Confederate Memorial Day observance planned

By Staff
special to The Star
April 23, 2004
The Winnie Davis Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the W.D. Cameron Camp Sons of Confederate Veterans will observe Confederate Memorial Day on Sunday.
The event will be at Lauderdale Springs Confederate Cemetery. The ceremony begins at 2:30 p.m. with the posting of Confederate flags by members in Confederate uniforms and the posting of the National Colors by the Stephenson-DeLauncey VFW Post No. 79.
The program will include readings of period poetry and a letter written by a Confederate soldier in the hospital at Lauderdale Springs. A memorial wreath will be placed and period music presented.
The highlight of the ceremony will be the dedication of Confederate markers to: Pvts. Ervine Addy, 41st Georgia Infantry; William J. Glover, 37th Alabama Infantry; James M. Hawkins, 23rd Mississippi Infantry; Stephen Little, 16th Alabama Infantry; R.D. Pendarvis, 14th Confederate Cavalry; and Jonathan D. Watkins, 27th Alabama Infantry.
These soldiers died of disease or wounds at the hospital at Lauderdale Springs. Descendants of these six soldiers from Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi and New Mexico will attend the ceremony. A musket salute and the playing of "Taps" will conclude the ceremony.
There are 1,100 stones at Lauderdale Springs Confederate Cemetery, and all but 30 are marked "Unknown." A kiosk at the cemetery lists the names of more than 900 known soldiers who died at the hospital.
Confederate Memorial Day was first observed at Friendship Cemetery in Columbus in April 1866. Several ladies gathered flowers from their gardens and went to the cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers. The ladies then placed flowers on the graves of Union soldiers as a sign of reconciliation.
Our National Memorial Day, which is observed in May, was established because Union Gen. John A. Logan was impressed with the way the South honored their dead. He noted that such a day should be set aside to honor the Union dead.
Gov. Hayley Barbour has proclaimed April as Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi.
The public is invited to attend Sunday's ceremonies at Lauderdale Springs Confederate Cemetery on Kewanee Road east of Lauderdale. Signs will point the way.
For more information, call Ward Calhoun at the Lauderdale County Department of Archives and History at 679-5406.
ALSO ON SUNDAY
The Enterprise Woman's Club and the local Sons of
Confederate Veterans group will also host a Confederate Memorial Day program Sunday, at 2 p.m., at Enterprise
Cemetery. For information and directions, call Brenda Lord at 659-7075.