Existing comment:
Confederate Monument at Arlington (1914)
"Then the sons and daughters of the South are seen coming from every direction. The manner in which they crowd enthusiastically upon each other is one of the most impressive features of this colossal work. There they come, representing every branch of the service, and in proper garb; soldiers, sailors, sappers and miners, all typified. On the right is a faithful negro body-servant following his young master, Mr. Thomas Nelson Page's realistic 'Marse Chan' over again."
-- History of the Arlington Monument by Hilary A. Herbert (1914)
[Continuation of that text...
"And there is another story told here, illustrating the kindly relations that existed all over the South between the master and the slave--a story that can not be too often repeated to generations in which 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' survives and is still manufacturing false ideas as to the South and slavery in the 'fifties.'
"The astonishing fidelity of the slaves everywhere during the war to the wives and children of those who were absent in the army was convincing proof of the kindly relations between master and slave in the old South. One leading purpose of the U.D.C. is to correct history. Ezekiel is here writing it for them, in characters that will tell their story to generation after generation. Still to the right of the young soldier and his body-servant is an officer, kissing his child in the arms of an old negro 'mammy.' Another child holds on to the skirts of 'mammy' and is crying, perhaps without knowing why."] |