Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1900-10-19
INSPECTOR GENERALS REPORT.

INSPECTOR GENERALS REPORT.
Inspector General T. G. Morton, of
this city, made his report to the Grand
ICamp last week. 1t is of such general
interest that we publish synopsis OF
it,
l beg leave to submit to the Grand
Camp through you my annual report,
as follows: H
The past year has not developed q
great deal of activity in Confederate
circles in Virginia along the line OF
the organization of new camps, only
three new ones having been organized,
and two Zone in Amherst and one in
CarrolD now under way. The reason
in great part for this may, however, be
found in the fact that the material for
such organizations is growing less and
less each year as the territory is occu-
lpied, there now being ninety-five camps |
| in the State, with only as1naA proper
ftion of the one hundred counties. and
no city, l believe, in which there are |
not one or more Confederate veteran |
Icamps. There are few camps, how
ever. within our bounds in which SO
little interest is manifested and SO lit
tie attention paid to the orders which
eman nate from headquarters and so lit
tie regard shown for the objects and
alma of our organization that it may
be wise for this Grand Camp to cOnsid
or whether or not steps should be TAX
en- to disband them, and thus leave the
way open for the organization Of new
and more efficient camps in the same
communities. 1 would suggest that
the Grand Camp take this matter up. ,
At Pulaski, the Grand Camp, realiz-
ing the. labor and responsibility de-
volving upon the Inspector General, ,
devised plan for his assistance and
gave to him ten Assistant Inspec-
tors-one for each Congressional dis
trict.
SaOrtly after the positions had all
been filled l sent out u letter of instruc-
tion to each assistant inspector-gen-
eral, receiving from most of them I
gratifying responses.
A NEW SYSTEM.
Early in September 1 sent to each l
Assistant Inspector General a blank =
for every camp in his district, which, :
if filled, felt sure would give to this
grand body some valuable information h
as to the number of members. the con-
ditlOn of finences, the rate of death, .
the growth or decline of membership,
the number of uniformed men, regu- h
larity of meetings, the amount of ex- =
penditure in relief of needy comrades,
their widows and orphans, and the Z
manner of procuring and distributing "
such relief, together with the progress
being made in organizing the Sons of -
Veterans and Daughters of the Con. ;,
federacy.
This is the first time that such sys- o
tematized effort for procuring such Il
needful data has been made, and as no "
new machidery works smoothly at first. b
SO in this case there was from various Il
causes friction and accidents, and the IL
result aimed at was only partially sue fl
cessful. did not expect to receive a
reports from many of the county camps a
which meet only once, twice or four Al
times year and keep but few records,
but did get in reports from thirty n
en- camps distributed as follows: Three a
from the First District; two from the Il
Second; four from the Third; eight n
from the Fourth; four from the Sixth; v
seven from the Eighth; three from the g,
Ninth and six from the Tenth. There
are no reports fl Jm the Fifth and Sew
enth Districts, where we have some of
our best camps, which is much re- h,
gretted; but when we remember that Of
the inspectors had to secure these re- Il
port at their own expense and with II
much trouble, it is not surprising and
the efforts of those who did secure II
them should be appreciated. liz
The work of one camp is worthy of
especial mention and it is hoped that d.
the recital will stimulate many to imi- W
tate it. I give it in the words of the
Assistant Inspector General of the s.
Tenth District in a paragraph quoted
from his excellent report: la
Lee Jackson Camp of Lexington has e.
great work in the past d
two years. In season and out of sea-
son, a committee of the Camp-one for
cavalry, one for artillery and one for Il
infantry-wOrked for nearly two years "
in collecting together the names of all
the men from the county of Rock q
bridge who served at any time in the o.
armies of the COnfederacy. The work II
of collecting all the data necessary to IL
make complete roster was a labOrious
one, but one of love and duty. Rock u
bridge, from first to last, furnished
sixteen companies and about 2, 500 men,
800 OF these sleep on battlefields and in "
hospital and prison graveyards. AS
these rolls are now ready to be record
ed in the county clerks office, future
generations can, with certain identi Il
ty, point with pride to the fact that a.
their grandfather or great grandfather e.
was one of that immortal band of b
herOes.''
This sort of work is practical and 1
furnishes information that will be q
more and more valuable as the years