On Monday, a delegation of ladies from the Arkansas Division United Daughters of the Confederacy took Drew County soil and Arkansas Flags to Virginia to remember 20 Confederate soldiers buried there nearly 150 years ago.
Winchester’s Online News Source – www.winchesterstar.com
| 20 soldiers now rest beneath native soil
June 7, 2011
By Val Van Meter
The Winchester Star
Dressed in period mourning attire, Jackie Milburn of Winchester kneels at the grave of a Confederate soldier in Mount Hebron Cemetery on Monday evening.
(Photo by Ginger Perry/The Winchester Star)
Mary Jackson (at podium), president of the Arkansas Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy, speaks at the unveiling of a monument placed in the Stonewall Cemetery in honor of those from Arkansas who died in the Winchester area while serving in Confederacy army during the Civil War. The unveiling took place at the conclusion of the Confederate Memorial Day ceremony on Monday evening.
(Photo by Ginger Perry/The Winchester Star)
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WINCHESTER- Twenty men from Arkansas now rest beneath their native soil, even though they are buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery.
As part of the 145th annual Confederate Memorial Day services at Stonewall Cemetery in Mount Hebron Monday evening, members of the Arkansas Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) helped unveil a monument to 20 “Razorbacks” who died while serving in the 3rd Arkansas Infantry, in Winchester, during the Civil War.
The newly installed Georgia gray granite monument, eight feet tall and weighing 3,600 pounds, was a joint effort of the local Turner Ashby Chapter of the UDC and the Arkansas Division, the statewide organization of the UDC in that state.
Both groups raised about $2,000, said Mary Jackson, president of the Arkansas Division, who attended with seven other members of the division.
At the unveiling, Jackson thanked the local UDC chapter for “making this dream a reality.”
As part of the ceremony unveiling the monument, the names of the 20 men were read and a small bag of soil from their home state was sprinkled on each grave.
Eric W. Buckland, the guest speaker at the memorial service in Confederate Stonewall Cemetery, noted that during the Civil War, patriotism most often revolved around the state, not the nation.
“A man’s state was more important than anything else,” he said.
Buckland, who recently released his first book, “Mosby’s Keydet Rangers,” researched the Arkansas soldiers whose names grace the monument.
He found birth dates for 15 of them and was surprised to find their average age was 27.
“These were not young men. They probably had wives and children,” Buckland said.
And, like many of their compatriots, on both sides of the Civil War, they died not of battle wounds, but disease, in late 1861 and early 1862.
Their willingness to serve their state, which led to the sacrifice of their lives, should remind us all of the continuing need for unselfish service, said Kimberly Mauck, president of the Turner Ashby Chapter of the UDC.
The UDC Chapter also honored four descendants of Confederate soldiers or sailors for their patriotism in serving in the armed forces.
Norton Clay Shull Jr. of Winchester received the National Defense Medal for his service with the U.S. Marine Corps in the Korean War. He had an ancestor who served in the 12th Virginia Cavalry.
The Cross of Military Service was presented to a family member for Samuel Jackson Holliday of Arling, who served in the U.S. Army in World War I, and Roger Jarrett Harris, for his Army service in World War II.
Locally, Lewis M. Ewing was honored for his service with the U.S. Air Force in Korea. He is descended from John A. Ewing, a member of the 1st Virginia Cavalry during the Civil War.
The Cross of Military Service is earned by courage and bravery, Mauck said.
“It is one of the most prized award the UDC can give.”
Arthur Candenquist, commander of the Turner Ashby Camp 15667, Sons of Confederate Veterans, greeted those attending as himself and also in the persona of Capt. Thomas R. Sharp, a Confederate quartermaster.
Sharp helped General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson move the rolling stock and cars taken from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad through Winchester and on to the South in the “Great Train Raid” of 1861.
And Buckland had some little known facts to share about local men who rode with John S. Mosby, the Confederacy’s “Gray Ghost,” and went on to great heights after the war.
They included two members of the Conrad family and Charles “Broadway” Rouss, Winchester benefactor, who made and lost several fortunes during his lifetime and always supported Confederate veterans.
Four of the monuments in the Stonewall Confederate Cemetery were paid for, completely or in part, by Rouss, Buckland said.
He urged those attending to walk around the Confederate cemetery and look at the names, then try to find out more about that person.
Each was someone’s son, or brother, or husband or best friend, he said.
As for the 20 men from Arkansas, who now have their names engraved on the state monument, “They knew they were from Arkansas,” Buckland said. “Now, everybody will know.”
- Contact Val Van Meter at
vvanmeter@winchesterstar.com
Special thanks to Kay Tatum for sending us this article!
