fZlO 
 
P 210 
 .R98 
 Copy 2 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 Delivered by 
 Miss Mildred Lewis Rutherford 
 
 Athens, Ga., 
 
 HISTORIAN GENERAL 
 
 United Daughters of the 
 Confederacy 
 
 Historical Sins of Omission 
 and Commission 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, GAL. 
 
 Friday, Oct. 22, 1915 
 
 Civic Auditorium Hall 
 
hJCJO 
 
 Index and References /^^ ^' 
 
 1. Supremacy over France, pp. 3-5. ^^'^^ ^ 
 
 Bradley's "Fight with France for North America." 
 Woodrow Wilson's "History of the American People." 
 Horace Walpole, William Makepeace Thackeray, Samuel 
 White, (English History.) 
 
 2. Supremacy of America over Spain, pp. 5-7. 
 
 "The South in the Building of the Nation," Vol. IV. 
 "History of the United States," Matthew Page Andrews. 
 "Winning the Oregon Country," John T. Farris. 
 
 3. War of 1812, pp. 7-10. 
 
 The Divine Purpose of the War of 1812 — Frank Allaben. 
 
 (The Journal of American History.) 
 
 The South in the Building of a Nation. Vol. IV. 
 
 4. Romances of History, pp. 10-13. 
 
 "Land of Used-to-Be," Howard Meriwether Lovett. 
 'Revolutionary Reader," Sophie Lee Foster, Atlanta, Ga. 
 "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," Lucian 
 
 Knight. 
 "The South in the Building of a Nation. Vol. IX. 
 "On the Field of Honor," Annah Robinson Watson, Memphis, 
 
 Tenn. 
 Camp-Fire Stories — Marie Bankston, New Orleans, La. 
 
 5. Sumner-Brooks Controversy, pp. 14-15. 
 
 Congressional Records. 
 
 Speech by Howell Cobb on Sumner-Brooks Controversy. 
 
 The Washington Star, 1856. 
 
 Smyth's American Literature. 
 
 Richardson's American Literature. 
 
 British Encyclopoedia. 
 
 Origin of Late War — George Lunt, Boston, Mass. 
 
 6. Hampton Roads Conference, pp. 15-17. 
 
 Richmond Dispatch, 1856. 
 Confederate Veteran, Nashville, Tenn, 
 Historians: Alexander H. Stephens. 
 
 Francis Thorpe. 
 
 Peter Hamilton. 
 
 Edward Pollard. 
 Memoirs of Judge Reagan. 
 
 7. Monitor and Merrimac, pp. 18-21, 
 
 Scharff's Confederate Navy. 
 Historians: J. William Jones. 
 
 Matthew Page Andrews. 
 
 8. History of the Navy, pp. U-23. 
 
 Congressional Record! 
 Semmes Service Afloat. 
 Scharff's Confederate Navy. 
 
 9. Who Burned Columbia? pp. 23-25. 
 
 Autobic^aphy of Dr. Joseph LeConte. 
 
 Sherman!'^ Official Reports. 
 
 Capt. Nichols' Diary. 
 
 Semmes' "Cruise of the Sumter." 
 
 Sherman's Confession of 1875. 
 
 "The New York Tribune." 
 
 10. Reconstruction, pp. 2 5-29. 
 
 Address of Walter Henry Cook on Reconstruction. 
 
 Speech of Dan Voorhees on the "Plunder of Eleven States" — - 
 
 Congressional Records, 1872. 
 The Chicago Chronicle. 
 Charles Francis Adams — Speeches at Chicago and Charleston 
 
 in 1902. 
 
 11. Textbooks, pp. 29-35. 
 
 12. Tilings that Make for Peace, pp. S5-3 6. 
 
Historical Sins of Omission 
 and Commission. 
 
 At the Savannah Convention last year you will remember that 
 the WRONGS of history were stressed, and a hope expressed that 
 the OMISSIONS in history would be taken care of in future years. 
 
 Your Historian realizes, however, that more textbooks of 
 V. American history are being written today than ever before, 
 
 and that it behooves us of the South to demand that the his- 
 torical sins of omission shall be noted now, as well as the sins 
 of commission. Especially is this important as it is earnestly 
 hoped that the Chairman of the Textbook Committee, with sub- 
 committees in every State, will examine all textbooks, not only 
 of American history, but American literature, as well as the 
 geographies and readers for primary and academic grades used 
 in our Southern schools; and, also inquire into texts used 
 in the colleges in the North to which our Southern girls and 
 boys are being sent. This is not with the expectation, or hope 
 even, of having all of these textbooks changed, but simply to 
 publicly note the injustices therein contained, as many teachers 
 using these books are not themselves conscious that they are 
 imjust, and some one must tell them about it. 
 
 Supremacy over France. I have been a student of history 
 and literature for many years, yet I must confess that it came 
 to me as a real surprise, while in London a few years ago, to 
 learn that to a Southern man is due the English supremacy over 
 the French in Nortli America today. 
 
 Horace Walpole said: "A volley fired at Great Meadows in 
 1754 by a yoimg American from the backwoods of Virginia set 
 the whole world" on fire. Not only England and France were 
 affected by it, but eveiy country in Europe was touched, and it 
 settled forever the supremacy of the English over the French 
 on America's soil." 
 
 William Makepeace Thackeray even went further than this. 
 He said : "It is strange that m a savage forest a young Virginia 
 officer should fire a shot and wake up a war which was to last 
 sixty years and cost France all of her American colonies, and 
 sever all of ours from us, and indeed create a great Western 
 Republic," and later added that "George Washington w^as the 
 most conspicuous character in American history." 
 
 Samuel White, another English writer, said: "In the wilds 
 
of America was raised a hero that eclipsed the glory of the 
 Alexanders of Greece, the Caesars of Rome, and the Hampdens 
 of Britain." 
 
 Bradley, in his "Fight with France for North America," 
 published by Constable & Co., London, gives a full account of 
 this event in history and the results which followed the battle 
 of Great Meadows. 
 
 Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, in 1754 learned that the 
 French were encroaching upon Virginia's territory along the 
 Ohio River. He sent George Washington, of Fredericksburg, 
 Va., to demand that the French withdraw their forces. They 
 refused, and Washington was then sent to force them. He sur- 
 prised them at Great Meadows, killed their leader, Jumonville, 
 and captured all of his men. Upon Jumonville 's body were 
 found important papers which caused England and France to 
 take definite action. 
 
 This battle of Great Meadows was in reality only a skirmish. 
 but see the results. Fort Duquesne fell, Niagara and Ticon- 
 deroga were taken, the Acadians were driven from Nova Scotia, 
 Lake George was cleared. Crown Point strengthened, Montcalm 
 defeated at Quebec, Montreal fell, and the Peace of Paris signed 
 in 1763. 
 
 What did the English gain? Canada, Nova Scotia, Cape 
 Breton Island, the islands in the St. Lawrence, the river and 
 harbor of Mobile, all disputed territory between the Alleghanies 
 and the Mississippi, and free navigation of the Mississippi River 
 — and that volley was fired by our George Washington of 
 Virginia. 
 
 I certainly call this one of the historical sins of omission. 
 Why? Because our American historians give this credit to an 
 Englishman, Wolfe, at the Heights of Abraham. 
 
 Parkman says, ''The victory of Wolfe marks an epoch than 
 which none is more fruitful of grand results." 
 
 Knox says, "The victory of Wolfe was the most important 
 event in modern history." 
 
 Fiske says, "The victory of Wolfe marks the greatest turn- 
 ing point as yet discovered in modern history." 
 
 Jones, in the History of North America, certainly gives Wash- 
 ington no credit. Nor do Dinwiddie, Ridpath, Hale, Barnes 
 and others. 
 
 Even Green says, "With the triumph of Wolfe on the Heights 
 of Abraham began the history of the United States." 
 
Of all American histories that I have examined, "Woodrow 
 "Wilson in his "History of the American People," is the only 
 one who gives the credit to George Washington, and Mr. "Wilson, 
 too, must have gone to English sources. 
 
 It was another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, who secured the 
 Louisiana Purchase from the French. What was gained by that 
 transaction? All the territory from the Gulf of Mexico on the 
 south, and the Mississippi River on the east, to the Rocky Moun- 
 tains on the west. The ''Father of Waters" was left to flow 
 unhindered to the sea. 
 
 Just here is an opportunity to pay tribute where tribute is 
 due. It was a Northern man, not a Southern man, Robert R. 
 Livingston, of New York, with James Monroe, of "Virginia, who 
 manipulated this Louisiana Purchase with Talleyrand in France, 
 and made it possible for Thomas Jefferson to complete it. 
 
 Supremacy over Spain. Still another historical sin of omis- 
 sion that must not be overlooked. How did we gain supremacy 
 over Spain in North America if not through Southern statesmen ? 
 The first permanent settlements were of course by the Spaniards ; 
 the second were by the French, and the third by the English. 
 Therefore to Spain belongs the credit of the oldest city in the 
 United States, St. Augustine in Florida, the oldest church in 
 Pensacola, Florida, and the oldest house in the United States 
 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 
 
 The Spaniards in Florida became verj'- troublesome to the 
 Carolinas and to Georgia in Colonial days. Finally, in 1742, 
 and that was much earlier than the Battle of Great Meadows, 
 they determined to take possession of all of the land on the east- 
 em shore from the boundary of Florida on the south to the St. 
 Lawrence River on the north, from sea to sea, which included 
 all land claimed by the thirteen colonies. Their plan was to 
 conquer colony by colony, and this would not have been difficult, 
 and the colonists knew it, for they were weak in military strength, 
 and also weakened constantly by repeated attacks from tlie In- 
 dians. So with fifty-six vessels well-armed and well-provisioned, 
 and 5,000 well-equipped men the Spaniards started out with a 
 feeling of absolute victory. The "Baby Colony," Georgia, was 
 nearest and weakest. The first attack was at Frederica on St. 
 Simon's Island. 
 
 Oglethorpe had only two poorly armed and provisioned ships, 
 but he had 682 brave Georgians and they taught the Spaniards 
 a lesson that day at Bloody Marsh which they never forgot. 
 
