CSA Soldiers Rest

 

 

20 Apr 2013 Re-Dedication of Soldiers' Rest
C. S. A. Cemetery, Vicksburg, Mississippi
Confederate Avenue, within Cedar Hill Cemetery
 

Hosted by

United Daughters of the Confederacy
and
Sons of Confederate Veterans

 

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After 120 years, Soldiers' Rest, the burial place of an estimated 5,000 Confederate soldiers, was re-dedicated to honoring the sacrifices of these brave men.

Part of Vicksburg's Cedar Hill Cemetery was set aside in 1866 to provide burial for Confederate soldiers who died of wounds or sickness. Throughout the siege of Vicksburg, Mr. J.Q. Arnold, a Vicksburg undertaker, buried the Southern soldiers in Cedar Hill, assigning grave numbers to them and carefully maintaining records of the grave locations. That information was lost after the siege but portions have been found, and the Vicksburg UDC #77 and the Lt. G. J. C. Pemberton Camp 1354 SCV used what information they could find to begin erecting headstones.

In 1893, the ladies of the Confederate Memorial Association dedicated a beautiful stone monument (right) to the memory of the Confederate Dead. Thousands of people were present, a large part of them veterans. General Stephen Dill Lee spoke, saying,

"We wish to hand down to our posterity a feeling of reverence for their heroic forefathers, who risked their lives and lost fortunes for their country."

 

 

Joel T. Bailey, J. C. Pemberton Camp's Poet

 

 

Rededication

Joel T. Bailey

We gathered here today
So we could give pause
In honor of these Patriots
Who died for the cause

They fought a good fight
And gave their very best
Now they're remembered
Here at Soldiers Rest

We rededicate their memorial
On this hallowed sod
As they rest forever
In the arms of God

 

The Posting of Colors by Mississippi Division, SCV, Color Guard

 



 

'

 

 

Chaplain Bryan Dabney of  J. C. Pemberton Camp 1354, SCV, gave the invocation and the benediction.

   

Master of Ceremony was Wayne McMaster, Past Commander,
Mississippi Division, SCV

Dr. Mary Landin, President of Vicksburg 77 UDC,
welcomed everyone

   

Mrs. Celeste Young, Mississippi Division UDC President

Allan Palmer, Commander, Mississippi Division, SCV

 

   
 

 

  William Mathews (left), Commander, J. C. Pemberton Camp 1354, SCV, spoke on the History of Soldiers' Rest Cemetery and Monument.

He reminded guests what was said by General Stephen Dill Lee when he spoke at the 1893 unveiling of the monument at Soldiers' Rest.

"It is a duty to preserve the record and honor of such sacrifice, such privations, such patriotism, such endurance of hardship.

"This is why we raise monuments to our honored dead. While we live, nothing is needed to keep alive the memories of our comrades who fell on the field of battle, but we wish to make our lost cause consecrated forever to the hearts of our descendants.

"We wish to hand down to our posterity a feeling of reverence for their heroic forefathers, who risked their lives and lost fortunes for their country.

"Defeat and poverty cannot check homage to their memory."

 

Mr. Bertram Hayes-Davis
Director of Beauvoir
Great-great-grandson of CSA President Jefferson Davis
was the keynote speaker of the re-dedication
of Soldier's Rest.

(Photo by David Rorick)

 


(Photo by David Rorick)

 
The colors were retired, right to left, the first Confederate flag (or Stars and Bars, 1861), the Stainless Banner (1863), the Bloody Banner (1865), and the familiar Confederate flag (the square version battle flag was adopted 1861).


 then the guns were raised in salute....
 


 

  and taps were played by David Rorick,
U. S. Marine Corps Band member.

In the end, all soldiers go home to rest.

   

Salute to the Confederate Flag

I salute the Confederate Flag with affection, reverence,
and undying remembrance.

   
(Photo by David Rorick)  

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