The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-19
MONUMENT TO SOLDIERS
ADOPTS RESOLUTION
 ABOUT GETTYSBURG.
Wants to Know Why General Oates is Not Permitted to Ercst Monu- ment to Alabamians
 Who Fell.

The senate committee on Rules yester- day afternoon returned favorable re- port on the Harrison joint resolution re- questing Congress to enquire of the De- partment of War why Gen. William c. Oates, commander of the 18th Alabama Regiment, c. s. A., was not allowed to place a monument on Little Round Top of the Gettysburg battlefield, where a number of soldiers of that regiment fell. For several years General Oates has made various attempts to have a monu- ment erected to the soldiers of the 18th Alabama, who died on Little Round Top.
 The 18th Alabama and the 17th Alabama were the two regiments of the Confeder- ate Army at Gettysburg which came nearest reaching the top of the little hill, which some historians hold, was the un- surmountable wall to the hopes of the Confederacy. General Oates has volun- teered to defray all the expenses of the erection of such a monument.
 Senator Harrisonu of Lee, who is Com mander- in- Chief of the Alabama Division of the United Confederate Veterans. re- cognizing the honor gained by the 18th Alabama on this battlefield, and being familiar with the efforts of General Oates to have a monument erected to tho memory of his men, asked General Oates
 a few days ago the status of his en-
 Gee vors. Having been informed by the cOmmdnOcT OI tnc OIu lOtH, HC ately framed the following resolution
 which was yesterday adopted by the Sem ate.
 Whereas, the battle of Gettysburg,
 fought on the 1st, End and Sd days of July 1868, was one of the greatest bat
 ties of the world in its purpose and con-
 sequences; and whereas. in the several
 engagements Alabamians mingled their
 blood freely in common with their South tKa xxyht ha-
 lieved to have been just and patriotic;
 and, whereas, the 18th and 17th Alabama
 Regiments of Infantry, in the advance
 of Longstreet's Corps, were separated
 from the other equally gallant regiments
 of Laws Alabama Brigade, and were
 sent as a fianking column under the
 command of General (then ColoncD Wm.
 c. Oates, of the 18th Regiment, to turn
 the left flank of the Union line of battle
 on Little Round Top Mountain, which
 at that time was the key point to the
 whole position of the Union Army; and,
 whereas, Oates's column succeeded in
 turning said flank, and doubled 1t up
 within about 150 yards of the top of
 Round Top, but for the lack of support
 the command was repulsed and driven
 back; and, whereas, many brave Ala
 bamians, after a marach of twenty-efght
 miles that day, fell either dead or wound
 ed right at the turning point of that as-
 sault; and, whereas. the said battlefield Is
 now A beautiful National Park. under
 the immediate management and control
 of A board of three Commissioners under
 the jurisdiction of the Secretary of War.
 and in said park have been erected hun
 dreds of statues marking the spot where
 gallant Union soldiers fell, but no stone
 markers or monument has ever been
 erected on that field to any Alabamian,
 or O mark where any Alabamian feli;
 and, whereas within the last two years
 ex x-Governor Oates, who then was Col
 onel in the Confederate Army, who brave
 ly and skillfully commanded that flank
 ing column, has offered at his own ex- pense, to erect a monument of Gettysburg granite on or about the spot where so
 many of his men fell. appropriately tn-
 scribed to their memory. He filed for mai application with said Battlefield Com mission, and subsequently, one with the Secretary of War, praying for permis- sion to erect said monument and which was referred by said Secretary to the said Battlefield Commisson; and, where as. the purpose of the Government of the United States in purchasing the ground on which the battle was fought, beauti- flying and maintaining 1t as a great Ma tional Park. was to allow the erection of markers and monuments to those who fell on each side, Confederates as well as Federals
 ''Therefore, be it resolved. By the Leg | islature of Alabama, That our Represent atives ln Congress be requested and the Senators of this State be instructed. first,
 to inquire of the Secretary of War why | if is that permission is not given to Will liam c. Oates to erect a monument ap- | nronriately inscribed to the memory of Alaha ma soldiers who fell under his com mand in the battle of Gettysburg on July l 2. 1888. he having applied in writing to the Battlefield Commission and to the
 Secretary of War therefor in the year
 1902
 "second. to obtain authority from the
 said Secretary for the erection of the monument at or near where his soldiers aforesaid were killed"