I was going around Sherman's army to Augusta, Ga.
I am now old, seventy seven years of age, living at Wildwood, Fla., and have a warm place in my heart for all the old boys who wore the gray.PRODIGIOUS RAILROAD WORK AT LYNCHBURG.
The gigantic task of building a low grade double track line through the rugged hill country on which the city of Lynching. Va., rests and across the ravines which surround it has just been completed by the Southern Railway Company.
The extent of this improvement will be realized when it is understood that there has been an entire change of line for seven miles from Winesap, north of the city, to Durmid, on the south, the most important construction features being the following: A tunnel 1,300 feet long under Rivermont, a suburb of Lynchburg, a tunnel 120 feet long under Park Avenue, a steel bridge 1,860 feet long and 150 feet high over the James River, steel viaducts 600 feet long and 115 feet high over Harris Creek, l,000 feet long and 135 feet high over Blackwater Creek, and 500 feet long and eighty feet high over Fishing Creek, a concrete viaduct 700 feet long, carrying Fifth Street over the railroad yards in West Lynchburg, a concrete viaduct 150 feet long, carrying the Lynchburg water supply, a steel viaduct 150 feet long, carrying spur track of the Norfolk and Western Railroad, and a concrete bridge eighty feet long, carrying Twelfth Street. This great work has been under way four and a half years.
The old line now in use crosses the James River at the foot of the hills and passes through a very restricted section on the east side of the city. The bridge over the James is at a very low level. By the use of the new line, which runs through the western part of the city on a much higher plane than the heavy grades north and south of Lynchburg, which are now such an obstacle to through traffic, trains will pass through the city on a grade forty feet per mile or less.
All the through passenger trains of the Southern will be run over the new line, and all through freight will also go over it. The local freight terminals now in use will be maintained, and local passenger trains will use the old line and stop at the present passenger station, this being in accordance with the wishes of the people of Lynchburg.
MILTON H. SMITH.
A MAN OF DEEDS, NOT WORDS RETROSPECT OF RAILROAD
ACHIEVEMENTS.
Milton Hannibal Smith, a pretty big name for a baby, since his parents gave him that name when he was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., September 12, 1636, is better known now as he signs himself, M. H. Smith, President of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
Mr, Smith's parents were most estimable people. His father, a progressive farmer, was greatly interested in farming and improving the poor ways farmers ever had of making the soil yield its best, and then in finding easier and more economical ways of taking care of what the soil produced.
Following the bent of most people that far East and Mr. Greeley's well known advice, the elder Mr, Smith moved with his family of several sons and daughters to Illinois. This was some sixty years ago. Wheat was the principal crop, and how to harvest it soon engaged the inventive mind of the head of the family. The mower and reaper and harvester that made Mr. McCormick's name famous and his family very rich were also worked out by the elder Mr. Smith, but Mr. McCormick patented the machines, while Mr. Smith merely worked those he made on his own place, and never thought of getting rich off his fellow man. However, this article deals with M. H. Smith, son of his father, who came South at an early age.
Mr. M. H. Smith, having soon fretted at farm life, went out to try something more stirring. He liked the tick of a telegraph instrument, and, going into an office, he stayed long enough to become an expert operator. Being of an inquiring mind, with a progressive disposition, he discovered that the best use to make of his ability as a telegraph operator was to add the further accomplishment of train dispatching. His mind being receptive and analytical, this came easy.
McComb had come South and built the Mississippi Central, and Mr. Smith found a job at Holly Springs on that road. He soon learned to handle trains, became agent, dispatcher, and factotum for his part of the road. He had handled the trains at that important point so well that when Donelson fell and Shiloh gave all that and this country to the Federals Mr. Smith, remaining at his post, was given yet more important duties to perform, with headquarters at Jackson. Handling these duties with the same ability he had always displayed (or rather showed evidence of, for Milton Smith never displays), he was made master of transportation for all the government roads and trains then operated in the captured territory.The end of the war came, and the reputation he made did not fade away with the last battle's smoke, but rather rolled on to the attention of Albert Fink, then General Manager of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and the pioneer of everything great in railway construction, operation, and traffic. Van Alsten was General Freight Agent of the road. Mr. Smith was appointed Assistant General Freight Agent, and thus he began his first service on the railroad he was to make one of the famous systems of the country, and it in time responding has paid him in turn, and has made him the one great captain of all those in the South.
Van Alsten was a man of parts himself, so when the Star Union (a forerunner of railway consolidation), a big freight line, was organized by the trunk lines in the late sixties, Van Alsten became General Manager, and Mr. Smith became General Freight Agent of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
During many trials and vicissitudes through which the Louisville & Nashville Railroad had to take its course Albert Fink and Milton Smith steered the old road to success. The financiers began to take notice, to buy the stock, and work their ways, the politician took notice also, and undertook to use the great force, both of money and men, for their gain, but those two men "sat in the boat," or rather "on the rail," and brought the fortunes of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad on and up till the values were increased twenty fold.
Mr. Fink was called to New York to organize and put in force and effect the freight bureau of the trunk lines of the country, of which he was made commissioner. The now great systems of the country were the result. Mr. Smith had his hands and brains filled with the immense traffic he had built up for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and now had to fight to hold and fight harder to build yet more. How successfully he managed all this is well known to most men who keep up with railroad doings, for the stock value of the company, which he had found worth ten cents on the dollar, was doubled by stock dividend and then run up twofold in value on every market in the world.
About this time a rich man, a power in Kentucky politics, with his eye on the United States Senate, bought, with his friends, a control of the stock and made himself President of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Withal the road prospered in spite of them. M. H. Smith was in charge of the traffic, the money getting department of the road.
Then another war came, the war of pestilence and disease, ravaging the whole South and threatening to destroy all the territory through which the Louisville & Nashville operated, and the Louisville & Nashville along with it. It was 1878. Yellow fever broke out everywhere. Quarantines were established at almost every important point in the South, especially along the Louisville & Nashville system, cutting the road into a hundred parts. Each community cared only for itself, with a hand against all the rest. Nashville and Louisville alone opened their arms to all refugees. Most cities, after fumigating both trains and passengers four miles South of them, let the trains run through twenty five miles per hour. Mont gomery, Ala., established the shotgun quarantine, and forbade any train from the South to come within that city's limits. In vain appeals came from Mobile, Pensacola, and New Orleans, and the inhabitants of the intermediate territory that they be permitted to send their well away from the perils of the fever.
The traffic of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad was blocked at Montgomery. Mr. Smith went before the City Council and pleaded with them, showing the inhumanity of it all, but Montgomery's Council was panicked, and sought only to protect Montgomery with her shotgun quarantine. "All right," said Mr. Smith, "if you want quarantine, I'll give you quarantine." He diverted the southern travel over other routes to points of safety from fever. He ordered that no train should go into Montgomery from any direction. In five days Montgomery did not have a bite to eat. Appeals were made that they would starve. "All right," said Mr. Smith, "let the trains from the South come through." Even then Montgomery refused. A delegation had gone to Louisville to lay the case before the president, who, being more politician than railroad man, ordered that trains north of Montgomery should go into Montgomery with supplies.
Agent, with headquarters at Baltimore, for three years, then with the Pennsylvania, taking charge of all that great system's business west of the Alleghanies."
Mr. Smith was called back to the Louisville & Nashville in 1882 and made Vice President and General Manager of the entire system. He immediately began the upbuilding of the South where touched by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
The hard times of 1890 and the panic of 1891 were only war again in another shape. The Louisville & Nashville barely escaped disaster. Mr, Smith went to New York and showed the directors that the road was all right if they would only keep the wolves away. They asked him to do so, and made him President that he might better succeed. He began by threatening to throw a whole bank full of wolfish brokers out of their own tenth floor windows if they continued war on the Louisville & Nashville.
