E 483 .5 .fl73 Copy 1 VN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF Anne Bachman Hyde AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT ®ngtn, ©biprts anh Purpnafs ISSUED BY Ms i — ©rtgitt, ©ht^rtB atti f urpnsps BY Anne Bachman Hyde The association known as The United Daughters of the Confederacy is a distinctive body composed of organizations in many States, known as Divisions, which take their name from the State or Territory in which they are located. The divisions are composed of chapters in the various towns and cities. The first chapter to be or- ganized in any State is known as the charter chapter. The United Daughters of the Confederacy is unique among women's organizations, in that, while it may have a friendly affiliation with other societies, the objects and purposes are such that it cannot federate with any other body. These objects are social, benevo- lent, educational, historical and memorial, and will be treated of in their respective order. Beginning with the dark days of the war between the States, Southern women, by a common impulse, associated themselves together for the purpose of caring for wounded soldiers, for securing hospital sup- plies, and in many instances, assisted by faithful slaves, in burying the dead. After the war was over memo- rial associations were formed in the various Southern States for providing a last resting place for the many Confederate dead scattered throughout the countr3\ and, whenever possible, each State gathered together her own, placing them in separate cemeteries and erecting^ monuments to them. 'to In other instances where it was not possible to bring them home, the women collected money to assist in building a general monument such as the Pyramid in Hollywood, in Richmond, where lie buried 16,000 Confederate dead, representing every Southern State, many of them marked ''Unknown," the saddest epi- taph ever carved above a soldier's grave. The work of these memorial associations is so great that a separate article will have to record their labors. But many of them, by a natural process, after the formation of the federation known as "Confederate Vet- erans," became "The Daughters of the Confederacy," and these were formally organized into a body known as "The United Daughters of the Confederacy," on September 10, 1894 at Nashville, Tenn., and Mrs. M. C. Goodlett, of that city is recognized as the founder of the organization and so called. However, the same idea seems to have been fos- tered in other minds, just as memorial day came into existence in many Southern towns at the same time, and the first constitution and by-laws were drawn up by Mrs. L. H. Raines, of Savannah, Georgia, and she also suggested that the various associations of Confed- erate women should adopt one name and one badge. The organization was at first called ''National Daughters of the Confederacy," but as it was at that time too limited in its scope for such a title, it became "The United Daughters of the Confederacy," popularly known as U. D. C, and its conventions held annually, are known as General Conventions. The badge adopted by the U. D. C. is of gold and consists of the flag of the Confederacy, known as the "Stars and Bars" surrounded by a wreath of laurel with the letters U. D. C. under its folds, and on the loop of the ribbon beneath it the years 61-65, and to honor its significance, it is forbidden to make it into hat pins or other ornaments. The emblem of the U. D. C. represents a full cotton boll, suggestive of the wealth of the South before the war, placed against a large star, on the five points of which are engraved the words "dare, think, pray, live, love." The seal of the U. D. C. consists of a reproduc- tion of the great seal of the Confederacy, with the addition of the inscription : "The United Daughters of the Confederacy," on the outer rim. The great seal was designed and made by Joseph Wyon of London in 1864 for James M. Mason, and was the symbolical emblem of the sovereignty of the Confederacy and the ' motto of the seal was "Deo Vindice." The first convention of the U. D. C. was held in Nashville, Tenn., November, 1895, and there were only five States represented. At the fourth convention, which met in Baltimore, 1897, the Grand Division of Confederate Women in Virginia, came into the organization as one body, a movement which had long been contemplated, but re- tarded on account of some technicalities. The women of St. Louis had organized as "Daughters of Confederacy of Missouri," in 1890, and maintained themselves as a separate organization until the U. D. C. met at Hot Springs, Arkansas, 1898, when in a generous manner