The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1909-06-16
HONOR LEE MEMORY
STATUE OF DASHlNG SOUTHERN
GENERAL Is UNVEILED AT
vICksBURG, MISS.
COL. WATTERS0N SPEAKS
Eloquent Grafton Is Delivered by Ken
tuckian-MiIitary Companies Fire
saIutes-Maj. Gen. Grant Receives

saIutes-Maj. Gen. Grant Receives
Tribute on Behalf Of Government.
Vicksburg, Miss, June ia fine
statue of the late Gen. Stephen Dill
Lee was unveiled to-day in the Ma
tional Military park and presented to
the United States by the United Con-
federate Veterans, whose commander
he was at the time of his death. The
ceremonies took place in the after
noon and were witnessed by thou
sands of Mississippians and Louisian-
ians and many persons from other
states, both north and south. Gov.
Noel of Mississippi, Gov. Sanders of
Louisiana and many of the confede-
rate veterans, whose reunion has just
closed at Memphis, were among those
present.
Col. Watterson believers Grafton.
Col. Henry Watterson of Louisville
was the master of ceremonies, and
Col. George R. Peck, the eloquent Chi
cagoan, delivered the grafton. Gen.
Clement A. Evans, commander-in-
chief of the confederate organization,
presented the statue, and it was &C.
cepted in behalf of the government by
Maj. Gen. Frederick Dent Grant. The
program was enlivened by the firing
of salutes by military companies and
the singing of patriotic songs by hun.
dreds of school children.
The statue is of life size and repre-
sents Gen. Lee in moment of tri-
umph after one of his victories in a
skirmish about Vicksburg. 1t was de-
signed by the well-known sculptor,
Henry Hudson Kitson of Quincy,
Mass, who assisted at the unwilling.
Tribute to Old Soldiers.
Upon taking the chair as presiding
officer Mr.. Watterson said:
Those of us who survive the
dread ordeal are old men now, and
each annual roll-call brings yet fewer
of us together. Presently there will
remain among the living not one who
fought on either side. Happy those
who have been spared to look upon
a land never again to be wet by fra
ternal blood and a people reunited
forever in heart and hand. The mys-
tic chord of memory, stretching from
every battlefield and patriotic grave
to every living heart and hearthstone,'
touched long ago by the angels of
our better nature swell at last the
universal chorus of the union; the
memory of deeds of kindness and of
valor done; of a common blood and
race; for, impossible as the line of
fire seemed, we were one people then,
and we are one people now, the war of
sections a mutual and a blessed heri.
tage.
Honor to Lee.
"This is why we are assembled in
national cemetery to rear a memorial
to confederate general. He was of
the best the south has to offer upon
the affairs of American manhood, all
that the north could wish an Amer
lean to be. 1 have ridden to battle
with him, and knelt by his side in
prayer, and can truly say that what
his great kinsman was to Virginia he
was to mississippi:
$50 prompt and capable and yet
so calm. He nothing Lacked in SOL
diership, except good fortune
1T will be for another to dwell upon
his manly and surprising virtues; his
skill and prowess in the field, his serv-
ice to the arts of peace; his sim
pie, kindly, sturdy manfulness in the
presence of life's duties, his Christian
resignation in the presence of death;
a Lee in every drop of his blood, in
every inch of his stature, in every
thought and fiber of his splendid in
tellect and delightful personality
Gen. Evans Speaks.
"Our thoughts and feelings to-day
concentrate fifty on the patriotic life
of Lieut.. Gen. Lee, as we shall always
associate him with the great events
in which he acted his distinguished
part" said Gen. Evans. II will make
his well-known life the theme, his
character an example and his career
the suggestion of the citizens patri-
otto duty. What noble man he was!
Not merely a titular nobleman with
out the noble graces, but monu-
belonged to him without other escutch-
con. This monument declares his
fame and our country will accept it
as part of it's own glory"
Reviews Career Of Lee.
Maj. Gen. Frederick Dent Grant of
the department of the lakes, repre-
senting Secretary of War Dickinson,
who was unable to be present. re-
ceived in behalf of the national gov
eminent the statue of Gen. Stephen
D. Lee from the United Confederate
Veterans. Gen. Grant referred to his
acquaintance with Gen. Lee, which,
he said, continued through many
years and afforded him the greatest
happiness and qualification. He re-
viewed the career of Gen. Lee, who
died, leaving an untarnished record,
and memory deservedly honored
with admiration and reSpect because