The gold leaf., 1909-06-17
Honored in Death.
HEROIC STATUE OF GEN. STE
PHEN D. LEE UNVEILED.


Ground at Vicksburg, Miss
Gift Of the United Con
federate Veterans to Gov
eminent of the United States
Gift Accepted on Behalf
of the Government by Gen.
Frederick D. Grant, Son OF
the Federal Commander Op-
posing the Confederate
Forces-Patriotic and lnspir-
ing Speeches Mark the Aus
picious Event.
Vicksburg, Miss, June Several
thousand Confederate Veterans wit
messed the unveiling OF the heroic
statue to Gen. Stephen Dill Lee here
today. The splendid monument, tie
signed by kitson, stands III the Ma
tional Park upon the exact spot
from which General Lee directed the
movement OF his troops during the
siege OF Vicksburg.
Vicksburg had been preparing for
the dedication for months. The town
was gayly decorated with flags and
bunting, the Stars and Bars and the
Stars and Stripes always cntWlned.
The parade formed at noon and
4 4 | nj
ted States army, and an escort OF
cavalry, proceeded to the National
Park. The Warren Light Artillery
fired a generals salute and then
Col Henry WattersOn called the as
semblage to order.
WATTERSON'S SPEECH
Upon taking the chair as presiding
officer, Mr. Watterson said:
standing by the Father OF Waters
let me first give thanks to God. that,
from the Falls OF ST. Anthony TO the
Gulf OF Mexico, it flows through an
unbrOken succession Of American
States; at once chain and an EN-
blem of perpetual union between the
North and the South.
''lt was to gain this outlet to the
SEA that we acquired the LOulSianas
OF France. 1t was to keepit open that
the yeomen of the great Northwest
took the field. The purpose to close
it proved an error OF far-reaching
magnitude; but il it be true, as Glib
bon tells us, that ''HistOry is little
more than the register OF the crimes,
fOllies and misfOrtunes of mankind, .
what must not all OF us have to an
swer for, when reason comes to the
final disposition OF the fact OF Il con
fiiCt, which even now laffleS philOs-
Ophy; because the South. fOredOOmed
to defeat, risked all and had every
thing to lose; the wonder being, and
the glory, that against such odds the
selt-cOnfident but vanquished Con-
federacy was able to hold out so
long.
RANKS GROW THINNER.
''ThOse OF us who survive that
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 land never again to be wet by
fraternal blood and apeOple reunited
forever i'll hand and heart. The mys-
tic chords 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, impOs-
slble as the line of fire seemed, we
were one people then and we are one
people now, the War of Sections a
mutual and blessed heritage.
''This is why we are assembled in n
national cemetery to rear Il 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 Ameri-
can to be. 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:
so prompt and capable and vet
so calm. He nothing lack'd in SOL
diership, except good fortune
1t will be for another to dwell upon
his many and surprising virtues; his
his skill and proweSS in the field, his
service to the arts Ofpeace; his simple,
kindly, sturdy manfulness in the
presence OF lite's duties. his Christian
resignation in the presence of death;
Lee III every drop of his blood. in
every inch of his stature, in every
thought and fibre Of his splendid in
tellect and delightful personality.
THE FATHER OF WATERS.
Let me end. where | began: fOrw we
still stand by the side of the Father
OF Waters. | regret that the battle
ship which lat few weeks age came
and went, did not penetrate vet a
little farther up the mighty stream
so that the hullies from her decks
might have looked upon sanguinary
fields where Grant and Pemberton
contended for the right OF way; so
that the heroes sleeping here might
have heard the thunder of her guns,
shotted with the words of the noble
Fremont, 1.-THE navy is without sec
tlonal prejudice and its patriotism
knows no boundaries save those of
our own great country but ! am
reloiced to feel that wherever she
sails, she will carry with her the
etfigy of that gallant Mssissippian.
who in life signalized all that is
chivalric in American manhood and
all that was typical of the civiliza-
tion of the South, to the end that,
when her officers entertain the vail
ants of other lands. from the North
sea, immOrtalized by Paul Jones, to
the sea of China, immortalized by
George Dewey-the Stars and Stripes
above them-they will need only to
point to the likeness of Jefferson
Weston Orsan fn -Oraar