Daughters of the Confederacy

Confederate Veteran
Volume10, Number 1, Page 9-11
January 1902

Conducted by Nancy Lewis Green.

The heart is uplifted with hopes of good gifts in the hands of the new born year, and the mistakes of the past serve as stepping stones to higher undertaking.

For the Daughters of the Confederacy I hope an especially pleasant and profitable future is in store. We have done and are doing noble work, and its sacredness should keep us from all danger of internal jealously and strife.

Standing on the threshold of 1902, let us drop the curtain completely upon any part of 1901 which tended to cause the least ill feeling or friction. Let us accept our world as a perfectly white and fresh one, to be filled only with what the good in us may dictate; then it will indeed be a Happy New Year to all!

TEXAS DIVISION U. D. C. IN CONVENTION

It has been said that Texas is a country of itself, so large is its territory and so individual a part has it always taken in American affairs; and if this be true generally, it is also true regarding its importance in U. D. C. work. The State convention held last month in San Antonio, covered so much in a business way, and has representation from so many large chapters, that it warrants almost as much space herein as if it had been a general convention.

No Division in the Union has more loyal hearts, more energetic workers, or truer patriots in the cause than that of Texas. It had the largest representation at the last General Convention, and when Miss Daffan, the State Secretary, read her report, its excellence and contents elicited the greatest enthusiasm.

The address of the President, Mrs. Cone Johnson, at the San Antonio Convention gave a clear insight into the State's importance in the following paragraph:

"At Wilmington, Texas led all the States in number and in good work. We had 159 votes, with Georgia 25,000 members, is now the largest organization of women in the United States, and Texas has 4,933 of these members."

Dallas is to have the next annual convention of the Confederate Veterans, and for this reason, also, interest centers upon Texas. The Daughters of the Confederacy discussed means of helping the city to extend a hospitable welcome to all visitors upon the occasion, feeling a personal pride in the success of the coming event.

SAN ANTONIO'S WELCOME.

The beautiful and hospitable city of San Antonio gave welcome to the U. D. C. at their sixth annual convention, with fair warm weather and bright skies, donning the red and white with hospitable intent and making elaborate preparations. Appropriate decorations adorned the interior of the church in which the sessions were held; bunting and greenery, palms and cut flowers adding beauty to the scene, and above all the flags—State and Confederate flags of rich hues and texture. The flag of Texas hung at its points with that of the Confederacy. A portrait of Gen. Barnard E. Bee, for whom the San Antonio Chapter was named, and who was killed at the battle of Mannassas, occupied a conspicuous place. Upon the wall hung another banner, tattered and old, made by Texas women and carried throughout the war by soldiers under Gen. Hamilton P. Bee. Across the flag of Texas hung the silken emblem of the Albert Sidney Johnston Camp, United Confederate Veterans and on each side flags of the Union. Right royally did the San Antonio women entertain the delegates. District Attorney Carlos Bee delivered an address of welcome, and Mrs. Lee Cotton, of the local chapter, responded.

One paragraph of her speech deals with the following important question: For what purpose do we meet and why this organization of the U. D. C.? She said: "This question if often asked even by our own people, and a moment's reflection would bring a ready answer. We have formed these organizations and hold annual meetings not to rebel at fate and stir up a feeling of bitterness and enmity, as some seem to think, but rather to keep alive that feeling of love for and loyalty to those who sacrificed everything for principle, and suffered untold hardships for a cause which they believed to be right; a cause which meant to them liberty, justice, honor, all! We meet to perpetuate the memory of brave and heroic deeds of those noble sons of the South, our ancestors. Were we to do less, we must surely have the scorn and derision of the civilized world, for although others may not have been in sympathy with us, they must admire and reverence the great generalship, heroism, and ennobling sacrifices made at the altar of principle. In defeat these gallant souls were heroes still, and shall remain so until history shall have recorded its last period of time. That we do honor to our fallen heroes, and care for and comfort those still spared us, does not make us the less good citizens, rather better, for if we are unjust and ungrateful to the one we will surely be to the other. Who responded more promptly and with more patriotic zeal to their country's call in our late war with Spain than the heroes of the South and their descendants? We all rejoice that we are once more a reunited country." Mrs. Cotton added: "Hospitality is the corner stone of Southern tradition. It is said that the latch springs of our doors hang ever out; we have taken our doors off their hinges this time, and receive you with open doors, open arms, and open hearts."

AN HOUR OF SADNESS.

The only cloud that shadowed the proceedings hung for a time over all when tender memorial services to the dead took place upon the second day. Honor was paid to the memory of Mrs. Benedette B. Tobin, the late State President, and of other loyal daughters who died during the year. Among those who paid tribute to the dead were Mrs. Hallie M. Dunkin, Mrs. Ella Hutchins Sydnor, Rev. John M. Moore, and Miss Dunovant, who delivered an original ode to the memory of Mrs. Tobin. Previous to this, several fine reports were read, among them the historian's able conception, dealing with the principles which actuated the South in its efforts to secede. Reasonable and logical, and sustained by the greatest Southern Statesmen were her arguments, which proved conclusively that the South acted within the Constitution and that force, not right, was the cause of defeat.

