The Greenwood (Miss) Monument... Page 2

On the side toward the river is a figure of a cavalry soldier, with the inscription: "A testimonial of our affection and reverence for the Confederate soldier, the memory of whose brave deeds and heroic life and principles for which he sacrificed so much we bequeath to our children through future generations."

On the side facing Market Street is an artillery soldier, beneath which is in base relief the replica of the pilot wheel of the Star of the West, at which the first shot of the war was fired. On the side of this monument nearest the wheel is inscribed: "Steamer Star of the West. In 1861 the first shot of the War between the States was fired at this vessel in Charleston Harbor. The Star of the West was captured by a squad of cavalry at Sabine pass and scuttled in 1863 in the Tallahatchie River at Fort Pemberton, three miles from Greenwood."

On the summit is a figure of a Confederate officer, with spyglasses in hand, watching the battle. His very expression and attitude is one of keenest interest. This is a "speaking" figure of an officer watching the progress of a battle from an elevated point.

"Who, bending under the weight of years, for themselves and their comrades gone before are now receiving from the Daughters of a valorous race this tribute of affection, this token of esteem, for those who bravely bared their breasts to the charge of steel, to the form of shot, to the crash of shell, for those who fought and fell and died for principle, for home, and for the causewe loved so well."

"Well do we know the sacrifice of time and comfort and health and energetic thought which was inspired and contributed by members of the Varina Jefferson Davis Chapter, U.D.C., in the erection and completion of this beautiful and enduring monument; how the spark which, though dormant for so many long and weary years, was by them like vestal virgins kept alive until at last it was fanned into a flame by popular expression and approval; how these patriotic Daughters worked and watched and prayed for the glorious day when

"By the flow of the Yazoo River

This shaft should rear its head

Upon whose summit stands the warrior

Reviewing the living and the dead."

"Daughters, you have chosen well in selecting for the crowning of this majestic monument the commanding figure of a Confederate officer; for while to "the men behind the gun" all honor is due, yet without the directing head of the officer "confusion worse confounded" must ensue. Again we say, you choose wisely and justly in placing this figure in memory of Leflore County's most distinguished son and soldier, Gen. Benjamin G. Humphreys.

"In saying this I do not detract from the valient service rendered their country by Leflore's other soldiery: the brave Col. Hugh A. Reynolds, who gave his life to his country on the battle field of Chickamauga, in honor of whom this Camp is named; the dauntless William H. Morgan, who organized two companies of volunteers in the territory now known as Leflore County, and went into battle at the head of one of them("The Sunflower Dispersers") as its captain, and was promoted to the rank of major for gallantry, and represented Leflore County in the Constitutional Convention of 1869, and to whose public spirit and generosity Leflore County is largely indebted for the building through it of the Delta Southern Railway, which was not completed, however, until after his death; the brave and courteous Capt. Willam G. Poindexter, distinguished as an officer upon the staff of Gen. Featherston; Capt. William Berry Prince, whose command with him bravely fought at Fort Pemberton, and with others under Maj. W.H. Morgan, drove the Federal fleet back to the Yazoo Pass; that dashing and gallant knight, Capt. Tully S. Gibson, who during the Reconstruction period was murdered by the hand of a Federal assasin; Lieut. Azro A. Stoddard and Thomas L. Chapman, who, with their comrades, scuttled the steamer Star of the West in the Tallahatchie River, a short distance from where we are now standing, to prevent the Federal fleet from descending the Yazoo River; Capt. Nat Scales; Maj. Thomas Walton, who distinguished himself on the staff of Gen. Longstreet in the Army of Northern Virginia, and after the war in the yellow fever epidemic at Grenada; L.T. Baskett, who was wounded four times in battle, and commanded his company from 1863 to the end of the war, except when disabled by wounds, and who was mayor of Greenwood and elected twice to the office of sheriff of this county and also as county treasurer; George W. Arnold and John D. Chickering, who belonged to the company in the 28th Mississippi Regiment of Volunteer Cavalry of which I was a member, and who held the offices of Circuit and Chancery Court Clerk of this county from the time of the political upheaval, when the carpetbaggers and scallawags were driven from office, till his death; Thomas Wadlington, who was severly wounded in battle, and who was Mayor of Greenwood at the time of his death; D.R.C. Martin, Angus M. Martin, and M.A. Martin; W.A. Gillespie, who came from the North in 1852 and enlisted in the Southern army at the breaking out of the war, who was captured at Fort Donelson, afterwards exchanged and transferred to the Confederate navy at Mobile, where he surrendered when the war was over, and who was Adjutant of this camp till he died; the Cobb brothers, James Carne, Sam East, D.J. Ellington, George C. Kempton, Garnett McLean, R.S. McLemore, William A. Gayden, A.J. Locke, John A. Gleeson, Felix W. Golf, Lieut. William H. Rose, Maj. John K. Allen, and a number of others who came to live with us after the war, among whom were Jeff. H. McLemore, Dr. N.E. Whitehead, Judge R.W. Williamson, John W. Hicks, J.C. Towns, David J. Nichols, W.E.Bew, Jack Rose, S.J. McGlatherly, A. Casper, M.C. Humphrey, W.J. Howell, L.A. Mahoney, A.P. Parks, Frank P. Pleasants, A.G. Smith, James Morley, and a host of others who are now dead whose names are dear to us, besides those Confederate veterans who are now honored citizens living in this county, too well known to you all to require an enumeration."

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