It is fitting that, on this day of memory, rich strains of martial music should awaken long-silent echoes in this city of the dead,—­fitting that nature should be despoiled of her floral treasures to deck this sacred place which, indeed, is “not so much the tomb of virtue as its shrine.”

The flowers that yield their beauty and fragrance to grace this scene will fade and die.  Yon radiant sun will set, but not before it has burned an indelible record upon the young hearts of thousands to whom, ere long, we must trust this precious spot.

Of the remnant of the once magnificent Army of Tennessee gathered here it will soon be said,—­

  “On Fame’s eternal camping-ground
  Their silent tents are spread.”

But the figure of their chieftain will be left to tell the story of a patriotic purpose long cherished in faithful hearts, at last accomplished by patient hands.

  “Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter’s blight,
    Nor Time’s remorseless doom,
  Can dim our ray of holy light
    That gilds this glorious tomb.”

CHAPTER V.

A WOMAN’S RECORD.[5]

(From the Southern Bivouac.)

    [5] Written in 1883 by Major McDonald, of Louisville, Kentucky,
    then editor Southern Bivouac.

This record will be found to substantiate in every particular my own history of the period referred to.

Being inspired by an ardent zeal or a high sense of duty, not a few noble women during the war arose conspicuous to view.  Their gentle deeds, though done in humble spheres, yet shone like “a bright light in a low world.”

Fair exemplars they were of patriotic virtue, whose acts of devotion helped much to enshrine in our memories a melancholy past; and they should not be forgotten.  In the March number of the Bivouac was given a short sketch of a lady who, during the war, tenderly cared for the sick and suffering Confederates in a Northern prison.  It is now proposed to give the record of one who, animated with a romantic love for the cause of the South, left a luxurious home and spent nearly four years in nursing the sick and wounded in Confederate hospitals.

Mrs. Fannie A. Beers was a native of the North, and the child of fond parents, who gave her every educational advantage, and the means of acquiring all the accomplishments usual in refined circles.

When very young she was married to her present husband, and before the war came South to reside at New Orleans.  By nature ardent and susceptible, she readily adapted herself to the surroundings of her new life, and soon grew to love the people and the land of her adoption.  A few years of happiness passed and then came the sectional storm.  Pull well she knew that it threatened to sunder cherished ties, but it did not move her from the side of her choice.