Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1895-05-24
MEMORIAL DAY CELEBRATION.


The long-anticipated Confederate
Memorial Day has come and almost
gone, and like those which have pre-
ceded it has left its tender memories
impressed upon all who participated in
the services as we'll as with many who
did not, but who witnessed the en-
thusiasm of those who did. The men,
bers of R. e. Lee Camp of Confederate
Veterans, to whom especially it is the
day of days, have been active for weeks
in preparing for the occasion, and, as
ever, their exertions have been crown
ed with success, while the fire com.
panies and other organizations which
have participated have been equally as
busy and as earnest in vieing to make
the celebration success. Fine weather
has prevailed and nothing hes occurred
to mar or impair the occasion. AT
about five o'clock the organizations
with multitudes of their friends began
to gather around tbe monument at the
intersection of Washington and Prince
street where the silent sentinel has
stood for six years with bowed head
indicative of submission to might but
uncompromising toward the principles
for which he went to war. The mem
bers of Lee Camp, most of whose locks
are now of the hue of their uniforms,
stood also with uncovered heads and
entered heartily into the services so
appropriate to the day. Thirty years
have elapsed since they relinquished
the implements of war and resumed
those Of peace. Instead of the deadly
rifle each now carries walking stick,
while the dove of peace bearing the
olive branch is honored more than the
eagle bearing in its falcons the barbed
shafts. While the veterans gathered
around the monument the reminis-
cences of by-gone days crowded their
minds and history made third Of a
century ago bscame fresh and green.
This morning committees of Lee
Camp and of the Ladies' Auxiliary visit
ed the cemeteries and strewed flowers
on the graves of the Confederate SOL
diers buried there. A committee also
decorated the Confederate monument
and also the Confederate mound in
Christ Church yard.
This evening the procession formed
on Washington street, right resting on
Cameron.
The procession was composed of Lee
Camp, headed by the 3rd Virginia Regi-
ment Drum Corps; the Alexandria
Light Infantry, the Columbia fire COM
pany, headed by the Friendship Fife,
Ccrnet and Drum Corps, and the Re-
lief Hook and Ladder Company, head.
ed by the Third U. S. Artillery band.
With Col. w. a. Smoot as chief mar
shall the procession will march in the
order and over the route as published
in the GAZETTE of yesterday. When
the procession reaches the monument,
Rev. w. r. Dunaway, of Middleburg,
the orator, will speak as follows, he
having kindly given the GAZETTE a
copy of his address for publication in
this issue:
This Memorial Day has not been
prescribed by the legislative enactment
of country successful in war and de-
string to honor the memory of brave
soldiers who died in its behalf. The
government in whose service the Con-
federate soldiers fought can show no
gratitude, because-it has ceased to ex-
ist. We come to-day to decorate theil
graves, needing no statutory reminder
Of their worth, but cherishing, all the
year round, the recollection of their
virtues and heroic deeds. Beautiful as
the flowers that with lavish hand we
strew, fresh as the spriDging grass upon
their graves, fadeless as the stars that
sentinel their silent camp is the glori
Gus record which they have made in
the history of the world. Carlyle has
asked, "If hero means sincere man why
may not every one of us be a hero?"
These men were sincere. Rebel may not
be disreputsble title. 1t is nobler to
resist usurpstion than tamely to sub.
nit. To the oppressor rightly belongs
the odium. George Washington was,
indeed, rebel, because he cast off the
allegiance which had been confessedly
due to the British crown, but the Con-
federates were not rebels. The only
allegiance they acknowledged to the
federal government was secondary to
that which they yielded to the State !;
and the State in its sovereign capacity
had the right to revoke an alliance
which it had formed with co-equal
States. The voice of States rights has
been drowned by the roar of federal
artillery, but it never has been con-
futed by arguments fairly derived from
history. This is not said to revive
dead issue, nor to stir the ashes of dis
cord, but to repel the insinuation that
the deceased heroes of the South
were of a disloyal and seditious
nature. They were loyal to what
they believed was just and equal. In
defense of their land against aggression
they made such stupendous sacrifices
as are made by none but conscientious
men. For this reason they have won
an Immortality of fame. A glory gilds
both their deeds and the monuments
which have been erected to their mem
DRY by faithful hearts aud willing
hands. But it was not for military
glory they left their bones and faced
the horrid front of war. They toiled
and suffered, because honor was more
precious than peace. Neither was it
for conquest that they took up arms.
If they crossed the Potomac, it was to
relieve their own beleaguered capital,
and not for the purpose of gaining one
square foot of territory. They had al
ready far ampler domain than