These Georgians trailed in the dust the Spanish flag for the 
 first time on America's soil, and never again did Spain trouble 
 the colonies along the eastern shores. To James Oglethorpe, 
 Noble Jones, and two brave Scotch Highlanders, Sutherland and 
 Mackay, is due the credit of this victory. Bloody Marsh is one 
 of the decisive battles of modern history, for it unquestionably 
 turned back the tide of Spanish invasion and gave the Anglo- 
 Saxon race supremacy in North America, With what result? 
 The United States of America — for, but for that victory there 
 would possibly have been no colonies to declare their independ- 
 ence. Yet we find that battle but slightly noticed outside of 
 the local history of the State. 
 
 Then the Treaty at Coleraine in 1796, secured through Gov- 
 ernor James Jackson of Georgia, all of the territory now in- 
 cluded in Alabama and Mississippi, from Spanish rule. Think 
 what Alabama and Mississippi mean to us ! 
 
 The Mexican Cession by Nicholas Trist of Virginia in 1848, 
 and the Gadsden Purchase by James Gadsden of South Carolina 
 in 1853 included more land than was in the Louisiana Purchase. 
 It extended from the Rockies to the Golden Gate and opened up 
 all of the Pacific Coast. We who are here this evening truly 
 rejoice that it is not a part of Mexico today. 
 
 Then Oregon was added to the United States under a South- 
 ern President, James K. Polk. What was secured? A tract of 
 land 300,000 square miles in extent, including Idaho, Oregon, 
 Washington, parts of Montana and Wyoming, and the Puget 
 Sound. Think of all that the Puget Sound has meant to us 
 in Oriental trade! Here again we must do justice. It was Dr. 
 Marcus Whitman, a Presbyterian missionary from one of the 
 Northern States who travelled 3,500 miles to intercede with 
 President Polk, and that, possibly, was the strongest influence 
 in bringing about this purchase. 
 
 Canada would undoubtedly have been annexed to the United 
 States in 1812 had it not been for New England opposition. 
 
 You may ask, why were Southern men most interested in terri- 
 torial expansion? Northern historians will tell you it was for 
 slavery extension only, but the slave-holders of the South never 
 dreamed of putting their slaves in deserts and ice-bound lands, 
 free or not free. They knew they could not stand a cold climate. 
 The truth is they had caught the vision that materialized in the 
 Monroe Doctrine that unless Americans should secure America 
 for Americans only, they would be like Europe is today made 
 
up of small monarchies and republics of all sorts of nationalities. 
 
 Northern statesmen did not see any commercial advantage in 
 taking care of such "wastes of land." Daniel Webster, the 
 greatest of their statesmen, and we may add one of the greatest 
 of all statesmen, thought it unwise. He said: "What- do we 
 want with this vast worthless area, this region of savages and 
 wild beasts, of deserts, of whirling sands and whirlwinds of dust, 
 of cactus and prairie dogs? To what use could we ever hope to 
 put these great deserts, or those endless mountain ranges, im- 
 penetrable and covered to their very base with eternal snow? 
 What can we ever do with the Western coast of 8,000 miles, rock- 
 bound, cheerless, uninviting, and not a harbor on it? Mr. 
 President, I will never vote one cent from the public treasury 
 to place the Pacific one inch nearer to Boston than it now is." 
 
 Was it not Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, to whom we are 
 indebted for the first suggestion of the trans-continental rail- 
 road ? How could we have been here this evening but for that ! 
 
 Again, what does that cross mean that stands yonder in the 
 Golden Gate Park, but that an English explorer came over as 
 early as 1579 and laid first claim to this land. 
 
 And did not John C. Calhoim, as Secretary of State under 
 President Polk, plan to have the Republic of Texas taken from 
 Spanish rule and placed under the protection of the United 
 States ? Think what Texas means to us today ! 
 
 Would not Florida, our "Land of Flowers," be possibly under 
 Spanish rule today had not James Monroe, at the psychological 
 moment, arranged to have it bought by the United States? 
 Nearly 59,000 square miles secured at 13 cents per acre because 
 Ferdinand VII. was in financial straits. 
 
 And was it not through Lewis and Clark, two Southern ex- 
 plorers, that the Yellowstone was discovered and the Bible in- 
 troduced to the Indians in the West? 
 
 Was it not Andrew Johnson of North Carolina, who secured 
 Alaska from Russia? However, justice here must be done, for 
 it was a Northern man who urged it, William H. Seward. Alaska 
 is now destined to be one of the greatest assets of the United 
 States, 5'^et many Northern statesmen opposed its purchase, and 
 said, "It is a country fit only for a polar bear garden." 
 
 These omissions must enter history, and we of the South are 
 the ones to see to it. 
 
 War op 1812. The history concerning the War of 1812 has 
 always been most unjust to the South. Henry Clay, John C. 
 
Calhoun, E. M. Johnson, and other Southern men, saw the neces- 
 sity for that war ; Southern men planned it ; Southern men urged 
 it, and Southern men largely fought it. 
 
 You may recall that at New Orleans in my ' ' Thirteen Periods 
 of United States History" I called attention to this fact. I have 
 recently read an article, "The Divine Purpose of the War of 
 1812," written by the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Amer- 
 ican History, Frank Allaben, which makes me feel that I must 
 again stress this wrong to the South. While I cannot read the 
 article, nor quote from it in full, I shall make copious extracts 
 from it. It is fine! Read it, if you can, for yourselves. 
 
 The writer said that the things we fought for, and the gains 
 we stipulated are not even mentioned, much less included, in 
 that Treaty of Ghent which ended this war, but in spite of that, 
 they are written in golden fire, across the face of Heaven. 
 
 By that war, God taught England that we were free. She 
 did not seem to know this before. She had hoped to confine us 
 to that narrow strip of land on the eastern shore; she hoped 
 some day she would resubjugate us, and not until our little navy 
 beat her large navy at her own game in this War of 1812 did 
 she realize that our freedom was a fact, and a fact that we 
 demanded must be respected. Boiling Hall of Georgia, a mem- 
 ber of Congress in 1812, wrote to his friend Zach Lamar of 
 Milledgeville, Ga. ; ' ' England up to this time has captured and 
 condemned 917 American vessels " with their cargoes, and im- 
 pressed over 5,000 American seamen. She should be compelled 
 to grant what she has hitherto refused. It is the opposition of 
 New England that keeps the British government from doing 
 us justice." Southern statesmen you see wanted war. 
 
 By that war, God preserved our Union by securing the control 
 of the Great Lakes and the Northwest, which England was hold- 
 ing for her Indian allies. We must be just here, and give credit 
 for winning the control of Lake Erie where credit is due, not 
 to a Southern man, but to Oliver Hazard Perry of Rhode Island, 
 and the control of Lake Champlain not to a Southern man, but 
 to Thomas Macdonough of Delaware. 
 
 By that war, God prevented the Union from being dissolved, 
 for you remember that the New England States at that Hartford 
 Convention were planning to secede, and an agent was there 
 arranging for an alliance with England again, and the forma- 
 tion of a Northern Confederacy was only prevented by the 
 declaration of peace. 
 
By that war, God made our struggle the decisive war of history 
 in vindicating the rights of international peace. Up to this time, 
 it had been the custom, if two nations came to blows, all other 
 nations must take sides and join one or the other. 
 
 Heaven had alread}' inspired our George Washington to see 
 that our path of safety lay in steering clear of entrangling alli- 
 ances. He then planned our treaties of neutrality. He appointed 
 Edmund Randolph of Virginia, to draw up a Proclamation of 
 Neutral Laws in 1793. This paper is one of the milestones in the 
 progress of civilization. It is true that it was ridiculed by 
 foreign nations, and it was disregarded at home, but British 
 statesmen have since declared that the principles therein set 
 forth "represented the high water mark of international law." 
 This document was rewritten in the time of ]\Iadison, and enact- 
 ed by Congress, and is today the law of the land, and indeed 
 the law of the civilized world. It is back of this law that our 
 President is standing today, and if we will let him alone he 
 can enforce that law and not bring a clash of ai-ms as we were 
 compelled to do in 1812. 
 
 You remember that Washington declined to give aid to France 
 ^\•llen the French Revolution came on, and he was declared un- 
 grateful because France had aided us in our Revolution, not 
 only by personal volunteer service but by loans of money. By 
 the way, Benjamin Franklin in history gets the credit of negotia- 
 ting this loan for us, but French history gives the credit to 
 John Laurens of South Carolina, which is another omission in 
 our history. Washington, however, w'as too wise to get a young 
 Republic involved in foreign disputes, so when Louis XVI. was 
 executed in 1793, or thereabout, he brought forth our treaty of 
 neutrality. Guizot, the French historian says: "Washington did 
 two of the greatest things which in politics it is permitted man 
 to attempt. He maintained by peace the independence of the 
 country which he had conquered by war." 
 
 England growled and winced, but bided her time. Afterwards 
 when England and France were locked in arms for world suprem- 
 acy, and infamous Orders in Council came from London, and 
 perfidious Decrees from Berlin and ]\Iilan, England and Napo- 
 leon said any nation remaining neutral at that time should for- 
 feit her rights on the sea, and subject her ships and commerce- 
 to confiscation. 
 
 Our flag then floated over every sea, and we were an object: 
 lesson to the world. France and England envied and feared us,. 
 
and set their mighty powers to grind us between them. 
 
 Mr. Allaben goes on to say, "Then earae forth a ruddy little 
 David (the United States) against these two Goliaths (England 
 and France), and taking three little stones (Jefferson, Madison 
 and Monroe) from the brook of Freedom, defended our rights, 
 and established the principle that a nation could remain neutral 
 and at peace." No such civilizing documents as these three 
 men are responsible for, defming the rights of neutrals, can be 
 found in the archives of any other nation on the face of the 
 globe, and they show that we have the right to quarantine war 
 just as we would any other pest and thus keep our country 
 at peace. 
 
 When The Hague treaties were signed a few years ago, (you 
 will see this in the May number of the North American 
 Review of that year), the Monroe Doctrine was. then and there 
 safeguarded, and that means non-interference with foreign poli- 
 tics on our part, and non-interference on this hemisphere with 
 our affairs on the part of foreign nations. 
 