they relinquished their separate association and came into the general body. So materially aided by these two great States the organization has made steady progress. At the convention which met in Richmond, Va., 1899, resolutions were passed adopting the name ''War Between the States," to describe the great struggle of '61-65 and "The Confederate Veteran," published at Nashville, Tenn., recognized as the official organ. There are now chapters in 33 States and Terri- tories and in the District of Columbia and the Republic of Mexico, so it may yet come to pass that the organ- ization will be national and perhaps international. The U. D. C. has met twice in the State of Ark- ansas ; at Hot Springs in 1898, and the 17th General Convention was held at Little Rock, November, 1910. The Eighteenth Convention will meet in Rich- mond, Va., November, 191 1. The general conventions of the U. D. C. have been held annually as follows : Organized — Nashville, Tenn., September 10, 1894; Mrs. M. C. Goodlett, presiding. First Convention — Nashville, Tenn., March 30, 1895 j Mrs. M. C. Goodlett, President, presiding. Second Convention — Atlanta, Ga., November 8, 1895; Mrs. M. C. Goodlett, President, presiding. Third Convention — Nashville, Tenn., November II, 1896; Mrs. John C. Brown, President, resigned; Mrs. T. H. Raines, First Vice-President, presiding. Fourth Convention — Baltimore, Md., November 10-12, 1897; Mrs. Fitzhugh Tee, President, absent; Mrs. D. Giraud Wright, First Vice-President, presid- ing. Fifth Convention — Hot Springs, Ark., November 9-12, 1898; Mrs. Katie Cabell Currie, President, pre- siding. Sixth Convention — Richmond, Va., November 8- II, 1899; Mrs. Katie Cabell Currie, President, pre- siding. Seventh Convention — Montgomery, Ala., Novem- ber 14-17, 1900; Mrs. Edwin G. Weed, President, pre- siding. Eighth Convention — Wihnington, N. C, Novem- ber 13-16, 1901 ; Mrs. Edwin G. Weed, President, pre- siding. Ninth Convention — New Orleans, La., November 12-15, 1902; Mrs. James A. Romisaville, President, presiding. Tenth Convention — Charleston, S. C, November 11-14, 1903; Mrs. James A. Romisaville, President, presiding. Eleventh Convention — St. Louis, Mo., October 4- 8, 1904; Mrs. Augustine T. Smythe, President, pre- siding. Thirteenth Convention — Gulfport, Miss., Novem- ber 14-17, 1906; Mrs. Lizzie G. Henderson, President, presiding. Fourteenth Convention — Norfolk, Va., November 13-16, 1907; Mrs. Lizzie G. Henderson, President, presiding. Fifteenth Convention — Atlanta, Ga., November 11-14, 1908; Mrs. Cornelia Branch Stone, President, presiding. Sixteenth Convention — Houston, Tex., October 19-22, 1909; Mrs. Cornelia Branch Stone, President, presiding. Seventeenth Convention — Little Rock, Ark., No- vember 8-12, 1910; Mrs. Virginia Faulkner McSherry, President, presiding. ®I|? (Btnnvil WffxttvB 0f tl^B 1. i. (H. nxt as foUfltUS: Mrs. Virginia Faulkner McSherry, Martinsburg, W. Va. President General. Mrs. L. C. Hall Dardanelle, Ark. First Vice President General. Mrs. Mary E. Bryan 1619 LaBranch St., Houston, Tex. Second Vice President General. Mrs. Thos. T. Stevens 450 Luckie St., Atlanta, Ga. Third Vice President General. Mrs. Roy Weaks McKinney Drawer 490, Paducah, Ky. Recording Secretary General. Mrs. Katie Childress Schnabel, Box 1654, New Orleans, La. Corresponding Secretary General. Mrs. C. B. Tate Pulaski, Va. Treasurer General. Mrs. James B. Gantt Jefferson City, Mo. Registrar General. Mrs. J. Enders Robinson 113 Third St., South Richmond,. Va. Historian General. Mrs. L. H. Raines. . . .908 Duffy St., E. Savannah, Ga. Custodian of Cross of Honor. Mrs. Frank Anthony Walke Norfolk, Va. Custodian Flags and Pennants. Mrs. M. C. Goodlett Nashville, Tenn. Honorary President and Founder. Mrs. Stonewall Jackson .Charlotte, N. C. Honorary President. Mrs. William Pritchard San Francisco, Cal. Honorary President. Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton Huntsville, Ala. Honorary President. Mrs. L. H. Raines Savannah, Ga. Honorary President. Mrs. John H. Reagan Palestine, Tex. Honorary President. Mrs. John S. Williams ]\It. Sterling, Ky. Honorary President. Mrs. Magnus S. Thompson. .North Chevy Chase, Mel Honorary President. Mrs. Sarah D. Eggleston Raymond, Miss. Honorary President. Mrs. C. Helen Plane Atlanta, Ga. Honorary President. 