Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 36.djvu/141

Rh The memorial services held in Blandford Cemetery this afternoon, under the auspices of that noble body of women, the Ladies' Memorial Association, attracted a large gathering of people, which would have been much larger but for the marked inclemency of the weather. As always on these interesting occasions, the patriotic ladies of the city, unmoved and undeterred by adverse circumstances, and ever faithful to the memory of the heroic dead of the Southland, were present in large numbers. The ceremonies of the day possessed peculiar interest because the memory of the Petersburg soldiers who fell in battle in the War of 1861-'65 was to be especially commemorated. The program of exercises was simple, but very beautiful. The ladies of the Memorial Association met in the Mechanics' Hall at 5 o'clock P. M., to proceed in a body to the cemetery. The A. P. Hill Camp of Confederate Veterans met at their hall, Commander Homer Atkinton in charge, and paraded up Sycamore to Wythe street, where they took cars to the cemetery. The Petersburg Chapter, Daughters of the Confederacy, and the A. P. Hill Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the children of the public schools, bearing bunches of evergreens and flowers, united in the exercises, and the scene was both beautiful and impressive.

Mayor William M. Jones presided, and the exercises were opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. J. S. Foster. The feature of the ceremonies was the dedication of the beautiful stone and iron pagoda stand, erected by the Ladies' Memorial Association in memory of the Petersburg soldiers slain in battle, and around this incident great interest centered. The dedicatory