 Yes, the history of the war of 1812 must be rewritten, and 
 full justice given to us of the South. 
 
 Romances of History. Other omissions, but of far less his- 
 torical importance, should also be noticed. I refer to the 
 romances of Southern history, for romances have always had a 
 powerful effect upon the youthful hearts and minds of our land. 
 One would suppose from reading history as written today 
 that Paul Revere was the only hero of Revolutionary days. It is 
 true, he did ride a fine horse twenty miles over a fine road, in 
 fine weather, not to warn the Americans of the British approach, 
 (for they knew that already) but simply to tell whether they 
 would come by sea or land. I have heard he was paid to do this, 
 and the receipt for the money is in one of the museums in Boston. 
 How far more heroic was the ride of John Jouett of Virginia, 
 who when he learned that Tarleton's men were planning an at- 
 tack upon the Virginia Assembly at Charlottesville, rode forty 
 miles between midnight and daybreak to carry the news. With 
 what result? Monticello would be in ashes today, and we might 
 have had no Patrick Henry to be the "Father of State Rights," 
 and no Thomas Jefferson to be the founder of the University of 
 Virginia, or to plan the Louisiana Purchase, and probably no 
 James Madison to write the United States Constitution. 
 
 Nor is Paul Revere 's ride as heroic as that of Edward Lacy 
 of South Carolina, who when he learned that Ferguson's men 
 
 10 
 
were planning an attack on King's Mountain, rode thirty miles 
 after midnight to warn Shelby, Sevier and Campbell. With 
 what results? King's Mountain was an American victory, not 
 an English, and that was said to have been the turning point 
 of the American Revolution. 
 
 Nor can it compare with the ride of Sam Dale of Mississippi. 
 The Secretary of War sent to the Governor of Georgia at Mil- 
 ledgeville a dispatch to be delivered at once to General Andrew 
 Jackson at New Orleans. Dale offered to deliver it. He mount- 
 ed Paddy, a little Georgia pony, and rode 500 miles in eight days 
 to New Orleans. The great battle was then raging and he was 
 not able to see General Jackson until after midnight. "The 
 answer must be returned tomorrow," he said. "I will take it," 
 replied Dale. The General ordered relays of horses for his use 
 but Dale refused, saying, "I will ride my Georgia pony, Paddy." 
 And he did ride the 500 miles in eight days, but was so nearly 
 frozen when he reached Milledgeville that he had to be literally 
 lifted from his pony. That is what I call heroism ! 
 
 Nor can Revere 's ride compare with the ride of Ruth Sevier, 
 the daughter of "Bonny Kate" Sherrill, who when she learned 
 from an Indian playmate that the Indians and Tories were plan- 
 ning an attack upon the Wautauga Settlement, moimted a one- 
 eyed, sore-back horse, and with only a rope for a bridle, rode 
 miles through dark forests, waded deep creeks, and passed British 
 spies, and thus saved Tennessee in her hour of danger. 
 
 Nor is Paul Revere 's ride equal in heroism to that of Agnes 
 Ilobson, who carried important dispatches from Governor Heard 
 of Georgia to General Nathaniel Greene in South Carolina. Hid- 
 ing these papers in her hair, and disguising herself as an old 
 country woman, she mounted Silverheels, the Governor's horse, 
 and for three days, spending the nights at farm houses in the 
 enemy's territory, she actually took her life in her hands for 
 love of her country, and safely delivered the dispatches to our 
 American commander. Then what about Emily Geiger of South 
 Carolina? When they sent for a woman to search her she read 
 the dispatches, chewed up the papers and swallowed them. 
 
 To read history as it is written today one would think that 
 the freckled-face ]\Iolly Pitcher was the only woman who ever 
 performed any heroic deed in time of war. She was heroic and 
 was made a sergeant in the U. S. Army, an imusual honor for a 
 woman. But did we not have a Captain Sally Tompkins in our 
 War between the States, and yet nothing is told about her? She 
 
 11 
 
maintained a hospital in Virginia at her own expense and cared 
 for over 1300 Confederate soldiers. 
 
 Except in local history we do not hear of our red-headed, 
 cross-eyed Nancy Hart of Georgia. She not only poured a 
 ladle of boiling lye soap into the eyes of a peeping Tory, but 
 she held six at bay with one of their own guns (they did not 
 know where she was looking) until her husband and sons had 
 been called from the field. The bones of these six Tories were 
 found a few years ago near her home in Elbert county, and yet 
 it is recorded in history that she was a myth. Four of her 
 relatives are members of our D. A. R. Chapter. 
 
 Why not tell of Kate Barry and Kitty Carleton and their 
 faith in prayer, and of many others truly as heroic. 
 
 Lovett's Land of Used-to-Be would make a charming reader 
 for our Southern schools. Too little is known of our Indian 
 legends, for the story of our Nacoochee and her lover would be 
 as thrilling as any Hiawatha and his old Nakomis, if only a 
 Longfellow would write in poetic strains about them. Nowhere 
 are Indian names and legends as wonderfully entrancing as in 
 the land of the Cherokees, the Creeks, the Seminoles, the Chicka- 
 saws, the Choctaws and the Catawbas. Mrs. Foster, of the 
 D. A. R., has a fine Revolutionary Reader that should be in our 
 Southern schools, Lucian Knight, the State Historian of Geor- 
 gia, has done so much to place these romances of history ready 
 for our use, and Dr. B. F. Riley's Romances of Alabam.a gives 
 a great deal of Indian history. 
 
 Then the ''Camp Fire Stories," by Marie Bankston, of New 
 Orleans, and ' ' On the Field of Honor, ' ' by Annah Robinson Wat- 
 son, of Memphis, Tenn., give the touch to Confederate days. 
 Where in all history can be found braver deeds than were per- 
 formed by our Confederate heroes? Every man and woman in 
 those days did heroic deeds. 
 
 Our faithful slaves were heroic, too. Why not tell of Mammy 
 Kate, who carried in her clothes basket her young master from 
 his prison cell, and of Daddy Cyrus, who placed his "old 
 Marster's" best wine before the Tories while he slipped out to 
 cut the ropes which bound his master ready for the gallows? 
 
 Colonial Dames and D. A. R. I must pause here to commend 
 the work that is being done and has been done by the Colonial 
 Dames and Daughters of the Revolution. They have unearthed 
 more Southern history than can be estimated, by delving into old 
 letters, court records, and family wills and deeds, searching for 
 
 12 
 
ancestral connections. I never hear of their marking historic 
 spots that I do not feel a spirit of thanksgiving for these noble 
 organizations. Historical tradition and historical memories, if 
 noble, are worthy to be commemorated. 
 
 While it is true they are dealing with past history, they are 
 not sitting by any means with folded hands weeping over their 
 dead ancestors, but are fully alive and alert and like the Federa- 
 tion of Women's Clubs and Daughters of the Confederacy are 
 looking after the education of our needy sons and daughters of 
 the South, 
 
 But to return to the omissions. I have never seen the justice 
 in making so much of the Boston Tea Party where men at night 
 disguised as Indians threw the chests of tea overboard, and 
 little outside of local history said of the 257 chests of tea thrown 
 overboard at Charleston, S. C, by men without disguises in broad 
 daylight. And this happened at other places too, in the South. 
 Why has not that Edenton Tea Party in North Carolina entered 
 history? Fifty-one women met at Mrs. Elizabeth King's home 
 and organized the "Daughters of Liberty," the first patriotic 
 organization for ivomen in the world, and resolved to drink no 
 tea nor wear clothes that came from England until the obnoxious 
 tax on tea was withdrawn. 
 
 Where except in local history is found the notice of the 
 "Peggy Stewart," whose owner, Anthony Stewart, burned the 
 vessel with its entire cargo in the presence of his daughter, 
 Peggy, for whom the vessel was named, because some of the ob- 
 noxious tea was aboard ? This took place at Annapolis, JMaryland. 
 
 Where, too, do we find why the "Diligence" and "Viper," 
 bearing the hated stamps, were not allowed to land, and what 
 Governor was buried in effigy because he planned to store in 
 his house the hated stamps? Had these things transpired hi 
 New England every line of history would have been well pre- 
 sented long ago. And New England is right to keep her history 
 straight. Too long have we allowed these romances of history 
 to be overlooked and omitted. We must not allow it longer. 
 
 Sins of Commission. Let us turn now to some of the his- 
 torical sins of commission, some wrongs that still need to be 
 righted. 
 
 I did not have time in Savannah to speak of the wrongs con- 
 cerning the Summer-Brooks difficulty, the Hampton Roads Con- 
 ference, and the truth concerning the Merrimac and iMonitor, so 
 we will take these first.. 
 
 13 
 
Sumner-Brooks Controversy. Now what about that Sumner- 
 Brooks controversy ? " In the Senate Chamber May, 1856, Charles 
 Sumner of Massachusetts for six days heaped abuse upon abuse 
 upon Andrew Pickens of South Carolina about the slavery 
 question. 
 
 Preston Brooks, a representative from the same State, a 
 relative of Judge Butler, heard of this attack and waited until 
 the Senate adjourned to call Mr, Sumner to account for his 
 statements. Not finding him, he returned to the Senate Cham- 
 ber, where he found him in conversation with some lady friends. 
 Taking his seat in full view of Mr. Sumner, he waited until the 
 ladies retired, then he deliberately rose and approaching the 
 Senator said: ''I have read your speech and I have come to 
 the conclusion that you were guilty of a gross libel upon my 
 State and have wantonly insulted my absent gray-haired rela- 
 tive, Judge Butler, and I feel myself under obligation to inflict 
 upon you a punishment for this libel and insult." (This does 
 not look like "a sly and cowardly attack from the back," as 
 has been represented in history.) 
 
 "Sumner attempting to rise, Brooks struck him on the head 
 with his gutta pereha cane, and continued to strike until the 
 cane was broken by the blows. Sumner trying to dodge the 
 blows fell to the floor, then Brooks discontinued to strike. When 
 Sumner's friends rallied around him, Brooks withdrew, but 
 did not leave the Senate Chamber until Sumner had been re- 
 moved to an anteroom." 
 
