Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1891 — THE CONFEDERATE DEAD. [ARTICLE]

THE CONFEDERATE DEAD.

A Monument to Their Memory Unveiled at '“Jackson, Miss, Five years of disinterested labor and effort on the part of the women of Mississippi culminated on June 3d in the formal unveiling of the monument to the Confederate dead of Mississippi. It was a big day for the ex-Confederates, their wives and sons and daughters. Every hill and dalo of Mississippi and every Southern State had its representation, some small and others large. Nor did the South alone participate in the jubilation of the day, for several Eastern and Western States were represented, lowa especially having a large contingent. The stars and stripes was carried at the head of every division and likewise floated * -v from the top of the Capitol; Side by side with themAYfiEe, carried many torn and tait"red-Confederate battle flags, which bore testimony of the bitter conflicts in which they had been borne. A baker's dozen ofbrass bands furnished marching music. Now it was the “Star Spangled Banner,’’ then “Yankee Doodle,” then “Dixie,” “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” “Maryland, My Maryland,” and other Confederate airs.

When the grand stand was reached the confederate divisions, preceded by the officers of the ladies’ association, took their position at the head of the column. The exercises were opened with a fervent invocation pronounced by Rev: Father F. A. Picherat, a distinguished Catholic priest of Vicksburg, and a confederate veteran who had served through the war as a chaplain. The monument, which up to this time had been draped in white muslin, was then formally unveiled, amidst prolonged applause, while the bands rendered “The Star Spangled Banner,” and "Dixie.” Senator E. C. Walthall, upon being introduced, was received with loud and prolonged applause. His oration upon “The Confederacy,” was a complete history of the war from inception to close. Governor Lowry followed with a brief oration on the life and character of Jefferson Davis, in the course of which he said that when partisanship had given place to sober reason and judgment, historians would accord the late president, of the confederate States a front rank among the great statesmen of his day, as well as of those«whO had preceded him. The total cost of the monument, is nearly 821,000.