John Sharp Williams to Woodrow Wilson

Here is a letter from W. A. Montgomery, of Edwards, Mississippi, who was a captain in the Confederate service and a Colonel in the Spanish-American war. It is so replete with expressions of patriotism that I want you to read it and, if possible, have me a little note written telling me that you have read it, how much pleased you were with it and how much you regret that the regulations made for average situations prevent taking advantage of services like Colonel Montgomery's, and all that.
By the way, I haven't had the opportunity to tell you so, - because I didn't want to bother you, - but your last speech to the Congress of the United States will stand throughout our history as one of our four or five greatest state papers up to this date. It far transcends what Madison had to say when we went to war in 1812, what Polk had to say when we resented the Mexican invasion between the Rio Grande and the Nueces, and classes with Jefferson's first inaugural address; Madison's Washington's farewell address and Lincoln's inaugural address.
I wouldn't say all this if I didn't know that you know I never indulge in “blarney”,-except when I am talking to fools, - not when I am talking to men of sense, such as you are.
I am, with every expression of regard,