Mount Hope Cemetery

[Buffalo-Guard]

Sons of Union Veterans ofThe Civil War
Department of New York
Admiral John L. Worden Camp 150

Restoring the Confederate Plot at
Mount Hope Cemetery
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

Fold up the banners! Smelt the guns!
Love rules, her gentler purpose runs.
A mighty mother turns in tears
The pages of her battle years,
Lamenting all her fallen sons.
Sacred to the Memory
of the Heroic Dead of the
Confederate Veterans
Camp of New York

Confederate Monument
and Burial Ground
Dedicated May 22, 1897
Following the end of the great Civil War, many Southern men who had once taken up arms against the Union moved north to seek their fortunes. As one Confederate Veteran is quoted as saying, “I wanted to go where the Yankees were millionaires and fight them with brains instead of bullets.” While these men assimilated into Northern society, many becoming successful in both business and even politics, they remained proud of their Southern Confederate heritage. Groups such as the
Southern Society and the United Confederate Veterans soon formed to soothe the longings for home and to provide relief for needy Southerners in the North.

In the 1890s, the New York Camp of the UCV purchased a 400 square foot plot in Mount Hope Cemetery in which to bury its members. The $5000 cost of the 60-foot obelisk that was to be the centerpiece of the plot was paid for by former blockade runner and 12th VA Cavalry Private, and later successful New York businessman, Charles “Broadway” Rouss.

Over the years, more than 50 people were interred in the Mount Hope Confederate burying grounds, both veterans and their family members:

Thos. Jordan, W.W. and J.A. Tayleure, Augustus R. Salas, Rob’t M. Martin, W.L. Cox,
J.M. Heiskell, Paul B. and Mildred Clark, G.W. Caldwell, Louis Zimmer,
T. Hillen Sanders, E.A. Roher, T. P. Ochiltree, J.T. Dickson, W.S. Temple, W.P. Fowler,
W.E. and M. Florence, S.B. Inge, Clarence R. and Lydia H. Hattan, Wm. Haas,
R.P. Duncan, Edwin and Antoinette Selvage, Miles H. and Isabelle R. Nash,
E.L. and M.E. Crawford, Thad A. and E.L. Smith, L. Priceau Huger, Jos’p. M. Green,
Theos. Steel, W. Preston and C.E.M. Hix, J.A. Sitgreaves, Henry H. Knowles,
James S. and Sallie B. Clark, Chas. V. Wagner, John A. Sweeney,
Philip and Sarah Bellantoni, R. Wagner Wilson, Wm. W. Page,
Theo. R. and Marg. H. Martin, Eugene H. Levy, Albert H. Caffey, J. Thos. Bussey,
Joseph Gleason, Lulu V. Quigg, Francis S. Mallory, Thomas B. Gale, Venetia S. Gale,
Silas W. Fry, James E. and Ella Graybill, Henry M. and Mary J. Kibbie, Sally M. Buckle,
Mary E. Crawford, Edward H. Crawford, Antonia Laurie Hunt, and Mary Fread.

Each year, the Worden Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War gathers at this site to observe Confederate Memorial Day, to ensure that these men are remembered and their gravesites cared for. We do this not to honor the causes for which they fought, but because we know that there are thousands of Union graves in the South - as there were once thousands of wounded and dying Union soldiers - that received care and compassion from the hands of their former enemies, and their enemies' families. We do for theirs, as we would have them do for ours - and as we know they do.

While the Mount Hope Cemetery is very well-kept, no provisions were made for the upkeep and maintenance of the Confederate plot. In the years since the monument was erected and the veterans and their family members were buried, a few of the stones became damaged, and many sank into the ground. A few sank so far that their tops were flush with the grass.

http://www.suvcw.org/ny/camps/worden...20cemetery.htm