The Ladies Memorial Association of Montgomery

The Ladies’ Memorial Association of Montgomery

The mettle of Southern woman was tempered and tested during the hardships of the War. In Montgomery there were the Ladies' Aid Society headed by Mrs. Eliza Clitherall Moore; The Ladies Hebrew Sewing and Benevolent Society headed by Mrs. J.C. Hausman; The Aid Society headed by Mrs. John Elmore and Mrs. William L. Yancey.

There were also the Hospital Societies: Dr. and Mrs. Carnot Bellinger’s at their home place on Hull Street (where Bellinger Hill School is now); The Ladies Hospital at Bibb and Commerce Street headed by Mrs. Benajah S. Bibb, known as “Aunt Sophie”; The General Hospital at Commerce at Coosa, headed by Mrs. William Know and catercornered from it the Roman Catholic St. Mary’s Hospital, and Dr. William Holt’s hospital at Perry and Dexter Avenues.

The dedication, spirit and experience which Montgomery women gleaned from their devoted wartime volunteerism resulted in the organization of the Memorial Association.

The Historical and Monumental Association of Alabama was founded on November 23, 1865, by a group of prominent Alabama men. The moving spirits were Judge John D. Phelan and Brigadier General James H. Clanton. The initial purpose of the organization was to erect a monument on the Capitol grounds, however, the men soon became distressed at vandalism by federal occupation soldiers and the grisly conditions of the cemeteries, where rains had washed away hasty, shallow graves. The men were paralyzed by the enormity of the task and nothing was done from November 1865 to March 14, 1866.

On April 16, 1866, the ladies of Montgomery met at the Court Street Methodist Church (where the Federal Post Office was built later, now the Federal Court House) to devise ways and means for raising money to have the remains of Alabama soldiers properly buried. Sophie Bibb was requested to preside, officers were elected and resolutions passed. Thus came into being The Ladies Society fro the Burial of Deceased Alabama Soldiers and it moved into action. On May 1, 1866, a May Day Offering was held that raised $200 for an appeal by the women of Winchester, Virginia, and $6,000 for the society. This was the first of many May Day events that would raise thousands of dollars for the works of the society. At that time, five dollars would provide an oaken coffin and burial for a soldier.

A year earlier in Jackson, Mississippi on April 26, 1865 at War’s end, Miss Sue Adams had placed flowers on the graves of war-time friends and foes alike.

In Selma, on April 2, 1866 the first anniversary of the Battle of Selma, ladies honored Southern and Union graves with proper interment and flowers.

In Columbus, Georgia, on April 9, 1866, the first anniversary of General Lee’s surrender, the ladies there did their honors, Mrs. Lizzie Rutherford Ellis of Columbus, Georgia, is credited for the first Confederate Memorial Day, along with Mrs. Anne Williams for her March 12, 1866, letter to the editor in the Columbus newspaper proposing the setting aside of April 26 annually as the observance of the South’s “All Soul’s Day”.

In Montgomery, the wife of the distinguished judge and member of the Historical and Monumental Association, Mrs. J.D. Phelan, a mother of twelve children who saw four sons die in The War, was deeply moved by Mrs. Mary Anne William’s letter in the Columbus paper and spread the idea. The Ladies Society for the Burial of Deceased Alabama Soldiers became The Ladies' Memorial Association. On April 26, 1866 the ladies decorated Confederate and Union soldier graves at Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery.

Major General John A. Logan, commanding the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), admitted that he had been touched to hear of Miss Sue Adams decorating Federal graves with flowers in Jackson, Mississippi in 1865. Three years later, he issued the order for Decoration Day on May 30, 1868, the anniversary of the discharge of the last Union Army volunteer soldiers.

The men’s Historical and Monumental Association founded in 1865 had become quiescent during the dreary, difficult years of Reconstruction in Alabama. In 1885, a new organization, The Monumental and Historical Society was formed on September 30, chaired by Montgomery Mayor Colonel Warren S. Reese. Under its auspices, Ex-President Jefferson Finis Davis, then 78, laid the cornerstone of the Confederate Monument on the north lawn of the Alabama State Capitol Building in elaborate two day ceremonies on April 29, 1886. However, the Society ran into difficulty raising the $46,000 needed to finish the job. Alabamians were still devastated and struggling.

The men of the Society once again found the task too much for them and appealed to The Ladies' Memorial Association for help. Once again, led by the indominatable great lady of the Confederacy, Sophie Gilmer Bibb, the women stepped into the breach. The men’s Society had raised $6,755.00. Some shamed politicians raised $5,000, managed to get a legislative grant for $10,000, and then another $10,000 grant. The Ladies Memorial Association raised $10,000.

The 80-foot monument designed by Alexander Doyle, an Ohio sculptor, and built of Alabama limestone, consists of a central column, topped by a female figure signifying Patriotism and Southern Woman. In her left arm she holds a broken flag and in her other, a sword for her sons defense of their flag. At the base is a bronze frieze depicting Confederate soldiers in combat. At the foundation are four pedestals upon which stand statues representing the Confederate Cavalry, Infantry, Artillery and Navy, with moving inscriptions under each one.

The Ladies' Memorial Associations in Camden, Gainesville, and Florence, Alabama also erected monuments to their Confederate dead.

In Montgomery, headstones for 800 soldiers, a monument and a chapel were built at Oakwood cemetery. In addition, a total of $12,350.00 was sent to Shiloh, Mississippi for the proper burial of soldiers there, as well as to Franklin, Tennessee, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Norfolk, Petersburg, Virginia and Jonesboro, Georgia.

The Chapel/Pavilion is still used today for the Confederate Memorial Day ceremonies each April 26, which have continued unbroken from 1866 until today, 143 years. Wreaths are placed at the Confederate monument at the Capitol and at the Confederate monument at Oakwood Cemetery. Although the Confederated Southern Memorial Association no longer exists, The Ladies' Memorial Association of Montgomery is alive and well.

By Cameron Freeman Napier

Ramer, Alabama

http://www.theladiesmemorialassociationofmontgomery.com

Used by permission of Mrs. Napier 3/10/2009

Sources

Mrs. I.M. Porter Ockenden, ed., The Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill, Montgomery (Montgomery, 1898)

Marielou Armstrong Cory, comp., The Ladies' Memorial Association of Montgomery, Alabama; Its Origins and Organization, 1860-1870 (Montgomery, 1902)

Joseph Hogson, Origin of the Alabama Memorial Association (Mobile, 1903)

M. Louise Benton Graham, ed., History of the Confederate Memorial Association of the South (New Orleans, 1903)

Lucille Cary Lowry, The Origin of Memorial Day in Dixie (n.p. 1937)

Charles Reagan Wilson, Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (Chapel Hill and London, 1989)