It has not always been smooth sailing since. The politician who waxes fat on office he gains by fighting the corporations put all sorts of barriers in the way of the Louisville & Nashville, because Mr. Smith was bigger than the best of them. North of him, south of him, all about him to ride into office over the golden rails of the Louisville & Nashville was the aim. Many a tilt was had and many a patriot ( ?) bit the dust.
In M. H. Smith the Louisville & Nashville had a champion ever ready for every battle's gage. He defeated those who made a target of the Louisville & Nashville or attempted to take its traffic. All he asked was to be let alone, and when not so let, he fought whatever fight was necessary to protect the Louisville & Nashville. He made a lot of enemies, which was not the least of his virtues. Men hated him because they could not down him yet he fought only the battles of the Louisville & Nashville. He had no fights of his own.
For thirty years it w ent on. Some went up and some went down, but the Louisville & Nashville goes on forever. Wherever there is a public fund or quasi public money, there also is a gang to loot. To fight the looters is not the least of a master's labors if he will protect the property put in his hands.
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia all show the results of this man's endeavor. He built roads into all of these States to develop their resources and their industries the coal of Kentucky, the minerals of Tennessee and Alabama, the timber of all the States, agriculture, commerce and traffic everywhere was promoted.
For forty years he held for Nashville that milling in transit rate against which every city North and South has fought and that built up the great mill and grain industry here. For all that time he has maintained the integrity of the "like condition" rate that gave Nashville the Cumberland River, wet or dry, as a rate maker. Through all the courts till fame has hung about the case because of all these innovations the case has been fought and sustained. The people profited.
The profit of the public the Louisville & Nashville shared in that has been the theory of this man. Without prosperity of the people along the line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad there could be no profit for the Louisville & Nashville. Yet there were people who believed the oft repeated spiel of the impecunious promoter of evil and distrust, and joined in the cry against the "octopus," that "octopus" which gathered ten States of the Union in its benign fold and from each tentacle sent out the life giving juices that brought prosperity to all, even in spite of the perfidious protests of many who profited. Here is one instance of Mr. Smith's action.
In 1898 all the South experienced a severe winter. In Tennessee we had not had the like of cold weather for years. The Cumberland River was frozen from shore to shore. There was a great deal of suffering from all classes. In the midst of it the coal supply became exhausted, and rich and poor alike felt the pain and pinch of cold. The coal mines of Tennessee could not supply the towns and cities near Nashville. The supply was exhausted, not a dealer had a ton of coal, and there were few cellars that were not empty. Brother shared with brother, friend with friend, and neighbor with neighbor. The extreme cold continuing, the coal mines got into trouble, pipes and pumps froze up, and it was impossible to get coal from any Tennessee mine. The local roads were therefore utterly unable to bring any relief. An appeal was made to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad to M. H. Smith. In an hour he had ordered all the coal along the line diverted to Tennessee towns and that the coal stocks of some of the towns in Kentucky be reshipped to Tennessee. This continued, for the extreme cold continued, till the Kentucky towns ran short and protested. Mr. Smith brought coal from Louisville all the way to Nashville coal, too, some of which had gone from this vicinity. No extra freight charge was made, so that the price was not increased, although men came with scuttles and offered a dollar a scuttle.
So fraught with suffering and impending destruction was this coal famine that men good men, honest men, rich men climbed on the cars as they passed through East Nashville and took the coal before it reached the dealer, for fear their order would not be filled in time to save their families from suffering. The Louisville & Nashville sent a great many cars of coal to Nashville from their own supply, whole car loads of which were never accounted for, that coal having been taken without leave, license, or pay by men who said their wives and children were suffering and they must have fuel.
Nashville has forgotten that peril, that month of suffering, barely escaping disaster and death, numerous deaths. Yet it was only twelve years ago that Mr. Smith came to Nashville and found the conditions so deplorable that he actually made himself the coal agent for all South Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as master of transportation of the commodity alone that could warm. It was an emergency that only a master hand could meet. He met it and went away without a word to or from anybody then or since. And this is the first record doubtless ever made of this really very onerous, wonderful, and humane personal achievement. Virtue truly is its own reward real, true, sure enough virtue. This man likes to do things like that. He hunts difficult problems. He loves to solve what other men halt at, to him reward comes with the success of his endeavors. And he never refers to his work.
In his prime Mr. Smith went constantly over the line of the road. He visited all the cities and all the towns along the road. He acquainted himself with each business of material importance to the road or the community. He made the acquaintance of the owners and managers of industries and familiarized himself with their needs and their endeavors. He helped the struggling, he built higher the prosperous, and he developed new industries wherever tangible product was discovered, after helping most materially to discover. To no man in all the States through which the road runs do the people owe so much. Yet he does not stop to be paid or praised, nor will he. He takes for himself the rule he lays down for his employees: "No man deserves any credit for doing his duty." With that as a slogan he strides through his busy, eventful, historical life, regardless alike of condemnation or commendation. Only those who have been privileged to keep close have been allowed to know the good he has done, the charity in thought and act, the gentleness of the apparently arrogant man. He has made successful a whole host of men, and he is prouder of that work than all his victories. He found them young, inexperienced, untaught, undeveloped, he has made men of them, but he will not claim any credit for it.
He has created big, brainy men, men of affairs, men who, following the master, have discovered and developed yet newer territory in other sections or, remaining with the old line, now occupy positions of influence, affluence, and worth. It is said that the Louisville & Nashville Railroad has been the university from which has graduated the traffic men and managers for half the country, and that M. H. Smith was the head master. He has been the character to emulate, his the style to copy, his ways the lines to work on, to accomplish,
Withal Mr. Smith arrogates nothing to himself, nor assumes superiority, he only asserts his power to act as he sees best. He lets it go at that and fights it out on that line, though it has taken all the summer of his eventful, active, enviable, historical life, linked alike with the history of the Old South with its changed conditions to upbuild which he has given half a century of earnest, strenuous, successful endeavor.
The characteristics of a great man are always an interesting study. It enables lesser men to ape the greater and modest men to see their own possibilities. It develops the dormant capacities of young and untried men. But who is to tell of what a great man is capable or what made him great? Mr. Smith's power is his firmness of conviction and intenseness of purpose. His mind is analytical and his determination unwavering. Once he sees the way, he follows it, nothing, nobody can divert him. "We have determined the way, let's take no by paths," he sometimes says, which lets one know his head is set and that he will not waste time on other plans.
GROWTH OF THE GREAT SYSTEM UNDER ONE MANAGEMENT.
The original capital stock of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad was $3,000,000, authorized March, 1850, the contemplated mileage, 185 (Louisville to Nashville).
The authorized capital stock to day is $150,000,000, with 5,000 miles of road in thirteen States.
When M. H. Smith went into the service of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, besides the main line from Louisville to Nashville there was a branch to Bardstown, Ky., some 17 miles long, another to Lebanon, Ky., 37 1/2 miles, and another from Bowling Green, Ky., to the Tennessee State line, about 50 miles, a total of 290 miles, which cost about $10,000,000. The cost of the 5,000 miles .now owned by the company has been $128,000,000, The road employs 40,000 men.
