A Sign Commanding Silence And Respect At Arlington National Cemetery Virginia

Disrespect Of The Remains Of Confederate Dead At Arlington -  The federal government did not permit the decoration of Confederate graves at the cemetery- Miegs refused to give families of Confederates buried there permission to lay flowers on their loved ones’ graves, families barred from the cemetery.

Confederate military personnel were among those initially buried at Arlington. Some were prisoners of war who died while in custody or who were executed as spies by the Union, but some were battlefield dead. For example, in 1865, General Meigs decided to build monument to the Civil War dead in a grove of trees near the flower garden south of the Robert E. Lee mansion at Arlington.

The bodies of 2,111 Union and Confederate dead within a 35-mile (56 km) radius of the city of Washington, D.C., were collected. Some of the dead had been interred on the battlefield, but most were full or partial remains discovered unburied where they died in combat. None were identifiable. Although Meigs had not intended to collect the remains of Confederate war dead, the inability to identify remains meant that both Union and Confederate dead were interred below the cenotaph he built. The vault was sealed in September 1866. Other Confederate battlefield dead were also buried at Arlington, and by the end of the war in April 1865 several hundred of the more than 16,000 graves at Arlington contained Confederate dead.

The federal government did not permit the decoration of Confederate graves at the cemetery, however. As Quartermaster General, Meigs had charge of the Arlington cemetery (he did not retire until February 6, 1882),  and he refused to give families of Confederates buried there permission to lay flowers on their loved ones’ graves. In 1868, when families asked to lay flowers on Confederate graves on Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day), Meigs ordered that the families be barred from the cemetery. Union veterans’ organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR; whose membership was open only to Union soldiers) also felt that rebel graves should not be decorated. In 1869, GAR members stood watch over Confederate graves at Arlington National Cemetery to ensure they were not visibly honored on Decoration Day.  Cemetery officials also refused to allow the erection of any monument to Confederate dead and declined to permit new Confederate burials (either by reburial or through the death of veterans).

The federal government’s policy toward Confederate graves at Arlington National Cemetery changed radically at the end of the 19th century. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_Memorial_%28Arlington_National_Cemetery%29#cite_ref-6

From: thecivilwarparlorthecivilwarparlor.tumblr.com

Arlington Cemetery- Confederate Monument

The fallen figure of a woman, also representing “The South”, leans on a shield emblazoned with the words “The Constitution” as a symbol of what the UDC believed the South fought for.

A figure representing “The South” stumbles while clutching a shield representing the Constitution of the United States on the south face of the Confederate Monument at Arlington National Cemtery in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. Mineva, goddess of war, supports her. American historians agree that many of the civic wounds created by the American Civil War were healed by the feelings of common cause generated during Spanish-American War. In June 1900, the U.S. Congress passed legislation setting aside Section 16 of the cemetery for the burial of Confederate States of America war dead. Many Confederate dead were already buried at the cemetery, and were memorialized by the Civil War Unknowns Monument. But the new area of the cemetery would allow for individual burial of those whose identities were known.

By December 1901, 482 Confederate remains were disinterred at the cemeteries at Alexandria, Virginia; the Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D.C.; and portions of Arlington National Cemetery and reinterred in concentric circles in Section 16. Their headstones were given a pointed top, to indicate that they were Confederate graves. 

Shortly thereafter, the United Daughters of the Confederacy asked that a memorial to the Confederate dead be erected in Section 16. Secretary of War William Howard Taft granted the request on March 4, 1906. Confederate veteran and nationally-known sculptor Moses Ezekiel was commissioned to design and sculpt the monument. It was cast and manufactured by Aktien-Gesellschaft Gladenbeck of Berlin, Germany. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_Memorial_%28Arlington_National_Cemetery%29#/media/File:Confederate_Monument_-_S_frieze_detail_-_Arlington_National_Cemetery_-_2011.JPG

from: thecivilwarparlorthecivilwarparlor.tumblr.com

By: Robert Mestas

The local newspaper, The Springville Item, reported in part:

On Monday August 17, 1903, one of the most unique and interesting reunions was held by the "Old Ex-Confederate Soldiers" in the Baptist Church at this place. 

At 11 o'clock some sixty of the old veterans, living in, and around Springville, assembled in that church, singing, praying, and reading of the scriptures was engaged in, after which short talks were made by Rev. J. S. E. Robinson, A. W. Woodall, S. W. Henny, J. B. Robertson, J. H. Vandergrift and B. B. Cornelius, after which another old time song, "How Firm A Foundation", and then Maj. Harris spoke at length on "Religion in the Camp". During his talk men were seen weeping all over the church. He spoke feelingly and eloquently. 

Maj. Harris deserves the thanks of all our people for planning this gathering -- it was an object lesson that neither poets, nor painter, nor authors could describe; it simply defies description. Springville never has, and never will witness such a scene again.

Although the newspaper write up of the reunion makes no mention of Masons, Jon Paul describes it as a "gathering of Free Masons and Confederate Soldiers of Springville, Alabama made in 1903."

Members of the Dixon Camp (SCV) and Hecker Camp (SUVCW) met at Smithton, Illinis, on Monday, May 28, 2013 to celebrate the lives of the soldiers who served in all our wars.

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The annual memorial service held at the Confederate Cemetery in Alton, Illinois. The service is sponsored by the Lt. George E. Dixon Camp #1962, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

1354 Confederate Soldiers are buried in unmarked graves. Many died of Smallpox while being held as Prisoners of War.

Chris Tally played Taps during the annual memorial service held at the Confederate Cemetery in Alton, Illinois. The memorial service is sponsored by the Lt. George E. Dixon Camp #1962, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

1354 Confederate Soldiers are buried in unmarked graves. Many died of Smallpox while being held as Prisoners of War.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Confederate Memorial Day was marked Thursday in the city where the Civil War began with a somber, reflective ceremony in which dozens of descendants of Southern troops described where their ancestors fought and many of them died.

About 100 people gathered on Charleston’s Battery as a wreath was placed at a monument dedicated to the Southern defenders of Charleston. From that spot, one can look across Charleston Harbor to Fort Sumter where the April, 1861 bombardment of the Union-held fort plunged the nation into Civil War.

Those attending, many of them members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, wore not Confederate gray but seersucker suits and straw hats under the warm May sun. About three dozen walked to the front of the gathering one at a time and then, some choking with emotion, gave the names, ranks and units of their ancestors and where they fought.

The group then sang “Dixie” and a group of Confederate re-enactors fired a cannon at nearby White Point Garden.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
By TBO.COM | Staff 

from Tampa Bay Online