From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/5/1911, p. 33, c. 1
WILL MARK SITE OF LIBBY PRISON
Sons of Confederate Veterans to Unveil Tablet To-Morrow Afternoon.
DAUGHTERS WILL ATTEND
Historic Ground Designated by Organization Which Keeps Memories Alive.
Under the auspices of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, the Sons of Confederate Veterans of this city will on Monday at 4 o’clock, unveil a handsome tablet, marking the site of the famous Libby Prison, at the corner of Twentieth and Cary Streets.
The ceremonies will be short and simple, and the program arranged will not occupy more than fifteen minutes. In accordance with the precedents at former occasions, they will begin promptly at 4 o’clock, regardless of the weather.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy, who will be in convention in Richmond, will attend in a body, and the officers and members of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society will be officially present. As the occasion is one of peculiar interest, it is also expected that the public generally will be largely represented.
The tablet is made of brass, is four feet wide by two feet deep and bears the following inscription in large brass letters:
On This Site Stood
LIBBY PRISON, C. S. A.,
1861-’65.
For Federal Prisoners of War.
Placed by
Confederate memorial Literary Society,
A. D. 1911.
It will be unveiled by Miss Virginia Spottswood Lamb, the little daughter of John A. Lamb, of this city, and the granddaughter of Congressman Lamb. The program will be as follows:
Prayer by F. F. Rennie, chaplain of R. E. Lee Camp, Sons of Veterans.
Address by Edwin P. Cox.
Unveiling of tablet by Miss Virginia Spottswood Lamb.
As the location of the site will not permit of seating arrangements, the ceremonies have been made short and provisions made for parking carriages and automobiles. These are requested on arrival to report to Captain John Landstreet, of the Sons of Veterans, who will assign them position.
The committee in charge would especially appreciate the use of automobiles for the occasion, and those who desire to do so may send machines to Twentieth and Cary, where they will be used by Captain Landstreet to seat the visitors and return them to their hotels.
Patriotic Work of Society.
For many years the Confederate Memorial Literary Society has had as a part of its general plan the permanent and substantial marking of sites of Confederate historic interest in and around Richmond. Not until recently, however, was this plan put into practical operation by the appointment and organization of a site committee, of which Mrs. James R. Werth was made chairman.
Upon the organization of the committee the Sons of Veterans of Richmond became at once interested and volunteered to take entire charge of the erection and unveiling of three of the tablets. The society, accepting this service, consigned to the Sons the marking of the sites of the Robertson Hospital, Libby Prison and Chimborazo Hospital. Of these the site of the Robertson Hospital was marked by a bronze tablet on December 13, 1910, with appropriate ceremonies. The present occasion is the second of their assignments, and plans for the Chimborazo Hospital are now being perfected.
The Confederate Memorial Literary Society inaugurated the movement by unveiling a tablet marking the home of Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury, and has since marked the site of the Tredegar Iron Works and the house in which General J. E. B. Stuart died.
The plans of the society contemplate the marking of many other places in the city, and they doubtless will had the co-operation and support of the public.
The committee of the Sons in charge of this occasion has been greatly assisted by the courtesy of C. D. Wingfield, of the Crystal Ice Company, whose plant now occupies the old prison site, and of the Richmond Iron Works, which has taken special interest in the manufacture and casting of the tablet.