The Irish standard., 1915-12-18
SPECIAL BILL FOR 'ANCELS0F
THE BATTLEFIELD" y'9IM0RIAL

At the last convention of the Ma |
tional Ladies' Auxiliary, Ancient Order
der of Hibernians, held in Norfolk,
Virginia, in July, 1914, it was voted |
to erect suitable memorial to the
honor of the angels of the Battle |
field" our Catholic nuns who served
as nurses on the battlefield and in the
hospitals of the Union during the
Civil war. At this convention a reso-
luton providing for an assessment
within the auxiliary for the purpose of
providing for the monument was in
troduced and adopted with enthusiasm.
The amount to be raised for this pur-
pose was determined upon as $4,000,
which sum was to be raised entirely
within the auxiliary within the two
years, and no outside assistance is to
be received.
Beautiful Arlington" which lies on
the Virginia hills across the Potomac,
was chosen as the desired spot for the
Memorial, but it later developed that
such memorial could not be placed in
this National Cemetery, without spe-
cial legislation by Congress, this being
made plain by Secretary of War Garri-
son, for the reason that the& Sisters
so employed had not been properly
enlisted. This technicality, he be-
lieved, however, could be set aside by
the taking of the proper steps, and ac-
cordingly, Mrs. Ellen Ryan Jolly, Ma
tional President of the Ladies' Aux
iliary, has caused to be prepared the
proper form of bill.
This resolution is now in the hands
of Congressman Ambrose Kennedy, of
the Third Congressional District of
Rhode Island, to be presented at the
session of Congress which opened on
December 9Th. The bill will be sub.
mitted without delay, and will take the
same course as other matters of legis-
lation, and a hearing will probably be
held upon it early in January. It is
not believed that there will be any
opposition to the measure, because of
the wellknown heroism of the nuns,
who recognized no north, no south,
no creed, no~color;s4 boys in, gray
(who fought for the cause they thought
was right) received the same sweet
womanly care which was given to the
boys in blue.
Mrs. jolly, who inaugurated the erec-
tion of this Memorial to the "Nun of
the Battlefield" as the crowning &C.
complishment of her years of service
as head of this great organization of
Irish Catholic women, states that she
has been assured by the entire South
ern delegation in Congress of their
support of the measure when it shall
come before them.
In an act of Congress which was
approved on June 8, 1906, for the pres
ervation of American antiquities, the
following named historic landmarks
and structures, and other objects of
historic and scientific interest at Ar.
lington National Cemetery, are de-
clared to be National Monuments:
Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery
Monument: Wint Monument, erected
by the State of Pennsylvania; Ma
tional Monument, erected in 1866 in
memory of 2,111 Unlon soldiers, un-
known, whose remains are buried un-
der the monument; National monu-
ment (table monument), erected in
1911 to mark the grave of Maj. LEN
fant, designer of the City of Washing
ton; the Confederate Monument, erect
ed in 1914; the Maine Memorial, con-
sisting of mainmast Of the battleship
<Maine" on white marble foundation
erected in 1914.
The War Department defines a
Memorial" as one erected in memory
of one or more individuals, but whose
interment has not actually been made
in the cemetery. A "Memorial'' is dis
tinctive from a Monument" for in
luc ldLLei case luc luIcIIucllI udS UtSll
made there.
The following are some of the
memorials" in Arlington In the case
of the late Captain A. w. Butt, Quar-
termaster Corps, U. S. A., who was
lost at sea, a cenotaph was placed on
the lot that had already been assigned
to him, and where he would have been
eventually buried.
A monument was recently brought
by the Navy Department from Panama
for erection in Arlington. This monu-
ment was originally erected on Fla
menco Island (near the 1sthmus of
Panama) by the officers and crew of
the U. S. s. Lancaster, over the re.
mains of one officer and a number of
sailors buried there. This monument
and the remains were removed to a
cemetery on the Canal Zone, which
was afterwards abandoned as GENE.
terry for other uses. At the time Of
the removal of this monument to the
United States, there was nothing left
Of the remains and consequently there
was nothing to remove with the monu
ment.