 This is the story as it appeared in The Washi7igton Star the 
 next day. 
 
 Let us see how it has come down to us through history and 
 literature. Smyth in his American Literature says, "Brooks 
 beat Sumner over his head with a bludgeon." The Encyclo- 
 pedia Britannica says, "Brooks dealt almost death blows from 
 which Sumner never fully recovered." Lyman Abbott referred 
 to it as "a brutal assault, dastardly and cowardly. For an 
 armed man to attack an unarmed man in my opinion is con- 
 trary to any code of morality." 
 
 Brooks was not armed except with a cane. Sumner was his 
 superior in weight and strength. Did the provocation justify 
 the chastisement? 
 
 Lewis Cass, of Massachusetts, the "Nestor of the Senate," 
 declared that Sumner's speech was, "the most un-American and 
 unpatriotic speech that ever grated on the ears of any members 
 
 14 
 
of that high body." Dargan, the historian, says, "Sumner's 
 speech was full of the vilest vituperation." Brooks said, "I 
 would have forfeited my own self respect, and the good opinion 
 of my countrymen had I failed to resent his insults." 
 
 Rhodes, the historian, says: "Brooks' conduct in the House 
 of Representatives for three years had been that of a gentleman. 
 He was courteous, accomplished, warm hearted, hot-blooded, dear 
 as a friend, but fearful as an enemy." 
 
 There is no doubt that Sumner's political friends used this 
 attack to further his advancement. Richardson in his American 
 Literature says, "This assault of Brooks made Sumner more 
 prominent in the anti-slavery contest." George Lunt, a Massa- 
 chusetts Senator, said: "The unlucky blow, afterwards inflicted 
 by Mr. Brooks of South Carolina upon Mr. Sumner in the Senate 
 Chamber, gave a prominence which there is no reason to suppose 
 that he would otherwise have acquired. It elicited sympathy 
 enough to receive an indulgence to his extreme views from 
 persons to whom these views had hitherto been most repulsive. 
 Except for that blow there is every ground for believing that 
 Mr. Sumner's official career would have ended with the first 
 senatorial term." A Harvard professor said, "Mr. Sumner's 
 vituperation was intolerable," 
 
 A resolution was offered in the House to expel Mr. Brooks 
 for this attack. Howell Cobb, of Georgia, defended him on the 
 ground that the attack was not made while the Senate was in 
 session, and that the Constitution gave authority to deal with 
 members only under those circumstances, and that being a mem- 
 ber of Congress did not throw an egis of protection about any 
 member out of Congressional hours. 
 
 Messrs. Keitt and Edmondson were threatened with expulsion 
 also because they knew that Mr. Brooks was to make this attack 
 and did not warn Mr. Sumner of it. Mr, Cobb argued that it 
 was not incumbent upon these gentlemen to betray a breach of 
 confidence. 
 
 If I remember correctly, Mr. Brooks was allowed to make a 
 speech in his ovm defense, then taking up his hat he walked 
 out of the House never to return unless recalled. He was later 
 recalled. 
 
 Hampton Roads Conference. Let us look into that Hampton 
 Roads Conference. Mexico was giving trouble in 1865, and 
 Francis P. Blair, Sr., conceived the idea that if peace could be 
 declared between the North and the South, and both armies 
 
 15 
 
marched against Mexico the two sections could thus be sooner 
 brought together by having a common interest. At his sug- 
 gestion President Davis and his Cabinet appointed three Com- 
 missioners, Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, R. L. M. Hunter 
 of Virginia, and John Campbell of Alabama, to meet with Pres- 
 ident Lincoln and Mr. Seward to discuss terms of peace. Pres- 
 ident Lincoln would not consent for the Commissioners sent by 
 the Confederate government to come to Washington City, for 
 that would be an acknowledgement of the Confederacy. There- 
 fore it was agreed that they should meet at Hampton Roads, 
 February 3rd, 1865. President Lincoln and Mr. Seward came 
 on the "River Queen" to meet the delegation from the Confed- 
 erate States. The Commissioners were given no authority to 
 accept terms of unconditional surrender, they demanded a re- 
 cognition of the Confederate States. Lincoln's only terms were 
 unconditional surrender. There was no discussion about slaves 
 and payment for them, nor about Union, nor that other things 
 would be granted. ]\Ir. Stephens said in a letter to his friend, 
 Stephen W, Bloimt, of Texas: "How can any sane person 
 be expected to believe that any such proposition was made by 
 President Lincoln to the Confederate Commissioners, or was 
 submitted to the Confederate government and rejected by 
 either?" 
 
 The Conference was informal, no official reports were made 
 of it. It was short and had no practical results. In The Rich- 
 mond Dispatch dated February 8th, 1865, is this item of news: 
 "President Davis yesterday submitted to Congress the report 
 of the* peace Commissioners. The report is brief. Lincoln offer- 
 ed no terms that could be listened to for a moment, in fact, 
 nothing short of unconditional submission." 
 
 It has been stated by many eminent men of the South that 
 Mr. Stephens told them personally that Mr. Lincoln said, "Write 
 Union and I will make any other terms you suggest," and also 
 told them that "he would pay $400,000,000 for the slaves of 
 the South." I have in my library a copy of Judge Reagan's 
 testimony refuting this. He was the last surviving member of 
 the Confederate Cabinet, and was present when the Commis- 
 sioners made their report. 
 
 I have a copy of the testimony of Senator Vest of Missouri, 
 denying that any such report was made by the Commissioners. 
 He was the last surviving member of the Confederate Senate. 
 I have copies of Alexander Stephens ' denial over and over again, 
 
 16 
 
to Governor Garland of Arkansas, to Senator Orr of South 
 Carolina, to Representative Sexton of Texas, and others, that 
 any such offer was made to the Commissioners. The matter 
 was agitated evidently by enemies of President Davis to arouse 
 prejudice against him. Lincoln did propose an amendment to 
 pay for slaves, but it was for the slaves in the border States. 
 It never reached Congress because of Lincoln's death. 
 
 The misunderstanding in regard to Mr. Stephens must have 
 arisen from repeating some private interview with President 
 Lincoln later. It certainly was not at Hampton Roads Confer- 
 ence. 
 
 Francis Thorpe, the historian, says that President Lincoln 
 did not intend to go to that Conference until General Grant 
 telegraphed him that the intentions of the Confederate Com- 
 missioners were good and their desire sincere to restore peace 
 and Union. He had fully instructed Seward what to say : "Do 
 not assume to definitely consummate anything." 
 
 "Make known three things as indispensable: 
 
 1st. The complete restoration of National authority. 
 
 2nd. No receding from the slavery question as assumed in 
 T J late annual message, and in preceding documents. 
 
 3rd. No cessation of hostilities .short of end of war and dis- 
 banding of hostile troops." 
 
 The Confederate Commissioners would not agree to these 
 terms. Lincoln reiterated that it was an impossibility for the 
 United States to enter into any agreement with parties in arms 
 against it. Mr. Stephens reminded the President of the doctrine 
 of State Sovereignty and the right of the States to secede. The 
 President advised him to go back to Georgia and ratify the 
 proposed Thirteenth Amendment. 
 
 Pollard said: "It was merely a device hit upon by Governor 
 Vance and President Davis to reawaken the military passions 
 of the South, in order that a desire to continue the war would 
 be strengthened, and that President Davis really wished the 
 demands for peace to be rejected." And Pollard goes on to 
 say that when President Davis heard the report from the Com- 
 missioners he burst into threats against Lincoln, saying that 
 the Confederacy in less than twelve months would compel the 
 Yankees to sue for peace on Confederate terms. Those who 
 knew President Davis know the falsity of such statements. No, 
 we have too long and too patiently borne the misrepresentations 
 regarding this matter, and must demand that they be righted, 
 
 17 
 
What about the Merrimac and the Monitor f History is all 
 wrong about this matter. The idea of an ironclad vessel orig- 
 inated in the brain of John L, Porter of Portsmouth, Va., in 
 1846. There had been ironclad floating batteries before this 
 time, but no self-propelling ironclad vessel. In 1861 Secretary 
 Mallory of the Confederate Navy ordered a board of engineers, 
 Porter, "Williamson and Brooke, to decide upon the feasibility 
 of building a vessel after Porter's plans. Friends of Lieutenant 
 Brooke claimed that his plans were the ones accepted, and Pol- 
 lard's history has also been misleading along this line. (See 
 Scharff's Confederate Navy, p. 151). 
 
 The Merrimac was converted into an ironclad at Engineer 
 Williamson's suggestion according to John L. Porter's plans. 
 She had been raised by the State of Virginia because of obstruct- 
 ed navigation. When she was ready to be floated the name was 
 changed to Virginia by the Secretary of Navy, but to avoid con- 
 fusion I shall continue to speak of her as the Merrimac. 
 
 Captain Buchanan was placed in command. On the 8th of 
 March she steamed from the Navy Yard to attack the vessels 
 in Hampton Koads. She looked like a sunken house with the 
 roof above the tide. From Hampton Roads she steamed to New- 
 port News. The Congress first fired upon her, then the Cum- 
 berland. She made directly for the Cumberland, striking her 
 a deadly blow with her ram, opening a large hole in her side, 
 then demanded the surrender of that ship. A small leak was 
 in the Merrimac, but she speedily turned upon the Congress and 
 the shells from the ironclad soon disabled her. After an hour's 
 fire from the Merrimac, she too was forced to surrender. The 
 Ealeigh, the Henry, the Jamestown and the Teaser were the 
 Merrimac 's wooden helpers. The flag of truce was raised and 
 hostilities ceased. 
 
 While under the flag of truce and both sides were looking 
 after the wounded, the Federals on shore fired and wounded 
 Captain Buchanan and Lieutenant Minor. Lieutenant Catesby 
 Jones then assumed command of the Merrimac, and Captain 
 Buchanan instructed him to set fire to the Congress. Darkness 
 coming on, the Merrimac anchored at Sewall's Point for the 
 night. 
 
