From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2/24/1903, p. 2, c. 7

STUART MONUMENT IN THE SQUARE

The intense enthusiasm of Major A. R. Venable in the cause was, as before, the moving feature of last night’s meeting of the J. E. B. Stuart Monument Association at Lee Camp Hall.

Major Venable came up to town from Farmville with a parcel of resolutions in his pocket and fire in his heart to further the work of erecting a fitting equestrian statue here to the honor of his beloved commander, who gave his life in defense of his country in the great struggle for constitutional liberty. Major Venable had the full sympathy of the committee, and his active and valuable suggestions were adopted after they had been revised somewhat by himself and Mr. Joseph Bryan.

The committee appointed to confer with the Finance Committees of the Legislature reported a bill permitting the selection of a site in the Capitol grounds, and calling for an appropriation of $10,000 to be paid when the Association shall have raised $10,000 from other sources. The proposed site is at the intersection of two lines, one drawn southerly through the center of the Capitol, the other drawn easterly through the center of an imaginary extension of Franklin Street.

A personal examination had convinced the Executive Committee that this is an ideal site on the crest of the slope between the Capitol and the Federal building. The Hon. Henry Wickham, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, will soon present this bill.

Active efforts will now be made to induce the City Council to fulfill the pledge made by its predecessor, which at the time of Stuart’s death, promised his widow to “erect a suitable monument to his memory.” A liberal appropriation would be considered a discharge of this obligation. The canvass of the city and State for individual subscriptions is also to be vigorously prosecuted.

Those present were Captain M. J. Dimmock in the chair, Captain W. Ben Palmer, secretary; Mr. Jeffrey Montagu, assistant secretary; Colonel Charles T. O’Ferrall, Colonel John W. Gordon, Major A. R. Venable, Mr. Joseph Bryan, Mr. L. B. Vaughan, Mr. Joseph W. Thomas, Mr. Frank T. Sutton and Judge E. C. Minor.

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