More than five hundred millions of money have been distributed by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad to the people and employees along its line. Besides this direct contribution to the citizens (for a man is still a citizen even if he is a railroad employee), the policy of M. H. Smith has ever been to develop the industries along the line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, to build branch roads to timber, to coal, to iron ore, to limestone, to phosphate, to people, and be instrumental in the upbuilding of the country. The country is the South, since the endeavors and success of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad have been in Southern territory alone. Since M. H. Smith pitched his tent in Mississippi in 1859, he has held his hand to the plow and never turned his face toward any other section of the country than out over this Southland. Appeals and proffer after proffer have been made to take him away, but he has not gone. The East and the West have brought out a number of eminent and able men, who have successfully handled the properties they have acquired or had placed in their hands, and contributed to the up building of the countries through which their respective roads have been built. M, H. Smith stands preeminent, the one great organizer, developer, and operator in the South. September 12 of this year (1911) he rounds out his seventyfive years of life, as eventful, successful, honorable, and enviable as ever man lived. Probably his greatest and most valuable asset was the possession of a will to do right, regardless of the enemies he might make.
If ever there was a many sided man, we have him here. Mr. Smith's long and extensive commercial experience has made him familiar with all the likely happenings in a business life. Little there is that has not come up in his long life full of contemplation of such varied affairs. In all the labors of the railroad man, from him who rolls freight on the platform to him who arranges to float millions of money on the sea of railroad venture, he has tried his hand, long schooled in the university of practical and applied commerce, engineering, law, mechanics, and industrial endeavor, he is at the same time a railroad manager, a commercial traveler and merchant, an engineer, lawyer, a mechanic, and a financier, ready and able to meet the best of them at their own game or his with a full assurance that an abundant and varied knowledge has given him such ability that within himself he can solve whatever problems that may under any and all conditions confront him or demand his decisions. Once he was asked why he did not answer a certain business letter he had received. His reply was: "I couldn't." So he did not try. The useless he is too wise to bother about.
THE SOLID SOUTH OF BUSINESS. SOUTHERN COMMERCIAL CONGRESS TO MEET IN ATLANTA.
Gov. Joseph M. Brown, of Georgia, has invited President Taft to be present, and he is joined in the invitation by the following Governors and Governors elect: Gov. Braxton B. Comer and Gov. elect Emmett O'Neal, of Alabama, Gov. George W. Donaghey, of Arkansas, Gov. Albert W. Gilchrist, of Florida, Gov. Augustus E. Wilson, of Kentucky, Gov. Jared Y. Sanders, of Louisiana, Gov. Austin L. Crothers, of Maryland, Gov. Edmond F. Noel, of Mississippi, Gov. Herbert S. Hadley, of Missouri, Gov. W. W. Kitchin, of North Carolina, Gov. Charles N. Haskell and Gov. elect Lee Cruce, of Oklahoma, Gov. Martin F, Ansel and Gov. elect Cole L. Blease, of South Carolina, Gov. Malcolm R. Patterson and Gov. elect B. W. Hooper, of Tennessee, Gov. Thomas M. Campbell and Gov. elect Oscar Branch Colquitt, of Texas, Gov. William Hodges Mann, of Virginia, Gov. William F. Glassock, of West Virginia.
Gov. Brown urges the importance of a large attendance: "This invitation, Mr. President, is neither formal nor perfunctory, for we are not unmindful of your friendship for the South, which is evidenc ed not only by your public utterances, but by your official acts and appointments. Your part in the construction of the Panama Canal will be recorded by history as one of the most important triumphs of constructive statesmanship, and this work will. have a far reaching effect upon the prosperity of the South and the development of its industries.
'It is fitting that you should be present as a counselor and friend at this great gathering of representative Southern men, called for the purpose of devising ways and means for the upbuilding of these States, the development of their resources, and the encouragement of all that will advance civilization within our borders.
We are aware that the demands of public business upon you are heavy, but we are persuaded that this invitation will receive serious and favorable consideration when you remember that it is impossible to build up the South without making the country greater, and your presence and counsel will add immensely to the success of our efforts.COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.
All Southerners will be gratified that the great organization which is proving its faith by its works and is genuinely patriotic has selected to its most important commissionership Dr. Clarence J. Owens, of Alabama, Commander in Chief of the United Sons of Confederate Veterans. His appointment means much to the undertaking, as it will induce the cooperation of the best people throughout the South.
REPRESENTATIVE TENNESSEEAN.
Mr. Leland Hume, of Nashville, General Manager of the Cumberland Telephone & Telegraph Company, is engaged to speak for the State of Tennessee before the Congress. The notice sent out from Washington in regard to it states:
Mr. Hume has had connection with business affairs since his early manhood. His speech before the Southern Commercial Congress will be to the topic, 'The Solid South of Business.' Equally distinguished men from each of the other Southern States will speak on the same topic, thus bringing together the latest authoritative word regarding the business status of each State in th e South. Each of these speeches will later be used for national distribution.
Mr. Hume is descended from the early settlers of Nashville, his ancestors having gone there from Edinburgh, Scot land, in 1800. His father was a wholesale merchant in Nashville for forty years, up to the time of his retirement from business five years ago. Mr. Hume was educated at Vanderbilt University, worked for his father for five years, and then entered the service of the Cumberland Telephone & Telegraph Company, and has now been twenty five years associated with that company. At the age of twenty two he was elected treasurer of the company, at the age of twenty seven its secretary and assistant general manager, and is now general manager. He married at twenty four Miss Louise Trenholm, of Charleston, S, C., a niece of Hon. George A. Trenholm, Secretary of the Confederate States Treasury.
Mr. Hume was the first President of the Nashville Board of Trade, which body was brought together seven years ago by uniting the various commercial organizations of the city.
THE SURGEON GENERAL, S. P. MOORE, MONUMENT.
It is to be erected in Richmond, Va., under the auspices of the Association of Medical Officers of the Army and Navy of the Confederacy.
The monument is to consist of four parts: A base of three steps of Richmond gray granite, a round pedestal of white marble, smooth but not polished, a bronze statue of Surgeon General Moore on top of a pedestal, a bronze group of a female nurse and a wounded soldier at foot of pedestal.
The Surgeon General is represented as having received some report, and is now reflecting as to what indorsement or order to write on it, showing him in executive capacity. He is clothed in the military uniform of his rank in the Confederate States army. The pedestal has a countersunk panel with appropriate inscription. At the top is a band of laurel as a tribute to his worth and the efficiency of the medical department, below is a band of thirteen stars, linked with a conventional representation of the battle flag, making a very ornamental as well as appropriate design. The group in front at the base of the pedestal is a nurse ministering to a wounded soldier, and is designed as a tribute to the Women of the Confederacy.
On one side of the column (or pedestal) is the great seal of the Confederate States,
On the opposite side is the battle flag, surrounded by a sunburst, indicating the glory of the flag and the soldiers who valorously fought under it.
As far as may be practicable the materials of construction will be indigenous to the Southern States.
It is promised informally that the city of Richmond will furnish the foundation and base of the monument and will give an appropriate site upon which to erect it, and the State Assembly may make an appropriation.
(The foregoing is from Dr. Samuel E. Lewis. Chairman General Committee Association Medical Officers Army and Navy of the
Confederacy.)
A MOST GENEROUS OFFER OF THREE BOOKS.
Elbert William Robinson Ewing, a native of the South, and who is doing a peculiar and splendid work helping to place our section aright on the pages of American history, is highly appreciated by a large circle of VETERAN readers through his "Northern Rebellion and Southern Secession." Except a few copies now owned by the VETERAN, this work cannot now be bought. Since the publication of this highly interesting work the author has given to the public two other books, both printed in clear type and bound in neat cloth. Of these newer books, one is a history of the greatest American
90 Confederate Veteran February 1911
judicial determination, the famous Dred Scott case, and deals in a masterly way with the questions therein which involved the powers of the Federal government, the fight over which finally gave rise to secession. The latest work takes up the most bitter fight since the war, drawing intensely interesting pictures of the men and their methods, which involved some of the most vital relations since the war between the Federal government and the States the Hayes Tilden election and trial.
