|
| |
Confederate Sailors Given
Final Resting Place
in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC
March 5, 2005, 1:00 PM
| Work on this project
began when it was discovered that there was a Mariner's Cemetery located
just under the Citadel's Johnson Hagood Stadium. The cemetery, which pre-dated the
War Between the States, extended from under the stadium out into the
parking lot, but no headstones remained to be able to identify the exact
locations. A plat was used to
begin the exhumation of the remains of our Confederates buried there. |
| Unknown Sailors
In 1993 the first stage of removing the
remains began. SCV4, UDC4 and the Children of the Confederacy initiated
this first exhumation. There were 13 Confederates removed at that time and
reinterred in the Magnolia Cemetery Soldiers Ground. (The CHT was formed
this same year.) |
 |
In 1999, the CHT was granted permission
to work. This time, 22
Confederates and one child were removed.
A very fitting procession and memorial service was held for them.
Their remains were buried at Magnolia Cemetery Soldiers Ground on
November 12, 1999.
 |
 |
| First Hunley
Crew
Five Confederate sailors lost their
lives on August 29, 1863, while the testing of the H. L. Hunley submarine.
During the 1999 exhumation, we also recovered this first crew of
the H. L. Hunley Submarine. These
crew members were reburied in Magnolia Cemetery on March
25th, 2000. It was a very
well organized and memorable procession of horse-drawn carriages, one for
each coffin that was draped with the Confederate Flag.
The procession began at White Point Gardens at the Battery and
proceeded for four and a half miles to Magnolia Cemetery.
On August
29th, 2003, the 140th Anniversary, headstones engraved with the name,
date of death and First Crew of the Hunley were placed during a small
ceremony at the Hunley Plot in Magnolia Cemetery. |
| The Final
Chapter
Our last venture was granted in June 2004, once the
Johnson Hagood Stadium was demolished.
The CHT members worked in extremely hot weather and very wet ground
to gather the remains of the last Confederates buried there.
But the sweat and tears of these folks have completed a long
journey and now we will have a fitting memorial service and burial on
March 5, 2005. The procession
will start at the gates of Magnolia Cemetery at 1:00 PM and proceed
to Soldier's Ground for interment. Rev. Lynn Bailey of St. Johannes
Lutheran Church and Rev. Pauley of Sunrise Presbyterian Church will
conduct the service. Everyone is invited. |
| Stuhrs Funeral Home will provide
their hearses to bring the caskets to the cemetery where the
pallbearers will remove them and proceed to where the service will take
place at the Soldiers Ground Monument. |
| We would like to invite each and
every one of you to attend. |
Confederate Heritage Trust, Inc. is a
non-profit organization and can accept memorials to offset expenses
incurred for this endeavor and many other events in which it is involved.
To honor of these dedicated men, memorials can be mailed to
CHT
P. O. Box 62738
Charleston, SC 29419-2738 |
| For all these memorials, the
caskets have been hand made by various members of the Confederate Heritage
Trust in the traditional pine wood.
Click
here for more information about Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC. Click
here for
- 3/6/05 article from Post & Courier
- 3/3/05 article from Post & Courier
- 2/23/05 newspaper article on the planned March 5, 2005 funeral.
- 2/24/05 Press Release from CHT.
- list of known men buried in Seaman's Burial Ground, Charleston |
|