10 Mrs. Norman V. Randolph Richmond, Va. Honorary President. Mrs. John W. Tench Gainesville, Fla. Honorary President. Mrs. Daisy Hampton Tucker Washington, D. C. Honorary President. Mrs. John B. Richardson New Orleans, La. Honorary President. *Mrs. S. E. Gabbett .Atlanta, Ga. These officers are elected to serve one year and until their successors shall be duly elected and quali- fied. The number of honorary presidents, exclusive of the honorary president general, are limited to fourteen at any one time, all of whom shall be elected for life. The office of honorary .president general, is to re- main vacant as a memorial to Mrs. Jefferson Davis, wife of the only president of the Southern Confeder- acy. The constitution requires the annual observance of the birthday of Jefferson Davis, President of the Con- federate States (June 3), and that of Robert E. Lee, Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate army (Janu- ary 19) , and provides that each State may choose her "^Died in Atlanta, July, 191 1. 11 own memorial day and show that it is just patriotism, when "We, the dying pause To honor those who live." As an organization, the U. D. C. deprecates the use of the phrase, ''The Lost Cause," feeling that a cause may be defeated, but not lost, and that a prin- ciple which was just and true cannot die and thus you will read upon many a soldier's tomb : "There is no holier spot of ground Than where defeated valor lies." The U. D. C. requests that all divisions and chap- ters when marking graves of Confederate soldiers shall place just after their name and regiment the let- ters "C. S. A." The United States Government has generously done this when marking the graves of the Confederate soldiers it transferred to Arlington. \ '^. iEltgthtlttti The constitution provides that those women are entitled to membership who are the widows, wives, mothers, sisters and nieces and lineal descendants of such men as served honorably in the Confederate army, navy or civil service ; or of those men, unfit for active duty, who loyally gave aid to the cause. Also 'Southern women who can give proof of per- ,sonal service or loyal aid to the Southern cause during 12 the jkvar ; and the lineal descendants or nieces of sucli women wherever living. The whole membership is based on Confederate blood, the one exception being a Northern woman who marries a Confederate veteran, and as the President General so well puts it : "This exception is specifically provided for in the constitu- tion, and is based on the principle, 'they twain shall be one flesh.' " An important change was made in the constitution at the Little Rock Convention in the eligibility clause, eliminating "grand-nieces" and extending it no farther than nieces and lineal descendants of such men as hon- orably served in the Confederate army, navy or civil service. This does not debar any women of Confederate lineage wdiere such lineage can he traced through a loyal mother, grandmother or great-grandmother, as well as collaterallv from a 2Teat uncle. fe' The Arkansas Division ^f the ll/l). C. \' gania^d at Hat Springs, Ootober 11/1897, wjm eight s or- The Charter Chapter of Arkansas, located at Hope, was organized in March, 1896. A State division was organized October 20, 1896 with Mrs. C. A. Forney, President. The Memorial Chapter of Little Rock grew out of the Memorial Aid Association, which was formed in 1889 and was chartered as a chapter of the U. D. C. April 1896, and is now the largest chapter in the State. 13 Through the careful efforts of this chapter, a burial place has been secured for the Confederate dead, their bodies removed to it and their graves marked. A handsome speakers' stand has been erected and a stone wall surrounds the cemetery. The J. M. Keller Chapter was organized in 1901 by Mrs. S. S. Wassell and through the instrumentality of this chapter, the annex for aged women was added to the Confederate Soldiers Home and they have re- cently unveiled a boulder, marked as a memorial to the Confederate women of Arkansas, in the grounds of the old State House. At the Little Rock Convention, the U. D. C. in- dorsed the action of the Arkansas Division in its effort to preserve the old State House of Arkansas in which the Ordinance of Secession was enacted and around which clusters the history of the State since 1836. A flourishing chapter called Margaret Rose has recently been formed, and the latest organ- ization is the chapter called the Gen. T. J. Churchill, in honor of one of the great sons of Arkansas, and the hero of Arkansas Post against overwhelming odds. m\ntB of ib^ 1. i. (H. I. Social. When Harry McCarthy wrote : "We are a band of brothers and native to the soil," he described in one line the homogeneity of the South. 