 When the news reached the North consternation seized the 
 minds of the people, and they felt the crisis of the war was at 
 hand. "The enemy," they said, '4iave a vessel impervious to 
 shot and which can go where she pleases." 
 
 18 
 
Lincoln called a Cabinet meeting. Mr. Stanton said: "The 
 Merrimac will change the whole course of the war. She will 
 destroy every vessel of our navy. It is not unlikely that a 
 cannon ball from one of her guns will fall upon the White 
 House before we leave this room." Lincoln did not share Stan- 
 ton's extravagant apprehensions, but there is no doubt it was 
 a night of anxiety, of terror, of bewilderment, seldom witnessed 
 before. 
 
 On that night there steamed into Hampton Roads a curious 
 looking vessel called the "Yankee Cheese Box." It was the 
 Monitor from New York. 
 
 On the next day, March 9th, the Commander of the ]\Ierrimac 
 decided to complete the destruction of the Llinnesota, when 
 suddenly the Merrimac groimded and remained so for some 
 time. The Monitor was advancing upon her when the Merrimac 
 opened fire but with no effect. Straight on she came, throwing 
 heavy missiles against the Merrimac 's sides as she circled around 
 her. For hours the vessels, almost touching each other, contin- 
 ued to pour broadside after broadside into each other without 
 effect. The Monitor fired shot and shell, but the Merrimac had 
 only shell. Both vessels seemed invulnerable. There is no 
 doubt that the Monitor fought bravely. The Merrimac ran 
 aground again, but soon floated and tried to run down the 
 Monitor. Once her bow was pressing against the Monitor's 
 side, but she careened, and by a caprice of fortune, as it seemed, 
 the engines of the Merrimac instead of pressing on were re- 
 versed and the two vessels separated. A shell from the ]\Ierri- 
 mac struck the pilot house of the Monitor, and disabled her 
 commander. Lieutenant John L. Worden, then the Monitor 
 withdrew to shoal Avater and the Merrimac could not follow 
 and waited. But the Monitor never again offered or accepted 
 a challenge to fight the Merrimac, and two or three times later 
 the challenge was sent. The Merrimac waited for about an 
 hour, and as no Monitor came, she steamed to the Navj^ Yard 
 for fear later she could not cross the bar. She ivithdreiv amid 
 the applause of thousands as testified by those who witnessed 
 the triumph. 
 
 The Captain of the Minnesota, G. J. Van Brunt, in his official 
 report says : ' ' The IMonitor steamed out of range of shot towards 
 Old Point Comfort, and the Virginia, having waited in vain for 
 three-quarters of an hour for her antagonist to return, retired 
 to Norfolk." 
 
 19 
 
Captain E. V, White, an engineer on board the Merrimac 
 said: "We wished to repeat the battle, but the Monitor with- 
 drew from the field and refused to fight again, and I say this 
 in positive contradiction of those statements made in the school 
 histories of today." Then he further stated that while attend- 
 ing a Cyclorama in New York, the manager made statements 
 that were untrue, and he interrupted him, saying that he was 
 an officer on board the Merrimac and knew that his statements 
 were untrue. At the close of the entertainment the manager 
 asked for a private interview with him and acknowledged that 
 his statements were false, but said to make his show popular 
 at the North he was forced to say what he did. 
 
 It M^as April before the Merrimac had completed some altera- 
 tions, then she steamed down to Hampton Roads under Commo- 
 dore Tatnall to engage and capture the Monitor. She was 
 afraid to go too close to shallow water, but dared and challenged 
 the Monitor to come out to fight. Not even the capture of two 
 brigs and a schooner, the Thomas Jefferson, and the hoisting 
 of the Confederate flag on these captured ships, which must 
 have been a humiliation to her, would tempt the Monitor to 
 move. Had she taken the dare, she would undoubtedly have 
 been captured, and she knew it. She had received orders from 
 Washington not to risk another encounter. Twice she refused 
 the challenge from the Merrimac. Seeing there was no chance 
 for a fight, the Merrimac returned to Sewall 's Point and anchored. 
 
 The truth of this can be testified to by both English and 
 French men-of-war anchored at Hampton Roads. They wit- 
 nessed the whole affair. The Vanderbilt, a fast merchant vessel 
 near the Monitor, also remained inactive. 
 
 Captain Eggleston's testimony was that, "The Monitor was 
 worsted and fled for safety to shallow water, and sought pro- 
 tection under the guns of Fortress Monroe." 
 
 J. William Jones, the historian, says : ' ' The Confederates were 
 obliged to destroy the ironclad Merrimac, which had won so 
 signal a victory at Hampton Boads." 
 
 The Federal Government offered large rewards to any one 
 who would destroy the Merrimac. The U. S. Navy blocked the 
 Potomac to keep her from going to Washington. When May 1st 
 an order came for the Confederates to evacuate Norfolk, Com- 
 modore Tatnall tried to make her sea-worthy in stormy weather 
 and take her to the Georgia coast, but finding he could not, he 
 decided to blow her up rather than allow her to fall into the 
 
 20 
 
enemy's hands. Whether this was wisest or not is a question, 
 but the Confederate government exonerated Commodore Tatnall 
 from all blame. 
 
 It becomes our duty to see that the truth of this is put into 
 the books our young people are studying, and the Cyclorama 
 and moving picture shows falsely representing this event should 
 be forced to correct the falsehoods portrayed, or not allowed to 
 present it. 
 
 That contest marked a new era in maritime warfare. The 
 great naval battles of the world heretofore had been fought with 
 wooden vessels, but the ironclad principle embodied in the Mer- 
 rimac is now used in all the navies of the world. 
 
 Think of all accomplished by the Merrimac and her wooden 
 helpers in two days, March 8th and 9th, 1862. She encountered, 
 defied and defeated 2,890 men and captured 230 guns. She 
 burned the Congress, sunk the Cumberland, riddled the Min- 
 nesota, drove off the Roanoke, peppered the St. Lawrence, dis- 
 abled three gunboats, silenced the Fortress Monroe, challenged 
 the Monitor and kept her under the guns of Fortress Monroe. 
 Had she been able to go up the James River MeClellan could 
 not have changed his base at Harrison's Landing, and his army 
 would have been at the mercy of the Confederate forces. 
 
 The Monitor did not long survive the Merrimac. She went 
 to sea after her rival was blown up and foundered off the coast 
 of Cape Hatteras, 
 
 History op the Navy. The history of the Navy and the part 
 Southern men had in it should be classed as historical sins of 
 omission to be righted. Did not John Paul Jones of Fredericks- 
 burg, Va., in the war of 1812 hoist on his ship "The Ranger," 
 the first American flag to float over an American war vessel? 
 
 Did not Stephen Decatur of IMaryland return with the first 
 prize captured from the French in 1798, and did not this act 
 inspire confidence in creating a Federal Navy? "Was not Ben- 
 jamin Stoddard of Maryland the first Secretary of that Navy ? 
 
 Where in all naval history do you find a greater hero than 
 William Lewis Herndon of Fredericksburg, Va. ? The story of 
 the Titanic set the minds of the world wild with constenaation. 
 Why has so little been said of the sinking of the "Central 
 America" in 1857? On the way to Havana with 501 passengers 
 on board, crew included, a storm was encountered, and 426 went 
 to a watery grave. Captain Herndon among them. The Titanic 
 was three hours sinking, the Central America three days and 
 
 21 
 
three nights. There was no wireless telegraphy then. The only- 
 hope was a passing vessel. Captain Herndon's cheerful spirit 
 never left him. He kept everyone on board buoyed up with 
 the hope of a passing boat. This kept the women and children 
 brave. The women begged to relieve the tired and exhausted 
 men. There was not the slightest disorder when on the third 
 day a brig was signalled, the life boats were lowered and 
 into them the women and children were put to buffet, it seemed 
 in vain, against the tempestuous waves. They did reach the 
 shore in safety. 
 
 Captain Herndon, after the life boats had been lowered, sent 
 by the last one to leave the boat his watch to his wife as the 
 only legacy in earthly possessions, donned his full uniform and 
 calmly awaited death. Some few were saved from the wreck, 
 and testified that perfect order reigned on board to the last. 
 Truly that was 
 
 ''The knightliest of the knightly race, 
 That since the days of old, 
 Have kept the lamp of chivalry 
 Alight in hearts of gold." 
 
 The Congressional Records will give you Senator Benjamin's 
 report. Congress' action and Seward's resolution. His fellow 
 officers erected a monument at Annapolis to his memory. 
 
 One of Captain Herndon's children became the wife of a 
 President of the United States, Chester A. Arthur, and Herndon 
 himself was brother-in-law to our Matthew Fontaine Maury. 
 
 In 1862 the "Ariel," owned by Commodore Vanderbilt was 
 seized by the Alabama off the coast of Cuba. She had on board 
 140 Federal officers and men, a battalion of marines, besides 300 
 other passengers, among them many women and children. Raph- 
 ael Semmes was the commander of the Alabama. He could not 
 take the "Ariel's" passengers on board the Alabama. The idea 
 of sinking the vessel was never thought of. He sent word to 
 the women and children that no harm should be done, as they 
 were greatly frightened because they were told that they had 
 fallen into the hands of a pirate. He promised that not an 
 article belonging to any passenger should even be touched. The 
 soldiers were paroled, and the "Ariel" released under bond 
 from Commodore Vanderbilt, a bond that was never paid, how- 
 ever, and then the Alabama steamed away. How different was 
 this policy from present day war policy. 
 
 The first successful submarine that was ever constructed was 
 
 22 
 
in Charleston Harbor, February 17th, 1864. This was the "Lit- 
 tle David ' ' of Hundley, It was cigar shaped, 30 or 35 feet long, 
 and 7l^ feet deep. She torpedoed the "Housatonie" and sunk 
 her. Then the "Little David" sank too, the cause unknown. 
 Years after she was found and raised. 
 
