Between each pair of columns will be a tablet eight feet wide and twenty-five feet high, in which will be cut the names of the States, set in gold. Below each tablet, in the form of a continuous band cutting across the thirteen columns, is a vault, the face of which will be carved with a garland and the name of each State. The vault will be used for the Confederate roster of each State. Directly under the band is a stone seat and in front, on the floor or stylebeth, will be an inlay of golden bronze in the form of the coat of arms of each State. The capitals and the bases of the thirteen columns will be in gold.
The Memorial is to be approached by an entrance 650 feet from the mountain, the main entrance being a gateway forty feet wide, flanked by two pylons--a cluster of three columns twenty feet high. At right and left from the pylons will run a low wall terminating in necessary buildings. Upon entering the approach to the Memorial the visitors will descend three steps to an esplanade, which will contain a sunken lagoon 125 feet wide and 300 feet long. An unusual feature of this sunken lagoon will be that a deep recess cut under the towering pile of granite. This illusion is not created by any of the other great reflection pools of the world, either at the Lincoln Memorial or the Taj Mahal; in those great evidences the pool terminates some distance from the structure and stands apart from it. On the esplanade around this pool will be walks and rows of seats for those who visit the Memorial.
On a platform thirteen steps above the lagoon, and reflected in the water, will be the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, giving the impression that his bier is floating on a barge into eternity.
The visitor will ascend by steps and esplanades to another flight of forty-eight steps which lead directly to the Memorial Hall, each step designating a State in the Union in the order of admission to the Union. On each side of the steps will be a wall twenty-five feet high and eight feet thick, which will terminate in an engaged pedestal surmounted by a large incense-holder fourteen feet long and eight feet wide. It is the intention that these urns be used on special occasions for the burning of incense. On either side of the great stairway are two large flagstaffs, which will be used on ceremonial occassions.
The facade of Memorial Hall will be cut out of the solid granite of the mountain. It will have six Doric columns, each forth-one feet high and seven and one-half feet in diameter. Each column would weigh 150 tons if disengaged. Between columns will be thirteen feet of space, large enough to admit the passage of a railroad car, which will be used in the work of excavating the rock.
Looking down the steps of Memorial Hall into the lower basins, the visitor will have the
impression of a vast amphitheater capable of seating tens of thousands of spectators.