I. "Northern Rebellion and Southern Secession" needs no additional comment, but here are representative instances of what is thought of the others.
2. "Legal and Historical Status of the Dred Scott Decision." It should be widely read, and should make the University and the whole State proud of its author. Professor Dabney, History Department, University of Virginia.
Mr. Ewing analyzes carefully, reasons closely, and in his study of the case has evidently overlooked no material fact. . . . If any one chapter is more deserving of attention than another, it is that one, perhaps, in which the author attacks the generally accepted theory that, in passing on the question of the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise, the. court went out of its way, and pronounced what is known as obiter dictum. James Bryce and Woodrow Wilson and others of ability almost as conspicuous hold this view, but Mr. Ewing throws down the gauntlet to them, and, drawing his arguments from many sources, demonstrates in a masterly and convincing manner their error. Washington (D. C.) Herald. See Judge Pearce's opinion in November (1910) VETERAN. I regard this book as a very valuable contribution to our political history. J. H. Hinemon, Pres. Henderson College.
I wish to thank the author for giving to the literature of the South such a valuable contribution. Mildred L. Rutherford, author and teacher.
3. "Law and History of the Hayes Tilden Contest." The book displays a close and careful study of the great judicial and political contest. The legal status and powers of the electoral commission are gone into, and the whole battle for place is laid bare in a dramatic and vivid way. Record Herald, Chicago.
Now by special arrangement the VETERAN only can furnish all three books, postpaid, during a short period for the small sum of $1.50, the usual price of the three volumes being $5. Send in your orders without delay. Send six subscriptions, and the three books will be contributed by the VETERAN to your library. Address CONFEDERATE VETERAN, Nashville.
THE SWORD IN THE MOUNTAINS
Alice MacGowan, who has written so much and so naturally of the mountain dwellers of our beautiful Southland, has just published through Putnam's a great Civil War story under the above title. Realizing that too many tales dealing with the great conflict have been written from a prejudiced view point, Miss MacGowan has made her story wonderfully impartial. This may be accounted for by the facts that Alice MacGowan was born in Ohio, brought up in Tennessee, and while her father was an officer in the Army of the Cumberland, the fathers of almost all of her associates and her dearest friends of childhood days were on the other side in that struggle. Colonel MacGowan was editor of the Chattanooga Times for more than twenty years, and thirty years editor in Chattanooga.
The Sword in the Mountains
deals with the siege and battles about Chattanooga, and perhaps no more picturesque
war material was offered during the conflict of '63. Chickamauga, which is the great battle piece of the book, came very near being a drawn engagement, the advantage resting on one side and the victory on the other. The valor shown on that terrible field was American not confined to North or South. Pap Thomas, the rock of Chickamauga, who saved the battered remnants of the day for the Federals, was himself a Virginian. Abraham Lincoln's Confederate brother in law, General Helm, was killed on the field of Chickamauga. Altogether the author could not have selected a battle in whose heroic fighting both sides could have felt such equal pride. Her description of the battle, while historically accurate, is extremely picturesque, and survivors who know how the fighting went will find nothing to offend and much to charm them in her presentation.
The same judicious intention to represent both sides is shown in the placing of her characters. The hero of the story, Champ Seacrest, an East Tennessee boy, who had gone West, is a young Confederate cavalryman, coming in with the Texas Rangers. But Champ Seacrest's father, Vespasian Seacrest. almost an equally important character in the story, is a mountaineer living on Walden's Ridge, north of Chattanooga, and an ardent Unionist. The boy had run away from home and gone with kin to Texas. The girl he loved still remained with his father on Walden's Ridge, and she too is profoundly attached to the Union, and helped Vespasian to get men through to join the Union army. Champ is cast out by his father in a moment of passion, and Delora, the girl, holds with the old man, yet the hearts of both follow the dashing young grayclad cavalryman, who rides with the 8th Texas Rangers, forming sometimes a part of Wheeler's "Ragged and Reckless," sometimes with Forrest or another.
The loving touches with which the war time life in its old fashioned Southern elegance is delineated, as in the home of the Winchesters at Chattanooga, will be especially appreciated by those who remember those times. The scene in which Champ is taken for a spy in Mrs. Judge Winchester's house, the deathbed marriage between Evelyn Winchester, the lovely young Southern girl, and a young Federal officer who has fallen desperately in love with her these are things most of us could parallel in our personal experiences or in the stories that have come down to us.
A romance is not expected to weigh ethical questions or set forth the right or wrong of a situation, and "The Sword in the Mountains" makes no attempt to argue the case for either side. The reception of the news of Lincoln's assassination in Chattanooga, the midnight court martial, the various skirmishes and rescues are all parallel from events in history, though no one character or incident is taken exactly as it stood. But the description of the burning of the Federal wagon train in Sequatchie Valley that was to sustain the besieged town when Wheeler's desperate band undertook what even Forrest thought they could not do, the figure of its gallant leader, with a mere touch of Braxton Bragg's personality, is accurate.
In the preface Miss MacGowan expresses some little fear that her lack of prejudice may end by pleasing neither side, yet it would be a captious critic indeed who would wish to import even a touch of bitterness into a book which celebrates so enthusiastically the valor of Americans, the courage we draw from a common ancestry, and which we must all hope to bring to bear upon a common destiny.
While the book does not portray that astute knowledge of military matters that the veterans expect, it will entertain those who are unfamiliar with them, and it is intensely thrilling.
Confederate Veteran February 1911
ABOUT REUNIONS WITH THE GRAY AND BLUE.
Comrade J. M. Arnold, a conservative veteran, who has held the rank of Brigadier General in the U. C. V. Association, writes from Covington, Ky.: "I notice in the papers that the G. A. R. at their last Reunion held in Atlantic City passed a resolution to invite the U. C. V. Association to meet with them in joint reunion. From principle I am unalterably opposed to any joint reunion with that Association, The late Charles A. Dana, who was Assistant Secretary of War under Mr. Lincoln and afterwards editor of the New York Sun, personally advocated a reunion of the two associations to be held in New York on July 4, 1896. Gen. John B. Gordon, then our Commander in Chief, signified a willingness to do so. The Grand Army of the Republic through their Commander in Chief declined. Later on at our Reunion at Birmingham a resolution was passed inviting the G. A. R. to join with Us in a reunion. That was submitted to their Commander in Chief, who, I believe, was Walker, and offensively declined, he staling that he would be willing if we would not wear our gray uniforms or bring our old battle flags. If this matter is submitted to our Reunion to be held at Little Rock next year, I hope to see it unanimously voted down."
(The VETERAN has not favored these joint reunions since the G. A. R. Commander was so ugly in declining the Dana proposition in 1896. But let us remember that his was an individual ugliness. At Atlantic City there was much of respect and fraternal feeling shown Confederates, and the day is coming when a "corporal's guard," the last of both sides, will "fall on sleep," and in those days there will be but two questions: Was he faithful to his convictions? and did he treat civilians right? Villianous deportment of soldiers should be diligently considered in all matters where the spirit of conservatism is a factor. A gentleman in the war days should now be so esteemed. Let that be the test rather than professed friendship now. Deeds of vandalism committed in the sixties should not be excused
now.)
YOUR FAMILIES SHOULD BE ENLISTED.
