Albert Sidney Johnston Camp #67

Sons of Confederate Veterans

CAMP MEMORIAL SERVICE

 Tonight, we come together to commemorate the courage and memorialize the sacrifices of our Confederate ancestors. We should do so to better understand the conflicting ideals and passions that pitted brother against brother and tore a Nation apart.

Several states, including Georgia and Mississippi, lay claim to conducting the first memorial services for fallen Confederates. As early as April 12, 1866, the women of Columbus, Georgia organized a memorial society and began a campaign to create a special day for "paying honor to those who died defending the life, honor and happiness of Southern women." On April 26^th, the Atlanta Ladies Memorial Association held a Confederate memorial observance at Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery. All over the South, groups gathered at cemeteries on Decoration Day, as it was then called, to place flags and flowers on the graves of their beloved Confederate heroes.

The founder of Federal Memorial Day, General John A. Logan, was deeply impressed with how the South honored their dead with this special day. Richmond battlefield graves were "marked with little white flags, (and) faded wreaths of laurel" placed there by family and friends of these Confederate soldiers. Logan insisted that "it was most fitting that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in this land, and if he could he would have made it a holiday."

Today, April is recognized as Confederate History Month. April is particularly sacred to the South because so many significant events occurred in that month. Fort Sumter was fired upon on April 12, 1861. Six days, later Colonel Robert E. Lee, was offered the command of the Federal Army. He decided to "go with his Country" - Virginia - and resigned his commission. On April 6, 1862, General Albert Sidney Johnston was killed on the first day of the Battle of Pittsburgh Landing near Shiloh, Tennessee. New Orleans was surrendered to Union forces on April 29,1862. On April 30, 1863, Union cavalry clashed with the Army of Northern Virginia opening the Chancellorsville Campaign. Troops commanded by General Nathan Bedford Forrest captured Union Fort Pillow on April 12, 1864. General George Pickett's defeat at Five Forks on April 1, 1865 sealed the fate of the Army of Northern Virginia. Richmond surrendered two days later. General Robert E. Lee surrendered the remnants of his army to General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9^th. On April 26^th, General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered his army of nearly 30,000 men to General William T. Sherman near Durham Station, North Carolina. That same day, John Wilkes Booth died of a gun shot wound in Richard Garrett's tobacco barn, eleven days after the death of President Abraham Lincoln.

Georgia and Florida celebrate April 26^th as Confederate Memorial Day. Alabama celebrates the fourth Monday in April and Mississippi celebrates the last Monday in April. North and South Carolina recognize May 10^th, the anniversary of the death of General T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson in 1863 and the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his party in 1865 near Irwinville, Georgia. Virginia has set aside the last Monday in May. Kentucky and Louisiana celebrate on June 3^rd, the birthday of Jefferson Davis, along with Tennessee where the holiday is known as Confederate Decoration Day. Texas observes Confederate Heroes Day on January 19^th, the birthday of General Robert E. Lee.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite each of you to the Confederate Memorial Service to be held at the Washington Cemetery, 2911 Washington Avenue, beginning at 1:00PM on Saturday, April 27, 2002. This is sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Please bring a flower that you will lay at the grave of one of the Confederate heroes that is buried there.

At this point, each member of this assemblage is invited to step forward and share a few comments about a Confederate ancestor or ancestors that is meaningful to that person. Then a candle will be lit for that ancestor and symbolically for all others that have served the South, so faithfully. I invite everyone present, SCV member, UDC member, spouse, friend, or guest to participate. Please participate to the extent you feel comfortable, which may just be sharing your ancestor's name and the light from your candle. I assure you that you will find your participation a meaningful experience.

Thank you.

At this point, a taper candle will be lit and presented to the first speaker. He (or she) will make an appropriate comment and then will light a votive candle(s) of honor. These candles will be arranged on a table in front of the podium or across the front of the tables that flank the podium. Then the taper is presented to the next speaker, who speaks and lights a votive and so forth until all, who care to, have had a chance to participate.

S. Jeff. Cobb, Jr., Adjutant

April 7, 2002