From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/7/1911, p. 8, c. 3

DAUGHTERS ATTEND IMPRESSIVE SERVICE
Confederate Memorial Literary Society Unveils Tablet to Mrs. Joseph Bryan, Its Life President – Mark Site of Libby Prison.

Ceremonies at once simple and impressive marked the unveiling yesterday of two tablets – one to the memory of Mrs. Joseph Bryan, and the other to mark the site of Libby Prison, Twentieth and Cary Streets. They were the first of the several commemorative events which will feature the annual convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the almost coincident meeting of the regents and vice-regents of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society. It is the latter organization which has charge of and maintains the Confederate Museum in this city, and which conducted the two unveilings yesterday.

The third annual meeting of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society opened at 11 o’clock yesterday morning at the Confederate Museum, Twelfth and Clay Streets, with an address of welcome by the president, Miss Lizzie Cary Daniel, and with a response on behalf of the regents by Mrs. Joseph B. Dibrell, delegate from Texas. The addresses were followed with the reading of reports by regents inn attendance. At 12:30 P. M. occurred the unveiling of the tablet to Mrs. Bryan, and at 4 o’clock in the afternoon marking of the Libby Prison site.

To-Day’s Program.

The active duties of the present meeting of regents will be concluded this afternoon, thus avoiding a conflict with the convention of the Daughters, which is formally opened tonight at the Academy of Music. A conference of the regents and vice-regents will be held at 11 o’clock this morning at the Jefferson Davis mansion to consider important business relating to the society.

At 12 o’clock noon will take place the presentation by Mrs. Homer F. Sloan, president of the Arkansas Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy, of a widow in the Arkansas Room, in memory of David Owen Dodd. The memorial will be accepted by Mrs. Lizzie Cary Daniel, president of the society. Miss Olive Julian, of the Margaret Rose Chapter, U. D. C., of Little Rock, will assist in the unveiling. The Margaret Rose Chapter, the youngest of all chapters of the Daughters, has been particularly active in raising money for this object, and made the largest single contribution to the fund.

Luncheon will be served this afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Jefferson Hotel to the regent, vice-regents, general officers of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, officers of the Richmond Chapter and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society. The committee in charge of the luncheon is composed of Mrs. J. Allison Hodges and Miss Mattie P. Harris. The last act of the present meeting will be a reception to the United Daughters of the Confederacy at the Jefferson Davis mansion, at 5 o’clock Wednesday afternoon, at which time the daughters will present to the museum a portrait of Mrs. Jefferson Davis.

Tablet Unveiled to Mrs. Bryan.

The unveiling of the tablet to the memory of Mrs. Joseph Bryan at the morning session of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society yesterday, was extremely touching and impressive. Mrs. Bryan was president of the society from its formation until her death, September 11, 1910, and this tablet to her memory is regarded as a tribute from the surviving coworkers to her faithfulness and devotion to the work of the society.

The meeting was opened with prayer by Rev. E. E. Osgood, rector of Emanuel Church, of which Mrs. Bryan was a member. Mrs. Kate Pleasants Minor, her intimate friend during life, made the principal address of the occasion She spoke with feeling of the late president, to whom, she said, belongs the honor of having conceived and carried to a successful position this museum – the greatest memorial of the Confederate cause. She told of the organization of the society in May 26, 1890, of the election of Mrs. Bryan as first president, and of the years of constant labor and enthusiasm given to the society and its projects. The tablet about to be unveiled, she told the gathering, will be the only one to a non-combatant which will ever adorn the walls of the museum.

Draped in Battle Flag.

The tablet was appropriately draped in the old battleflag of the Shenandoah, the last of the Confederate cruisers – the ship of which it has been said she was “never conquered and never surrendered.” The ribbons releasing the draperies were drawn by Joseph Bryan, III, and Amanda Stewart Bryan, the grandchildren of the woman in honor of whom the tablet was erected. It reads:

In Grateful Memory
ISOBEL STEWAR BRYAN,
The Founder of This Museum,
President of
The Confederate Memorial Literary
Society From Its Organization
May 26, 1890, to September
11, 1890.
“Love Makes Memory Eternal.”
Erected by C. M. L. S.
Nov., 1911.

Mrs. Lizzie Cary Daniel, president of the society, received the tablet for the museum, with a few appreciative words. She called the attention of her hearers to the fact that the line in quotation marks on the tablet was the last official message of Mrs. Bryan to the society. The benediction was pronounced by Rev. James Power Smith, D. D.

Libby Prison Site Marked.