A well written letter from South Carolina states: "I am writing to ask that you discontinue the CONFEDERATE VETERAN to my grandfather, who died December 8, 1910. He enjoyed your book very much, for he was an old soldier eighty five years of age."
The sad thing about this is that the family was not interested sufficiently to send even a brief sketch, and the fact is published for the benefit of venerable comrades in the hope that they will enlist their children and grandchildren at least to the extent of having some account sent for publication. The VETERAN is splendidly bound in many public and private libraries, so that years and years ahead the posterity of these grandchildren will seek sadly but in vain for a record of their ancestors who endured faithfully to the end for a principle as high as human conception. Teach your children that "a land without monuments" is indeed "a land without memories," and monuments by these records are far more durable than granite or bronze. It is useless to speculate about the durability of these VETERAN records, but to all human reason it may be presumed that, while the foundations of man endure, these records will be preserved. Tell your posterity to the last generation of your deeds and urge them to help sustain a record that means so much for the exaltation of character and is so helpful in many ways to those who deserve whatever of merit there is in what you and your comrades did in the sixties to maintain principles inculcated by patriotism yea, by every consideration embodied in the Christian religion,
March 1911 starts here
ABOUT A GENERAL FOR THE U. S. ARMY.
The following is an exact copy of an editorial in Harper's Weekly dated Saturday, January 17, 1863:
Have we a general among us? They say at Washington that we have some thirty eight to forty major generals and nearly three hundred brigadiers, and now the question is, have
we one man who can fairly be called a first class general in the proper meaning of the term?
Before this war broke out it was the prevailing opinion in military circles, more or less inspired by General Scott, that 'Bob Lee,' now commander in chief of the Rebel army, was the ablest strategist in our service. He had been chief of staff to the conqueror of Mexico. Next to him Albert S. Johnston, who commanded our expedition to Utah and was killed on the battlefield of Shiloh, was understood to rank in point of military capacity. But it was doubted by General Scott whether either of these two men or any other officer in the service was capable of maneuvering 50,000 men."
The Stephen D. Lee Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, dedicated a Confederate monument at Clinton, S. C., January 19, 1911. Not observable in the picture, there is carved on the base of the monument: "Lest We Forget." The cost of the monument was $1,600.
(Picture received from Mrs. R. Z. Wright.)
NORTH CAROLINA MONUMENTS.
A communication of over a year ago turns up which refers to the "preposterous misstatement" in the VETERAN concerning a report of monuments in North Carolina. It is on page 507 of the October issue for 1909. This was just after what was regarded as a fatal illness of the Editor,
The President of the U. D, C. Division wrote the Observer as follows: "In an editorial in the Observer of to day my attention was called to the very great error made in the VETERAN
regarding the number of monuments to Confederate soldiers in North Carolina monuments erected to the privates, not to individual officers. In the report of the Historian of the North Carolina Division, U. D. C., for 1909 is given a list of monuments erected to soldiers in the State, and even this is imperfect, but it shows that they have been erected at the following places: Raleigh, 3, Washington, 2, Fayetteville, 2, Asheville, 3, and one each at those other towns, Charlotte, Newbern, Edenton, Lumberton, Wilmington, Shelby, Tarboro, Greenville, with funds being raised for second, one in Concord, Pittsboro, Winston Salem, Weldon, Statesville, Thomasville, Wadesboro, Red Springs, Lexington, Newton, Goldsboro, Kinston, Chicora, Salisbury, Oxford, Columbus, Franklin. Besides these, Reidsville, Monroe, Lenoir, and Henderson have given out the contracts for theirs, and will unveil this spring. Lincolnton has a memorial hall and High Point a hospital as monuments to the Confederate soldiers in their counties. Tarboro is raising money for a fountain in that town in memory of our 'First at Bethel,' Henry L. Wyatt, and there is not a Chapter of the U. D. C. in North Carolina that is not working to erect a monument where they have none. * * * Soon every county will have a monument to speak in stone and bronze to coming generations of the grandest of the grand, the Confederate veterans of the Old North State."
Since the foregoing progress has been made and several monuments have been completed, there is a degree of chagrin in this criticism. It is late to mention it now, except to point a moral. North Carolina is the only State in which a veteran has been reported as using his influence against the publication. His name is not recalled. But it is grievous that any man who wore the gray is not endeavoring to help the VETERAN rather than injure it. An official complaint is made from his Camp for the return of an article on the Sherman controversy of last year of which this office knows nothing.COMMENT UPON CHARACTER OF JOHN BROWN.
The Chicago Continent of January 19, 1911, under the heading, "A Lamentably Poor Sort of Hero," says: "There is a good deal of justice in the hot protest which Col. Henry Watterson makes in his article in the North American Review against the glorification of old John Brown, of Ossawatomie, as a national hero. It is a perilous matter for any American citizen to heroize Brown before his boys, for Brown was practically everything that a modern American citizen should not want his sons to be. Even Brown's religion was a sorry type, full of vengeance and vacant of love, and his citizenship was vastly more undesirable than that of most of the anarchists who are so abominated by the populace to day. The sentimentality which has made a patriotic martyr out of this very vicious murderer is but a cheap imitation of really sound and virile patriotism."
COMMENT BY MRS. T. H. G. BALTIMORE.
In confirmation of Colonel Learnard's interesting article on "John Brown, of Kansas," in the February VETERAN, page 58, I would like to quote the words of one of Brown's own relatives living in New York State, In conversation with an English friend of mine regarding a recently published eulogium of the man in question she said: "The author is, I hear, a well meaning young lady, but she does not know what she is talking about when she writes such twaddle. If people want to know what John Brown was, they should come to those who knew him and are related to him, as I am. He was a cold blooded villain, a murderer, and a thief. He killed innocent people and sent the proceeds of his raids to his family." Much more she added, giving instances of his atrocities, but the above amply suffices to confirm the absolute correctness of Colonel Learnard's point of view.
LET THE "CONQUERED BANNER" WAVE.
PLEA BY COL. "JIM" ANDERSON, COMMANDER G. A. R. POST.
Why furl it and fold it and put it away,
The banner that proudly waved over the gray? I
t has not a blemish, it shows not a stain,
Though it waved over fields where thousands were slain.
O, why should we furl it and put it away?
It's loved and respected by the blue and the gray.
They fought for a cause they thought was just,
And this banner they loved was trailed in the dust.
Their fight was lost and their hopes are dead,
And another flag waves proud o'er their head,
But still in their memory, without boast or brag,
Wound around their hearts is this bonnie blue flag.
So unfurl that banner, don't lay it away.
There is but one country it's both blue and gray
Just one united land for us all,
Each willing and ready to answer the call,
But no land on earth, no history can say
That braver men lived than those of the gray.
Don't furl it and fold it and put it away.
Let our sons and daughters gaze on it and say: "
'Twill live on forever in story and song.
Brave men fought for it, they may have been wrong,
But they fought for it gladly, heroes and brave,
And the bonnie blue flag waves over their grave."
So unfurl the old banner, let it float in the air,
Let all the old veterans salute it up there.
Though their cause it was lost, they were men tried and true,
And they loved their old banner so bonnie and blue.
Now here's to old Dixie, the land of the brave:
All hail to the bonnie blue flag, let it wave
(Colonel Anderson, Commander of the Wilcox Post, G. A. R., Springfield, Mass., and an honorary member of the A. P. Hill Camp at Petersburg, Va., read the foregoing poem at a banquet served in his honor in
Petersburg.)
A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE WAR.
