The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-08
EFFORT BEING MADE TO ERECT
MONUMENT TO GEN. FORNEY
BY FLORENCE wEATHERLY

conduct of his division during the de-
fense of vicksburg made the selection in
the trying days of 1858, and now appeal
conyincingly to every lover of his whole
country for recognition and perpetual re-
memberance. A fine statue of the gem
eral in this national military park is
the best possible recognition of the valor
of the men and the ability of the COM
made.
.,It Is in keeping with these words of
the distinguished chairman and to tes-
tify our love to General Forney and
our admiration of his ability, goodness
and seIf-sacrifice for his country that
we. as citizens of Jacksonville, Ala, his
old home, and acting under the authority
and approval of Captain Rigby, formed
a committee known as the Forney monu-
ment fund committee, for the purpose OF
raising money with which to erect a fit
ting monument to TINS distinguished son
of the SOUTH
'.He belongs not to Jacksonville, not to
Alabama nor even to the south alone.
He belongs to America and represents
Americas most loyal and heroic type.
THAT committee consisted of Rev. w.
T. Allan, chairman; Miss Florence
Weatherly, secretary; H l.. Stevenson,
treasurer; George II. Rowan, L. W..
Grant, Ed G. Caldwell w. B. Arbery,
Mrs. Joseph Privett, Prof. c. w. Daug-
ette.
II raised what could in the John
C. Francis camp of Jacksonville, for
the nonce. will raise much more when
the time comes to build the monument,
from the citizens of the town. Five hun
dred dollars have been subscribed by his
relatives of promise of more when
needed
II took the matter up with the Sons
of Veterans in the convention at Birming-
ham. A resolution was passed unani-
mously, asking each camp to give %
cents per member to this monument.
The chairman and secretary of this COM
mittee wrote 165 letters to the camps.
At the convention In Memphis. | reported
that no camps except my home camp
had acted In the premises AT this
convention I received promises from
about 65 camps that they would take
the matter up with their camps when
they went home. Nothing was done. At
Mobile 1 reported this fact at the con-
vention. There a resolution was offered
by myself and seconded by that dis
tinguished comrade, DR.. Thomas Nj.
Owens, memorializing the governor of
Alabama to appoint commission, in ac-
cordance with an act of the Alabama
legislature for monuments in national
parks to this particular moument.
Il will not take up your time with the
details of this act, but will say in the
words of the act that There is approprl-
tied a sum sufficient to pay not more
than $4,000 for each one of the mofu-
ments to be erected in the National mill
tary parks, and a sum not exceeding &c.,
00o for any other monument erected by
the monument commission The governor
of the state shall be president ard direc-
tor of the state archives. (Dr. Thomas Nj.
Owens at that time and now shall be Sec
retary and historian.
The resolution passed by the convention
of Sons at Mobile rlcmorializes the gov
ernor of Alabama TO appoint that commits
sion at once. 1t suggested $1,000 as a suit
able sum to be appropriated to the For1ey
monument. Twice l had a personal inter-
view with the governor of Alabama, III
which | stated that the committee knew
that the treasury OF the state of Alabama
could not afford at this time to pay "ut
any money for this monument, but that
what we wanted was for the commission
to say how mucn, il any, it would appro-
pirate to this monument, to be paid when
ever the state of the treasury sh 1uld per-
init, be 1t a long 4 short time. That one
reason for asking the appointment of this
commission at this time was that the
United States government was pressing
us to make the decision as to whether we
would erect bust or statue to General
Forney and that we could not decide this
until we knew what the state of Alabama
would give.
In both of these interviews, Governor
O'Neal promised TO act in the matter as
soon as possible. Not hearing, | again
wrote the governor, stressing the points
that we must decide a, once on account of
the United States government, and that
we could not decide until the commission
was appointed and had said what amount
would be appropriated to this monument,
and that we were willing to wait for the
money until the state could pay 1t. A copy
of this letter was sent to Capt w. .. RiS-
by, copy published in The Age Herald
and a copy sent Governor ONeal.
"He promised to attend to the matter as
soon as he returned from the democratic
convention. AS yet he has not az poin1od
the commission
But comra des, ir the meantime, the
noble Captain Righy had not been idle OF
unmindful of what was due this distir-
guished soldier If Alacama. He has inter-
ested the war department in the matter,
and the following recommendation has
been made: Tn case Miss Mary Forney,
her friends and the state of Alabama
place $4,000 to the c1edit fthe chairman
of the commissi Jn in one of the NicEsburg
banks, it is recommended that the coin
mission be authorized to use said sum and
an additional sum of $1,000 from he ap-
proved allotment Of funds for the park
work during the present fiscal veal. in
John H. Fornsy, Confederate States army,
at a cost not to exceed $4,000
Comrades may | say that now Is the
crisis in the National Park Monument to
General Forney. We must decide III the
next few months whether Alabama and
the South will be represented by an in
significant little busg i'll this National park
or by fitting statue.
1T rests with the camps of the Sons of
Confederate Veterans and with the gov
ernor of Alabama.
1.-The COMMITTEES deeply appreciates the
generosity of the United States govern
ment and the spirit in which 1t was done,
and, also. the noble work of her able rep
resentative, Capt w. T. Rigby.
AFTER the reading of this report. the
following resolution vas passed by the
convention.
Resolved, That the camps of this cCn-
vention will pay the sum of % cents per
member to the erection of national mon
ument in the Vickshurg National PARK. to
Mai Gen. Jonn II. Forney, and the COM
manders of the several camps are hereby
requested to collect the same and forward
at once to the chairman of this commit
tee."