The following is provided in answer to a request by Ned Foster on 14 January 2005 concerning information about the inscriptions on the Thomas W. Smith Monument to the Confederate Dead in Suffolk VA. Mr. Foster may have already obtained the information in the ensuing years, however, no record seems to be extant on this board.

In the Confederate Veteran, Volume XIII, No. 3, March 1905, pg. 127-128 is a short article by J. Randolph Smith, Henderson N.C., titled "Handsome Monument at Suffolk, Va." The following is an excerpt from that article.

"The inscriptions on the monument were written by Dr. Beverly Tucker, of Norfolk, Va.

On the south side:
"This shaft on which we carve no name
Shall guide Virginia's youth,
A signpost on the road to fame,
To Honor, and to truth.
A silent sentry, let it stand
To guard through coming time
Their graves who died for native land
And duty most sublime."

On the north side:
"With shouts above the battle's roar
They joined the legions gone before.
They bravely fought, they bravely fell.
They wore the gray, and wore it well."

On the west side:
"Erected by Thomas W. Smith in memory of his comrades.
The Confederate dead.""