Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 20.djvu/373

 Unveiling of Statue of General A. P. Hill. 367

rere galloping over the fields, and on every side fluttered State
 * olors and Confederate battle-flags. Some of these were new, bur

not a few were bullet-riddled and blood-and-weather-stained, and had waved over many a victorious field, and were dear in every thread to those who gazed upon them.

THE UNVEILING CEREMONIES.

Major Brander Presides, Dr. Newton Prays, and Dr. Jones Presents

the Orator.

When a little before r o'clock Major Thomas A. Brander, presi- dent of the Hill Monument Association, called the assemblage to order it was estimated that there were some fifteen thousand persons on the grounds, and there was a remarkable hush for such a crowd as Rev. Dr. John B. Newton stepped forward and offered the follow- ing prayer:

Almighty God and Heavenly Father, in Thee " we live and move and have our being," and without Thee we can do nothing. Bless us, we pray Thee, in our present work.

Put far from us the spirit of evil, and fill us with Thy grace and heavenly benediction.

May all that we do be to Thy glory and to the honor and welfare of Thy people.

Impart to us the love of Thy truth. Inspire us with high and holy purposes. Make us duly sensible of Thy mercies and humbly submissive to Thy will.

Bless our people everywhere. Give them grateful hearts for all the sacred memories of the past; for all that was true and noble in the lives of those whose names we revere, and whose self-sacrificing devotion to duty we this day commemorate. Comfort all who mourn, strengthen the weak, lift up the fallen, and save the perishing.

We ask all in the name of Thy dear Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

THE ORATOR INTRODUCED.

Rev. Dr. J. William Jones, who entered the Confederate army as a private in the Thirteenth Virginia, General Hill's old regiment, and who is known throughout the length and breath of the Southland for his devotion to the Southern cause and its memories, introduced the orator of the day, General James A. Walker. Dr. Jones said: