Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 38.djvu/70

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58
Southern Historical Society Papers.

seemed to think that it was not of sufficient importance to ask for its restoration; that Mr. Davis was such a great man that he would outlive this petty piece of spite, etc. I differed with him, and thought that it was a great injustice to have removed his name, and that a government as great as ours could not afford to go down in history as being guilty of such a petty piece of spite. I told him that the matter had been placed in your hands and that any assistance that he would give you would be appreciated. * * * If you remember, it was not until his sovereign State seceded that Mr. Davis resigned his seat in the United States Senate and made his farewell address, which was an ardent and eloquent appeal for the preservation of the Union. I feel that you will succeed.

It cannot be that the American people will deny this request, in justice to the memory of the man who served his country so faithfully and who was recognized as the most efficient Secretary of War that this country has ever had. * * *

Yours very respectfully,

Mrs. W. J. Behan,
President C. S. M. A.

P. S.—The Richmond Times-Dispatch of July 1, 1907, has an editorial entitled, "Jefferson Davis and the Cabin John Bridge." In this article the Daughters of the Confederacy were credited with offering the resolution, and I wrote immediately to the editor, enclosing the article, and asked to have it corrected. The Vicksburg American of June 21, 1907, had an article on the same subject. So the work has commenced. God grant you success.

Yours very respectfully,

K. W. Behan.

[From Rochester, N. Y., Democrat Chronicle, July 8, 1907.]

RESTORING THE NAME OF JEFFERSON DAVIS.

The Civil War closed nearly half a century ago, yet some of the Southern people are still engaged in keeping alive the memories of that unhappy conflict and find their chief pleasure, apparently, in digging up incidents that might better be for-