The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1878-05-11
MEMORIAL DAY IN MACON,
Ex.President Davis Letter on the Con.
federatc Dead.
Macon telegraph

Col. 8. P. Fort introduced Mr.. J..
L. Saulsbury, Jr., the gentleman &C.
lected to read the letter Of express
ident jefferson Davis. Mr.. Salisbury
rose and in an eloquent manner read
ono Of the grandest letters ever pen
ned by human hand. The selection
of the reader was peculiarly felicitous.
In a voice modulated to great perfec-
ton and in manner which showed
how deeply the reader felt the sen IT,
ments Of glowing patriotism of the
great ex-President of the COnfedera-
cy, Mr.. s. executed the trust assigned.
The letter was read as follows:
LETTER FROM PRESIDENT JEFF. DAVIS.
MISSISSIPPI CITY, Miss, April II, 1873
Gentlemen II sincerely regret my
inability to be present at the laying
of the cornerstone of "a monu-
ment to be erected at Macon, Ga, in
honor Of our dead CoDfederates SOL
diers."
The event possesses every attrac-
ton to me ; it is inspired by the La
dies Memorial Association ; the mon
ument is to be located in the Key
stone State of the Confederate arch,
and to commemorate the sacrifices of
those " no died in the defense of our
inherited and "inalienable" rights.
What though We were overborne
by numbers, and accessories not less
efficient, truth is not to be measured
by success in maintaining it against
force nor is the glory less Of him
who upholds it in the face of unequal
odds, but is it not more to his credit
that he counted all else as dust in the
balance when weighed with honor
and duty! On many stricken field
our soldiers stood few and faint, but
fearless still. for they wore the pan
opy of uuQuestioning confidence in
tho rectitude of their cause, and
knew how to die but not to surrender.
Let not any of their survivors impugn
their faith by offering the penitentlal
plea that "lhey believed they we're
right"
Be it ours to transmit to posterity
our unequivocal testimony to the
justice of their convictions, to their
virtues, and the saDctity of the mo.
tives by which they were actuated.
It is meet that this monument
should have originated with the Ia
dies Of the land, whose self-denial
was conspicuous through all the tri-
ais and sufferipgs of var, whose gen.
tie minlstrations in hospitals and at
wayside refectories so largely contrib.
uted to relieve the sick and wounded,
and whose unfaltering devotion to
their country's cause in the darkest
hours of our struggle illustrated the
fidelity Of the sex which was last at
the cross and first at the sepulchre.
I am profoundly thankful to them
for inviting me to represent them,
as their orator, on the approaching
occasion. Had it been practicable to
accept, their request would have been
to me a command, obeyed with no
other reluctance than the conscious
ness of inability to do jnstice to the
theme.
Thanks to the merits of our Con-
federate dead, they need neither ora
tor nor bard to commend their deeds
to the present generation Of their
countrymen. Many fell far from
home and kindred, and sleep in un-
marked graves but all are gathered
in the love of those for whom they
died, and their memories are hallow-
ed in the hearts of all true Confed-
rates.
BY the pious efforts of our people,
many humble cemeteries, such, AZ,
IN their impoverishmeut, We're posi-
bic, have been prepared, and the Con-
federate dead have been collected
in them from neighboring battle6elds.
There annually, With reversntisl If.