Posted on 08/30/2017 7:00:57 AM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — It took a community effort to relocate the remains of soldiers — both union and confederate — to the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista. Starting in November 2006, a three-year effort together with the contributions of local civic groups and contractors helped create the “Historic Soldiers Section,” within the local state-run military cemetery.
At the entrance to the one-acre, fenced section within the cemetery, are two small memorial tablets. To the north, a stone celebrating the service of union soldiers in the Grand Army of the Republic. To the south, a similarly-sized stone recognizing the service of soldiers in the Confederate Army.
The memorial to Confederate troops has become part of a statewide and national debate on the removal of monuments tied to the Civil War. In Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month, a woman was killed during two days of rioting that broke out when plans were announced to relocate a statue of Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army. That debate sparked states across the country to look at the locations of other Civil War monuments and consider whether they should be relocated or removed.
Last week, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said he had no interest in relocating Confederate memorials.
“It’s important that people know our history,” the governor told reporters during a press conference at the Capitol. “I don’t think we should try to hide our history.”
That history in Sierra Vista started with the discovery of remains in an area of Tucson where a parking lot was being planned for a new courthouse, being constructed in 2006. The Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery staff agreed to accept the military remains of soldiers and their families when they were discovered during the construction project. On March 21, 2007, Joe
Larson, the current SAVMC administrator, made his first tour of the excavation site in Tucson.
Because the cemetery is a state facility, funds were not available for the relocation or setting up the Historic Soldiers Section within the local veterans cemetery.
That put the task of finding money for the project onto the SAVMC Foundation, which solicited donations from the community and businesses. Grants were sought and obtained, paving bricks were sold, commemorative pins, and other goods were sold to raise the funding.
Work on the historic section of the cemetery was done pro bono by local construction companies and tombstones were ordered through the Department of American Veterans for each grave. Except for identifying whether the gravesite is that of a soldier, infant or family member, all 61 of the tombstones are marked “Unknown” because of a lack of DNA evidence to properly identify who is buried. For those identified as Union soldiers, graves are marked with the star of the Grand Army of the Republic. Other soldier graves are marked for their valor during the Indian Wars. There are no markings of soldiers who served in the Confederate Army.
On May 16, 2009, a ceremony was held recognizing the new “cemetery within a cemetery,” and honoring the soldiers and their families buried at the special site.
Whether the small stone tribute to Confederate soldiers at the entrance to the Historic Soldier Section of the local cemetery will be included on a list of monuments throughout Arizona that will be considered for relocation will be a discussion taken up by the State Legislature in January, according to Speaker J.D. Mesnard and state officials.
Mesnard said he is uncomfortable with the verbiage on the local memorial to Confederate soldiers, which states: “Arizona Confederate veterans who sacrificed all in the struggle for independence and the constitutional right of self government.”
“If you read the Articles of Secession, they sound very similar to the Declaration of Independence except for one monumental difference,” he said. “And that is the right to own slaves.”
Mesnard said he is a supporter of states’ rights. But he called it “horrifying” that “the South hung their state sovereignty hats on slavery.”
Mesnard said any decisions about removing monuments and memorials around the state will likely have to come in the form of legislation which has to be signed by the governor to take effect. He said it will be appropriate to have a “thoughtful” conversation about each of the monuments on state property when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
Calls to state Sen. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, and state Rep. Becky Nutt, R-Clifton, were not returned as of presstime for their comments on the local memorial.CSA, Veterans
Not to be morbid, but I have to wonder about the condition of those remains when they dug them up in 2006, 150 years after being deposited, in (likely) wooden (if any) coffins.
Well Military Graves Registration helped, some.
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