Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-05-24
A PATRIOTIC PILGRIMAGE.
The Laying of the Cornerstone OF
the Davis Monument.
Oynchburg News

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Our report Of the monthly meeting OF
the Garland Rodes Camp of Confederate
veterans showed that the old soldiers
are taking steps 10 attend the great Con-
tederdte gathering at Richmond on the
SJth Of June and the LIST and "a Of July.
The cornerstone of the monument to me
Confederate President Is to be then laid
with civic ceremony and military pomp.
the site OF the Battle Abbey of the South
Is 10 be then determined upon; the camps
or Confederate veterans throughout the
south, from the Potomac to the Rio
Grande. are then to come together, and
II is altogether TO be another memorable
day. not inferior in interest, and quite
certainly superior in numbers. to the
never-to-be forgotten gathering six years
ago when the equestrian statue of Lee
was unveiled, a day forever enshrined
In the hearts and memories of those who
enjoyed the privilege Of witnessing that
glorious pageant This is the last' oc-
casion but one when the fast-depleting
ranks Of Confederate veterans will in
all human probability ever again meet
In large cOncourse TO revive the sacred
memories Of the dread drama and pay
reyerential homage to the yalor and
virtues Of its immortal heroes That
other and final occasion VIII be when the
monument whose cornerstone Is now to
DO laid shall be completed and "unveil-
ed" But it Is hardly probable that one
half Of the present survivors of the
great struggle Will be living when that
last reunion shall occur. No such convo-
cation of veterans as the one about to
take place Will, therefore, ever again be
witnessed on this earth; ever again occur
shall cross over the river and rest
with their comrades gone before under
the shade Of the trees that bloom eternal
in the green pastures and by the still
water.
1t is a patriotic duty as well as a privi-
lege TO attend this great reunion. 1t
Will repay q hundred fold all the incon-
veniencos and sacrifices Of the plOus pill
grimagc. The tender memories and
thrilling emotions awakened by the Oc-
cason will be treasured and preserved,
lovingly and Loyalty, to the latest moment
Of life.
1t is right to build this monument to
the representative head Of the great and
eventnn struggle. The survivors OF the
Confederate war owe it to themselves
and TO their posterity TO erect an en-
during memorial Of the justice OF their
cause, of the purity and disinterested-
ness OF the motives which influenced the
action OF the southern people. Let IL be
built. and perpetually stand, an object
lesson TO the risings generations as they
come upon the stage Of life, Of the sa-
cred character of the struggle in which
their forefathers cheerfully sacrificed the
comforts of home. their fortunes, their
firesides. and life itself
When we enter our beautiful Capitol
Square at Richmond we lnger to look
reverently upon the noble efIigy Of
Washington, surrounded by the bronze
statues of jefferson and Henry and other
heroic leaders OF the Revolution. But
not one participant survives of that i'm
mortal struggle. And so the rapidly-re-
volving years will ere long bring the day
when of all the thickoning thousands
who shall gaze upon the efiigies OF JEFF
ferson Davis and Robert Il. Lee there
will not be one who ever beheld them IN
their bodily persons. The reunions Of
the veterans will then also exist only
as do those Of the glorious band of
Grecian heroes, where to the ear or
superstition nightly on the plains OF
Marathon the neighing OF chargers and
clangor Of arms are heard amid the rush
ing shadows of spectral war, or as those
ghostly gatherings on the Champs Ely
sees where by the deadly lustre of the
moon Napoleon reviews the countless
hosts that followed his Eagles from the
sands Of Egypt to the SHOWS OF Rus
STA;
Both they in farthest North,
sim IN the ice that lay;
And they who warm repose
Beneath Italian clay.
Let all, we repeat. who possibly can
arrange to visit Richmond on this occa-
sion set Il to their hearts as at once a
sacred duty, and an inestimable privilege.
II is one that, in ell the conditions Of