she made, to cause Northerners and Southerners to think better of each other. Tender and true always to the memory of the gray-clad youth who was her husband and who gave his life to the Southern cause, she delighted in acts of kindly consideration for all who had been Confederate soldiers. Many distinguished Confederate survivors knew and admired her. In his last years she was an intimate friend of Mr. Jefferson Davis. After his death, she engaged George B. Matthews, a distinguished artist of Virginia, to paint two life-size portraits of the President of the Confederate States. She presented one of them to the Confederate Soldiers' Home at Beauvoir, Miss., and the other to William and Mary College, at Williamsburg, Va.
Mrs. Darling died while on a visit in New York to her brother, John Quincy Adams, and just as she was about to return to her home, in Washington.
In the national capital Mrs. Darling was one of its most distinguished women, well known and beloved for her singularly refined virtues and her inspiring work in many fields of charitable and patriotic endeavor. Here her remains were buried in the Congressional Cemetery, and a beautiful and appropriate monument marks her grave.
Mrs. Darling was perhaps the foremost spirit in the founding of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1890, at the initial meeting of the organization, a resolution unanimously adopted read:
"Resolved, That we hereby elect Mrs. Flora Adams Darling a lifelong member of this society in recognition of her loving interest and labors, which have resulted in the founding of this society of the Daughters of the American Revolution."
In 1897 in New York City the "Daughters of the Revolution" organized as "Darling Chapter," and resolved that Mrs. Darling should be "known and recognized as Founder and Director General of the National Society." She received from time to time many other honors from similar organizations. Upon her death the Flora Adams Memorial Association was organized with the following officers: President, William B. Matthews, of Washington, D. C.; Vice Presidents, former Senator James B. McCreary, of Kentucky, Hon. George G. Battle, of New York, Senator Moses E. Clapp, of Minnesota. Representative Charles L. Bartlett, of Georgia, Hon. Theodore Sutro, of New York, and Mrs. Adeline F. Fitz, President General of the Daughters of the Revolution; Secretary, Miss Matilda Smedley, founder of the American National Institute Prix de Paris; Treasurer, Dr. Lyon Tyler, President of William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va.
Notwithstanding her unremitted attention to everyday duties and to the patriotic organizations with which she was conspicuously connected, Mrs. Darling wrote many books of much merit and interest. Among her best-known sketches and stories may be mentioned: "Memories of the Civil War," "A Winning, Wayward Woman" (1890), "Was It a Just Verdict" (1890)? "The Bourbon Lily" and "A Social Diplomat" (1898), "The Senator's Daughter," and "Senator Athens, C. S. A." She was a member of the Society of American Authors. This early culture abided with her to the end in a grace and symmetry of character which brought her throughout her life unstinted admiration and the unconstrained devotion of countless friends. All of the life of her richly endowed womanhood was gladly devoted to doing good in the broadest and deepest way and in an effective manner.
[The foregoing sketch "by a friend" is not an exaggeration of Mrs. Darling's extraordinary qualities. Though of New England ancestry and rearing, she was ever ardent for right recognition of the Southern people in the qualities that make them great. The Editor of the Veteran knew well personally of her devotion to the South for fully a quarter of a century.]
Dr. W. F. McDowell.
Dr. W. F. McDowell died at Banks, Ala., September 27, 1910. He was born in Alabama on the 23d of September, 1834, and spent his life in that State except when in the Confederate army. He enlisted as second Lieutenant in Company B, 51st Alabama Cavalry, and served in Hogan's Brigade, Allen's Division, Wheeler's Corps. After the war he lived at Tuskegee and Montgomery until a few years since, when he removed to his country home near Banks. He was married to Miss Sue Davis, of Alabama, in December, 1859, and she survives him with four daughters and two sons to mourn the loss of a devoted husband and father.
Comrade McDowell was a chemist by profession, and was preparing himself to be a physician when the war came on and changed his plans. He was a true friend and an honorable, upright citizen, and a loyal Church member for fifty years. His twelve months of illness were borne with the same heroic patience that characterized his conduct during the war.
John Staley Rowe.
John Staley Rowe, son of William Jefferson and Caroline Ruth Rowe, was born at Rowesville, S. C, in February, 1842; and died on the 11th of September, 1910, at his home, near Orangeburg, S. C. He was educated at Pine Ridge Academy and at Natchez, Miss., and was a member of the Lake Providence Cadets, Company B, 4th Louisiana Regiment, under R. J. Barrow as colonel and Dr. Francis Witcher as captain. Comrade Rowe took part in the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Jackson, Miss., in all the engagements of Johnston's army from Dalton to Atlanta, in Hood's army on the Tennessee campaign, and in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tenn. He was then assistant brigade commissary of Quarles's Brigade, and was paroled at the mouth of White River, Ark., on the ist of June, 1865, having been for four years and two months in the army. He returned to South Carolina, and was happily married to his cousin. Miss Mary Augusta Kumff, in February, 1867. He was engaged in planting and the lumber business in Orangeburg County since the war.
R. J. Thompson.
D. J. Hyneman, of Corinth, Miss., reports the death of R. J. Thompson, of Tallahatchie County, Miss., of whom he writes: "I knew him for three years, not only as a member of the same company but of the same mess, and can truthfully say a better soldier never entered the Confederate service. At the commencement of the war he enlisted in the 15th Mississippi, General Featherston's old regiment, and at the end of his term of enlistment he joined Baxter's company of Van Dorn's Scouts, afterwards a part of the 12th Mississippi Cavalry, and served with it as a true and faithful soldier until the close of the war, surrendering with his regiment near Washington, Ga. after the capture of Jefferson Davis."
Foster.—Report comes from Lakeland Camp of Confederate Veterans, Socrum, Fla., of the death of O. P. Foster, who served in Company I, 63d Georgia Regiment. He fought under Johnston and Hood, participating in the battle of Franklin and many others. He was paroled in North Carolina in May, 1865. He was sixty-five years old, and was a fine musician and a high-toned gentleman.
