The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-04-05

EDITOR BULLETIN-You have
asked me more than once to write
out for publication sort of history
of the Confederate monument in the
court yard of Hardeman County.
Since receiving your note the other
day, l have gotten together the
memoranda and papers relating
thereto, including the minutes of
the original organization, and now
comply with your request.
| believe | am not mistaken in
saying that this monument, now in
the Bolivar court yard, was the first
of it's kind erected in the entire
South. One earnest thought,
strongly and deeply felt by the
writer upon his return home from
Greensborough, North Carolina,
where Johnson surrendered in 1865,
will be familiar after thirtysi
years to thousands of Confederate
soldiers now living all over the
land, as a thought that came to each
and every one of them. 1t was the
thought of the duty Of the living
soldier to his dead comrade. The
cause was lost. Thousands of brave
men had given their lives for that
which in the eyes of the world was
an utter failure, with the stamp of
treason on it. Their government
had vanished. Their records were
IN the hands of their late foes. The
history writers called their action
insurrection and rebellion. The
government to which they had sub
mitted, in its public acts and laws,
did the same. They had done all
that men could do, and when all
further effort was impossible, they
submitted with dignity aud earnest,
whole-hearted good faith. Thirty
five years has proven that good
faith. That good faith did not inn
ply forgetfulness by the living of
their duty to the dead. These had
no government to protect their
memories, or to honor their graves.
If the government, to which they
had submitted with loyal intent,
branded them with treason, and un-
der the circumstances naturally so,
yet they felt that some permanent
record must be made for these dead
comrades, which would in deed
thereafter be a record as well for
the living, This was the thought,
aud yet there were difficulties, hard
ly to be appreciated now. One diff
ficulty was money. Very few Con
federates had any of that. Another
and even a greater one, was sort
of quasi reign of terror, which then
politically overshadowed the South
err states. Almost Immediately
after the surrender, in the year 1865,
the writer conferred with friends,
with the purpose of erecting pub
lie monument to the Confederate
dead of Hardeman County. TO an
swer its purpose, it must represent
the County, and therefore by official
sanction must be in the court house
yard.
1t will be remembered by those
living dI IHdl lllu6s Gudt al OHiCeIS,
judges, justices of the peace were
appointed by the central authority
at Nashville. The government was
practically military. All Confeder-
ates were disfranchised. Opinions
were timid, because prudence aud
caution were necessary With few
exceptions, the men with whom the
writer conferred, thought best to
wait, and gave him only discourage
ment. This is not said in criticism,
for the times were very troublous.
Some feared the political atmosphere
was unfavorable. Many others urg-
ed that the needs of the living and
the widows and orphans should be
provided for, rather than waste
money on marble. True it is that
this should be done, but still other
things not left undoDe. So the
writer appealed to tribunal where
faith and loyalty never fail and