Part 17 (1/2)

Ford, Mrs. A. F. T. Fitzhugh, Mrs. Fannie S. White.

_Board of Directors_--Miss Mary G. Browne, Miss S. Freaner, Mrs. W. K.

Howard,[64] Mrs. S. J. Jarvis, Mrs. E. A. Fitzgerald, Mrs. L. J.

Huffman, Mrs. J. H. Bradley, Mrs. Magruder Maury, Mrs. Joseph Alsop, Mrs. Monroe Kelly, Miss Ellen P. Chew, Miss Lizzie Braxton.

_Treasurer_--Dr. F. P. Wellford.

_Recording Secretaries_--Miss L. G. Wellford, Mrs. Lucy Herndon.[64]

_Corresponding Secretary_--Miss Ann J. Carter.

_a.s.sistant Secretaries_--Miss V. S. Knox,[64] Miss Mary Thom, Miss Bettie L. Scott,[64] Miss Lizzie Alsop, Miss N. S. Wellford, Miss Mary G. Browne, Mrs. L. T. Kearsley, Miss Helen G. Beale, Miss Nannie Taylor, Miss Virginia Goolrick, Miss S. Freaner, Miss Lizzie Braxton.

_Executive Committee_--Major J. H. Kelly, Thomas F. Knox, George Aler, J. W. Slaughter, Edwin Carter, Joseph W. Sener, Dr. L. B. Rose.

_Advisory Committee_--Gen. D. H. Maury, Gen. Daniel Ruggles, Gen. C.

L. Stevenson, Col. R. S. Chew, Col. C. M. Braxton, Col. W. W.

Fontaine, Major George Freaner, Major Chas. S. Green,[65] Capt. C. T.

Goolrick, Capt. W. R. Mason,[65] Rev. M. Maury, Rev. T. W. Gilmer, Rev. Patrick Donelan, Rev. W. H. Williams, Rev. F. C. Tebbs, Mayor M.

Slaughter, Judge R. C. L. Moncure,[66] A. A. Little, J. H. Kelly, Judge R. H. Coleman, John L. Marye, Jr., John E. Tackett, D. H.

Gordon, W. P. Conway, J. L. Stansbury, Ab. P. Rowe, James B. Sener, W.

K. Howard.”

In response to the appeal of the a.s.sociation, liberal contributions were received from all the Southern States, with which the ground was purchased, the present, cemetery laid out and the remains of all the Confederate dead, who were killed and buried throughout this community, gathered together, transferred to the cemetery and the graves marked with cedar posts. These posts were removed a few years afterwards and marble headstones took their places. The next work of the a.s.sociation was to raise money for a monument to be placed in the center of the cemetery, and, as in their other patriotic work, the appeal was not in vain. The necessary amount was raised and the monument was erected and dedicated.

Mr. Leyburn, of Lexington, Va., contractor; Mr. Ca.s.sell, of Baltimore, architect. The stone used is gray granite and was taken from the farm of Mrs. Mary Downman, in Spotsylvania county. The monument contains inscriptions as follows:

On the east side--S. Carolina, Virginia, N. Carolina.

On the north side--Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas.

On the west side--Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas.

On the south side--Georgia, Florida, Alabama.

The monument stands on a mound about five feet high, and is five feet and six inches high without the statue. With the statue it is twenty feet in height. On the west side, cut in the granite, are muskets; on the south side, a castle with battlements; on the north side, sabres; on the east side, cannon and the inscription ”To the Confederate Dead.” On each corner of the monument is a column of red granite, with gray granite plynth and base. The corner-stone was laid on the 4th of June, 1874, by Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4, A. F. & A. M., Grand Master Wm. H. Lambert presiding, and was completed and unveiled on Memorial Day, June 9, 1884.

The statue of a Confederate soldier, at dress parade, which crowns the apex, is of bronze, and was manufactured by the Monumental Bridge Company, of Bridgeport, Conn. It was ordered through Mr. George T. Downing and placed in position by him.

THE NATIONAL CEMETERY.

The National Cemetery, in which were gathered and interred the Union soldiers who died in camp and were killed in the various battles in and around Fredericksburg, was commenced in 1865, soon after the close of the war. It is located on Willis's Hill, about half a mile south of the town.

It is on the range of hills known in the war histories and correspondents as Marye's Heights, which overlooks the beautiful valley of the Rappahannock and affords a fine view of Fredericksburg and the surrounding country. It afforded a splendid location for the Confederate artillery at both battles of Fredericksburg, which did such fearful execution as the Union troops were advancing on General Lee's position.

The remains of the Union soldiers were taken from their temporary graves and conveyed to the cemetery by a ”burial corps,” consisting of a large detail of Federal soldiers and a few veterans employed by the superintendent. The work was continued for three or four years, and it was thought that all the dead had been cared for, but even now remains of soldiers are sometimes found in different places and turned over to the superintendent for interment. The Fredericksburg cemetery is not the largest in area in the United States, but it has a larger number of interments in it than any other in the country. Up to the present time the interments number 15,294, of these 2,496 are known and their names, regiments and State are registered in a book in the superintendent's office, and 12,798 are unknown. The superintendent of the cemetery is Major M. M. Jefferys, and under his management it is kept in good condition.

The superintendent has a ”lodge” or residence near the cemetery gate, constructed of stone. It is made of the stone taken from the historical stone wall, behind which the Confederates were stationed when they successfully resisted the many gallant charges of General Hanc.o.c.k's men on the 13th of December, 1862. Several years ago the government constructed a Macadamized road from the railroad depot to the cemetery, making it a pleasant drive to that ”city of the dead,” and it is visited by numbers of persons, both citizens and strangers. In 1901 Gen. Daniel b.u.t.terfield erected a beautiful monument in the cemetery to the valor of the Fifth Army Corps, which he commanded, at a cost of $11,000.

MAURY CAMP OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS.