Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-11-26
A Monument to the Women of the Con-
federacy.


The most sacred duty OF this gem
Grafton is the erection of monument
to our Confederate dead. 1t Is a duty
we owe not only to them but TO our
selves For In this we are building our
own monument as well as theirs. Their
fame Is safe with the ages. The passage
Of the years can but add TO their glory
But that we appear not unworthy sons
of worthy sires, it is necessary that
we record in imperishable stone our es-
innate Of the flower of one of the most
heroic generations that our race has pro-
duced since 1t came within the ken of
history thirteen centuries ago. Inc
means still needed by the ladies' or the
North Carolina Monumental Association
TO complete their hallowed task should
and must be forthcoming.
But before out debt to that generation
is paid In the only way II can be paid,
another monument must cleave the
southern sky. The work of the whole
South, 1t must rise on the banks OF the
James in the sacred city OF the Lost
Cause to the women OF the Con-
federacy. They, with characteristic
modesty, would doubtless have protested,
Better that posterty should have 10
ask why no monument was reared to
us than why It was" But we know,
and it is our duty TO put upon ever
lasting record, that the women no less
than the men of those strenuous days
were heroes II will not say heroines;
their virtues were two Spartan7iike for
such a parlOr term.
Back before our annals begin the old
classic historians tell how when our Ieu-
tonic ancestors rushed to the charge
against the legIons OF ensaying Rome
close up I'm the rear Of the barbarian
hosts were to be seen the white arms
and streaming hair OF the women, urg-
ing husbands. fathers, sons, and brothers
to die but yield not Worthy daughters
OF those far away ancestresses were the
women of the COnfederacy. Like them
they aroused the inert fired the cold
shamed the wavering, glorified the brave.
and breathed into all an enthusiasm that
did better than succeed-that deserved
success. To their influence We largely
owe that we hold the proudest and most
interesting place that people can hold
in hstory-that OF those who while de-
serving victory yet met with defeat.
Our southern civilization had prt~iced,
or rather rendered possible, the survival
of a unique type of womanhOod. With
US the sex had not yet been deposed from
the throne on which the chivalry Of the
Middle Ages had placed il. The old Teu-
tonic belief of divinity resident in the
sex was yet INCREASED from the south
ern heart. Partly cause partly a result
of this high regard was the status OF our
womanhood.
With much OF the intelligence, all Of
the refinement, and more than the spirit
of the world-famous women Of the old
regime Of France. was united a purity
and true womanliness whose equal the
world has rarely seen. 1t was just the
type OF womanhood to throw itself, heart
and soul, into a great cause, and to do
and suffer to the bitter end. Just as APP
prehension Is worse than realization; as
the unseen is more terrible than the seen:
as the heart is more vulnerable than the
body. so bore they In their way the
brunt OF the struggle. The southern man
could die but once; the southern woman
could die in heart hundred times
But aside from sentiment and moral
influence the practical weight OF the wo-
men OF the Cenfederacy was inestimabe.
The conditions under which the war
was waged made her an important factor
In the struggle. History records no
other instance Of whole nation waging
war under the conditions OF belea-
guered fortress. Steam had enabled our
foes TO shut is in as IL within iron walls.
This soon forced us TO do double battle.
TO meet two foes--the Federals In 'front.'
want In the rear. The men faced one:
the women the other. Who that lived
in those stirring days could say that
her foe was less truceess or less valiant
ly met than those that Lee and John
ston faced. So as soldier of the Lost
Cause let the chisel aid the pen In trans
hitting her glory to future ages.
o. w If.ACKNAII