A question for you: Do you have a memory from your childhood, something that you saw or experienced and wondered about at the time but didn't really understand? Just recently, a childhood memory came to me and I typed these words into a search engine: "Civil War Graves in Forsyth, GA"...
When I was ten years old, I lived in the small town of Forsyth, Georgia, just outside of Macon. There was a graveyard right next to the school playground. The first time that I played there, I remember looking up and the sight of the graves just stopped me in my tracks. I had seen unmarked Civil War graves before but never this many, there were rows upon rows of them. The words on each one were the same: "Unknown Confederate Soldier". I didn't know the exact number of graves as a child but I now know that there are 300 buried there. Someone else from Forsyth wondered about this too...Linda Hallman was a student at Mary Persons High School (the high school was just next to the elementary school) and as a member of the High School band, they would often practice next to the graveyard as the football players would be using the football field for practice. She did a lot of research and over the years, she has been able to identify two hundred of those buried. There are now new gravestones for them. You may read more about Linda Hallman and her work just here.
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During the Civil War, the wounded were brought to a special hospital camp in Forsyth and 300 soldiers are buried in a Confederate cemetery in the town. The number of injured soldiers brought to Forsyth is said to have been 20,000. Every available shelter in Forsyth was used: the courthouse, the College, the Hilliard Institute, the Lumpkin Hotel, stores, and even private homes. Eventually, tent hospitals were used to handle all of the injured soldiers: there was simply nowhere else to put them.
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Do you have a similar memory from your childhood? Something that you remember and wondered about at the time but were unable to find out about it because you were just a kid? Well , guess what...look it up now and let me know what you find. Do a post about it if you can.
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| Yellow Daisies, they were also called Confederate Daisies. |
Many...too many to mention here...but you certainly have got me thinking, Kay. :(
ReplyDeleteWell, keep thinking and then research what you think of...and then, let me know what you find out!
DeleteI have lots of childhood memories but I can't really identify one that I don't understand.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you might have a memory that you could investigate a little further then. Stay curious!
DeleteHmm, I'm sure there must be lots but can't think of anything off the top of my head. One thing which did occur to me, related to war: I always thought Russians were the ones known as Gerrys because our next door neighbour was Russian and he was called Jerry! Even to this day I have to think about it! x
ReplyDeleteWe were lucky, we had a set of Encyclopedias, so I was always rushing off to the bookcase to look things up! My books couldn't help me with those Civil War graves though, I just found out about those recently!
DeleteIt's very interesting to hear about the civil war graves and how names were being put to the unknown soldiers there. I've read a lot about the civil war lately and what a sad time it was for our country. Childhood memories for me were of mostly good times with my family.
ReplyDeleteThe Civil War was such a horrible war in this country, you would think that something could have been done to have prevented it. And in this state, Georgia, Sherman made sure that the effects from the war lasted for many, many years afterward.
DeleteMostly good times as memories, that's nice.
Not exactly the kind of thing I do research about nowadays, but there is something I found very difficult to understand as a child: the concept of ownership. I don't mean that I took things that didn't belong to me, but I couldn't get it into my head that forests, rivers, mountains, even roads and paths, would always belong to someone. It seemed there was/is nothing that is not owned by someone. When I was little, I understood perfectly well that our garden went until the fence - what was beyond the fence, didn't belong to us anymore. Same was true for my neigbhours' gardens. But what about the paths in between? And what about the woods, the hills, the lake, where everybody came and went as they pleased? Surely these didn't belong to anyone! But no, my parents explained to me that these were owned by someone else, sometimes not by a person but by something as strange as "the city" or "the country" (of Baden-Wuerttemberg, in my case). It took me a long time until I believed and understood this to be true, and to be honest I still have don't "get" it entirely sometimes.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't know why that memory came back to me recently but something jogged my memory and I was surprised that when I looked it up, I wasn't the only one who noticed and wondered about all those graves. I only lived in Forsyth for only a year, so it is a wonder I have any memories of it at all.
DeleteYour feeling about the land reminds me of a book that I read once...maybe you could read it on your Kindle (if that is what you have, can't remember)....it is a book called "Indiangivers" by Jack Weatherford.
You can guess it is about Native Americans!
As a child I saw something on television that I did not understand. Five or six black children were being bused to a white school to attend kindergarten. It was the beginning of integration of the schools. There on the news I saw adults throwing rocks at the children. I could not understand how adults could try to hurt children. I still do not understand it. I certainly wish someone could explain it to me.
ReplyDeleteI lived through segregation and integration. In between those, there were "separate but equal" facilities for all. We were lucky in our small county of Georgia, in that there must have been some strong leadership from the local churches, so it seemed to me that there was very little violence or none of all, as far as I know. Perhaps we were shielded from the worst of the news, I am not sure. Nowadays, it seems kids see everything that is happening.
DeleteWar is terrible. What a sad, but moving post, Kay. My mind went blank at your question. It is a fascinating one. I did start wondering at a very early age why some people (like me) are fortunate, and others have it so hard. Happy weekend, Kay!