14 1^ wmy'':\-:\i [Arkansas Confederate Monument. State Capitol Grounds. In a sense all southern people were related, or about to be related, for they often married their cousin, or their cousin's cousin, until one had almost as many relatives by courtesy as by consanguinity. Under given circumstances, southern people feel alike, think alike, act alike and all who were "born and raised in the brier patch" understand the language of Brer Rabbit without an interpreter. With such characteristics, there is a natural coa- lescence of women of the South already united by ties of affection, and love of a common cause, and they find a mutual inspiration in each other's presence and coun- sels for its perpetuation. 2. Benevolent. An important feature of the active work of the U. D. C. has been the care of the Confederate veteran, and one is touched by the practical action of that Louisiana Memorial Association, which as soon as the 'Xadies' Aid" of war times, was disbanded resolved itself into an organization to provide artificial limbs for disabled soldiers. Every true Southern man went into the service or had to give a reason why. The women had their flag presentations in the spirit of the Spartan mother's injunction "with your shield — or upon it," and the men who returned at all came wounded, disabled or half starved, and a horse, with which to begin ploughing was worth a kingdom, and there was such a literal fulfillment of scripture that the side arms generously allowed them became household implements. The father of the home in which we were reared was a college graduate and an officer of the Confeder- ate cavalry, but his sabre was ground down to be used as the family carving knife, his army blanket was an essential part of the household goods and his gray uniform in which he was married, while a prisoner on parole after Vicksburg, was made into a cloak which was handed down to several children and now rests in the Confederate museum at Richmond. This is but an illustration of the general poverty. There were no pensions for Confederate soldiers. Many were never able to recuperate and gain a liveli- hood. Nearly all the States now provide a home for the veterans and a small annuity is allowed, but the U. D. C. has a general oversight of them, gladden their hearts by holiday celebrations, frequently provide the means for them to attend the reunions, and see that they are buried with honors when they die. For a long time the Confederate veterans have dis- cussed rearing a splendid monument to the Confeder- ate women, but it has become the general sentiment among the United Daughters of the Confederacy that they do not care for such a monument until a home can be provided for the aged and needy women. Such homes already exist in several States, but the idea, suggested by Mrs. Helen Plane of Georgia, 18 of one general home in some large city is under thoughtful consideration and at the Little Rock Con- vention, a relief committee was appointed to investi- gate, and relieve as far as possible, the immediate needs of aged Confederate vv^omen until the U. D. C. Home is built. 3. Educational. Through this department of its work, the U. D. C. is looking far ahead and endeavoring to "Reach a hand thro' time to catch The far-off interest of tears" — by providing that the descendants of those men who gave all for their country, shall 'have the privilege of a liberal education and be fitted to take part in the great future which lies before our nation. The Educational Committee under the able super- vision of Miss Poppenheim, of South Carolina, has made wonderful progress and now reports that the U. D. C. dispenses seven general scholarships, valued at $1,020.00 and counting all the States, there are 153 scholarships valued at $10,088.00. No one is eligible to these scholarships who is not a descendant of a Confederate veteran. Arkansas has four scholarships at her disposal, and the son of a Confederate veteran has availed him- self of one at the University of Arkansas. 4. Historical. As an association, the U. D. C. seeks to collect and preserve the material for a true history of the war 19 between the States, to protect and preserve historical places of the Confederacy and to write in a book of remembrance the narrative of the deeds of valor of those men "Whom power could not corrupt, Whom death could not terrify, Whom defeat could not dishonor, And let their virtues plead, For just judgment. Of the cause in which they perished." And of those women, who with sublime devotion, endured as seeing the invisible, and who when all was over, amid the wreck and ruin of happy homes, met with smiles the ragged remnant of a great army, know- ing that they were companions of heroes. It is due to the efforts of the U. D. C. that many objectionable terms have been removed from text books, that modern historians have corrected false statements, particularly