The American Review of Reviews Company is very anxious to secure, either by purchase or loan, the use of Confederate photographs to illustrate their "Photographic History of the Civil War," and request is made of our people to cooperate in this work that the South and its armies may have adequate representation. While there were not a great many pictures made within Confederate lines, and doubtless the larger part of these were destroyed, still there may be some in old collections that would be of value in this history, and VETERAN readers are asked to send what they can to the editors of this "Photographic History of the Civil War," at 13 Astor Place, New York City. They will appreciate such material, will give it the best of care, and where desired will make suitable compensation, in addition to giving due credit to the senders of pictures. They wish especially scenes of camp and battle, Confederate fortifications, and other works.
It will be of interest to know that Mr. Robert Lanier, son of our Sidney Lanier, is connected with this work, and in correspondence with him he makes a special plea for pictures that will properly represent the Southern soldier.
S. A. CUNNINGHAM, Editor and Proprietor. Office: Methodist Publishing House Building, Nashville, Tenn.
This publication Is the personal property of S. A. Cunningham. All persons who approve its principles and realize its benefits as an organ for Associations throughout the South are requested to commend its patronage and to cooperate in extending its circulation. Let each one be constantly diligent.
WHAT A SINGULAR RESPONSIBILITY
A grandchild sends a picture of 1862, the only one the family has, and a very nice sketch in childish language, and asks publication of the notice, with request that the author's name be given at the bottom and that the manuscript and picture be returned. Also that the copy of the VETERAN be sent with the price "in it." All of this is in good taste. The sketch is on three long sheets of paper. Where it is announced that the comrade went to the war, the language is: "Now some of you may think he did not care but very little for his young wife and babies, to go away and leave them alone. I can assure you that he loved them devotedly, but still he was true to his native country." Again she writes: "Last December, the fourth day of the month, in the year 1910, just as the beautiful sun was sinking in the far west, this dear and noble man was taken sick, . . . and on the fourth of December my precious grandfather fell asleep and God came and claimed him as his own,"
All honor to the child who sends the sketch, but is this not a matter of concern sufficient to enlist adult members of the family? This space is given to show the unreasonable tax put upon the VETERAN. The sole picture should be held above price, and yet the dear grandchild is given the custody of it, the VETERAN is asked to care for it, incur the expense of having engraving made all to honor a worthy comrade, yet of whom nothing is known by the editor. Do the parents feel willing to have so much done for them for nothing?
Another "Last Roll" sketch comes in the same mail, much more briefly written, and with a check for $10 to pay for engraving and extra copies. The writer states, too, that the family will continue the subscription on and on.
All sketches for the "Last Roll" should be brief and clearly written, special attention being given to the war record. Please do not send clippings from local papers, which always give much that is of local interest only. Have the sketch carefully prepared, and typewritten if practicable. If picture is to be used, remit $2 to cover cost of engraving.
THE NAME FOR OUR GREAT WAR.
(A recent discussion upon the best name for our "great war," as styled years ago by the VETERAN, in the House of Representatives at Washington contains some pathetic features. Mr. Bartlett, of Georgia, proposed to amend the judicial code bill by substituting the phrase "Civil War" for that of "The Rebellion." A quotation of the record
states:)
What is to be accomplished by that?
inquired General Keifer, who was an officer in both the Civil War and the Spanish American War.
Good feeling, that is all, interjected Representative Mann, of Illinois, "but that is worth something."
The gentleman from Ohio, said Mr. Bartlett, displaying considerable feeling, "is a representative of the people who fought on the other side, and we have got far enough away from that era in our history not to use the word 'rebellion.' "
It is used in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,
cried General Keifer.
Yes, retorted Mr. Bartlett, "but that amendment was enacted right after the war, when sectional animosity was rife."
General Keifer remarked in a bored tone that he did not see anything to be gained by the amendment.
In the legislation we have had for years there has been no reference to the War of the Rebellion,
declared Mr. Bartlett, "That is what it was," General Keifer persisted. "I am a son of a Confederate officer," replied Mr. Bartlett. "We differ as to whether it was a rebellion. It was no more a rebellion than was the Revolutionary War."
You called it a rebellion then, said General Keifer. "Well," said Mr. Bartlett, "it has been long enough after the cessation of hostilities to join in that spirit that now pervades the whole American people to endeavor to forget the animosities created by that struggle. It is not the part of a generous foe on the victorious side to suggest that the words used during the heat of the bloody conflict should be kept up. I am actuated solely by sentiment in offering the amendment."
General Keifer said that he did not propose to be lectured by Mr, Bartlett, and that if a lecture was intended it came fifty years too late. Then the General told how considerate he had always been to Confederates and how he had many descendants of Confederates in his command during the SpanishAmerican War. He concluded by indicating that he loved everybody south of Mason and Dixon's line.
Then Mr. Bartlett, almost overcome by his emotions, denied that he intended his remarks as a lecture. He had no intention of lecturing. If he had been so inclined, respect for the gentleman would have prevented him from doing so.
Mr. Keifer: "Mr. Speaker, I understand the gentleman is kind hearted and a good friend, and I suppose I was to blame for asking him a question. I did it ingood faith, and I have no feeling toward him."
So the amendment substituting "Civil War" for "War for the Suppression of the Rebellion" was adopted by a unanimous vote, and the House proceeded with the reading of the bill.
The Mobile Register in commenting upon this subject states: "Really it makes but little difference what the war is called. It was a great and glorious struggle and a credit to the fighters on both sides. Parenthetically it may be remarked that it was neither a civil war nor a rebellion. Alexander Stephens adopted the phrase the 'War between the States' for it, but this was for lack of a better, since the war was not between the States, but between two governments that happened to be composed of States. The nearest to a correct title is the 'War of Secession' or the 'War of Separation,' but neither title achieved popular acceptance. Some have it that, as we have had one war that is known solely by date, we can have another, and they call this one the 'War of 1861 65.' There is much and a growing use of this title these later days. Perhaps, however, it would be well to remove any lingering feeling of hurt by bestowing upon it officially the distinction that by its greatness it deserves and by common practice has long been bestowed, and let it be known now and for all time as 'the War' with a capital W."
The VETERAN years ago designated it as "The Great War." While it could be easily designated as the "War of the Sixties" (not '61 to '65), suppose we accept Civil War, since the lawmakers in Washington so designated it "by unanimous vote." In the Senate before his death that ever faithful Southerner, E. W. Carmack, procured acquiescence in the term "Civil War."
GEN. JOHN M. BRIGHT'S VIVID MEMORY. Hon. John M. Bright, of Fayetteville, Tenn., where he was born January 20, 1817, continues marvelously clear in his mental faculties. In connection with the spirited and acrimonious controversy in political matters in Tennessee, he gave some interesting reminiscences to the Nashville Banner. Although having just celebrated his ninety fourth birthday, the General's memory is clear and wonderfully accurate. Asked for reminiscences on past senatorial contests in Tennessee, he said: "When I was a boy, in 1829 I went down to Nashville by horseback, the rapid transit of the time, accompanied by my uncle, Col. John H. Morgan. We put up at the Nashville Inn. That was just about eighty two years ago, and I was a lad of twelve. My curiosity was aroused. About the Inn and on the street corners I heard heated discussions and arguments about Grundy and Foster. It was Grundy and Foster everywhere. 'What have Grundy and Foster done ?' I asked my uncle. 'They are candidates for the United States Senate,' was the reply. It was then that I conceived my first idea of political warfare, and as time wore on I came within two votes of being United States Senator myself." * * *
(General Bright sends to the VETERAN a pamphlet that he has written about "The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus
Christ.")