ReplyDeleteI am sure that your realization that you were a fortunate child has influenced your lifelong appreciation and enthusiasm for all of life. There I have summed you up in one sentence!
DeleteA most happy weekend to you, my friend in Colorado!
One of my great great grandfathers fought in the Civil War (Union Army) and I know where his grave is. But his younger brother died during the war and until I read this post I never thought to wonder where his grave is. Ruben Cole and his brother John both signed up in September 1861 at Camp Mordecai Bartley where years later the rather grimly impressive Ohio Reformatory was built, the one filmed in The Shawshank Redemption.They were in the Ohio 5th Voluntary Infantry, company G. I wonder if I requested John's military record (I have Ruben's) I could find out where he was buried.....They were from a Mennonite family, and should have been pacifists, but chose to enlist...I wish there were some family story about why. Afterwards, Ruben was a Lutheran. There is a family story about them discovering peanuts were something to eat when they were in Georgia. (But they were not with Sherman. They were at Kennesaw Mountain.)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your great great grandfather survived Kennesaw Mountain, it was a brutal battle where thousands were killed. (My son lives very close to that area, it is said you can still see some of the Confederate trenches and Union rifle pits.)
DeleteI bet you could find the information about his military record, If so, let me know, I find this very interesting.
My great, great grandfather on my mother's side was in the Civil War, he was in the Battle of Atlanta. I'm sure there are more relatives on my Dad's side that were in the Civil War, but I would have to do more research to find them.
I decided to research John Cole further and got out the huge book by Alexis Cope who was a Captain in that regiment. John died June 24th, 1864 of wounds received in action in front of Kennesaw Mountain the day before, "in the engagement at Bald Knob". I am almost sure that his grave is the one of a John Cole who died the same day that he did, was from Ohio, and is buried in the Marietta National Cemetery in Marietta, GA. I was surprised how much I could find out without requesting his actual record from the army. I also think, from a little more reading (but not enough) that their regiment may have been more involved with General Sherman than I realized. The Civil War was such a wound to the entire country. I hope young people realize that these were people just like themselves who suffered so very much.
Deletehttp://www.nps.gov/kemo/photosmultimedia/index.htm
DeleteThere, I have a link for you. Kennesaw Mountain is now a national park, it is the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park and Ambrose Bierce was a Union soldier from Ohio who wrote about the Battle.
That link has someone reading his writings, I can't listen to it myself as it is 3:30AM and I don't want to wake my husband! (I have been coughing my head off for weeks now, don't ask!)
I think that it is very important for all of us to know our history. Do you watch "Who Do You Think You Are?", the TV show? We copied it from Britain, I really like it. Anyway, I am surprised at how often the people have to be told of historical dates and events. Is this just for TV or do they really not know of US history?
Just found an interesting site www.civilwar.org
Thank you for leaving this comment!
I'm very interested in history and genealogy and always watch WDYTYA. I've had DNA tests for my mitochondrial DNA from Oxford University and my "regular" DNA from Ancestry.com and had a few interesting surprised...
DeleteDo tell! If you do a post about this, please let me know! My cough is not any better and I am having trouble reading all my blogs and even doing anything , to be honest!
DeleteI have many of those memories...in Indiana we found old graveyards with unmarked soldier graves from early wars.
ReplyDeleteIf there was a way to find out the names of the soldiers, then it is possible to get headstones with their names engraved upon them...that is what it says from that website for Linda Hallman anyway, that is what she was able to do!
DeleteSo interesting, and a really good suggestion of yours! xx
ReplyDeleteOkay then, Amy, what will you be investigating and telling us about? Let me know!
DeleteWhat a fascinating and worthwhile project! And what a lot of work. Really puts a human face on the devastation of the Civil War. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carol! I was very surprised and pleased to find that someone had worked so hard to find names to go with these unmarked graves. The Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict and as in all civil wars, could be brother against brother. In Georgia, Sherman's March to the Sea was just brutal for the population and the land.
DeleteAs with any war the names of those that perished may not be recorded in stone, nor may there be any list of the brave souls who fought and died there. But somewhere in a wife, mother, father or siblings' heart was the void that the loss of their loved one held.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your childhood memory, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that arrives at a place and feels they've been there before, locked away in a memory of childhood or perhaps another life...
Susan
Susan, thank you for this comment.
Delete"And for all whose name is known to you alone, we pray for them".
For those who might not be recorded in any way, they all had people who loved and cared for them.
I remember as a kid being told the houses across the valley from us were built using captured prisoners of World War II and expected at any moment to bump into them, still crawling about in chains. Although it was only 20 years in the past it might as well have been Roman or Greek prisoners, as youngsters have little concept of age passing. Everything is ancient and a long time ago when you are small :o).
ReplyDeleteThat is how many adults still view history, it appears to me! Sometimes when I talk of a book that I like, people will say, "Oh, I am not interested in that, it was before my time". I want to say, "Well, almost EVERYTHING was before your time, get over yourself".
DeleteDid POW's build those houses across the valley from you? Check it out!