UDC marks another black Confederate grave

xville chronicle ^ | August 17, 2006 | Clayta Richards

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On Sunday afternoon at Old Union Cemetery in southern White County, over 180 people gathered to pay a debt owed nearly 80 years. The group included members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Sons of Confederate Veterans, family and friends, all there to memorialize the service of Pvt. Henry Henderson, a black Confederate soldier.

Henderson was born in 1849 in Davidson County, NC. He was 11 years old when he entered service with the Confederate States of America as a cook and servant to Colonel William F. Henderson, a medical doctor. Records show Henry was wounded during his service, but he continued to serve until the war's end in 1865. He was discharged in Salem, NC, age 16.

After the war, Henry married Miranda Shockley, of White County, TN. The couple raised five children.

"We're here to honor him," said his great-grandson, Oscar Fingers, of Evansville, IN. "I think he would be proud his family has come this far and to know all we have done." Several other family members made the trip with Fingers from Indiana for Sunday's ceremony.

Sons Dalton and Lee received Henderson's first and last Tennessee Colored Confederate pension check upon their father's death in September 1926. The check provided enough funds to bury their father, but not enough to buy a headstone for his grave.

The 60,000-90,000 black Confederate soldiers are often called "the forgotten Confederates," but through the concerted efforts of the Capt. Sally Tompkins Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy along with the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, several graves have been found in the Upper Cumberland and have been or will be marked.

Pvt. Henry Henderson's service was finally recognized and his grave officially marked on Sunday, all to the snap of salutes from the grandsons of fellow Confederates, volleys of gunfire and cannons shot toward the distant hillsides of his final resting place.

Official U.S. government grave markers are available to all Confederate veterans. For additional information, contact Barbara Parsons, 484-5501.

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UDC member Martha Willis unveils the official marker at black Confederate Pvt. Henry Henderson's grave.

UDC Chapter Registrar Pamela Wood presented Ella Price, one of Henry's granddaughters from Sparta, and Oscar Fingers, a great-grandson and family genealogist from Evansville, IN, special framed plaques of the Confederate battle flag, the St. Andrew's Cross.

After a volley of gunfire, the Highland Brigade of the Sons of Confederate Veterans continued the ceremony by firing cannons to commemorate the service of Pvt. Henderson.

[stainlessbanner]

For Dixie!

Good pics from the event

[groanup]

thanks for the ping. Honors up.

[since 1854]

Slaves slaving for their masters in the Confederate Army were not soldiers. Until March 1865, it was against Confderate law for black people -- slave or "free" -- to bear arms. While a handful may have picked up a gun here or there, the whole notion of black Confederate soldiers is a hoax -- and an insult to the memory of the 210,000 black patriots who serned in the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy during the Civil War.

[since 1854]

Slaves slaving for their masters in the Confederate Army were not soldiers. Until March 1865, it was against Confderate law for black people -- slave or "free" -- to bear arms. While a handful may have picked up a gun here or there, the whole notion of black Confederate soldiers is a hoax -- and an insult to the memory of the 210,000 black patriots who served in the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy during the Civil War.

[stainlessbanner]

I prefer to honor Pvt. Henry Henderson. Do you have a problem with that?

[since 1854]

For fighting against the United States Government? Yes, I do.

[Froufrou]

What's your point, exactly? You might as well have said that unless a soldier serves in the infantry he's not "really" a soldier. There are plenty who serve without weapons.

[since 1854]

Slaves digging ditches or whatever for their rebel masters had no choice but to do what their owners forced them to do. We might as well "honor" slaves for picking cotton.

[stainlessbanner]

What's your other FR handle?

[msnimje]

Slaves slaving for their masters in the Confederate Army were not soldiers.

So that means he does not deserve a little remembrance, honor and a headstone?

and an insult to the memory of the 210,000 black patriots who serned [sic] in the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy during the Civil War.

You insult their memory with this statement. I doubt many of them would begrudge Henderson this honor.

[since 1854]

"Free Republic does not advocate violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government."

[stainlessbanner]

Hey y'all looky here!

Grand Old Paritisan hawking more books on FR.

Were you banned before?
Or just try to come back with another handle to fool everyone

[lost in the snow]

According to the article his ancestors are OK with the ceremony, also seemed proud. They are honoring a solder. It seems the only one with a problem with it is you, so give it a rest.

[Non-Sequitur]

You're a day late and a dollar short, stainless. We're having fun with this topic over here.

[Froufrou]

Any way you slice it, they were nevertheless in harm's way. You make whatever they did sound ignoble because they were following orders. Isn't that exactly what soldiers do?

[Michael.SF.]

Care to respond to this article:

Black Confederate Soldiers

[stainlessbanner]

Yeah, this one has pictures, though.

Besides grand old partisian came out to play over here.

[ansel12]

"Grand Old Paritisan hawking more books on FR.

Were you banned before? "




Just knowing the nature of men, it would be hard to convince me that many black southerners (slave, free, and slave owners) weren't itching to fight against an invading army, of outsiders.

[Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin]

As the South honors the service of the black soldier, the North dissavows its' existance.

..Sounds like the Nukeman of Iran and his denial of the holocaust...