GORDON AND HANCOCK'S FORCES AT SPOTTSYLVANIA, VA. J. M. Lewis, of Macon, Ga., writes: "Will you please give me the information or procure it for me? On May 12, 1864, at Spottsylvania C. H., when General Hancock broke the Confederate lines, General Gordon made a countercharge and retook most of the works that had been captured by General Hancock's forces. General Gordon reported that he would have retaken all of the lost ground, but his line was too short. Now I would like to know what Confederate brigades occupied that ground before Hancock's charge."
E. C. Miller, of Hinesville, Liberty County, Ga., desires information of the service rendered the Confederate States by Maj. E. W. Solomons, of Screven County, Ga., who was major of commissary in Gen. George P. Harrison's brigade of Georgia troops. This information is given to assist an old and needy widow in securing a pension. Major Solomons was an old man, but entered the service during the first of the war, and afterwards served in government positions.
(The Confederate "War Records" as published by the United States government report "Edward Solomons" with the rank indicated above in Georgia State Troops in 1861 and disbanded in
1862.)
Confederate Veteran March 1911
CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE.
DESIGN SELECTED FOR BUILDING AT RICHMOND.
On Monday, January 23, the Executive Committee of the Confederated Memorial Association met at the office of Lieut. Gov. J. Taylor Ellyson and settled the question of building for the long talked of "Battle Abbey."
Bissell & Sinkler, of Philadelphia, secured the first prize, which is the contract for the design and the supervision of the construction. The second prize of $400 goes to Hewitt & Brown, of Minneapolis, while the other prizes of $200 each are awarded to Averill & Adams, of Washington, Wilder & White, of New York, Dennison & Hirons, also of New York.
The Executive Committee, it may be recalled, is composed of Gen. Robert White, of Wheeling, W. Va. (chairman), Lieut. Gov. J. Taylor Ellyson (president of the association), Judge George L. Christian, Col. Thomas Kenan, of Raleigh, N. C., and Col. J. M. Hickey, of Washington, D. C.
Sixty designs were submitted by as many architects. A jury of award was composed of Mr. Ellyson, W. C. Noland, the professional adviser, and James Knox Taylor, supervising architect of the United States Treasury Department. The Executive Committee unanimously adopted the report of the jury, and made its awards in accordance therewith. Members of the Executive Committee nor of the jury of award knew the authorship of any of the designs. After action by the committee, Mayor D. C. Richardson for the first time made known the names and addresses of the competitors. The committee was well pleased with the work of the jury of award, and believes the selection will be satisfactory to the public.
The committee made formal request of the R. E. Lee Camp, No. 1. United Confederate Veterans, to allow its collection of portraits of Confederate leaders, now hanging in its hall, to be placed in the building at such time in the future as suits the pleasure of Lee Camp. Besides, if Lee Camp desires it, arrangements will be made in the building for a permanent meeting place.
A member of the firm of Bissell & Sinkler will confer in Richmond with the Executive Committee as to details. The Times Dispatch states:
The Confederate Memorial Institute is to be a repository and exhibition building for Confederate relics, paintings, and sculpture, with records and all procurable data relating to the Confederate States. It is to be on the order of a museum and art gallery combined, and is to serve, both interior and exterior, as a memorial building for the placing of commemorative tablets and statues.
The design by Bissell & Sinkler is of a dignified, monumental character. The construction is to be fireproof throughout and faced with Southern granite up to the floor line and with Southern marble above that line. The plan shows a Doric building fronting sixty nine feet, one hundred and sixtynine feet deep, and fifty feet high. A broad flight of steps leads to the front portico, whose roof is supported by massive columns. Mural decorations appear on the outside. A flat roof will afford a walking space for visitors. While the structure is of only one story, there will be no fewer than sixteen galleries, each devoted to special collections from a Southern State. These are grouped around one general hall, forming the main place of exhibit. The building is estimated to cost $150,000, exclusive of mural decorations, light fixtures, and furnishings.
Wide latitude was given by the committee to competing architects, and competitors were left to work out the problem in the way that seemed to them best.
The plot of ground on which the Memorial Institute is to be erected has a frontage of three hundred and seventy nine feet on the Boulevard, between Grove and Hanover Avenues, and extends back seven hundred and thirty feet. The building will face approximately east. The ground is deeded by Lee Camp, which has a right in the Soldiers' Home property until March 3, 1914, with the concurrence and approval of the State by act of Legislature. The main entrance front is to face the Boulevard, and is to be at least one hundred feetback from the street line. The grade line will be sufficiently elevated to allow a gradual descending grade from the building in all directions, the descent to the boulevard being about three feet,
The junior member of the successful competitor is a son of the late Dr. Wharton Sinkler, a former South Carolinian, who lived in Philadelphia for many years prior to his death, last year. It is a coincidence that the grandfather of Architect Sinkler and the father of William Churchill Noland, the professional adviser, were officers on the same ship of the old U. S. navy in the years before the War between the States.
QUESTION RAISED ABOUT TITLE TO THE LAND.
(Extracts from Richmond Evening Journal of February 6.1 It leaked out to day that the collateral heirs of the late Channing M. Robinson, who sold the Soldiers' Home tract of land to R. E. Lee Camp, are considering the advisability of bringing suit against the commonwealth with the idea of recovering the property or its money equivalent on account of the alleged violation of the provisions of the original deed of transfer. As yet the matter has not gotten into the courts, but lawyers are looking into the case.
The story of the Soldiers' Home tract is a long and complicated one with many legal ramifications. It harks back to the early eighties, when the boulevard was a mere county road and values in that part of the city were low.
About 1880 the idea of establishing the Soldiers' Home was discussed among Confederate veterans, and as funds were scarce in those days, a greatly successful bazaar was held.
In 1884 Channing M. Robinson, who died in January, 1893, conveyed the land then about thirty five acres to Lee Camp. The consideration was about $14,000, a very reasonable figure, everybody thought. It is understood that the document sets. forth that the land is to be used for a Soldiers' Home and for the maintenance of such an institution. In the early nineties, part of the land was sold.
Richmond was then in the throes of its first West End boom, and a number of citizens bought lots parceled off from the Soldiers' Home property. When the bottom dropped out of the boom at Richmond, as elsewhere, these grantees refused to meet their deferred payments, taking the ground that the sale of the land to them was a violation of the provisions of the
Robinson deed. Suit was brought to enforce the specific performance of the contracts of sale, and the purchasers lost. The lower court held that the sale of the lots was necessary in order to supply funds for the maintenance of the Home, and that therefore the provisions of the trust had not been violated. Evidently the Supreme Court of Virginia took the same view, since it refused an appeal. Thus it came to pass that the purchasers were compelled to pay for lots then regarded almost worthless, but which now are very valuable.
In March, 1892, representatives of Lee Camp entered into negotiations with the Virginia Legislature to take over the property. The proposition was to give the commonwealth a reversionary interest in the property. The General Assembly readily accepted the offer, and the property is to go to the State in March, 1914 The last Legislature readily consented to give a liberal slice of the land as a site for the Confederate Memorial Institute. This gift was effected through an act approved March 3,1910.
Channing M. Robinson left no children. He was survived by his widow, who since has passed away, but they are survived by collateral heirs.
The report in conclusion states: "Lieutenant Governor Ellyson. President of the Confederate Memorial Association, when told about the plans of the Robinson heirs to day, received it with absolute calmness, and said: 'There is little or nothing I can say or need to say. I feel perfectly certain that the title we get from the State will prove a good one, and we shall go straight ahead with our plans for the building of the Memorial Institute. If suit is brought, we shall, of course, employ lawyers, and it will be for them, not me, to do the talking.' "
A word in personal tribute. Confederates and their friends should never fail to honor the memory of Norman V. Randolph, who took the lead and largely the responsibility of procuring this great property for the Lee Camp and the Confederate cause.
