In the heart-rending times of 1861-'65, the women of Fredericksburg with untiring energy and courage, in the midst of the agony of war, assumed the laborious task of ministering alike to soldiers in blue and gray, and many burdens of sorrow were in some way lightened and many a physical pain lessened or a soul cheered. Perhaps the women of Fredericksburg were inspired to great deeds by the example of that splendid specimen of womanhood, Clara Barton, who for sometime was stationed near Chatham, carrying on her splendid ministration to the sick and suffering Federal soldiers. OF WOMAN'S WORK It was on May 10, 1866, that the women of Fredericksburg, urged by Mrs. Frances Seymour White, (widow of an officer in the U. S. Army, who died as the war began), assembled in the lecture room of St. George's Church to form an association to care for the memory of the noble Southern heroes, whose graves were then scattered over battlefield and farm. This was the first step towards the formation of the Ladies Memorial Association the work of which organization, begun so earnestly and lovingly, has so successfully been fulfilled. Mrs. John H. Wallace, was elected President and Mrs. Frances Seymour White, Vice-President. On Mrs. Wallace's death, Mrs. White was chosen President, and continued until 1882, when she was succeeded by her daughter, Mrs. Francis B. Goolrick, who continued to act as President for eleven years. Mrs. Maria K. Daniel followed next for seventeen years, and Mrs. Frances B. Goolrick, who was elected in 1912 is still President. With the financial assistance of about all the Southern States and a good deal from the North the bodies of the Confederate soldiers have been re-interred in the Confederate cemetery, and each is marked with a solid granite headstone. Later with some financial assistance the splendid monument "To the Confederate Dead," was erected in the center of the cemetery. The base is of gray granite, quarried in Spotsylvania County, and the life-like statue of the Confederate soldier on dress parade, which surmounts the apex, is of bronze. [Sidenote: _The Memorial Association_] The beautiful custom of Memorial Day sprang from Mrs. Frances Seymour White's idea and spread from this city all over the nation. The name of "The Ladies Memorial Association" was adopted and in the Spring season each year, this impressive service is continued. Following those true hearted women who conceived the task of rescuing from oblivion the memory of those brave and fallen heroes, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the women of Fredericksburg branch of the American Red Cross, have each in their respective spheres, earnestly and lovingly performed their tasks.