Despite a driving rain which made a large attendance impossible, a good number rallied to the site of Libby Prison, Twentieth and Cary streets, to witness the unveiling of the tablet marking the place occupied by the famous old Confederate prison. Owing to the utter unfriendliness of the weather the ceremonies were made as short as possible. John B Lightfoot, Jr, representing the committee of the Sons of Veterans, who, under the direction of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, had the tablet erected, presided over the ceremonies. Prayer was offered by F. F. Rennie, chaplain of R. E. Lee Camp, Sons of Veterans, and was followed by the principal address of the occasion, delivered by Edwin P. Cox. Miss Virginia Spotswood Lamb, daughter of John A. Lamb, and granddaughter of Congressman Lamb, draper in a large Confederate banner, drew the cords that released the canvas covering the tablet.

War of Coercion.

After referring to the appropriateness of intrusting to the sons of Confederate veterans the duty of placing this memorial, Mr. Cox drew attention to the thought that it is not as a sad recollection of the past that this spot is marked, and that it is not as a bitter memory of bygone days that we should look upon Libby Prison or the part it played in the struggle which occurred from 1861-65. He proceeded then to characterize the War Between the States in these words:

“This contest may be called by whatever name you choose – the Civil War, the War Between the States, the War of the Rebellion, the War for the Southern Confederacy – but in its last analysis history will show that it was a war of invasion undertaken by the North against the South under the guise of promoting liberty and freedom; a war of coercion founded upon fanatical fury by the stronger States against the weaker, and we are here to-day to say that though defeat was the portion of our State and people, yet Virginia and Virginians will look back with pride upon the actions of her people of that generation, a splendid heritage well worth the blood shed by her men and the tears wept by her women.”

He reviewed Richmond’s share in the great struggle, and recalled that the part of the city in which they were now standing was often the scene of battle.

In War Lies Progress.

Mr. Cox quoted Ruskin’s paradoxical gospel that “all the pure and noble arts of peace are founded upon war; no great art ever rose on earth but among a nation of soldiers.” And quoting the English author further, “It was very strange for me to discover this; and very dreadful…but I saw it to be quite an undentable fact. The common notion that peace and the virtues of civil life flourished together, I found to be wholly untenable. Peace and the vices of civil strife only flourish together. We talk of peace and learning, of peace and plenty, and of peace and civilization, but I found that these were not the words which the Muse of History coupled together; that on her lips the words were peace and sensuality, peace and selfishness, peace and death. I found, in brief, that all nations learned their truth of word and strength of thought in war; that they were nourished in war and wasted by peace, taught in war and betrayed by peace; in a word, that hwy were born in war and expired in peace.”

“The nation and State,” continued Mr. Cox, “will find one of their strongest supports in the useful work undertaken by the fair women of this city to mark those places within our bounds which possess historic interest because of some connection with a memorable event of the days counted in the years from 1861 to 1865.” Going into the records of Libby Prison, he told his hearers that the charges of some people in the North that prisoners were ill treated in the South was untrue; that inmates of Libby Prison were always well fed, even in the days when Richmond itself was suffering for want of food.

Word to Young Men.

“To you, young men of Richmond,” the speaker concluded, “sons of the men who wore the gray, this is a priceless privilege the women of this city have given you; and in the name of the brave deeds of your fathers, in the name of the sacrifices and hardships endured by your mothers, and in the name of that greatest test f manhood and womanhood, ‘love your enemies,’ we unveil this tablet, which marks the spot where stood Libby Prison.”

The tablet is of bronze and bears the following inscription:

On This Site Stood
Libby Prison, C. S. A.,
1861-65.
For Federal Prisoners of War.
Placed By
Confederate Memorial Literary Society
A. D. 1911.

Among those attending the unveiling were: Governor and Mrs. William Hodges Mann, Congressman John Ellyson, General Charles J. Anderson, Mrs. William Ruffin Cox, Mrs. Thomas Bolling, and Mrs. J. R. Werth, chairman of the sites committee of the Confederate Museum Literary Society.

Mrs. Stuart’s Letter.

A letter from Mrs. J. E. B. Stuart, widow of General Stuart, the noted Confederate cavalry officer, addressed to Mrs. James R. Werth, chairman of the Sites Committee, Confederate Memorial Literary Society, was read, in which she regretted her inability to be present at the ceremony. Referring to the event, she wrote”

“My sincerest congratulations are yours that you have these noble promptings to perpetuate many facts of history that otherwise would pass from the knowledge of our children and grandchildren. God bless and aid you in all that you have undertaken.”

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