A GREAT DAY FOR AN OLD CONFEDERATE.
BY KEY. J. H. M'NEILLY, NASHVILLE, TENN.
It was my privilege recently to take part in dedicating a magnificent monument to the zeal and devotion of a grand old soldier of the cross, who was also a faithful, brave soldier of the South in her war for her rights. That monument is the splendid edifice of the First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, of which the Rev. Dr. J. W. Bachman has been pastor for thirty seven years.
On the 18th day of December, 1910, the congregation set apart this beautiful and costly house of worship to the service of God. It is the enduring memorial of his untiring and unselfish labors for their good and of their love and loyalty to him as a minister of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Dr. Bachman was a gallant cavalry officer who often had command of his regiment in fierce engagements, and who never shirked duty nor danger. During his long pastorate in Chattanooga he has been pastor for the whole community. In times of distress, epidemics, calamities he has gone everywhere, to all classes, administering help and comfort. In the pulpit he has been the courageous witness for truth and righteousness. On his seventieth birthday he received such an ovation as is seldom seen. Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Elks, Masons, fishing clubs, railroad orders, benevolent orders, veterans of the Confederacy, Daughters of the Confederacy, laboring men, merchants, bankers, lawyers, doctors came bringing gifts of love and admiration. But when his people wished to testify their appreciation by a large increase in his salary, he refused it. Genial, generous, warm hearted, wise, sincere, he knows how to get into everybody's confidence. Student, preacher, pastor, veteran Confederate traveler, fisherman, boy with the boys, though more than seventy years "young," he is one of that company to which Sir Samuel Baker dedicates a book of adventure, "all boys between eight and eighty." He is still active Chaplain of N. B. Forrest Camp.
But let me get to the dedication. When the growth of the church required a larger building, Dr. Bachman put in the vestibule of the old one a drawing by a great architect showing the plans of a splendid structure. He labeled this drawing "An Old Man's Dream," and the people determined to make the dream a reality. And it was that reality which we set apart for God's service. It is the glorious crown of Dr. Bachman's labors.
The exercises of the day were conducted mainly by Dr. Bachman's three preacher brothers, one of whom was in his regiment, and his son in law, each of whom preached at different hours, and the sermons were equal to the occasion. Two other ministers took part by virtue of long intimacy with the pastor: Dr. T. H. McCallie, of Chattanooga, a former pastor of the church, and Dr. J. H. McNeilly, of Nashville. The venerable Dr. James Park, of Knoxville, was expected, but his great age (eighty nine) prevented his coming. These are all bound to Dr. Bachman by the warmest ties of personal: affection.
When the dedication sermon had been delivered, the various committees made their reports, showing that $150,000 had been raised by the congregation and that not a cent of debt remained. Then in solemn form the building was delivered to the trustees and solemnly dedicated to the worship of Almighty God for proclaiming the gospel of his Son.
It is impossible for me to describe this great edifice with its perfect appointments, severe in simplicity yet grand in its proportions its main auditorium to seat 1,000 persons, with its dome seventy feet above the floor, its multitude of lights, its great organ, the cozy lecture room, the wonderfully convenient Sunday school room, the pastor's study, the parlors, and kitchen all that is needed in the equipment of the modern church.
Though the rain came down in torrents, the great auditorium was packed. The preaching by the three brothers morning, afternoon, and night was of the highest order. It is a remarkable brotherhood, consisting of Drs. Nathan, John W., J. Lynn, and Robert L. Bachman, all great and successful ministers. The son in law. Rev. C. R. Hyde, dedicated the Sunday school room with a fine sermon. Dr. McCallie offered the prayer of dedication, and Dr. McNeilly offered the opening prayer and administered the communion.
The pastoral records of nearly all the participants is of long service Drs. Lynn and Robert L. Bachman fifteen years in the same Churches, Dr. J. W. Bachman thirty seven years in Chattanooga, Dr. McCallie in Churches in Chattanooga thirtyeight years, Dr. Park in Knoxville forty years, Dr. McNeilly in Nashville forty years, and Dr. Nathan Bachman an evangelist for thirty four years. The old style of Presbyterian preacher stayed long in the place now occupied by the new.
Many pages are in type, several of which were intended for this issue of the VETERAN, but circumstances make it best to hold them over. Correspondents may be assured of the purpose to treat each as fairly as possible.
NEW CAMP OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS IN TENNESSEE. Report comes from Paris, Tenn., of a new Camp of Veterans at that place named in honor of Joe Kendall. The following is the list of officers: Ex Gov. James D. Porter, who was adjutant general to Gen. B. F. Cheatham, Commander, Dr. Sam H. Caldwell, A. H. Lankford, W. D. Poyner, W. P. Erwin, Lieutenant Commanders, Sam A. Miller, Adjutant, W. .P. Bumpass, Quartermaster, D. D. Brisendine, Commissary, Dr. J. P. Mathewson, Surgeon, Rev. P. P. Pullen, Chaplain, R. P. Diggs, Treasurer, J. J. Lowry, Sergeant Major, George H. Wynns, Officer of the Day, G. W. Swor, Color Sergeant, N. P. Rhoads, Color Guard, W. E. Bandy, Second Color Guard, W. D. Hendricks, Vidette.
INQUIRY OF STARNES'S FOURTH TENNESSEE CAVALRY. Lieut. G. A. Pursley was a member of Captain Davis's company in Starnes's 4th Tennessee Cavalry. He resigned because of continued ill health. His widow, Mrs. A. E. Pursley, desires to communicate with his comrades who can tell of his service. Her address is Bradford Avenue, Waverly Place, Nashville, Tenn.
THE FIRST CONFEDERATE MONUMENT.
Amite County, one of the oldest counties in Mississippi, sent about one thousand of her noblest sons to the Confederate army. In honor of them there stands in the town of Liberty a Confederate monument with the names of three hundred and fifty boys who, with unfaltering courage and devotion amid the shock of battle, went to their unmarked graves with the songs of their country on their lips. No names shine with more resplendent luster upon the pages of American history than those written across the sides of this weather beaten slab. The devotion that is felt for this monument is characteristic of a people who have always been true to every cause to which they owed allegiance, not because of its sculptural workmanship, but because it is a stone of memory erected by loving hands under trying circumstances. It was built in 1871 during the regime of the carpetbag and scalawag. About one hundred and twenty of the thousand soldiers who enlisted in Amite County, Ark., still living and eighty seven widows meet at this monument annually and hold memorial services in reverence to their dead comrades and loved ones.
E. A. Causey, of Liberty, who sends the data for this notice, writes: "As we look upon the little band of maimed and weather beaten heroes and see how sacred they hold this little monument, it makes me feel that we Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy do not appreciate their patriotism as we should, and we should strive to make their Reunions a success in every particular, for in a few years their happy meetings on earth will be ended."
To say that this was the first Confederate monument erected may be misleading. Bolivar, Tenn., claims to have the first.
Without referring to dates, the impression prevails that the Bolivar monument was erected several years before this one at Liberty. The VETERAN would like data about monuments erected previous to 1875. This Liberty monument was certainly a fine credit to its people by its erection at that time. The granite foundation is eight feet square and four feet high. It is five feet square at the base, and tapers gracefully to the top. Cannons are carved at the four corners.
D. H. Chapman, 211 Boylston Avenue N., Seattle, Wash., requests that any surviving members of Company B ("Red River Rebels"), Capt. James A. Wise, kindly write to him.
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