Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1901-02-02
WOMEN OF THE coNFEDERAcY.
The Proposition to Erect Grand wonu'
msut to the Women Who Worked
While the Soldiers Fought.

| nhilo ths bOluleNh Ioukhts
Chattanooga, Tenn, Jan. 29.--Col.
Garnett Andrews, OF this city, prom
inent as a member Of the United Con-
federate Veterans, and well known
throughout the south as one of the
foremost lawyers of this section, is at
work on the details of plan, which
he will present to the next encamp-
| ment of the United Confederate Vet
Grams, looking toward the erection OF
the most costly monument in the
United States to commemorate the
valor and fidelity OF the confederate
women. ..a-
The agitation among confederate
veterans to build great monument
to the confederate women had its be-
| ginning here on Decoration day, two
years ago, when Col. Andrews, the
orator of the occasion, made it the,
theme Of his address. Afterwards N.
b. Forrest Camp QocaD and the gen
eral convention at Louisville of United
Confederate Veterans, approved the
undertaking, but no plan Of action
was adopted.
An Associated Press reporter called
on Col. Andrews and requested his
views as to the progl ess of the work,
the necessity for it, plans of organi-
cation and style of monument.
1T is to the discredit of our peo-
pie" said Col Andrews, that no
more progress has been made, al
though believe that such response
would come in dollars and cents to
canvass for funds, as was never wit
messed before.
THE mass Of confederate woman
hood was, in various ways, an actual
auxiliary force, that was nearly, if
not quite, half of the arny's e4-cien-
cy. They constituted, for one thing,
a great hospital reserve. Besides sup
plying the medical corps at the front
with much of its material, every
home was sanitarium where a sick or
wounded soldier was welcome. We
| had neither factories nor commerce.
So they, in large measure, clothed the
army. Their sons and husbands being
in the regiments compelled them to
manage plantations and farms and
feed the army. They denied them
selves comforts, in order that they
might give to the soldiers. Their high
spirits never dropped; they were
cheerful and courageous always. They
kept the firing lines full, for they ut
terly scorned a shirk, and their utter
contempt drove malingerers to their
duty. The respect in which they were
held made them more efficient in this
regard than many conscript guards.
Their disbanded soldiers returned
to find them wearing coarse, home
made stutfs and without fabrics OF
bask, in many instances, in which to
mourn their dead.
But they met their returning men
and held their hearts up for them as
if they had been the conquerers; and
gave them sweet encouragement to
face the hard life before them.
There were many deserters from
the confederate army but has anyone
ever heard of a confederate woman
who turned her back on the cause?
"In these later days appear the
United Daughters of the Confederacy.
a well named society of noble aims,
and distribute to the surviving sol
diers crosses of merit. These dec
orations come, under God, from the
highest worldly source of honor, as
we esteem it.
"The general government and the
military organizations of those who
fought for the Union, have filled the
land with thousands of commemora-
tive shafts. But the last man had
scarcely fallen when the confederate |
girls and women began their tireless |
and persistent labors to comment
crate their dead; and if figures could |
be known, | believe it would appear
that their patient little hands have |
set up more craven stones of honor |
than all others. There is scarcely n |
county without them, and towns and |
cities teen with the great monuments |
which they have erected to the con-
federate dead.
And the confederate veteran? He |
has accepted it all with cCmplacency, |
as though he deserved it,
what has he done to give even
faint expression of honor to this |
matchless race of women? If | were |
TO die now, my gravestone would |
blush with shame at the answer,
Nothing, nothing
yet they still keep on building
memorials to the confederate dead. |
And we, the surviving veterans, keep |
unbroken our record of disgrace.
After all they have done, after
their love, suffering and devotion,
after their beautiful fame we find not |
stone to their memory in all the
south.
MY idea of what should be done
can be told in few words. Collect
at least half million dollars or more
i believe il can be had-noman would |
refuse for an object so sacred and |
popular. With it build one monu-
ment-not several inferior ones-but |
one, so grand in size, rich In material, |
artistic in design and execution and
taultless IN location, that the world
would applaud and thousands
would come to revere the memory of
so great womankind.
II believe in a single working ma
chinery, with few officers, for expe-
ditious accomplishment.
IAN executive head of one to three,
the fewer the better, should be pro-
vided, with power to appoint sub-of-
ficers and canvassers. Allow them
reasonable compensation, otherwise
they can not afford to devote tn EN-
selves to the work. Get speakers
here and there, canvass every county
in the south, and in my Judgment, the
half million would be in the bank
within a year."
Death of Judge S0mers.