Posted on 10/19/2010 9:15:22 AM PDT by Bodleian_Girl
Shortly after 10 o'clock on a crisp Saturday morning two weeks ago, 75 folks solemnly clutching small American flags and digital cameras assembled in a grove of young pines at a modest farm in the Zion community, tucked into in the soft hills west of downtown Rockingham.
Their objective was to honor five forgotten Union soldiers who died in a skirmish only days before the end of the Civil War. Until now, the solders' remains have lain in hand-dug graves marked only by small piles of white stones for 145 years, their identities unknown.
The event, sponsored by the Richmond County Historical Society, was an unlikely memorial service to honor their service to country and unveil official grave markers for the newly identified deceased. Invited guests included ancestors of the dead soldiers from as far away as Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, plus local citizens and history buffs and even a color guard made up of the Sons of Confederate Veterans from both North and South Carolina.
As local historian James Clifton reminded the participants, what happened at Lassiter Farm on March 7, 1865, was only a tiny incident in the bloodiest conflict in American history, a vast conflagration that produced more than a million casualties including 620,000 soldiers - an estimated 8 percent of all white males from the North and 18 percent from the South. More American soldiers died in the Civil War than in the next six wars combined.
Ironically, it was only the honor of a Confederate soldier that kept the memory of the five Union deaths from vanishing forever into the ether......
(Excerpt) Read more at thepilot.com ...
Sheesh. I hope Central Va. doesn't show up.
“Oh p!ss off. They are dead American soldiers, and you can do nothing better than call them thieves? Extremely tasteless.”
It is what it is. They were invaders who looted the countryside. If that is your definition of American servicemen, then so be it.
In that case you can direct your apologies to the families of the troops.
As the old insult goes, you’re kind of like summer. You have no class.
“Foraging in enemy country is not necessarily thieving. The confederates foraged in union territory too, FYI.”
I believe if you do your research you will find that the Confederate Armies operating in the east (PA and MD) were scrupulous in issuing chits for supplies sequestered. You will not find the Confederate Army burning barns, homes and looting the family of all precious metals. That distinction was earned by the Union Army in the coastal Carolinas, Shenendoah, and Georgia. It was in fact a direct order to do so by Union Generals. Once again, it is what it was.
My GGGrandad was in the Indiana 8th.
As to some of the other comments - both sides were equally guilty of travesties in this bloody mess. As such then the maker will set the price for the deeds of each. Our duty is to honor their service - on both sides.
Ignore that jerk. People who are not able to achieve can only justify their own shortcomings by tearing down others.
Not true of the raids in Ohio/Indiana. As I stated both sides were guilty. The maker will set the price.
Yes. Should the descendants of families of Maryland and southern Pennsylvania ask reparations for Confederate “foraging”?
I’m surprised that nobody complained about wearing Confederate Uniforms and the smoke from the Muskets.
“Should the descendants of families of Maryland and southern Pennsylvania ask reparations for Confederate “foraging”?”
No, you got what you paid for, the destruction of half of the nation, the death of 10% of the male population and a century of regional colonialism. BTW, who would you submit your claims to?
"Makes you realize how," murmured a woman standing beside me as Simpson's grave marker was unveiled. She had a pronounced Southern accent and was wiping her eyes, clearly moved.
Aiming her Canon camera at the whiskered Union and Confederate re-enactors standing at attention beside the graves, she cleared her throat and added, "Every American ought to be here this morning to see this. If they did, we might not be in such a big ugly rush to tear each other apart."
“Every American ought to be here this morning to see this. If they did, we might not be in such a big ugly rush to tear each other apart.”
Great words. Too bad Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan didn’t subscribe to them, things would have been different.
I guess they should've just had their MRE's flown in.
Idiot.
Today, it is almost impossible to imagine Americans getting into such a brutal internal conflict that 10% of the male population is killed. That would be the equivalent of 15,000,000!
In giving the background of the events leading up to the ceremony Saturday, James A. Clifton said from words passed down through families, “It is believed that Lassiter expressed sympathy for the death of the men. Although he had fought against their comrades, he had seen bravery on both sides and felt is should not be forgotten. The pledge was made to treat the grave site with reverence.”
That story - and land - was passed from Daniel Lassiter to his son, John Lassiter; and then to his grandson, Mason Lassiter. In 1974 Mason sold the land where the graves are located to Roy Moss, who continued the tradition of revering the site. Moss, 81, is a U.S. Navy veteran. His family lived in Richmond County during the Civil War, and his great-grandfather was a soldier in the Confederate Army.
Moss wanted to assist the project to protect the graves in perpetuity under N.C. law.
Ed Snyder of Cordova in Richmond County is a reenactor with the 26th S.C. Volunteers, Sons of Mars, Sons of Confederate Veterans. As a member of the executive board of the Richmond County Historical Society, he took on the task of identifying the Union soldiers and marking their graves, a task with which he has prior experience as a reenactor.
“I think all who serve this country in time of war should have a marked grave,” Snyder said. His great-grandfather was a captain in the Richmond County Confederate Home Guard. “I knew somewhere these Union soldiers had a family that might want to find them.” He said he believes that even though he is “a die-hard Confederate (son of) and Southerner” and still believes in the Confederate cause.
It's sad that you can't have the same class as these Southerners.
“I guess they should’ve just had their MRE’s flown in.
Idiot.”
No, they should have paid for it. Idiot. Please tell me why you would burn the house, barn and take the silverware if you were hungry? Why insure the seed corn is destroyed if you were merely looking to feed yourself? Spare me your outrage. The method of operation was designed to cripple the civilian population. Brave servicemen looting civilians.
Thank you.
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