St. Louis Confederate Monument
| Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri Erected Dec 5, 1914 |
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"To the memory of the soldiers and sailors of the Southern
Confederacy, who fought to uphold the right declared by the pen of Jefferson
and achieved by the sword of Washington. With sublime self-sacrifice,
they battled to preserve the independence of the States which was established
by the fathers. Actuated by the purest patriotism, they performed
deeds of prowess such as thrill the heart of mankind with admiration. 'Full
in the front of war they stood' and displayed a courage so superb that
they gave a new and brighter luster to the annals of valor. History
contains no chronicle more illustrious than the story of their achievements;
and although, worn out by ceaseless conflict and overwhelmed by numbers,
they were finally forced to yield, their glory, Erected to the memory of the soldiers and sailors of
the Confederate States of America by the Daughters of the Confederacy of
St. Louis." |
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Background Music, "Knot of Blue and Gray"
Traditional Song from Missouri, author unknown.
Lyrics:
You ask me why upon my breast
Unchanged from day to day.
Linked side by side in this broad band
I wear the Blue and Gray.
I had two brothers long ago,
Two brothers blithe and gay.
One wore the suit of Northern blue
And one of Southern gray.
One heard the roll call of the South
And linked his faith with Lee.
The other bore the stars and stripes
With Sherman to the sea.
Each fought for what he thought was
right And fell with sword in hand.
One sleeps amid Virginia's hills,
And one in Georgia's sands.
But the same sun shines on both their graves,
O'er valley and o'er hill,
And in the darkest of the hours
My brothers they lie still.
That is why upon my breast
unchanged from day to day,
Linked side by side in this broad band
I wear the Blue and Gray.
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Dr. R. C. Cave and the St. Louis Confederate Monument
A magnificant memorial to the soldiers and sailors
of the Confederacy, the result of ten years by the United
Daughters of the Confederacy of St. Louis, was placed in Forest Park
in 1914. The granite shaft is thirty-two feet high. It faces
the west, and on that side is a bronze tablet showing a group in high relief-a
Confederate soldier leaving his family for the war. Above this group in
low relief in the granite is the figure of an angel presenting
the "Spirit of the Confederacy". The principal
inscription for the monument was written by Dr. R. C. Cave,
noted lecturer and author of "The Men in Gray".
Dr. Cave was the pastor
of a fashionable non-sectarian place of worship in the Central West End
of St. Louis. He was well known as a prominent advocate of the movement
begun in the Congress of Religions at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair in
favor of the establishment of non-sectarian churches.
Mr. Cave entered the Confederate
Army a few hours after Virginia passed her Ordinance of secession. He enlisted
as a private in Company "A",
of the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry (General A.P. Hill's Regiment)
and fought at First Manassas. He served with"Stonewall"
Jackson throughout the "Valley Campaign", the Seven
Days Battle around Richmond, the
Battle of Slaughter's Mountain, and
Second Manassas (where he was wounded), Chancellorsville,
and Gettysburg.
On May 30, 1894 at the
Richmond, Virginia monument dedication honoring the private soldier, Dr.
Cave stated: "I am not one of those who, clinging to the old superstition
that the will of heaven is revealed in trial by combat,
fancy that right must always be on the side of might, and speak of Appomattox
as a judgment of God. Herod was crowned and Christ was
crucified; the verdict at Appomattox was but another instance
of 'truth on the scaffold, and wrong on the throne."