with regard to the character of Jefferson Davis ; removing at last from his name the stigma of ''traitor" with the evidence that while a student at West Point he was taught the doctrine of supreme allegiance to the State; that a calmer esti- mate of the life of Robert E. Lee permits his statue to stand beside that of Washington in the National Capitol, and it is their hope that the time will come when the nation will, with impartial favor, as did Greece when mourning her dead, erect monuments to the valor of her sons whether they wore the Blue or the Gray. 20 DAVID OWEN DODD. The Boy Martyr of Arkansas. The United Daughters of the Confederacy have placed memorial windows in the Con- federate musemTi in old Blandford Church, in St. Paul's at Richmond, in the Church of the Re- deemer at Biloxi, they have folded the wings of the *'Angel of Grief" in marble above the Daughter of the Confederacy, Winnie Davis, they have placed Sam Davis of Tennessee, and David Owen Dodd of Arkan- sas with Nathan Hale, making a triumvirate of heroic youth for the young American to admire "and whose deeds some poet of the future will incorporate in a 'Xyra Heroica." They have given testimony to the faithfulness of slaves, without whose protecting care the helpless women and children could not have survived the hor- rors of civil strife. They have told of Southern war- riors w'lio fell at Chickamauga and the Bloody Angle and Seven Pines and Malvern Hill and Shiloh with such desperate fighting that the Confederacy lost the largest percentage of soldiers in modern warfare. They have written of the endurance of Southern gentlemen at Vicksburg who lay in vermin-infested trenches and could subsist upon a handful of peas and a portion of mule meat a day and maintain their integ- rity ; of Southern poets who languished in prisons but sang of glory and not of shame. They have made known a civilization which could produce such a type as Robert E. Lee and send out, almost from its nurseries, such boy heroes as the Vir- ginia cadets, "Little Giffen of Tennessee" and the Four Color Bearers of South Carolina, and all the world has marveled. 23 It is a commonplace observation that the war was inevitable when two nations strove for a principle — the righteousness of one appearing as an iniquity to the other, and the Virginia poet voices this thought when he writes : In the future some historian shall come forth strong and wise, With a love of the republic and the truth before his eyes ; He will show the subtle causes of the war between the States ; He will go back in his studies far beyond our modern dates ; He will trace out hostile ideas as a miner does his lodes ; He will show the different habits born of different social codes ; He will show the Union riven, and the picture will deplore ; He will show it reunited and made stronger than before. Slow and patient, fair and truthful must the coming teachers be To show how the knife was sharpened that was ground to prune the tree. He will hold the scales of justice, he will measure praise and blame, / And the South will stand the verdict, and stand it without shame, 24 The Southern soldier received no recompense of reward, and the feeHng that he deserved it crystalhzed in the suggestion of Mrs. Ann Cobb Erwin of Athens, Ga., that there should be bestowed upon him a Cross of Honor. At the convention which met in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1898, a committee was appointed to form- ulate plans, and at the Richmond convention in 1899, the design submitted by Mrs.' S. E. Gabbett of Atlanta was accepted. The cross is a small bronze emblem of no intrin- sic value, which the Daughters bestow upon veterans, soldiers or sailors, or they being dead, upon their widow or eldest lineal descendant. The rules and reg- ulations are very strict, and there must be positive proof of honorable service, but it differs from all other crosses in that it is not given for any one special act of bravery, but to officer and private alike — for endur- ance — and when this bit of bronze is placed upon a veteran's breast it means that he was faithful to the end and part of that army whom "Fate denied victory, but has crowned with a glorious immortality," and it means that he claims comradeship with Lee and Jackson and Stuart, and all the throng who came up out of great tribulation. These crosses are bestowed upon memorial day, June 3 or January 19, and one commemorative day between June i and January 19, as a State may select, and the ceremony is to be of befitting dignity. 