 What cruiser can show a record like the Shenandoah? She 
 was in the Arctic Ocean when the surrender came. In eight 
 months she captured 38 vessels, valued at $1,000,000. Six were 
 released on bond and 32 destroyed. She visited every ocean 
 except the Antarctic, and was the only vessel that carried the 
 Confederate flag around the world, and floated that flag six 
 months after the surrender. She fired the last gun of the Con- 
 federacy, June 22nd, 1865. She went 58,000 miles in thirteen 
 months without a seroius mishap. She first learned of the 
 surrender August 2nd, 1865. She decided then to go to Eng- 
 land, and November 6th, 1865, she steamed up the river Mersey 
 with the Confederate flag flying and gave herself up to the 
 British Government. 
 
 The Sumter under our Raphael Semmes captured in two days 
 seven ships loaded with sugar and molasses, and in twenty-eight 
 days captured nine more. 
 
 When Admiral Semmes took charge of the Alabama the Sum- 
 ter was sold to England and remained at Gibraltar. 
 
 No, there is such ignorance of the South 's Nav>', and what 
 was accomplished by it, that it reflects upon the South, as well 
 as the North. I wonder how many here present know that the 
 Navy Yard was once in Charlotte, N. C. Yes, in an inland 
 city, far away from the sea, where no ships could land or be 
 repaired, and yet in that Navy Yard guns were cast, and gun 
 carriages and other implements of war constructed for the land 
 forces, as well as for the Navy. When Norfolk surrendered this 
 move seemed necessary. I wish that we could put Scharff's 
 Histoiy of the Navy into every library of the South. 
 
 Last year I asked for sketches of Confederate surgeons for 
 that volume of histoiy, and some of you never heeded the re- 
 quest. Now this year I ask for sketches of men of the Navy for 
 another volume, and I hope to be more successful. Do not 
 allow one heroic deed to pass unrecorded. 
 
 Who burned Columbia? Historians still continue unblush- 
 ingly to quote Sherman's official report in regard to this matter, 
 in spite of Sherman's own acknowledgement that he falsified 
 in making this report. He first said: "I disclaim on the part 
 
 23 
 
of my army any agency in the fire, but on the contrary claim 
 that we saved what of Columbia remained unconsumed. And 
 now without hesitancy I charge Wade Hampton with havi-ng 
 burned his own city of Columbia." Men and women who were 
 in Columbia at the time declared this was absolutely false, and 
 were laughed at for their denial. The Federal troops came into 
 the city early, at 3 a. m. February 17th, 1865, and the Confed- 
 erate troops withdrew. There was no sign of burning cotton 
 anywhere as had been charged. One of General Hampton's 
 officers, Lieutenant Milford Overby, 9th Ky. Cav., saw General 
 Hampton's order to his men that no cotton should be fired for 
 fear of burning the city. He said he could testify that he was 
 the last Confederate soldier in the city and no cotton was burn- 
 ing when he left. 
 
 Dr. Joseph LeConte, in his autobiography, said: "While Gen- 
 eral Sherman had promised protection to the city, a Colonel 
 quartered in my brother John LeConte 's house, hinted that 
 rockets would be the signal for the destruction of the city, and 
 others so testified. At 7 p. m. the rockets were fired and the 
 burning of Columbia began." Sherman's aide-de-camp, Major 
 Nichols, in his diary said that the city was not fired until eve- 
 ning. Now that was fifteen hours after every Confederate had 
 left. 
 
 In spite of these testimonies, statements continue to be made 
 that Sherman's troops did not burn Columbia. In 1875 General 
 Wade Hampton demanded that the United States Senate should 
 investigate the matter, and General Sherman did not wish such 
 investigation, but made another official statement, which should 
 have put forever at rest any other statement to the contrary. 
 He said: "In my official report of the conflagration I distinctly 
 charged it to General Wade Hampton, and now confess I did 
 so pointedly to shake the faith of his people in him, for he was 
 in my opinion a braggart and professed to be the special cham- 
 pion of South Carolina." This is found in General Sherman's 
 book published in 1875. Later he added, ' ' Columbia was burned 
 rather by accident than design," but how does he account for 
 the sky-rockets? 
 
 The truth of the matter is that British subjects began to de- 
 mand payment for their cotton. If Federal troops burned it, 
 the United States government would have to pay for that cotton. 
 If Confederates burned it South Carolina would be responsible. 
 When an investigation was urged the matter was dropped upon 
 
 •24 
 
Sherman's confession. It has never been ascertained if Britain's 
 cotton was ever paid for, but it can be stated South Carolina 
 was never asked to do it. 
 
 Whitelaw Reid, of Ohio, editor of The New York Tribune, 
 said, ''The burning of Columbia was the most monstrous bar- 
 barity of Sherman's barbarous march." 
 
 Reconstruction in the South, I come to a period of history 
 about which the South still feels sore, and a period I fain would 
 pass without a comment. I refer to the Reconstruction Period 
 following the War between the States. But since so many are 
 writing to your Historian to ask how far the story of that period 
 is truthfully represented in the new play "The Birth of the 
 Nation," she feels it is best to give authentic facts. Thomas 
 Dixon in his Clansman has been brave enough to faithfully give 
 the picture of the conditions then, and for this he has been great- 
 ly maligned, but the half he has never told. Thomas Nelson 
 Page in his "Red Rock" has given but a faint picture of those 
 days. 
 
 "The Birth of the Nation," is not altogether a true presen- 
 tation of Reconstruction Days, for it does not tell the half of the 
 story. The humiliation and mortification endured by the men 
 and women of the South at that time can never be told by a 
 picture film. Still it is teaching history, I feared to see it, 
 for I did not wish to live over again those awful experiences 
 even through a moving picture show. I never heard of a Ku 
 Klux being killed, especially by a negro. Their superstitious 
 fear lest they should forever be haunted by his spirit would 
 have made them afraid to do it. In this respect the representa- 
 tion is misleading, but the South owes a debt of gratitude to 
 Mr. Griffeth for having the South 's side presented in this per- 
 iod of our history. This presentation is opening the eyes of 
 the North. 
 
 Lest our Northern friends may think we have taken advantage 
 of this opportunity to give vent to our feelings from the South- 
 ern point of view and what we may say will seem to be from 
 prejudice, I shall only quote from fair-minded men of the North, 
 not of the South, nor will I even tell you the worst things these 
 men of the North have said, 
 
 I shall -first quote from Walter Henry Cook, a professor in 
 the Western Reserve University. Cleveland, Ohio, a Northern 
 man by birth and education, one who is trying to read history 
 with his heart as well as his eyes: "The Northern soldier re- 
 
 25 
 
turned to his home to find every comfort and convenience. The 
 North was more prosperous than when the war began. Manu- 
 factures had increased; railroads had opened up the West; im- 
 migrants were supplying labor for factory and farm, and while 
 the most destructive war in the history of the world had taken 
 place, yet an increase in wealth, population and power had 
 been the result. 
 
 ''What a contrast to the South! The Southern soldier re- 
 tuftied defeated, sorrowful, ill-clad, ill-fed, sick in mind and 
 body, to find the South desolate and prostrate. The whole eco- 
 nomic system had been destroyed or confiscated. Factories in 
 ashes, railroads in ruin, bonds useless, currency valueless, a 
 pitiable condition! 
 
 ''A new economic system could have been built up by the men 
 and women of the South with freed slaves had they been let 
 alone. The policy of Thad Stevens and Charles Sumner after 
 Lincoln's death stirred up ex-slaves to hate the white men of 
 the South, especially when they preached a gospel of social 
 equality for which the men of the South would not stand under 
 any circumstances." 
 
 The next quotation is from Dan Voorhees, Representative for 
 many years, and later a United States Senator from Indiana. 
 In his speech "Plunder of Eleven States," made in the House 
 of Eepresentatives, March 23rd, 1872, he pictures well the ani- 
 mus of Reconstruction. He said, "From turret to foundation 
 you tore down the government of eleven States. You left not 
 one stone upon another. You not only destroyed their local 
 laws, but you trampled upon their ruins. You called Conven- 
 tions to frame new Constitutions for these old States. You not 
 only said who should be elected to rule over these States, but 
 you said who should elect them. You fixed the quality and the 
 color of the voters. You purged the ballot box of intelligence 
 and virtue, and in their stead you placed the most ignorant and 
 unqualified race in the world to rule over these people." Then 
 taking State by State he showed what Thad Stevens' policy 
 had done. 
 
 ' ' Let the great State of Georgia speak first, ' ' he said. ' ' You 
 permitted her to stand up and start in her new career, but 
 seeing some flaw in your handiwork, you again destroyed and 
 again reconstructed her State government. You clung to her 
 throat; you battered her features out of shape and recognition, 
 determined that your party should have undisputed possession 
 
 26 
 
and enjoyment of her offices, her honors, and her substance. 
 Then bound hand and foot you handed her over to the rapacity 
 of robbers. Her prolific and unbounded resources infiamed their 
 desires. 
 
 "In 1861 Georgia was free from debt. Taxes were light as 
 air. The burdens of government were easy upon her citizens. 
 Her credit stood high, and when the war closed she was still 
 free from indebtedness. After six years of Republican rule you 
 present her, to the horror of the world, loaded with a debt of 
 $50,000,000, and the crime against Georgia is the crime this 
 same party has committed against the other Southern States. 
 Your work of destruction was more fatal than a scourge of 
 pestilence,- war or famine. 
 
 ''Rufus B. Bullock, Governor of Georgia, dictated the legis- 
 lation of Congress, and the great commonwealth of Georgia was 
 cursed by his presence. With such a Governor, and such a 
 Legislature in perfect harmony, morally and politically, their 
 career will go down to posterity without a rival for infamous 
 administrations of the world. That Governor served three years 
 and then absconded with all of the gains. The Legislature of 
 two years spent $100,000 more than had been spent during any 
 eight previous years. They even put the children's money, laid 
 aside for education of white and black, into their own pockets." 
 
 "When Senator Voorhees came to South Carolina, the proud 
 land of Marion and SumtQj:, his indignation seems to have 
 reached its pinnacle. 
 
