Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-15
CLAYTON URGES
GREAT ATLANTA
Dat Tie JUBILEE
Money Craze Craze Has Crowded
Out 0Id-Time Southern Sem
timent,' He Declares.

A stirring and unusual appeal for
public support of the movement to
celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of
the battle of Atlanta was made Sat
urday by Captain Robert NJ. Clayton,
one of Atlanta's best-known Confed-
crate veterans. He declared that the
only thing that would block such a
jubilee would be the public indiffer-
ence to the grandest epic of the An
glo-SaXon race.
Captain Clayton views the fiftieth
anniversary of the battle as the last
great opportunity Atlanta will have to
honor the heroic efforts in her behalf,
and for the cause of the Confederacy.
For, he said, almost with tears in his
eyes, when the last Of the veterans
are gone the wonderful drama of the
Civil War will be forgotten save as an
incident of history.
Interest Now Lacking.
1T is hard for us who were in the
thick of it to realize that the inter
est of the rising generation in this
is little more than in some of the
great wars of Europe" he said. ut
was so great an expression of the
courage and honor of the South, so
loyal a response to the ideals that had
led us to the forefront of civilization,
that we have felt it would ever burn
a living memory in the hearts and
minds of the people of this land.
1T has been crowded out by the
money craze of the new era. We have
initiated the East, and sentiment
seems dead. Only dollars count,
"The birthdays of our heroes, and
the anniversaries of the great battles,
pass almost unnoticed save by the
veterans themselves.
Memory Should Live.
"Of course, it would be foolish to
live in dreams of the past Even the
veterans of the war have not done
that for many have climbed to the
front in business and professional
life of the new South. War is horri-
BILE, and should be abolished, as every
true soldier will agree, but the ideals
and the principles of standing by the
right, as we saw it, should be inn
pressed upon each generation; and
Atlanta should remember the big
fight that was made to save her from
destruction on July %, 1854"
Captain Clayton's efforts in behalf
of this celebration have not been linn
tied to an appeal for support. He
has been working, in conjunction with
others, and there is a good chance of
securing a reunion here next summer
of the living soldiers of both the blue
and the gray who took part in the
three battles around the city, just as
the battle of Gettysburg was celebrat
ed last summer.
Chamber of Commerce Backs Move.
A committee of the Chamber OF
Commerce, headed by Wilmer l.
Moore, is actively in charge of the
plans. Success for the movement &c
secure meet here of the State mill
tia is probable. Congressman VIII
liam Schley Howard has announced
that he feels confident of securing this
meet and the aid of the Government
if disturbances in Mexico do not in
terfere. 1t may be that the battle OF
Atlanta will be refought.
Arrangements are already being
made for the Chamber of Commerce
committee to be conducted over the
battleflelds by Captain Clayton, who
was a captain in the Confederate army
that defended ATLANTA.
The three battles around Atlanta in
1854 were the battle of Peachtree
Creek, fought on July 20; the battle
of Atlanta, fought on July %, and the
battle of Ezra Church, fought on July
2S. Captain Clayton said if the peo-
Pile of the city only showed interest, a
celebration would be held here next
year that would draw the attention
of the world.