The National tribune., 1906-09-27
Q - Kansas - Act OF A
1SS2-Impedim ent.
tn. chalmette Monument.

EQltOT NdIlONal lTlEuHe. ODhtTNc
that Comrade John E. Breese. of Dun
quat, O., in recent issue, in>
quires regarding the Chalmette monu-
ment. I have seen it repeatedly, as
have made some Is visits through the
South since 1881, and frequently have
been to New Orleans upon more or less
of these visitatiOns. I affirm that no
one can know accurately what the act
ual sentiment of that section Is by
merely passing through its cities and
towns by railway. In order to know 1t
one has to walk on foot over long dis
tances of its country, from town to
town, talk with the people. and learn
what their views are upon present con-
ditions and their relations to the Gen.
grail Government. This I have done. l
know them pretty well, but knowl-
edge of these things can be cleaned in
no other way. I saw the monument in
quired after for the first time about
1891. It's hight, as I recollect, was
about 40 or AZ feet, including the pill
lars upon which It is erected. I am
positive that il was not more than so
feet in hight. It is called "Jackson's
Monument" and 1t was doubtless de-
signed to commemorate the battle
fought near there on the Sth Of jan
uary, 1915, with the iron hero, who de-
clared, THE Federal Union; it must be
preserved" as its central and chief fig
ure. AS it appeared then, upinclosed,
unprotected, marred, defaced, 1T pre-
sented a most uninviting, not to say
revolving, appearance. But the last time
l was there things had improved some
what The Daughters of the American
Revolution-the Louisiana Chapter
| had caused to be erected a picket fence
to exclude stray animals from the high
way, and also had had an immense
quantity Of dirt hauled in and deposited
around the base, as high as the top OF
the pillars, and the same had been
tastefullv and neatly leveled from the
base to the distant ground, so that there
was presented to the eye four sides,
each substantially the duplicate of the
| others, with the whole turfed over in
most attractive way. But still the
| monument stands as 1t stood At years
ago, when they left It, ito the lightning
and the gale" while they engaged in
making war upon a Government which
out upon them a continuous seed time
| and harvest of gracious benedictions
They aver that 1t was stopped for want
OF means. said to some Of them
you have found an abundance OF
money to rear a lofty column of Car
rara marble and surmount 1t with a
great statue of your deathless idol
Robert E. Lee, but not cent for the
old hero who came down from his
Western home and brot 1900 Of his
neighbors with him, and who stood be-
tween you and the sacking OF your city
with all of the desolations which follow
in the train Of such a calamitous
event"
1t may be that the Lee column Is to
the glory of New Orleans, but Jackson's
monument upon the plains of Chal'
mette is the very evidence of its death
less shame. Let 1t stand there, as II
stands today, until the very eyeballs o!
its citizens become scared in reading
the unwritten, though clearly traced
story of their own infamy.
notice also that Comrade e. Chal-
fant. 1928 Benton Ave, Springfield, Mo.
in the same issue appears to doubt the
existence Of Series of the Records OF
the Rebellion. There are Series !, II
III and ". 130 books in all, including
index. It will be found just as 7 stated
in my communication to The Nationa
Tribune. Comrade Chalfant wrote mt
about the matter. but unfortunately
have been absent all of this blessed
Summer in the u. S. A. & N. Hospita
at Hot Springs, Ark. (and, by the way
I wish, so soon as / get time, to write
you about that most benefIcent institu
tion-the greatest in the land-an(
which belongs to the ex-veterans, thu
soldiers of the 8. A. war, and the pres
ent soldiers of the United States Army
and of which so few Of them know little
or nothing regarding the blessed worl
it is doing for them), and only received
his letter upon the 4th inst, and which
answered at once. He understands /
, all right now But, still, who Will un
ravel the mystery Of David F. Gable
Who ?-Frederfck NJ Grant Canton Ill