Augusta County: "The Approaching Unveiling of Jackson's Statue. Who Will Speak and Who Will be Present-Preparations for the Event.," by Unknown, July 8, 1891
Summary: This is an article about the upcoming unveiling of the Stonewall Jackson statue in Lexington, Virginia, full of praise for the general and his fellow Confederates and Virginians. This is a great example of the adulation for Stonewall Jackson that gripped the Lost Cause ideology, the South, and even the nation--and in this case, Augusta County--in the late nineteenth century.
Tuesday, July 21st, less than three weeks from this time, the heroic bronze statue of Gen. Stonewall Jackson will be unveiled above the vault, in which his remains now lie, in the Lexington Cemetery. Every effort is now being put forth by the friends and admirers of the great soldier here and elsewhere, to make the occasion a fitting testimonial of the appreciation by his people of his great achievements as well as spotless private life. The affection and admiration in which his memory is held, and the fine railroad facilities of which the town is possessed, will unite to cause such a gathering of old Confederate veterans and friends here as will not probably take place again on Virginia's soil.
The full details of the program have not as yet been determined.
This much is known. Gen. Jubal A. Early will on that day deliver an address upon Jackson as a Soldier. This address will be delivered at eleven o'clock from a platform in the grounds of Washington and Lee University. Gen. Wade Hampton will preside, and among the distinguished surviving Confederates who have signified an expectation of being present are Gen. Beauregard, Gen. John B. Gordon, Gen. Rosser, Gen. W. H. Payne. The procession will be formed on the University grounds, whence it will proceed down Henry street to Main street and up that street to the cemetery, where the Statue will be unveiled. A general's salute of seventeen guns will then be fired by veterans of the Rockbridge artillery with the same cannon with which they won enduring fame at First Manassas.
Gen. James A. Wallker, the only surviving commander of Jackson's brigade, will be chief marshal of the procession. He will arrive here on Saturday, the 18th, and will then select his aids. The veterans of the Stonewall Brigade, 500 strong, will head the procession, and leading them will be the old Stonewall Brigade band. In the line will be the R. E. Lee Camp of Confederate veterans of Richmond, and with them veterans from New Orleans, about 175 strong; the Stonewall Camp of Confederate Veterans of Winchester, 150; Confederate Veterans' organization from Baltimore, 400 strong; Confederate Veterans' Camp from Salisbury, N. C., 200 strong; Rockbridge Artillery, 75; Clark County Cavalry, 57, and other veteran organizations, and visiting soldiers who will be present. Following these will come the volunteer soldiers. Among those who will certainly be present are the Second Virginia regiment, Col. J. A. Nulton, of Winchester, commanding, about 300 men.
THE DECORATION OF THE TOWN.
The work of decoration has been placed in charge
of a committiee of which Mr. E. L. Graham is
chairman. The committee held its first meeting on Monday afternoon in the
Franklin Hall and outlined its work, which consists in decorating public places
about the town. Most of them are places with which General Jackson was more or
less intimately associated when a citizen of Lexington. The places selected are
the old Jackson mansion house on Washington street, the Presbyterian lecture
room, the Institute, the University Chapel, the Court House and the Franklin
Hall. Arches will also be placed on prominent points of the streets through
which the procession is to pass.
Bibliographic Information: Source copy consulted: Staunton Spectator, July 8th, 1891
