06/06/2026
DECORATION OF SOLDIERS' GRAVES
Notwithstanding the short notice given that all the graves of the Union soldiers in the Cemetery of this place were to be decorated in compliance with the order of the Commander-In-Chief of the G. A. R. (Grand Army of the Republic), the ceremonies called together a large concourse of our people, on Saturday last. The assembly met in the Court House yard at 8 o'clock, p. m., where a procession was formed by Gen. G. K. Steele, Marshal of the occasion. …
Hon. T. N. Rice (at the cemetery) addressed the audience. He alluded to the magnitude of the rebellion, the debt of gratitude we owe to the Nation's defenders for its preservation; they had stood as a wall of iron between this people and danger for four long years of war, and that we, to-day, were indebted to the fallen and living patriots of the Union Army, for privileges which we enjoy of assembling and strewing with flowers the graves of our honored dead. …
Rev. W. P. Cummings was next announced for a speech… He felt that all honor was due the Union soldiers – the dead and the living. That we owed them a debt which we could never pay. He hoped that the ceremonies there inaugurated was the beginning of a custom which would be continued from year to year by a grateful people as long as our free institutions survive. …
Ared F. White then took the stand, and began his remarks by saying that he was with the lamented young Howard when he fell in Kentucky, and that the only thing that gave him the right to speak as a Soldier above the dust of his fallen comrades. … He remembered seven years ago when this sleeping dead arose inn their might, and 'rushed into the field, and foremost fighting fell.' Never could our country forget how Shiloh drank the blood of the chivalric Arn and the lamented Harvey; how the brave Boatwick fell on the field of Antietam; how Pike and Denny slept their last sleep for the cause of the Country; how Cheadle, wounded at Richmond, died far from home and friends; and how for the sake of that starry flag we laid the gallant Howard to rest by the dust of his illustrious father. …
Rev. J. Bishop … said it appeared strange to him that among all the speakers of this occasion, there was but one soldier; that is was gratifying to see so many persons present; that the 30th of May will be observed in the future in honor of the achievements of the late terrible struggle; and thus another day was added to the patriotic calendar.
… The following is a list of the graves decorated in the town cemetery:
Capt. Geo. Harvey Jas. Ritchie Maj. R. E. Craig
J. S. Bowman Lieut. J. A. Pike Thos. Bowman
Samuel Sidwell Jos. Craft Ezra Reeder
Edward Beadle A. J. Whitted Lewis Hays
Lieut. J. M. Phelon Jefferson Bishop J. H. McEwen
John Bryant E. A. Baker Samuel Strain
John Blacketer
… At the conclusion of these remarks, the ladies proceeded to the decoration of the grave of Capt. Howard, after which the members of the Howard Lodge, I. O. O. F., of which the deceased was a member, deposited the sprig of an evergreen. Symbolic of the enduring remembrance that clusters around the recollections of him who gave his life that his countrymen might live. …"
Rockville Republican 6-3-1868