One of the most important actions of the business session was the selection for the next place of meeting. The Fort Worth delegation, under the leadership of Mrs. W. P. Lane and Miss M. K. Melton, gave a most gracious invitation indorsed by all the officials of that city which was chosen without a dissenting voice.

Mrs. Lane, the efficient registrar of the division, read a report which made a splendid showing for Texas in growth of the organization.

FOR CHICKAMAUGA PARK.

A letter from Judge W. C. Kroeger, of Company G., Terry's Texas Rangers, was read before the convention, which shows how much the veterans need the cooperation of the Daughters, and in which he stated: "The United States Government bought the territory on which the battles of Chickamauga, Chattanoga, and Mission Ridge were fought, and has dedicated the same to all future generations of the United States as a public park to be used by each State that furnished troops, to perpetuate the acts and deeds of their soldiers and to commemorate the heroism of their sons. The park was so dedicated in 1895. All the Northern and most of the Southern States have come up to the same level of those patriots who originated this movement to have a more cemented and better union of states. The different States had monuments erected on the spots on which their troops fought and suffered the most, had the battle lines surveyed and tablets erected where their sons fought and suffered and died. But our great and rich state of Texas, although she was represented on those sanguinary battlefields by six different commands—to-wit: Granbury's, Ector's, and Hood's brigades of Infantry, Ross's and Harris[on]'s brigade of cavalry, and Douglass's Battery, has done nothing to commemorate the heroic Texans who fell in those battles. Owing to no appropriations, our then Governor, C. A. Culbertson, appointed ten gentlemen as commissioners to represent this State, and he appointed such as could pay their own expenses.

Ex-Senator R. Q. Mills told me three years ago that he was present as one of the commissioners of the National Park and that he had some stakes driven, designating the lines where his brigade (Granbury's) fought the hardest and suffered the most.

Now, members of the Division of Texas, United Daughters of the Confederacy, this is not as it should be. The Texas subdivisions of the Army of Tennessee did their full duty. They crimsoned with their blood that hotly contested field of battle, and their heroism, devotion, and sacrifices should be recognized and appreciated by this and future generations of Texans.

I have personally and by writing appealed to your Legislature time and again, but to no avail. For this reason I come to you, my good Southern women, for help, and for you to undertake and to bring to a successful issue what I have failed to accomplish, and ask you to pass resolutions this year and next to request the next Legislature and all subsequent Legislatures to accomplish this result by appropriating sufficient funds to erect monuments where Ross's brigade fought, where Granbury and Douglass made that glorious charge on the noon of September 20, where Hood's Brigade broke the center of the enemy's lines, and where Harrison's Brigade started in the morning of the 19th; and, not only this, but that each of you personally appeal to each Senator and Legislator for this appropriation and such help as loyal Southerners should grant.["]

Mrs. A. V. Winkler moved that the division take up the work suggested by Judge Kroeger during the coming year, and the motion carried unanimously.

ANNUAL ELECTION OF OFFICERS.

Officers elected for the coming year were: President, Miss Adelia A. Dunovant, Houston; Vice Presidents, Mrs. Fannie J. Halbert, Corsicana; Mrs. A. R. Howard, Palestine; Mrs. W. R. Banks, Bryan; and Mrs. Mary J. Lane, Marshall; Secretary, Mrs. B. F. Eads, Marshall; Treasurer, Mrs. J. Mayrant Smith, Belton; Registrar, Miss Mollie Connor, Eagle Pass; Historian, Mrs. S. H. Watson, Waxahachie. Miss Dunovant and Mrs. Cone Johnson were both very popular and warmly-supported candidates for the Presidency. Miss Dunovant is one of the ablest women in the whole organization, logical and brainy, and full of ability. Mrs. Johnson, the retiring president, is popular and influential, and has been a faithful worker in the cause. An Austin paper says of her: "It is not generally known that it was chiefly through the noble work and fine executive ability of Mrs. Cone Johnson, of Tyler, State President of the Daughters of the Confederacy, that an appropriation of $10,000 was made by the second called session of the twenty-seventh legislature for the erection of a monument to Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. When it became apparent that the Governor would call a special session of the legislature, Mrs. Johnson went to work in a quiet way and wrote almost every newspaper in Texas for their support of the movement to secure an appropriation for the monument, and as it is well known, her efforts were rewarded with success."

Mrs. M. L. Hardy, of San Marcos, moved that a vote of sympathy be extended the editor of the CONFEDERATE VETERAN on the death of his noble son. Mrs. Winkler, of Corsicana, is devoting much time and energy to the Texas room in the Confederate museum at Richmond, for which she is State regent, being re-elected for six years at the annual meeting of the Confederate Memorial and Literary Society of Virginia. She presented an interesting report of her work. It included a list of the relics of the Confederacy to be placed in the Texas room at the museum. She also exhibited to the delegates a splendid design of the Gen. John B. Hood memorial window to be placed in the Texas room, and reported that Maj. Littlefield, of Austin, had offered to supply the money necessary to secure the Terry Ranger's window. It is now proposed to provide a window in memory of Dick Dowling and his men. This announcement was greeted with great applause. Mrs. Winkler urgently recommended that the division place a portrait of Mrs. Benedette B. Tobin in the Texas room. A subscription was started at once for this purpose, and the sum of sixty-seven dollars was subscribed in a few minutes.

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