Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-06-10
MEMORABLE BATTLE.
PETERsBvRc's MEMoRlAL-oAY ON ITS
ANNIVERSARY.
splendid Tribute to Southern Heroes-Dr
Piats's Unique Hundreds OF
Boys and Girls In the Procession.

This day June 9TH Is day forever sa-
cred and patriotic I'm the annals OF Peters
burg. II 'is the anniversary Of the memo
rable battle on the water-works Heights.
when Kantz's well-equipped command OF
the Federal army attempted to
capture and destroy the city. but
were repulscd. after hard ana
persistent fighting, by the reserves
under command OF Colonel +. ii. Archer
and by the artillery and infantry rein
forcements hurriedly sent forward from
General Lees army in Chesterfield. Nine
or more OF Petersburg's citizens were
killed in that fight. and many were cap
tured and taken away to northern prisons
where they were kept until the surrender
OF General Lee at Appomattox
This, therefore. was the day selected by
the Ladies' Memorial Association as the
| day of each year on which to pay tribute
| to the memory OF the Confederate dead,
and on which to decorate their graves
with flowers and evergreens In token oil
| the love and respect In which the heroes
| OF the Confederacy are held.
1 IHt ud1 Ndo app bi AoNNi|
| by the people OF Petersburg. who, almost
without exception. closed their places OF
business after 3 O'Clock +. NJ; who dis
played bunting in front of their stores
| and dwellings, and who marched TO Bland
ford cemetery TO pay respect 10 the
memory Of the heroes OF the South. Inc
| business streets of the city were gay TINS
afternoon with the abundant display OF
| bunting.
THE PROCESSION.
Colonel T.. NJ. Field. one of the most
| gallant of the officers OF the famous
| Twelfth Regiment Of Mahone's Brigade
acted as marshal this afternoon. with
many old Confederates as assistants. lie
| had under his guard the veterans from
| the Home in Richmond. the y. +. Hill
| Camp OF Veterans. and the camp OF sons
| of Veterans in this city; hundreds OF
| beautiful little girls and boys, dressed IN
white and red, and each bearing nag
The various civic societies and municipal
| ORGANIZATIONS; the Petersburg Grays, ths
| officers OF the city government ana mem
| bers of the Ladies' Memorial Association
| I'm carriages, ETC. The procession was
| formed on Tabb street, and was headed
| by mounted police and band OF music.
A very beautiful feature OF the process
| sion was the large division Of little girls
| under charge of Captain William NJ
| Jones. and the equally large division OF
| little bows. under charge Of Captain Il.
| /. Marks. and these little folks were eN-
| tremely enthusiastic. and their cheers
! were frequently heard along the line OF
| march.
| BEAUTIFUL. SCENE.
Thousands of people-and ladies particu-
| Iarly in large numbers-gathered at the
| cemetery. and the scene there was one OF
| extraordinary beauty and inspiration.
| There are between 1900 and 15.OD dcad
| Confederate soldiers buried beneath the
| sod of old Blandford cemetery, whose
| graves are ever kept clean under the
| watchfil eyes Of the Ladies' Memorial
| Association.
| The Grafton Of the day was delivered
| by Rev. Dr. William III. Plat, after
| prayer and singing.
| Dr. Platts address was unique and
| novel OF It's kind. and will be read with
| interest by the country at large. 1t was
| in part as follows:
DIR. PLATT~S GRAFTON.
| While there can be no repentance where
| there IL no consciousness Of error, let us
turn our faces to the sun, and put the
| shadows of the past behind us. l speak
| to-day In the spirit OF political philosophy.
| and not in that of sectional feeling. Let
| us honor our dead sons and bury all sec
| tional prejudice. Love and not hate is
| Gods way. Let us be true to him, and
| time will be true to us all. In the mind
| of God there is no South and no North.
The war forever suppressed the hope OF
| successful resistance of conflicting sec
| tons. No section could ever hope TO or
| ganize such another army, such another
| navy, or such another civil government
| as did the South. Protests on the part
| OF the South hereafter must be by means
| within the government, and not outside
| of its disrupted members. The South
! needs its future sons to rebuild its future
| interests and lift up its PROSTATE form,
| to rebuild its despoiled temples. and 10
| repeople it's desolate homes. It's ear is
| deaf TO bugles OF war The time for the
| new South is fast coming; its soil may be
| tired, but not exhausted. and its industries
| are not all wrecks. The South recognizes
| all the conclusions of the war. and spring,
forward to its rising prosperity.
| THE WEST NEXT.
| The South will never first take the field
| again. But the West as sure as the
| East presses its control at the centre, will
| assert its rights, In war IL need be. The
1 flIOil Oh eastern tdDithiiHiN W S'NUi
| legislation for themselves exclusively will
| as certainly destroy this government as
\ IL is persistently attempted. The war,
| now past forever in the South was for
| a domestic right forever closed, but a
| war of capital will bring out all the
| demons that belong to capital. The East
| is getting weaker and the West stronger.
J Westward the star OF empire sets Its
way. and the fash on the bayonets OF the
| future Is rom the sun in the west. -
The closing OF the war opened a greater
| question than all others-the conflict Of
| races. When two incOngruous races meet
| In the same territory one of four things
| will happen--one race must enslave the
| other, exterminate the other. absorb the
| other, or isolate the other. In America
| the white race enslaved the black race
| Their emancipation OF the blacks left but
| the three other settlements open. Bloody
| determination is not be thought of. one
| race cannot absorb the other. The white
| crossed upon the black produces a scrofu'
| lous mulatto, which does not endure
| There II no permanence to hybrid race
| There is one other outcome 10 this hetero-
| geneous population In the South-one race
| will so away and leave the country 70
the other race: and this seems the only
solution; for civilization must be homo
| geneous-it Is now Heterogeneous.
A COMPETING MAN.
The negro is made by present circum'
stances competing man against the
world. The laborers Of the whole eastern
| hemisphere now seek his work, and are
| getting much of IL. II is most sgnih
| cant fact that recently over five hundred
Bohemans have removed from the inhos.
| pitable climate Of Dakota and colonized
| themselves in the adjoining county Wher
will more come? Has not the end begun
The whites of the South will favor tbs
| negro as far as they can, for the whites
and the blacks are fast friends
But the white man has too much land
for his labor lie must have less land OF
more labor. The negro may do the labor
hut cannot buy the land. The European
offers TO do both. The question will b.
settled by the doctrine 81 the survival OF
| the fittest
In estimating the progress OF the South
II will be gratifying to all friends OF hu.
manity 10 know that the negro is exhibit.
ing earnestness In the struggle for the
| exaltation OF his race. aided or unaided
He has seven colleges Zone i'm our sub,
urbs). seventeen academies. and fifty high
schools. He has 1850. 900 children in com
mon schools. 2.5OO0c0 can read and write
and he has a. 900 teachers. But with edu
cation will not his vexations begin? Edu
| cation will not bring social equality