Soldiers honored with graveside ceremony

By By Penny Randall / staff writer
Nov. 21, 2003
The family of two Confederate soldiers, Pvt. Lemuel W. Ratcliff and Pvt. James H. Ratcliff, want to properly recognize their ancestors some 100 years after their deaths.
Company F of the 46th Mississippi Infantry and the W.D. Cameron Camp No. 1221 Sons of the Confederate Veterans will host a marker dedication ceremony Saturday, at 2 p.m., at Hickory Grove Cemetery.
James died in 1882, his brother in 1888. Since their deaths, both have rested in unmarked graves.
After much research and help from S.W. Calhoun Jr., records manager of the Lauderdale County Department of Archives and History, Morse and her cousin Mike Ratcliff finally found their relatives' names and then their unmarked graves at Hickory Grove Cemetery.
The ceremony will include the reading of period poetry, music of the period, a memorial to the two soldiers, the playing of taps and a rifle salute. Other soldiers and ladies will attend and will be dressed in period clothing. The ceremony will conclude with the laying of flowers and wreaths at the new marker.
James Ratcliff, 30 at the time, joined Company F on May 10, 1862, and Lemuel W. Ratcliff, 39 at the time, joined the same company on Sept. 1, 1863. They were members of a company of infantry raised by Capt. Constantine Rea, editor and publisher of the local newspaper in Marion.
Lemuel served until the surrender at Citronelle, Ala., on May 4, 1865, and received his parole at Meridian on May 17, 1865. James was surrendered at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, and exchanged in October 1863. He was later captured on Dec. 16, 1864, in Nashville and sent to the Union Prisoner of War Stockade at Camp Chase, Ohio. On June 12, 1865, he was released and returned home.
Lemuel and James were brothers and farmed in Lauderdale County before the war. After the war, they returned to their farms and families and helped rebuild their community.
Morse said a special invitation is extended to the descendants of James Shelton Ratcliff, father of Lemuel and James Ratcliff and descendants of Obadiah and John Preston Ratcliff.
The public is invited to attend the ceremony and encouraged to bring a lawn chair because no seating is available at the cemetery.
Want to go?
What: Marker dedication ceremony for Lemuel and James Ratcliff
Where: Hickory Grove Cemetery, off Highway 39 North onto Stennis Drive heading towards Naval Air Station Meridian
When: Saturday, 2 p.m.
Call: S.W. Calhoun Jr., 482-9752