The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-14
FINE MEMORIAL TO
 STEPHEN ). LIE Sculptor KitsOn Has Made a Splendid Statue
 LEES PERSONAL FRIEND MT. kitson and His Wife Were lnti- mately Associated With Lee and
 Making of the Statue Was
 Work of Love.
LEES PERSONAL FRIEND

Work of Love. Vicksburg, June 13.-(Special )-Not the least interesting of the events that took place during the visit of the United Con- federate Veterans in this city on June Il, the date of the excursion from the head quarters of their convention at Mem phis, was the dedication of the statue of Lieut.. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee, Confederate States of America.
 To thousands of loyal supporters of the Lost Cause this work of the sculptor, Henry Hudson Kitson, the model of which was recently finished at his studio at Quincy, a suburb of Boston, will hence- forth call to mind vividly the career and personality of one of the best beloved of southern leaders. It is particularly notable as the first memorial of a Con federate officer to be placed in the Ma tional Military park
 The memorial to General Lee, as it came to this city from the bronze founders in New York, shows that the sculptor has built up a figure of colossal size. 
 Confederate officer is represented as he stood on the lines at critical moment during the siege of Vicksburg, when his division was withstanding the grilling as- sault by superior numbers that resulted in killing wounding nearly half his men. The weight of the body is thrown upon the right leg, while an unsheathed sword held in both hands rests upon the left leg The attitude is one of expect ancy, the sculptor adopting the device of seizing upon a moment of rest just before decisive action.
 Personal Friendship.
 Personal friendship which MT. Kitson enjoyed with General Lee has undoubt- edly helped the artist in revealing the leaders finest characteristics. Accuracy as regards historical details has, of course, been preserved. The Confederate insignia of rank appears on the collar, while the buttons. in high relief, show the eagle and Ii stars. Textures have been interpreted ski1lfully. At the same time the sculptor has endeavored to catch and hold the observers attention pri- marily by the action and simple heroism
 
 qualities of modelling.
 This noble memorial stands on an ap- propriate pedestal on Confederate avenue in the National Military park. Its loca- tion Is near the railroad redoubt and di- rectly opposite the Iowa state memorial. That 1t could not be better placed is clear when it is remembered that the troops from Iowa were foremost in the onslaught which General Lees division repelled gallantly on the warm days pre- ceding July A. 1863. It was with the boys from Iowa that his own fellows ex- changed pleasantries and tobacco in the brief intervals fin which truce was de- clared for removal of the dead and wound ed. More lately an Iowa veteran, Capt William T. Rigby, chairman of the Milf tary Park commission, was General Lee S closest associate In the work of develop ing the park that symbolizes a reunited country.
 How devoted General Lee was alike to the cause that was lost and to the vel fare of the reunited nation has nowhere perhaps been better indicated than in a passage which he wrote shortly after the victories of the Spanish war had thrilled old soldiers, north and south. '"rhe writer of this article" he said, "an ex-Con- federate soldier-although he was always loyal to the stars and stripes from the moment he laid down his arms as sol dier of the Confederacy and took the oath of allegiance to the restored union: although he conscientiously did his duty as a citizen under that oath of allegiance and although he was ready at any time to defend the stars and stripes, had it become necessary, as a duty-stll when he heard of the great victory of Admiral Dewey at Manila his heart leaped with joy and pride because he was a citizen of the United States. There was no longer a doubt as to his possessing loyal and true love for his reunited country'
 Work of MT. kitson.
 MT. Kitson, the sculptor who was com missioned to model the statue of Gen. s. D. Lee, had become one of his inti- mate friends during the first years in which state memorials began to be scat tered about the grounds of the National Military park The energetic artist from Boston, whose wife was commissioned to do the Massachusetts monument, the first to be installed in the park, arrived on the scene in Vicksburg to find that prominent officials of his own state had not fully appreciated the importance of the ded- ication. With assistance from members of the commission he undertook to do a little work of awakening. It is still told gleefully In Vicksburg how when the governor and other officers of Massachu- setts reached the city just before the dedication they were met with prepara- tions for their entertainment such as they had not expected to witness. In the elaborate preparations for the patriotic exercises which did so much to promote good feeling between Mississippi and Massachusetts, between south and north General Lee, Captain Rigby Sculptor Kit son worked hard and enthusiastically as subsequently several occasions
 little later the sculptor was chosen to do magnificent memorial to the sol diers from Iowa. This includes a re- markabe series of bas-reliefs which rank among the most important sculptural records of the great conflict. He has already been selected to memorialize both sides, for he recently witnessed the ded- ication at Paducah, Ky, of his full length statue of Gen. Lloyd Tilghman slain at Champion Hills during the Vicksburg en- gagement. As a tribute to the memory of his deceased friend he has also mod eled at his Quincy studio a bust of General Lee as he appeared in the later years of his life. One copy of this work has gone for installation at the Missis- sppi Agricultural and Mechanical col lege, the other to Columbus, Miss, which was accounted General Lees home town after his marriage in 1866 to Regina liar rson. daughter of one of the most dis tinguished citizens.
 Educated in Europe. MT. Kitson though a Massachusetts cit izen of several years standing, is an Englishman by birth, a native of Hud- al he wa in,