[XXXVI]
It was in the spring of 1866 that I was instrumental in forming what I believe to have been the first of the Confederate Memorial Associations in the Southern States. This is the Hollywood Memorial Association, of Richmond. In Hollywood Cemetery are interred fifteen thousand or sixteen thousand Confederate soldiers, and in Oakwood Cemetery are as many more. Their graves were entirely uncared for, and I began in the Dispatch to agitate the subject, with a view to forming an association which should undertake to keep the graves in order, mark them suitably, and erect a monument to our dead. The earliest fruit of it was a suspension of business on the first Memorial day, when hundreds of young men who had belonged to different military organizations went out to Hollywood, accompanied by ladies bearing flowers, and labored for several hours with spade and hoe in rearranging the mounds over the graves, and clearing away the rank growth of weeds. The ladies of the Hollywood Association were most enthusiastic, and I acted as their Secretary. Public meetings were held in the Churches in furtherance of the objects of the Association, and in June I addressed three meetings of ladies on one day, at different places. One of these meetings was at the Monumental Church, and about five hundred ladies were present. There were two different plans. One was to level the graves and erect a general monument; and the other was to mark each one of the graves with a headstone bearing either the name of the soldier who lay there, or a number by which, on reference to the books of the Cemetery, the name of the soldier could be known. I pleaded for the plan that would keep each grave separate and distinct, and would allow any father or mother, or sister or brother, from the far South to know the identical spot where the bones of their dear one lay, rather than that they should be shown a vast open area and be told that somewhere within those bounds their young hero lay buried. I was modest in those days, and, when one of the ladies at the close of the meeting told me that she wanted to kiss me for my speech, I blushed and declined. As long as I was in Richmond I continued to work actively for the Memorial Association, and, when I left Richmond to come to Charleston, I received from the President a letter, of which the following is a copy:
Richmond, November 8, 1866.
My Dear Sir—As the organ of the Hollywood Memorial Association, I desire to express to you our grateful acknowledgment of your untiring efforts in our behalf, and our sense of your valuable and disinterested services in advancing our solemn and sacred purpose.
Your taste and ardor have been efficient in securing for us a large share of general sympathy.
We sincerely regret to lose you from our counsels, but feel assured of your continued sympathy and interest, as you may of our best wishes for your success and happiness.
Be pleased to accept our acknowledgments, and with them the accompanying slight memorial.
I am, with high respect, your friend,
N. MACFARLAND,
President H. M. A.