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Mitchell

Laurel Daily Argus
June 6, 1912

CONFEDERATE DAUGHTERS UNVEIL IMPOSING SHAFT

Stirring Scenes of Early Sixties Vividly Recalled By the Old Veterans.

Ellisville Thronged With Visitors Today

Mrs. M. G. Turner Selected By the Daughters To Unveil the Monument.

(Staff Special)
Ellisville, June 3. – With loyal hearts and reverent eyes hundreds of Mississippians witnessed the unveiling of the beautiful monument today in this little city, and once more the state of Mississippi – that state which gave to the Confederacy her only president, the peerless Davis, that state which sent forth seventy thousand of her brave sons to fight for the cause they loved, that state upon whose soil eithy-seven engagements were fought – honors her Confederate dead by erecting a statute which is to inspire the future generations with love, reverence and pride in the memory of the Confederacy, and to teach them that, although the stars and bars went down in defeat,

“No nation rose so white and fair?

Or fell so free of crime.”

Long before the hour set for the beginning of the exercises, attendant upon the unveiling of the monument, a large crowd began gathering on the streets, around the monument and the speakers’ stand. All through the crowd was a generous sprinkling of gray-haired veterans, a (inkspot) remnant of the “thin gray line” who had fought so nobly for their invaded homeland.

The procession was formed on main street, in front of the Hotel Alice, at 10 o’clock, from there marching to the court house. It was headed by the Ellisville band, and formed in the following order:
1. Veterans, with Mr. Con Griffin carrying the tattered and torn battle flag of the Thirteenth Mississippi Regiment, which was first unfurled at the first battle of Manassas, and with honor unfurled at Appomattox; which had been bathed in the life-blood of Southern heroes at Leesburg, Spottsylvania, Culpepper, Chancellorsville, second Manassas, Gaines Mill, Frazier’s Farm, Malvern Hill, Chickamauga, Seven Pines and Gettysburg – which had never gone down in defeat or been surrendered to the enemy.
2. Mrs. M. G. Turner, the widow of a gallant soldier, who had been selected as the representative of the women of the South, to unveil the monument.
3. Little girls, each representing one of the thirteen Confederate states, as follows:
South Carolina – Minnie J. Pack
Mississippi – Aline Ward
Alabama – Maud Clark
Georgia – Ruth Whitehurst
Florida – Bessie Ellis
North Carolina – Loraine Craft
Arkansas – Gladys Welborn
Texas – Eva Craft
Louisiana – Mamie Meyer
Tennessee – Aline Craft
Kentucky – Ina Hand
Virginia – Frances Ruffin
Missouri – Gladys Taylor
4. Jefferson Davis Chapter, Daughters of the Confederacy.
The speakers stand was decorated in red and white, the Confederate colors, with the picture of Jefferson Davis, draped in Confederate flags. Upon the stand was seated Hon. Hardy H. Stone, orator of the day; Hon. W. J. Pack, master of ceremonies; Rev. J. L. Low, Capt. T. J. Hardy, Hon. J. T. Taylor, Mrs. D. B. Holmes, state vice president, U. D. C.; Mrs. W. J. Bailey, president of the Laurel chapter; Mrs. E. J. Ward, and Miss May Carter, president of the local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy.
Rev. J. L. Low, pastor of the Baptist church, pronounced the invocation.
Mr. Pack stated to the audience that they had with them, not only the old battle flag of the Thirteenth Regiment, which had gone through all the engagements of the war, but the ninth man who had been color bearer of the regiment, after eight predecessors had been killed in this, the most dangerous station in an army. He introduced Mr. Con Griffin, of Laurel, who was roundly cheered as he waved the old flag.
Capt. T. J. Hardy, a Confederate soldier, and Southern gentleman of the old school, in behalf of the veterans, in cordial words, welcomed all. Hon. J. T. Taylor, mayor of Ellisville, added to this the greeting and assurances of the generous hospitality of the town.
Captain Hardy displayed the flag presented to the Jasper Grays at Paulding on May 20, 1861, and which went through four years of the war, and the important battles in which the army of Northern Virginia was engaged.
Mrs. E. J. Ward, daughter of Col. Robert McLain, of the Fourteenth Mississippi Regiment, who was killed at the battle of Corinth, in beautiful language, for the Jefferson Davis chapter, voiced their sentiments, and their joy in welcoming the veterans, representatives of their sister chapters and visitors, on this, the happiest day in the life of the chapter. She thanked the board of supervisors, whose contribution made the building of the monument possible.
Next came the singing of the “Bonnie Blue Flag” by a children’s chorus.
Mrs. D. B. Holmes, vice president of the U. D. C., made a graceful address in behalf of the worthy cause she represented.
Hon. W. J. Pack then introduced Hon. Hardy R. Stone, as an eloquent and gifted son of Mississippi, who represented the best traditions of the state, and a man who was typical of the virtues of the men who were Confederate soldiers.
Mr. Stone said that it was fitting that the monument should be unveiled on the birthday of the gallant chieftain, Jefferson Davis, whose indomitable spirit inspired the men of the South in that great struggle.
We have for years been lauding to the skies the courage and fidelity of the men who wore the gray, but not enough had been said of the women who were left behind.
He denied that there was a Lost Cause-that a cause for right, as this was, could not be lost. This thought was the keynote of the eloquent and patriotic address which followed.
What was the cause of the war, he asked? It was not slavery. For the history that teaches that slavery was responsible for it-that the men of the South went to war to preserve their property in Negroes-was a base calumny upon them. The men who wore the gray are at last being given their just deserts, and it is being admitted that our fathers fought for more than property-they fought for principle; for identically the same principle which caused their forefathers to fight in the revolution. Monuments may be built to men who will sacrifice all that a just principle may be made to live.
Was the cause lost? No. There is that in life that is better than money and material things. It is fitting and proper that monuments be built to commemorate love and fidelity to duty.
Mr. Stone closed his address with an eloquent tribute to Robert E. Lee, whose association and life work had been with the North, but whose birthplace and allegiance was to the South. He was offered command of the armies of the North-even the presidency-but he spurned them all because of his love for his own people. Could you say that a cause was lost which gave such an example of devotion to duty, of heroism and fidelity.
Upon the conclusion of Mr. Hardy’s address, Mrs. Turner released the drapery about the monument, revealing the heroic figure of the Confederate soldier, which surmounted an entablature of beautiful marble, supported by four Gothic columns, bearing inscription to the memory of the Confederate soldiers, and of its erection by the Daughters of the Confederacy. A fountain ever-flowing with water in its center typified the purity of purpose of the men of the South in those trying days.
A mound of ferns, palms and flowers-symbolizing the freshness in which the memory of the old soldier will ever be kept, was built around the base of the monument by loving hands.
As the folds were pulled from the figure surmounting the monument by Mrs. Turner, a bugle call was sounded by Prof. J. M. Kenna.
The quartette, composed of Messrs. Hutcheson, Shelby, Bradley and Robinson sang “Tenting on the Old Camp Ground.”
The singing of “Dixie” and other patriotic airs by thirteen little girls, was especially enjoyed by the veterans, and the rendition of the songs of the Confederacy by them was greeted with hearty applause, mingled with the rebel yell. To Miss Rosalie LeCand, daughter of Capt. F. J. LeCand, poet-laureate of the Mississippi Division of the Confederate Veterans, is due the credit for their excellent training.