UDC marks another black Confederate grave

crossville-chronicle.com ^ | August 17, 2006 | By Clayta Richards / Chronicle staffwriter

[smug]

UDC marks another black Confederate grave By Clayta Richards / Chronicle staffwriter

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.

[smug]

Here is another of those black confederates that Prof. Gary Gallager says didn't exist.

[smug]

Better late than never.

[trek]

Dixie Ping!

[girlangler]

What? Why do you say that? I think this is a great thing.

[Tzimisce]

Hm....

[smug]

I think this is a great thing.

It is. Now we just need to find all the others, black, white, Jewish, union, or confederate. that doesn't have a headstone and their proper and overdue respect.

[gitmogrunt]

"You are a moron, aren't you?,

....And the point of your comment is?

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Proof positive that blacks prefer slavery.

[VanDeKoik]

"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,"

Um, what?

Entered service as a servant?
I think some of you neo-Conferderates are reaching.

[NapkinUser]

You're drunk, aren't you?

[smug]

Proof positive that blacks prefer slavery

That is just a silly and gratuitous statement. I doubt there was any slave in history that preferred slavery to freedom and self determination.

[vetvetdoug]

I canceled my subscription to the Civil War Times editored by Ken Stachek 16 years ago when they began to use Gallager's personal opinions as articles. The Civil War Times was supposed to be a magazine that published researched historical and factual information without current politically correct ideology injected into the format. When the Civil War Times went politically correct, I canceled it. Before then, I supported the magazine by allowing them to use many of my photographs and artifacts from my collection. Since then, they haven't got squat.

[gafusa]

I wish that was true. But people continue to vote for policies to re-enslave themselves, like the welfare state.

[smug]

people continue to vote for policies to re-enslave themselves, like the welfare state.

Those are self-indentured servants, who can leave the democRat/liberal plantation any time they get a clue.

[tallhappy]

I was refering to "smug"s comment realting to some sort of imaginary discussion he's having with a professor Gallagher. 11 year old slaves who are personal servants to an officer aren't Confederate soldiers.

Getting a headstone after almost 100 years is nice enough, albeit empty. I guess if one were to think any point one way or the other with regard to these activities it would be why did they not give a confederate veteran's family enough money to even buy a gravestone at the veteran's death?

[ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY]

"...Entered service as a servant?
I think some of you neo-Conferderates are reaching..."

Yeah, a servant to a field commander (aka his aide). The article refers to the 90,000 black confederate soldiers. They were freemen who fought alongside their white countrymen in integrated units. (Contrast that with the federal armies that segregated the blacks into cannon-fodder units.)
No, The confederate blacks weren't fighting for slavery, any more than most whites weren't; but for their country, homes, and families.

[ravinson]

The article refers to the 90,000 black confederate soldiers.

And by 'soldiers", they of course mean slaves were forced to accompany their masters in harm's way.

[smug]

Refresh my memory, where did I say I was having a discussion with Prof. Gary Gallager. I was referring to statements he has made one of which can be viewed on the Library of Congress Web cast page entitled The American Civil War: 365 Days

TITLE: The American Civil War: 365 Days
SPEAKER: Margaret Wagner, Gary Gallagher
EVENT DATE: 04/11/2006
RUNNING TIME: 48 minutes

Does the fact he was a slave mean his service voluntary or not, should not now be honored? That should probably include any conscripted soldier.
Can we say that 11 year old drummer boys killed in battle in the WBTS were not soldiers? They bleed and died just the same.
Some say black persons who only cooked for the Confederacy were not soldiers. My neighbors grandfather was a black cook in WWII in Europe for our soldiers. Guess he wasn't a soldier.

[tallhappy]

Again, are you a moron? You seem to be.

Are you trying to make a point?