The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-22
Some Confederate History

made an assertion of fact which was per- tinent to the issue, Yancey denounced the statement as a lie, when Hill, who was an exceedingly passionate man, hurled large glass inkstand aE hfs opponent who was distant from him about ten or twelve feet. The missile struck Yancey on the right side of his face and cut a fearful gash from the temple to the cor ner of his mouth. Senator Yancey was stunned by the blow and for time al- most insensible. He was conveyed to his rooms and, when able to travel, went to his home at Montgomery. Ala, where he died in 1S6S He never returned to Rich mond, and 1t was reported that he died from the wound inflicted by Senator Hill This, however, was not true, as death occurred more than year afterward and from general i'll health, aggravated doubtless. by anxiety and disappointment l happened to be in Montgomery on the day he was buried being detained there by break in the railroad communica- tion east of that city. When standing upon the steps of the hotel conversing With the proprietor, hearse containing the body of William l.. Yancey passed along the deserted street followed by two or three carriages in which were his family and few intimate friends. There was no public demonstration and but lit- eAC otlSAlAOh was pdlu LO Ine procession. It was sad commentary upon the vicis- studes of human ambition. The Southern people had become so familiar with death and were so much engrossed in the mis- fortunes brought upon them by the dis astrous war that the funeral of this great orator. whose burning words had fired the Southern heart and done much to cause the secession of the Southern States attracted no more attention in the com munity where he lived than that of the humblest and most obscure ciizen.'
 Making comment upon your paragraph above reproduced. for convenience, I be- gin at the bottom. It stands of record, under the imprimatur of your revered name, that the funeral procession to which you were a casual witness was a rebuke to secession in the birthplace of the government of seeded States whose commission you had sought under extra ordinary discouragements and which you then held in your oo"vet!
 Of the two processions in the same obse- quies. on the same July forenoon, which did you see? We must know in order that the philosophy of your judgment upon men and events may be tested.
 MT Yancey died on his plantation, sev- eral miles from his home in, the town of Montgomery, in a small house. that he had never been known to occupy as residence. It was neither proper or de- sired by his family and friends, that procession should be formed there to es- cort his remains to the church in town The exigencies of war. then at it's height. had drained Montgomery of car rage horses and men. During his brief acute illness, Dr. Nj. O. Baldwin. the head of his profession in Montgomery. attended him with marked assiduity: oth- CT local physicians visited him: many anxious friends, gentlemen and ladies called in sympathy. The procession so significant of reproach, which you saw could have been none other than the con veyances of the few intimate friends who had driven out to the place of death to bring the body into the church for the usual ceremonies of respect There was such procession.
 Your interpretation loses all weight and the hold of Yancey on the community of his residence Is attested by the scena af the church where he had long worshin- ped. The large building was inadeuuate to contain the sorrowing conRreeation The procession in it's numbers, that es corted his body a mile, over unpayed streets. in the summer solstice to the grave, concluded the extraordinary honor paid to his memory on the solemn occa- sion.
 It will not be superfluous to make men ton of the B. H. Hlll incident in the Senate because of associated public events. The Alabama Department of Archives and History possesses the orig inal NJ. s. in MT. Yancey's hand, and signed by him, which he filed in the Sen ate immediately after the episode. pre- senting an accurate account of the pro- vocation to Hill as given by himself and of HiIrs act of resentment, with the results. The substance IS this: The bill of the junior senator from Alabama, c. c. Clay, IT.. to organize the Supreme Court of the Confederate States was before the Senate. Feb. 4. 1883. Mir. Hill spoke to 1t in support, Yancey having before that day opposed the measure. As soon as Hill took his seat. several rows of desks in the oblique rear of Yancey, the latter rose and said:
 MT. President. 1t cannot be expected that I ehall permit the very remarkab ble speech of the senator from Georgia, in reference to myself to pass unnotlced. It was characterized by malignity and long cherished spleen in high degree offen- sive, though not perhaps personally in-