Picture of Black Confederate Richard "Dick" Poplar's grave in Petersburg, VA.
Posted on 06/20/2012 2:50:47 PM PDT by BigReb555
Richard “Dick” Poplar a Black Confederate rode with the 13th Virginia cavalry. He was captured during the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg. Poplar then served 5 months at Fort Delaware and 14 months in Point Lookout Prison and refused to sign the Oath of Loyalty that would have freed him in the first month of his captivity.
(Excerpt) Read more at huntingtonnews.net ...
With all the TV Shows, Public Television specials and Hollywood movies, wouldn’t it be nice to see a weekly show that focused on the historic times in our nation’s history?
Do you know who Gen. Robert Edward Lee, Major Gen. George Edward Pickett and Major Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain were? Are children still taught about these men and all those who met on that hallowed ground of the War Between the States battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania? Some call the Gettysburg Battlefield the most haunted place in America because so many thousands died on that fateful-hot summer month of July 1863. There were more casualties there than any other battle of the War Between the States.
And did you know that….
Richard “Dick” Poplar a Black Confederate rode with the 13th Virginia cavalry. He was captured during the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg. Poplar then served 5 months at Fort Delaware and 14 months in Point Lookout Prison and refused to sign the Oath of Loyalty that would have freed him in the first month of his captivity. He proudly told his captors that he was a Jefferson Davis man. He survived this infamous prison by practicing his trade as a baker. Upon his death Poplar was given a full military funeral and was eulogized as a Son of the South.
It has been nearly a century since….
America celebrated her 137th birthday and from June 29 to July 4, 1913, 53,407 Confederate and Union Veterans of the War Between the States came to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for a 50th Anniversary Reunion and encampment commemorating that fateful battle of 1863. Veterans came from 47 of the 48 states of the Union and the Chief Surgeon said of the event, quote “Never before in the world’s history had so great a number of men advanced in years been assembled under field conditions” unquote.
It was the largest combined reunion of War Between the States Veterans.
“Comrades and friends, these splendid statues of marble and granite and bronze shall finally crumble to dust, and in the ages to come, will perhaps be forgotten, but the spirit that has called this great assembly of our people together, on this field, shall live forever.” -----Dr. Nathaniel D. Cox at 1913 Gettysburg Reunion The youngest Veteran was reported to be 61 and the oldest was 112 years young.
The United States and Confederate flags flew side by side at the Gettysburg soldier’s reunion of honored men who had been enemies on the field of battle.
The State of Pennsylvania hosted the 1913 reunion at the insisting of state Governor John K. Tener. Tener also encouraged other states to arrange rail transportation for the participants. Down South in Dixie, the United Daughters of the Confederacy helped raise money for the transportation and uniforms for their Confederate Veterans.
The soldiers of Blue and Gray, Black and White, came with heads held high and full of war stories. It is written that the hosts did not count on Black Confederates attending the meeting and had no place to put them but the White Confederates made room for their Southern brothers. Black Union veterans also attended this event.
It is written that nearly 700,000 meals were served that included fried chicken, roast pork sandwiches, ice cream and Georgia watermelon. The temperature soared to 100 degrees and many thousands of veterans were treated for heat exhaustion and several hundred more were hospitalized. The United States Army was also present in support and it’s written that the old men loved the attention. The Boy Scouts, whose organization was just a few years old at the time, were also there to help. A highlight of the reunion was the Confederate Veterans walk on the path of Gen. George Pickett’s charge that was greeted, this time, by a handshake from the Union Veterans.
President Woodrow Wilson said about these men, “These venerable men crowding here to this famous field have set us a great example of devotion and utter sacrifice. They were willing to die that the people might live. But their task is done. Their day in turned into evening. They look to us to perfect what they established. Their work is handed to us, to be done in another way but not in another spirit. Our day is not over; it is upon us in full tide.”
The War Between the States Sesquicentennial, 150th Anniversary, runs 2011 through 2015. The Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans joins the nation in remembering this historic time in our nation’s history. See information at: http://www.150wbts.org/
Know of them all, thanks for posting.
Your are very welcome. Lest we forget!
Your are very welcome. Lest we forget!
I have seen movies of their 50th reunion. It was amazing to see moving images of people who were born before Lincoln was president.
On a related note, here’s a video of some Civil War veterans demonstrating the rebel yell...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6jSqt39vFM
WOW
why dont y’all jest call it the War of Northern Aggression and be done ???
There is no good war and I doubt if anything is worse than an ‘un’-civil war and this was one of the bloodiest in world history. Watching Ken Burn’s masterful epic “The Civil War” (1990!) at 10 hours did very well in outlining this agony of a nation, but one needs to read the books by the participants to comprehend what “Seeing the Elephant” meant.
“Company Aytch” by Sam Watkins shows the Confederate foot soldier while the “Personal Memoirs” of U.S. Grant show the diametric opposite side. Read these and the plethora of subsequent books to learn about this ever fascinating and horrifying cornerstone of US History.
BUMP!
I would note, General Grant was horrified at the sight of blood. Would not eat a steak unless it was cooked beyond well-done...
Cool! I remember seeing film of this Gettysburg gathering while watching Ken Burns's Civil War series. It was so neat seeing those old soldiers with their long, flowing grey hair!
I would encourage all to visit Gettysburg. I have. Twice in fact. Almost overwhelming. Stand beside the “high water mark.” Climb Little Round Top. 50K KIA/WIA. Absolute blood bath for both sides.
Picture of Black Confederate Richard "Dick" Poplar's grave in Petersburg, VA.
And the oldest at 112 would have easily remembered a number of Founders still alive in his lifetime.
(Uploaded by Smithsonian Magazine)
Great minds think alike!
I have a friend that was from Gettsburg and we watched the Gettysburg segment of Burns program together. His wife kept asking him which street is that or where was that at?
You can find some amazing things on the Internet - when photography, motion pictures, and sound recording were developed, people immediately thought of preserving things for posterity, so there are suprising numbers of audio/visual records of times, people, and places you wouldn’t think that you would ever see or hear.
The real shocker is that an audio recording from the 1850’s, and it was made BEFORE there was any means to play it back!
I can recall being about 4 and my grandpa whose grandpa and great grandpa fought proud butternut at Vicksburg etc telling me the last CSA vets were dying off ...around 1960....an early memory for me in Mississippi
I was just at Grayton Beach FL for a week....took my kids to Panama to the amusement junk.....just like 40 years ago but more of it
Anyhow....what a pleasure to be surrounded by southern accents.....and gorgeous southern women on the beach.....girls and their moms...lord a mercy i do so love being so lucky to be native born
Nashville has sadly lost most of its southern character and accents...overrun or homegrown meteros
You can still find country around.....but that ain't exactly the same as southern
You can find country in Ohio...
Alas.....
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