KAren Hurst and A.L. Miller honor a confederate veteran Saturday.
Posted on 04/28/2002 10:35:07 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
Confederate descendants plan ceremonies
In old cemeteries across the South this month descendants of Confederate soldiers, sailors and statesmen are
gathering to remember their ancestors and pay tribute to their struggles during the War Between the States.
Even Florida — the third state to secede — was touched by the fire, sending some 15,000 men to the front lines from Virginia to Tennessee and all points in between.
Some of them are buried here in Lake and Sumter counties. The Marion Dragoons Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and two local Sons of Confederate Veterans groups are hosting two memorial services this Saturday to salute those men who answered the Long Roll and served their state and country.
“I want to make this a really memorable occasion,” said Harry Hurst, commander of the Pvt. William R. Milton SCV Camp 741. “I want this to be a stirring event. I want to make it meaningful.”
In honor of the occasion The Umatilla City Council issued a proclamation urging all residents to honor the memory of those who gave their lives in the war.
At 11 a.m. Hurst’s group will host a service at the Umatilla Cemetery on Golden Gem Drive, then at 3 p.m. will assist the Marion Dragoons and Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge SCV Camp 1786 as they host a service in Oxford at Pine Level Cemetery.
The morning service in Umatilla will feature prayers, poems, special speakers, a barbershop quartet, and a cannon salute. During the service individual tributes will be given to 10 Confederate veterans buried in Umatilla. Hurst said that ladies in period mourning dress, escorted by uniformed re-enactors, will adorn each marked grave with red carnations, after which the quartet will sing ‘Amazing Grace.’ During the closing military salute ‘Dixie’ will be played.
In Oxford later that afternoon Marion Dragoons President Joyce Sizemore will posthumously award a UDC Cross of Military Service Award to Edward DeRay Phifer, who served in the U.S. Marines for more than 30 years. Phifer’s daughter will receive the award for her father.
Following that, the grave markers for Confederate veterans Joseph Whitfield Hood and Henry E. Martin will be dedicated, Sizemore said.
“Tributes will be given for both veterans by family members, and we will honor all known Confederate veterans in that cemetery,” she said.
The public is invited to attend both services. In proportion to its population, Florida lent more of its soldiers and sailors to the Confederacy than any other Southern state.
While the SCV and UDC services are being held on April 27, April 26 is on the books as a state holiday — as Confederate Memorial Day.
“It’s a legal holiday in Florida. Different Southern states use a different date but virtually all set aside one day in April for Confederate Memorial Day,” Hurst said.
The month is significant because the war began on April 12, 1861 and ended on April 9, 1865.
KAren Hurst and A.L. Miller honor a confederate veteran Saturday.
I won't be surprised if the NAACP protests this holiday and insists it be changed to something like African-American Liberation Day (the holiday must be replaced rather than abandoned so that people will still get the day off).
Deo Vindice
By "Founders", you must be referring to the slaveholders who founded the Confederacy, given its idealogical foundation:
"No ... law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves, shall be passed."(From the Confederate Constitution.)
The crowd was small, but enthusiam was high.
It is fitting and proper that we should honor them.
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