Entire South Pays Tribute to Memory of Davis
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Over Hundred Thousand People Assemble at Monument to First and Only President of Confederate States.
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GRAND PARADE MOST IMPOSING EVER WITNESSED IN RICHMOND
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Famous Men and Women From Many Sections of Country Present—Notable Addresses Delivered. Stirring Scenes on Last Day of Reunion.
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Despite the cold and inclement weather, which for two days threatened to upset the plans for the unveiling of the monument to President Davis, yesterday’s sunshine played its happy part in making the occasion the greatest ever known in the State of Virginia, or indeed in the whole South.
As on Thursday, when the statue of General J.E.B. Stuart, the peerless cavalry leaders, was unveiled, nature seemed to rejoice in paying a tribute to the great President of the Confederacy, the man whose noble humiliation and whose steadfastness of purpose stands to-day a monument in the hearts of every true son and daughter of the South, the emblem of those martyred principles for which the Lost Cause suffered.
GREAT OUTPOURING OF PEOPLE.
Such an outpouring of people has never before been seen at any gathering of veterans at any unveiling of monuments, at any burial of Confederate heroes, for as an old one-legged soldier expressed it, “We each loved our own commander, but Jeff Davis belongs to the whole Confederacy.”
It was that feeling of loyalty to the representative of the “Lost Cause,” of love and affection for the man who suffered in his countrymen’s stead, that strengthened many a man and woman to make the sacred pilgrimage to the old capital of the Confederacy and to take part in the service of honor for the man who sacrificed his life to duty.
From the old Capitol Building to the monument, three miles away, a solid wall of people, four and five and in some places ten deep, lined the streets along which the procession slowly passed. Cheers and “rebel” yells marked the passage of the veterans, while the names of wellknown soldiers shouted aloud, brought a thrill like the touch of an old-time friend.
Never before has there been such enthusiasm, never has there been displayed such a warm bond of blood and patriotism, never have those of a younger generation entered so closely into the spirit of the trying days of two-score years and more.
The occasion was a vindication of President Davis, an utter rout for the army of slanderers, and above all, a noble tribute to the memory of the “Lost Cause.”
GRAND PARADE TO MONUMENT.
Along streets profusely decorated with flags and colors, cheered by not fewer 200,000 people, and to the inspiring music of “Dixie,” “My Maryland” and “The Bonnie Blue Flag,” marched 1,200 veterans and sons of those who bore arms in the army and navy of the Confederacy.
Old men marched like boys, forgetting the lapse of years since Appomattox, but full of the strength of loyalty to the Stars and Bars.
An aged, gray-clad man, bent and weary, hobbling home, exclaimed with a great sigh: “I was a boy again while the march lasted, but now that it’s over, I’m and old broken man, ready to die.”
Some idea of the number of men in the parade will be gathered from the fact that it took exactly two hours and seven minutes for the line of march to pass.
In the parade were many distinguished leaders, who were cheered to the echo. There was General Stephen D. Lee, with his old chief of staff, Colonel William Elliott; General Lomax, with General Eppa Hunton; General Gordon, General Logan, General Clement Evans, General Cox, General Smith Bolling, General Walker, General Julian Carr, Chaplain-General J. William Jones, “the fighting parson”; General Theodore Garnett, Colonel W. Gordon McCabe, Colonel Archer Anderson, Colonel Joseph Bryan, Colonel Chew and hundreds of others who received ovations.
No commands attracted more attention than did the Tennessee veterans, who marched with rifles and in their old war-time uniform, and the crack Fifth Regiment from Maryland.
At the monument the crowd was so dense that it was little short of marvelous that the excellent police force was able to control the throng, General Stephen D. Lee, an expert in estimating crowds from his wide experience in the army, declared that not less than 125,000 persons witnessed the unveiling, and from the roar of applause it would seem that he had underestimated the audience.
On the stand was perhaps the most notable gathering of Confederate women ever assembled at an unveiling, for just behind General Lee sat Mrs. Hayes, daughter of President Davis; Miss Mary Custis Lee, Mrs. Stonewall Jackson, Mrs. A.P. Hill, Mrs. William Mahone, Mrs. J.E.B. Stuart, Mrs. W.H.F Lee, Mrs. John R. Cooke, Miss Nannie Heath, Mrs. Magill, Mrs. Wiliam R. Cox, Mrs. Lomax, Mrs. Logan and many others equally distinguished.
These ladies received a warm welcome from the vast audience, Mrs. Hayes receiving as her due, the highest share. Notable in the parade and on the stand were Colonel and Mrs. William Jennings Bryan, who were lionized by their admirers; Governor and Miss Warfield, of Maryland; Senator John W. Daniel, Senator Carmack, of Tennessee; Mr. Justice Brewer, of the United States Supreme Court, and Dr. Thomas Nelson Page, whose pen has done so much in vindication of the South.
NOTABLE ADDRESSES MADE.
Governor Swanson made a great speech, punctuated by the boom of fireworks, which, however, were powerless to distract attention from his ringing words. In presenting His Excellency, General Lee was most happy. “I present to you the glorious Governor of this glorious Old Dominion,” he said, and amid the waving of many flags Governor Swanson told in impassioned words of the loyalty of Virginia to the Confederacy, General Evans
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spoke in eloquent words of the life and character of President Davis, and Senator Carmack, in his stirring address, paid a high compliment to Robert E. Lee, Jr., praising his speech delivered before the veterans and quoting at length from it.
As the veil was drawn from the statue by Mrs. Hayes, a gust of wind caught up two great Confederate flags that draped the pillar behind the bronze figure of Jefferson Davis and waved them over his head as though unseen hands were greeting him with the flag for which he strived and suffered.
It was a picture that thousands will never forget, the simple figure of a man, with outstretched hand, about to speak to his beloved people; behind him the granite column and arch bearing the story of his achievements, while above his bared head the colors of the Confederacy waved bravely in salute, to the accompaniment of a might acclaim straight from the hearts of six-score thousands of his followers.
Such a day will never come again to brighten the hearts and recall sacred memories to the old soldiers, but until the end of time the glory of the day will live in history, for President Davis was once more enthroned in the capital of the Confederacy.