 "There is no form of ruin to which she has not fallen a prey, 
 no curse with which she has not been baptized, no cup of humilia- 
 tion and suffering her people have not drained to the dregs. 
 There she stands the result of your handiwork bankrupt in 
 money, ruined in credit, her bonds hawked about the streets at 
 ten cents on the dollar, her prosperity blighted at home and 
 abroad, without peace, happiness, or hope. There she stands 
 with her skeleton frame admonishing all the world of the loath- 
 some consequences of a government fashioned in hate and 
 fanaticism, and founded upon the ignorant and vicious classes 
 of manhood. Her sins may have been many and deep, and the 
 color of scarlet, yet they will become as white as snow in com- 
 parison with those you have committed against her in the hour 
 •of her helplessness and distress." 
 
 Then he took in like manner State after State, and wound up 
 with this: "I challenge the darkest annals of the human race 
 
 27 
 
for a parallel to the robberies which have been perpetrated on 
 these eleven American States. Had you sown seeds of kindness 
 and good will they would long ere this have blossomed into 
 prosperity and peace. Had you sown seeds of honor, you would 
 have reaped a golden harvest of contentment and obedience. 
 Had you extended your charities and your justice to a dis- 
 tressed people you would have awakened a grateful affection in 
 return. But as you planted in hate and nurtured in corruption 
 so have been the fruits which you have gathered." 
 
 I return now to quote from "Walter Cook in regard to Recon- 
 struction graft. Governor "Warmouth of Louisiana accumulated 
 one and a half million in four years on a salary of $8,000 a year. 
 Governor Moses of South Carolina acknowledged that he had 
 accepted $65,000 in bribes. Governor Clayton of Arkansas said 
 he intended to people the State with negroes. The carpetbag 
 government of Florida stole meat and flour given for helpless 
 women and children. In North Carolina and Alabama negro 
 convicts were made justices of the peace, men who were unable 
 to read or write. In the South Carolina Legislature 94 black men 
 were members. The Speaker of the House, the Clerk of the 
 House, the doorkeeper, the chairman of the Ways and Means 
 Committee, and the Chaplain were all black men and some of 
 them could neither read nor write." 
 
 The next is an extract from The Chicago Chronicle, written 
 by a Northern man : 
 
 ''The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution grew out 
 of a spirit of revenge, for the purpose of punishing the South- 
 ern people. It became a part of the Constitution by fraud and 
 force to secure the results of war. The war was not fought to 
 secure negro suffrage. 
 
 "The history of the world may be searched in vain for a 
 parallel to the spirit of savagery which it inflicted upon a 
 defeated and impoverished people,, the unspeakably barbarous 
 rule of a servile race just liberated from bondage. Negro suff- 
 rage was a crime against the white people of the South. It was 
 a crime against the blacks of the South. It was a crime against 
 the whole citizenship of the Republic. Political power was 
 never conferred upon a race so poorly equipped to receive it." 
 
 Now a last quotation from Charles Francis Adams, the grand- 
 son of John Quincy Adams: "I have ever been one of those" 
 who have thought extremely severe measures were dealt the 
 Southern people after the Civil War, measures of unprecedented 
 
 28 
 
severity. The Southern community was not only desolated dur- 
 ing the war, but $3,000,000,000 of property confiscated aL'ter 
 the war. I am not aware that history records a similar act 
 superadded to the destruction and desolation of war." 
 
 Again : ' ' Their manumitted slaves belonging to an inferior 
 and alien race, were enfranchised and put in control of the 
 whole administration. Is there a similar case recorded in his- 
 tory? If so I have never heard of it. It was simply a case of 
 insane procedure, and naturallj^ resulted in disaster. We stab- 
 bed the South to the quick, and during all the years of recra- 
 struction turned the dagger round and round in the festering 
 wound. If the South had been permitted to secede slavery 
 would have died a natural death." 
 
 The United Slates government is the only government that 
 ever freed her slaves without giving jusi compensation for them 
 
 Dr. Wyeth in his "With Sabre and Scalpel," published by 
 Harper & Brother:^, New Yorij. says, "None but those who went 
 through this period have any conception of it. Defeat on battle- 
 field brought no dishonor, but all manner of oppressions, with 
 poverty and enforced domination of a race lately in slavery 
 brought humiliation and required a courage little less than 
 superhuman. ' ' 
 
 The North said the Freedman's Bureau was necessary to 
 protect the negro. The South said the Ku, Klux Klan was nec- 
 essary to protect the white woman. 
 
 The trouble arose from interference on the part of the 
 scalawags and carpetbaggers in our midst, and they were the 
 ones to be dealt with first to keep the negroes in their rightful 
 place. 
 
 Mrs. Rose's "Ku Klux Klan" is authority on this subject. 
 Put that book into your schools. 
 
 Textbooks. Why should we be so intent upon the truth of 
 history being put into the textbooks taught in our schools? Be- 
 cause history as now written is stirring up discord and causing 
 bitterness. It is stated upon good authority that in private 
 schools in the South 81 per cent, use histories which misrepre- 
 sent the South, 17 per cent.' of these omit most important history 
 pertaining to the South. The South resents these falsehoods, 
 and that part of the North ignorant of our side resents our 
 resentment. Peace can be brought into the hearts of both only 
 when a clear, plain, fair, truthful and unprejudiced history shall 
 be given, and that is what we as U. D. C. are trying to give. 
 
 29 
 
It is the custom of your historian to publish in local papers 
 bits of history as gathered, especially disputed points in history. 
 inviting criticism and correction, so that the mistakes can be 
 corrected during the lifetime of those who have made the his- 
 tory. Every historian is liable to mistakes. I have made many 
 myself, but gladly have I welcomed the corrections when proofs 
 accompanied the correction. 
 
 One may ask, "Have any histories true to the South been 
 written by Northern historians?" How glad I am to say 
 "Yes," and I wish I had the means to place copies of these in 
 our Southern as well as Northern schools. George Lunt, of 
 Boston, Mass., in "The Origin of the Late War," written in 1865, 
 and published by D. Appleton & Co., of New York, has given as 
 fair and just a presentation of the causes leading to our War 
 between the States as any Southern person could desire. He 
 was opposed to slavery, but he did not hesitate to show that by 
 the Constitution the North had no right to interfere, and that 
 it was a question that the slaveholders themselves only could 
 settle. He showed how the South 's rights had been interfered 
 with in the Tariff Acts and by other unjust discriminations, and 
 was honest enough to fairly present both sides of the causes 
 that forced the South to secede. General John W. Tench, of 
 Florida, allowed me to see a copy of this book. I fear it is out 
 of print. Dan Voorhees, of Indiana, in his speeches has righted 
 the South in Reconstruction history. Charles Francis Adams 
 has tried to do us justice in regard to our Constitutional rights. 
 Hamilton Mabie has done much to right the injustice to the 
 South in literature. 
 
 It was a Northern historian who said: "Eliminate the achieve- 
 ments of Virginia's great men, and you nearly unmake Ameri- 
 can hist(^.y. Theirs were the brains that conceived, theirs the 
 hands that ccnstructed our National system, and formed the foun- 
 dation upon which have been builded American greatness and 
 glory." Why is it these men have done the South justice? 
 Because they have taken the trouble to investigate the truth 
 concerning us. 
 
 Patriotic men and women of the North as well as of the South 
 are demanding true history, and our sectional differences will 
 disappear when we succeed in getting down to the truth of 
 history. 
 
 The trouble with most of the textbooks on history is that they 
 treat mainly of current events preceding and during the War 
 
 30 
 
between the States, hence they are records of excited passions, 
 embittered prejudices, and extravagant utterances of the masses 
 of people on both sides, and few go into a philosophical review 
 of the causes leading to the war, and how that war might have 
 been prevented. The historians of today desirous of steering 
 clear of those questions which embitter, omit so much that should 
 be there, and the injustice to the South is more now in these 
 omissions than what is really said against us. 
 
 Horace Greely, considered the fairest writer to the South of his 
 day, in his "American Conflict," stresses the war as "a culmina- 
 tion of a strife for more than a century over negro slavery. ' ' That 
 is not true. Slavery may have been, and undoubtedly was, an 
 occasion of war, but it was not the real cause. The real cause 
 was a different and directly opposite view as to the nature of 
 the government of the United States. The Southern States 
 withdrew for better protection, which the government was not 
 giving as guaranteed by the Constitution. Then the Federal 
 government denied their right to withdraw, and the war was to 
 coerce them back into the Union, The South resisted them in 
 defense of rights given them not only by the United States 
 Constitution but by the Declaration of 1776. There really were 
 more slave-holders in the Northern army than in the Con«^ed- 
 erate army. 
 
 Dr. Curry, in his Southern States of the American Union, 
 says: "History, poetry, romance, art, and public opinion have 
 been most unjust to the South. If the true record be given, the 
 South is rich in patriotism, in intellectual force, in civic and 
 military achievements, in heroism, in honorable and sagacious 
 statesmanship, but if history as noAV written is accepted it will 
 consign the South to infamy." Shall we accept it? I say we 
 must not. 
 
 One college in the South had students who were too patriotic 
 to study historj^ unjust to the South. They were the children 
 of Confederate heroes. The textbook in use said, "Jefferson 
 Davis was a man of small calibre and should have been hanged 
 as a traitor." They sent a committee to the teacher to request 
 that the textbook be changed. She refused on the ground of 
 expense. They preferred the request to the President of the 
 college, and he refused. They then applied to the Trustees and 
 they refused. In a quiet, dignified manner, with no spirit of 
 insubordination, they kindled a bonfire on the campus and into 
 it every copy of that history was thrown. The authorities were 
 
 31 
 
taught a lesson — not one member of that class was expelled. 
 
 A grandmother teaching a grandson his geography lesson 
 discovered in that lesson that her own brother was called a 
 traitor because of his prominence in secession, and the state- 
 ment made that he and all other rebels like him should have 
 been hanged. She appealed to the Board of Education to ex- 
 clude the book from the school, but the answer came that the 
 expense to parents would be too great, but they ordered that 
 particular leaf in the textbook to be cut out. Was that grand- 
 mother satisfied? Not at all. 
 
 A textbook now used largely in Southern schools contains this 
 statement: "It is impossible for the student of history today 
 to feel otherwise than that the cause for which the South fought 
 was unworthy." Do you think such teaching as that is cal- 
 culated to make our young people true to the cause for which 
 their fathers and grandfathers fought? 
 
