Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 38.djvu/111

Rh the late General S. D. Lee, and Hon. Adolph Myer, a member of Congress from Louisiana. Mr. Meyer was the agent of the Confederated Southern Memorial Association in Washington, and had had several very satisfactory conferences with the then Secretary of War, Hon. W. H. Taft. Unfortunately, Mr. Meyer died before the object was attained, and I have asked Hon. Murphy J. Foster, Senator from Louisiana, to take up the matter where Mr. Meyer left off. We were advised to keep quiet until after the presidential election. This we have done, but now that Congress has convened, we have resumed our task. The Virginia member of our committee (Mrs. J. Enders Robinson, of Richmond, Va.) wrote to Hon. C. C. Carlin, the Virginia member who had introduced a bill in Congress, requesting him not to bring his bill before the House, but to co-operate with us in our plan of action. Enclosed please find Mr. Carlin's reply.

Now, my dear General, if we hope to succeed this year we must be up and doing. I write to request that you write to General Luke E. Wright, Secretary of War, urging him as a Confederate soldier to exercise his authority as Secretary of War to have the name restored to its place on the keystone of "Cabin John Bridge" during this the Davis centennial year; in the first place, for the accuracy of history; in the second place, as a proof that we are a re-united people; and lastly (but not least), as an act of justice to a man who gave the best years of his life in the service of the United States as soldier and statesman, and who, according to governmental reports, was the most efficient Secretary of War who had ever held the office.

Enclosed find certain data that may be useful to you as information, and let me urge you not to delay writing. If any other plan should suggest itself to you, please act upon it; perhaps you would like to write to the President, who, for the sake of his Georgia mother, might comply with your request.

With best wishes for your continued good health, and wishing you the choicest blessings of this joyous and holy season, believe me,

President C. S. M. A.