The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-05
SPEECH OF RUSSELL
DEDICATION OF CONFEDERATE
 MONUMENT AT TUPELO.
Eloquent words of the Well Known and Gifted Mobilian, who is Native of the State of
 Miasirsippf.

Tupelo, Miss, May 4-(Special)-- - yesterday marked new era for Tu- peio and Lee county, Miss. The occa- sion was the long sought and happily consummated dedication of magnifi- cent monument to the Confederate dead of this county, who went to the front in the days when old age and the lad were pressed into service to fight for what they thought to be right and just The monument IS a magnificent specimen of the sculptor's in this beautiful city. Men, women and children from all of Lee and ad- joining counties with others from far for the occasion. Rain fell during the forenoon, but this did not dampen the ardor of the vast throng. The unvefl-
 The orator of the day was what he styles himself. Lee county boy. He was none other than Colonel B. r.. Russell, vice-president of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, a man known, not only along the entire length of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, but through !. out the entire States of Alabama anu with his charming daughter, reached Tupelo yesterday morning. He had been requested to deliver the address and he responded in the followiIg z beautiful language:
 
 It Is impossible for me to find lan- guage adequate to convey to you the depth of my feeling on this occasiin. When all the past and it's tragedies, its relation to my connection to this com munitv. and especially Lee county 1t is certainly enough totouch the great
 see before me men and women who knew me when I was small boy. who have known me throughout my whom I marched, bivouaced and fought for more than three years, and when l recall the trials, the hardships. the sacrifices and dangers through which we passed am amazed ,s that ,s,n any 9o Sf us ever,s kind Providence has watched over us ana perpetuated our lives. l trust for some great purposes. l hope 1t Is for the good of our country and
 am not here to make any. extended argument about the cause or the war between the States. It Is contended by some that the sole cause was con aict of ideas concerning the form of administration of our Federal Govern ment. It Is insisted by some that It was State sovereignty; others contend that the negro was the cause. All that concerns the Confederate soldier Is that there was q war and a terrible war: great battles were fought; thou sands upon thousands of lives were sacrificed and the South was drenched in blood nd the land filled with wid- ows and orphans and mourning
 Now I desire to say right here that If the issue of State sovereignty was the cause of the war the. Confederate soldier has won a great victory. There has been, since the war. a gradual of the South on this question through out the North. While there Is a class of statesmen contending for increased centralized Federal power. this class Is NxxytK a1I nWaA hEy year. Today the sovereignty of the State. with all of its powers and rights, is absolutely recognized by the Su- preme Court of the United States: The has in recent years rendered decisions establishing the sovereignty of the State as clearly and as conclusively as was ever contended for by John c. which I was connected, affecting the sovereign rights of Mississippi. where the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Republican, rec organized this in more practical form in defining the powers of the State, than was ever contended for by any great Southern statesman. Now this Is all have to say on this subject
 We have met here for the purpose of unveilinE a monument that has been erected by the men and women of this community for the purpose of com- memorating the courage, daring and patriotic services of the Confederate soldier. It has been the custom from time immemorial for nations to honor the soldiers who died for their coun- try. by erecting monuments In their memory. Now the patriotic men and women of Lee county have. by their own exertions, raised sufficient money to provide monument in memory or the Confederate soldiers who left this immediate community and district and were left dead on the battle-fields.
 In this connection l wish to pay a vt a Rn Van n closed in death. I am informed that more credit for collecting the means of building this monument is due Major James Kincannon than any otn- CT one man. If there ever was brave and loyal heart and spirit. devoted 10 the cause of the Confederate soldier, 1t was Major Kincannon. Many, Of us here had soldiered with him; he, was our comrade in the war and we knew how his loyal heart always beat for the Confederacy and how his sXmpa, thies and affections, always folioweidd id by the Romans that the praise of the dead should not fret the living, NOV all of the citizens and the fair ana communitv are to be complimented and congratulated on having brought to q successful finish the monument thar is to be unveiled today. God bless the and 1f the South. They never allowed defeat and disappointment and deprlVa = lions 10 weaken their interest In tn" cause and their sympathy for the Con federate soldier. They went to th"iT looms and wove home spun dresses and wore them, and they went to the oat- fields and with their delft fingers made their oat-straw bonnets and can remember when I saw them in home spun and oat-straw bonnets when they looked as beautiful and lovely as any queen who ever sat upon a throne
 Now comrades. what can I say to you. yDu Kray-headed and weather beaten citizens who were once tho hravest and most intrepid and the most fearless soldiers who ever trod the you when the sun and heavens were concealed by the smoke of battle and I looked into your faces and saw the determination to win. regardless or your own lives. I have heard your rebel yell ring out above the din and roar of small arms and artillery on clear, crisp mornings. when some aI- most impregnable position was to be assaulted and taken. I have seen you scale the breast-works over bavoneto and in the face of flaming arttllcry. You have record as soldiers that mas never been surpassed in the history [" the world.
 Now comrades. we today again think Of those who sleeu on the beautiful plains of Perryville. amid he rocks and cedar brakes around Murtreeshoro, where the wild flowers in the spring are crimson with their blood. and those who sleep along the rugged bt!I- sides Of ChickamaUga and along tn" banks of the ripping waters os 1er- pers Creek. around Franklin. Tenn. J-ts us never forget them. always remen'- bering their courage, their patriotism and their loyalty to the cause Tor which they so cheerfully died.