 A veteran came to me with tears streaming from his eyes, 
 saying: ''What can we do? My granddaughter came home 
 from school and said, 'Grandpa, our teacher said today that 
 the slaveholders beat their slaves until the blood fairly gushed 
 out of their backs, and I was ashamed to tell them my grand- 
 father ever owned slaves'." 
 
 While travelling in the West I met a gentleman who said to 
 me, "Miss Rutherford, my father was a Confederate soldier. 
 He was killed at Shiloh, but had he lived I am sure he would 
 have regretted having fought on the wrong side." My answer 
 was, "Far more probably he would regret having a son so dis- 
 loyal to the principles for which he was willing to give his life, ' ' 
 
 Imagine the indignation of a party of Southern tourists when 
 they found in a London hotel in a copy of The British Weekly, 
 giving James Russell Lowell as authority, the following state- 
 ment: "The aristocracy of the South has added nothing to the 
 requirements of civilization except the carrying of bowie knives 
 and the chewing of tobacco, the hightoned Southern gentleman 
 being not only quadruminous, but quidruminant. " And again 
 quoting from the same authority, also found in The British 
 Weekly. '^During the late American war, the Southern women 
 wore personal ornaments made of the bones of their buried foe, 
 and the prisoners were starved that their scalps should be used 
 as trophies." 
 
 Matthew Maury's name is omitted from the list of great 
 
 32 
 
scientists found in the Congressional Library. "Why? Because 
 he espoused the Confederate cause. 
 
 In a textbook on history is found this statement: "The Con- 
 federacy was now placed before the civilized world as the cham- 
 pion of the detested institution of slavery. The Southern people 
 under this institution were daily growing morally, mentally and 
 physically weaker. ' ' 
 
 Another textbook refers to "the clemency of the North in 
 not hanging Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis." The names 
 of the authors of these books are not given because of the adver- 
 tisement. A lesson was learned when we attacked a certain 
 history by name several years ago. 
 
 Let me assure you that we are not demanding textbooks writ- 
 ten wholly, nor printed wholly by Southern writers; but we 
 do recommend, where Southern men have invested their capital 
 in publishing houses for southern textbooks, as the B. F. John- 
 son Co., in Richmond, and can compete in quality and price 
 with northern firms, that Boards of Education in the South 
 should give preference to the southern publishers. We shall not 
 be free in the South so long as we are bound hand and foot by 
 the Book Trust, and so long as there are men living amongst us 
 willing to be bribed. 
 
 When I attacked the Book Trust in Washington City in 1912. 
 a gentleman wrote to me offering his aid in investigating this 
 question of bribery. He said: "With your permission I wish 
 to lay before you the root of the trouble as I see it. The teach- 
 ers and officials are not so much to blame as certain big lawyers 
 and politicians in the South. Some of these are sons of Con- 
 federate soldiers, I am sorry to say, but they are employed by 
 the Book Trust to continue the use of books unjust to the South, 
 because those books having been condemned thirty or fort> 
 years ago, no royalty is paid upon them, and the cost of manu- 
 facture is very small. This is kept a secret of course, and these 
 lawyers and politicians stultify themselves by accepting large 
 fees, in reality they are bribes, to keep these books in the 
 schools, and I have proof in hand where from $5,000 to $40,000 
 have been paid for such service. Of course, all of this can only 
 be stopped when a responsible body like the Daughters of the 
 Confederacy or Confederate Veterans take it in hand. When 
 they do, there is a great cloud of ivitncsses that can he produced." 
 Now this is the work our Textbook Committee must take in 
 hand next year. 
 
 33 
 
If you will look into the compilations of American Literature 
 in your libraries you will find that the Southern writers have 
 never had their due. For instance in Stedman's and Hutchin- 
 son's Library of American Literature fifty pages are given to 
 Walt "Whitman, and five lines to our Henry Timrod. Richard- 
 son in his American Literature gives forty pages to Fenimore 
 Cooper, and only four pages to our William * Gilmore Sims. 
 Pattee in his literature gives as many pages to William Dean 
 Howells as he does to Paul Hamilton Hayne, Joel Chandler 
 Harris, the Uncle Remus unique in literature, and George W. 
 Cable, and he does not even mention Father Ryan and James 
 Barron Hope. Pancoast gives page after page to E. P. Roe, 
 and does not mention James Lane Allen and Robert Burns 
 Wilson. John R. Thompson, the intimate friend of Thackeray 
 and Tennyson, is rarely found in any American poetical com- 
 pilation. In Masterpieces of American Literature, published by 
 Houghton, Mifflin & Co., no mention is made of Edgar Allan Poe, 
 "the master of style and literary imagery," while much space 
 is given to O'Reilly's Puritan. 
 
 Now in your libraries also are textbooks and books of fiction 
 equally as unjust to the South and you do not know it. We 
 must know our own history and literature. If we of the South 
 are not sufficiently interested in the history of the South to see 
 that it is taught correctly'' we will continue to be misrepresented. 
 The newspapers and magazines of the North and West are now 
 daily misrepresenting us. Just a few weeks ago The Chicago 
 Tribune said: "The South is a region of illiteracy, blatant self- 
 righteousness, and until better blood is introduced the South will 
 remain a reproach and a danger to the American republic." 
 
 Many histories now in use stress three things which they call 
 "salient facts" — we fought to hold our slaves; we were brutal 
 to the Andersonville prisoners ; and we were whipped. 
 
 The sooner we laiow our own history and teach it, the sooner 
 will such misrepresentations cease. While we pity the ignorance 
 which brought forth these statements we cannot rely upon pity 
 to correct them. We of the South must do it, and do it quickly. 
 Is not this argument sufficient to show the need of a Chair of 
 Southern History and Literature in our Teachers College? 
 
 The fairminded North will be glad to know the truth con- 
 cerning us. Then let us give it to them. You may ask, "How 
 can this best be done ? " I reply, ' ' Only by a systematic study of 
 our own history and conditions." 
 
 34 
 
May I urge that in your libraries, public and private, school 
 and university, two sets of books be placed? Only in this way 
 can your children know what the South may claim. These books 
 are in several volumes, and you cannot expect to get something 
 for nothing, but they will not cost you as much as those his- 
 tories and encyclopedias there in your libraries today that are 
 teaching untruths concerning the South. These two sets of 
 books I wish you to place in your homes are "The South in the 
 Building of a Nation," sold by J. S. Clark, Birmingham, Ala., 
 and "The Library of Southern Literature," sold by Martin, 
 Hoyt & Company, of Atlanta. One supplements the other. 
 
 The writing of essays on subjects pertaining to Southern 
 history has been of untold advantage. I can speak for my own 
 State, where nearly 7,000 school children have been reached 
 this year by the subject, "The Causes that Led to the "War be- 
 tween the States." 
 
 Things that make for Peace. Among my volumes of U. 
 D. C. history is one called "The Things that make for Peace." 
 In this volume is placed everything beautiful and magnanimous 
 that I find said or done by one side for the other side. 
 
 For instance, Col. James Sample, of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic, has sent me copies of articles that he has written, one 
 refuting the charge that President Davis was arrested in wo- 
 man's clothes, the other refuting the charge that Senator Hep- 
 burn made in the United States Senate in regard to General 
 Lee's acceptance of pay from the United States government 
 after he had cast his lot with the Confederate cause. 
 
 I have in this volume all of the data regarding the monument 
 that our Mr. Cunningham was instrumental in having erected 
 to Mr. Owen, the officer who was kind to him and other prison- 
 ers when in a Northern prison. 
 
 I have the testimony of the Vermont teacher, who said her 
 pastor had urged her to accept a position in the South that she 
 might be a missionaiy to the benighted blacks of the South, but 
 she was returning now to be a missionary to the benighted whites 
 of Vermont. 
 
 I have in it also the tributes to Captain Wirz from soldiers 
 that were in Andersonville Prison, testifying to his uniform 
 courteous treatment of them. I have a copy of the letter ac- 
 companying the watch they presented to him for his kindness. 
 
 I have also an account of one of President Davis' old political 
 enemies, one prominent in the John Bro^Mi affair, being re- 
 
 35 
 
eeived as a guest at Beauvoir, and a copy of a letter from him 
 testifying to the injustice that had been done to President Davis. 
 
 I have the tribute to the Southern gentleman by one of the 
 Federal generals who was placed in Georgia when the South 
 was under military rule. He said he had asked to be placed 
 in the South in order to humiliate those slave-drivers of the 
 South, but he wished now to testify that he had found those 
 slaveholders types of the finest Christian manhood. 
 
 I have Henry Grady's New England speech, and Henry Wat- 
 terson's tribute to Abraham Lincoln, General John B. Gordon's 
 tribute to Northern valor, and many others of like spirit. 
 
 I have Lee's reply when the mother requested him to teach 
 her boy to hate the Yankees. "Madam, take your boy home. 
 We do not teach our boys to hate." 
 
 I have letters from many G. A. K. men commending the spirit 
 of "Wrongs of History Righted," and offering to aid me in 
 righting other wrongs. 
 
 I have requests from negro teachers at the head of schools 
 asking for copies of "Wrongs of History Righted" to give to 
 their teachers. I never open that book that I do not feel that 
 the spirit of Sumner Cunningham is brooding about me. Are 
 you taking his Veteran? 
 
 I have great faith to believe that all will be well in the end, 
 and my faith is greatly strengthened as I see a growing desire 
 on the part of our own people to study history and find ovit the 
 truth of history. Bitterness and sectionalism will pass away 
 when the whole truth is known. 
 
 Let us have patience and have faith in our Nation. Let us 
 believe that liberty is a God-given gift and cannot fail. Let 
 us have faith in the loyal natural heart of America, and believe 
 that sooner or later all wrongs will be righted, all evil will be 
 uprooted. 
 
 Clouds will cross the heavens, but let us not forget that the 
 sun still shines. 
 
 Society is out of joint. Things do need adjustment, threaten- 
 ing evils, social and political are near, but let us be patient, 
 for if honest hearts are aroused against these evils they must 
 give way before an indignant people, and order and peace will 
 be restored under the guiding hand of a great and loving 
 Jehovah. 
 
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