Ohatchee marker to have names of black and white Confederate vets

TuscaloosaNews ^ | June 22, 2004 | ap

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A Calhoun County Confederate Memorial is to be 110 feet long and etched with 2,000 names of Confederate soldiers who survived the Civil War, including a black who had been freed from slavery in 1863.

Work ended a month ago on the second of three black-granite walls of the memorial at Janney Iron Furnace.

County Commissioner Eli Henderson said Monday the memorial's third wall, scheduled for completion in April, may display more names of blacks like Charles Bush, who is said to have walked back to Calhoun County from battle carrying the sword, pistol and other personal items of a local white war hero.

"We don't want to leave anybody out, black or white," said County Commissioner Eli Henderson.

Plans are for one panel of the third wall to be left empty so names can be added as evidence of more veterans turns up.

Tom Smith, a memorial builder from Anniston, came up with the idea for the marker. He said he would soon provide a list to the Anniston Public Library of all the names slated to be engraved on it.

 

[NewRomeTacitus]

Found the following on a geneology page:

Memory has been refreshed. The relative was Charley Bush who was born in Alexandria (Calhoun County)Alabama in about 1836. His mother, Rode, was born in SC in about 1810.

Charley was body servant to Major Pelham who according to Civil War buffs in this area is quite celebrated for being a hero. There is a statue in the Jacksonville town square and the Pelham family papers is among the major collections in the "rare books section of the Jacksonville State University.

Charley would get all gussied up annually to attend the reunion of the outfit with which he was connected. He was also a recipient of a small pension.

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

http://afrigeneas.com/forum-military/index.cgi?noframes;read=938

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Pelham was a young war hero from Alabama. I found the statue and other pictures here: Lt. Colonel John Pelham, 1838 - 1863

Thanks for the info, NewRomeTacitus.