The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-11-01
The Lexington Memorial to General

Inc lolloWinS addressed 10 the sur
viving officers and soldiers of the Con-
tederate army, comes to us from Lex
ington, Va, and seems to contemplate
a very proper memorial:
| The last sad rites are over, and all
that was mortal of our honored and be
loved chieftain, General Robert Edward
Lee, has been committed to the grave.
1t is only left US now to discharge the
duty so sacred to the surviving affection
of building and decorating his tomb.
Admiration for his great qualities and
fame may prompt others to raise the
lofty column and imposing statue; but
love for his person, reverence for his
virtues and regard for his memory die
tated to his comrades in arms, as their
first care, to properly enshrine his re-
mains.
After General Lee assumed the Presi-
dency of Washington College, his ear
Hest work was the erection Of chapel
on the college grounds. Beneath that
chaste and massive structure, in the
room designed for a library, and adjoin-
ing the office filled with mementoes Of
his last unselfsh >earnest labors, his
ashes now repOse. And there in the
temple reared by himself, at the home
OF his adoption, will be his ittlyg and
We believe his enduring resting place.
We hold this conviction because his
remains now rest in the spot chosen by
those who alone had right to decide
because this spot would most likely
been approved 10y the illustrations dead
himself, had his selfforgetting mind
ever dwelt for moment on such ques-
tion-because it holds his memory aloof
from the possible cOntaminations Of
party politics-because it accords with
the custom observed by the great fathers
and servants Of the State all OF whom
preferred unostentatious resting places
and because his tomb here will be
really more useful in connection with
the last work of his exemplary life in
perpetuating the good influence of the
college of Washington and Lee through
out the South.
We therefore invite his brethren and
followers in the momentous struggle
which has made his name and their
own immortal, to uniting in construct
ing here a manSoleum worthy of the
foremost man of all his time. On the
day succeeding the death OF General
Lee, the Confederate soldiers who es-
corted the body from his residence to
the chapel met at once and resolved to
form a Memorial Association; and at an
adjourned meeting, on the 18th of Oc-
toher, when the funeral obsequies were
concluded, they adopted plan OF or
ganization. An executive committee, a
president and vice presidents for the
Southern States have been appointed,
and an association will soon be regu-
la:ly incorporated.
In order that the poorest of our ranks
may be enabled to join upon an equal
footing with all others in the pious work
in view, it has been determined that any
Confederate soldier may become mem
Der of the association upon the payment
- - 10 dollar, and that the names OF all
the members slInn ~ s,tt"Nl'n s.. ito
BILE books 10 be preserved in the Memo
rial Chapel. tits not proposed to limit
subscriptions to the small sum already
named, nor to Contne them to soldiers,
nor DO our wishes and purposes stop
with the mausoleum. Contributions
will be gladly received from friends
everywhere and OF all classes, who
will under proper regulations be
inscribed as honorary members, and
when sufficient fund shall have been
secured, it is contemplated to erect a
special monument ir connection with
the tomb.
Fellow-soldiers, we invoke you, by
the common memories of the past, to
he prompt and earnest in the noble I'M
dertaling to which you are now invited.
In the quiet churchyard OF Lexington
Lieutenant General "Stonewall' Jack
son lies inferred, and now his great
commander lies near at hand. What
hoIier spot can there be to us than the
common home of these great represen-
tative men? What more fitting monu-
ment for the great army itself, OF which
Lee was the head, the pride and the
glory. than one raised here by its sur
yivors, perpetuating alike the memory
of his and their own great deeds, the
enduring witness at once Of their deyo-
ton and OF his heroic qualities as a
man. his virtues as a patriot, and his
graces as a Christian, the remembrance
of which will indeed outlive the marble
and the bronze which human hands
NAV fashion in his honor?
W. y. PENDLEToS,
Late Chief of Artillery Army Northern
Va, Chairman Executive Commit
tee.
The following officers have been Sc
lected and requested to act as President
and Vice Presidents Of this Associa-
ton:
President-General j. c. Brecken-
ridge Oate C. S. Secretary Of War;.
Vice Presidents-General Joseph +.
Johnson, at large; General j. Early
and Colonel W. H. Taylor, from Vir-
cinia: General G.. T. Beauregard, from
Louisiana; General D. II. Hill, from
North Carolina; General Wade Hamp-
ton from South Carolina; General
John B. Gordon, from Georgia; Gen
eral w. j. Hardee, from Alabama;
| General s. D. Lee, from Mississippi;
General r. :. Ewell, from Tennessee;
General J. g. Hood, from Texas; Gen
eral |. h. Trimble, from Maryland !;
| General J. S. Marmaduke, from Mis-
souri,; General VIM. Preston, from
Kentucky; General Tapham, from Ar