The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-05-31
CONFEDERATE DEAD.
Monument to the Memory OF
Those Who Died at Fort
Douglas Dedicated.
AN UNPRECEDENTED EVENT
Many Prominent on the Union
Side Assisted in the
Exercises.

socially the historic Mason ana
Dixon" line has been obliterated from
the map Of the United States, and in
the leading feature of Memorial day
ceren.onlts here 1t would seem polite
ally, as Wei. The dead line" laid
down Oyeru generation ago TO mark
the territorial division between the
slave and free territory has been thrown
down.
With the d edlcation in this city of a
handsome monument to the last mem
Dry of the mon who wore the gray, a
confederate nigh water mark" has
been established far north of that set ar
Gettysburg hy the force of arms; this,
too, with the countenance and assist
ance of veterans in blue. The dedica.
ton was accompanied by perhaps the
most impressive and imposing cere.
monies set down for the day i'll any
part of the Union.
They Died Mt Camp Douglas.
At Cottage Grove avenue and Eighty
fifth streets, then in the outskirts, but
now in the heart of this city, a stockade
wa built during the Civil Wan and
named Camp Douglas, and there many
thousands Of Confederate prisoners
were confined between the years 1862
and 1865. The men held there under
the restraints which befell captives of
war had spent their lives in the balmy
climate of the sunny South, and the
rigors of a Northern winter told upon
them severely. AS Il consequence, 5000
of them We're liberated by death and
were buried in lakewood cemetery at
Cottage Grove ven and SiXty-seventh
street. 1t was to the memory OF
these 5000 who died in a military
prison in an enemy's> country that the
monument was dedicated by their COM
rades and opponents in arms on the spot
where they lie buried. 1t is the first
monument to Confederate dead erected
in the North, and the event was per-
haps without a parallel in history. 1t
does not appear that anywhere else on
the face of our round globe within a
period of 30 years after he close Of a
bitterly fought war, the vanquished
have aver before erected a monument
in memory of their comrades in arms
in the heart of the victor's territory.
Especially has the sight never been
witnessed of the victors heartily joining
the vanquished in doing honor to the
valor of the vanquished dead.
Many Confederate Veterans Present.
The largest assemblage of Confeder-
ate veterans ever seen in the North, ac-
companied by their wives and families,
was n of the notable features of the
occasion. Those present included Gen
erals Gordon, Hampton, Longtreet,
Stephen D. Lee and Fitz Hugh Lee.
The ceremonies began with the ring
ing of the Columbian liberty bell and
the firing of the national salute. Then
a carriage parade of renowned North
ern and Southern generals formed
and moved under brilliant mill
tary escort to Oakwoods. The
dedication ceremonies opened with
prayer by Colonel Pickett, chaplain of
the "Kentucky Orphan brigade. Rev.
DR.. Bolton was made chairman and de.
livered an address on assuming the
duties. The d~edicatory grafton by
General Wade Hampton of South Car
DINA followed.
The literary portion of the dedication
closed with an address by Right Rev.
Samuel Fallows of Chicago.
Decorated Graves.
The ceremonies of ~consecrating guns
and placing floral decorations followed,
and the exercises closed with the firing
of three volleys over the graves. Fol-
lowing the set programme came the
decoration of the graves of Union SOL
diers in the cemetery, by the Exon
federate association, assisted by a large
number of Grand Army veterans. Sew.
eral carloads of flowers were distrib-
uted, largely contributed by citizens Of
the South.
The monument stands 40 feet from
the ground to the top of the figure
which surmounts it. The pedestal is
of pearl or ante from quarries at Con-
stitution Hill, near Atlanta. It's lower
base is Is feet, 8 inches square, and
upon it are laid three bases. On the
front of one of Them, cut and raised in
polished letters are the words:
Confederate Dead"
The upper base is adorned with a
series of rich mouldings, and on the
front of this stonei is placed an enlarged
model of the Confederate seal, worked
in bronze, representing in relief a
mounted soldier, General Washington,
enclosed within a wreath, wrought by
entwining the foliage products of the
South. The die of the monument is
made of II massive stone, the dimen-
sions being = feet ! inch square by
2 feet 10 inches high.
1t has re-entering angles which are
filed with groups Of cluster columns
terminating in richly carved Roman
esque caps. Upon the north face il
worked in incised letter upon a polished
panel this inscription:
Erected to the memory of the six
thousand Southern soldiers here buried,
who died in Camp Douglass prison,
1SR2-f5 Confoderata dead