25 T'he records of the veterans receiving the cross have been kept in a most careful manner by Mrs. L. H. Raines of Savannah, Georgia, and now fill three large books and will be deposited by Mrs. Raines in the Confederate Museum at Richmond at the next con- vention general. A recent recipient of the Cross of Honor was Judge Ben Lindsey of Denver, Colorado, whose father was on the staff of General Forrest. No one but the veteran can ever wear the cross ; if he is so unfortunate as to lose it, he may have it re- placed once; if lost the second time it cannot be re- placed, but he may be given a certificate stating that he has been awarded a cross. No descendant or widow can have a second cross and no more crosses will be bestowed after the year 19 1 2. It is estimated that nearly 60,000 crosses have been given. 5. Memorial. The primal purpose of the memorial associations was to give a sepulchre to their dead. The great battles were fought on Southern territory, and the spring si:n kisses to life violets that bloom upon the soil conse- crated by the blood of heroes. The dead lay where they fell ; sometimes they were gathered in trenches, some- times the dirt was loosely thrown above them and sometimes after a battle was over, the pitiful women crept out and with a devotion akin to that of Rizpah, 26 suffered neither the "birds of the air to rest upon them by day nor the ibeasts of the field by night," till strong- er hands could dig a grave. When the great struggle ceased, the men who were left had to go to hard work, there was no time to think or grieve, they were making history, not writ- ing it — and the dead lay where they fell. There were no cemeteries where Confederate dead could be buried, and there were no monuments to them. Timrod in his memorial ode refers to this tardy recognition, but with a prophetic prescience he sings: ''Somewhere waiting for its birth, The shaft is in the stone." And the women could not rest with the thought of their dead laid away with no word of prayer — a Vir- ginia woman who saw the bones of two Confederate soldiers ploughed up in a corn field, lay awake all night thinking of it. Stirred by these restless thoughts the women of the South cried, "Give us back our dead — we claim the right to put them in consecrated ground, or mark the spot where they fell !" Thus began that work which will not cease until every State and city and town records in marble and bronze the resting place of their heroes. By patient toil and many sacrifices monuments have arisen till hundreds of them show where the soldiers He ; the great leaders have all been remembered — Lee 27 and Jackson and Stuart and Davis and Hampton and others with features Hke as life, look down upon us and soon the great columns at Arlington and Shiloh will arise to bear witness of the devotion of women to heroism. ^ If all record of the Confederacy should disappear from literature the inscriptions on these monuments would tell the story, and if perchance the inscriptions should become obliterated, but those carven features should still be left future generations would know that the immortals once walked on earth as men. The United Daughters of the Confederacy are a practical body and engaged in much active philanthro- py, but the nature of their formation was such that much of their work deals with "Old unhappy far-off things And battles long ago." For the defeated can only claim memory as their portion. In the Corcoran Art Gallery hangs a wonderful picture by Detaille called ''The Passing Regiment." You see the soldiers on their winding way, you can hear the fife and drum, the brave earnest faces gaze upon you for a moment and then the regiment has passed. We have read and heard much of the thin gray line whose brave resistance changed history. 28 It is thinner today than ever before, the step is slower, the music of the band comes as a far-off strain through the pine trees. "The Girl I Left Behind Me," has become a white- haired woman, and we feel that in a few years the regiment will have passed and the last Confederate soldier will murmur: "Breathe us across the foam — It is o'er, the bitter strife, At last the father cometh to the home. The husband to the wife." But we who are left will know that they are not forgotten for the motto of our beloved organization is, "Love makes memory eternal." This monograph was originally prepared for the Re-union issue of the x\rkansas Gazette, May i6, 1911. The endeavor has been to narrate the chief events in the progress of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and where describing the badge, emblem, etc., or eligibility clause, to use the words of the Constitution. A. B. H. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS i mil mil I 013 707 036 4