In response to the appeal of the Association, liberal contributions were received from all the Southern States, with which the ground was purchased, the present, cemetery laid out and the remains of all the Confederate dead, who were killed and buried throughout this community, gathered together, transferred to the cemetery and the graves marked with cedar posts. These posts were removed a few years afterwards and marble headstones took their places. The next work of the Association was to raise money for a monument to be placed in the center of the cemetery, and, as in their other patriotic work, the appeal was not in vain. The necessary amount was raised and the monument was erected and dedicated. Mr. Leyburn, of Lexington, Va., contractor; Mr. Cassell, of Baltimore, architect. The stone used is gray granite and was taken from the farm of Mrs. Mary Downman, in Spotsylvania county. The monument contains inscriptions as follows: On the east side--S. Carolina, Virginia, N. Carolina. On the north side--Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas. On the west side--Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas. On the south side--Georgia, Florida, Alabama. The monument stands on a mound about five feet high, and is five feet and six inches high without the statue. With the statue it is twenty feet in height. On the west side, cut in the granite, are muskets; on the south side, a castle with battlements; on the north side, sabres; on the east side, cannon and the inscription "To the Confederate Dead." On each corner of the monument is a column of red granite, with gray granite plynth and base. The corner-stone was laid on the 4th of June, 1874, by Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4, A. F. & A. M., Grand Master Wm. H. Lambert presiding, and was completed and unveiled on Memorial Day, June 9, 1884. The statue of a Confederate soldier, at dress parade, which crowns the apex, is of bronze, and was manufactured by the Monumental Bridge Company, of Bridgeport, Conn. It was ordered through Mr. George T. Downing and placed in position by him. THE NATIONAL CEMETERY. The National Cemetery, in which were gathered and interred the Union soldiers who died in camp and were killed in the various battles in and around Fredericksburg, was commenced in 1865, soon after the close of the war. It is located on Willis's Hill, about half a mile south of the town. It is on the range of hills known in the war histories and correspondents as Marye's Heights, which overlooks the beautiful valley of the Rappahannock and affords a fine view of Fredericksburg and the surrounding country. It afforded a splendid location for the Confederate artillery at both battles of Fredericksburg, which did such fearful execution as the Union troops were advancing on General Lee's position.