Lee-Jackson Day 2026

[Diane123]

Lee - Jackson Day 2026 Celebration Highlights (Saturday, January 17, 2026): There were great words spoken at the wreath laying ceremony on Saturday morning at the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery in Lexington, VA. At the conclusion of the the service, a 21-gun salute was given and Taps was played. (Edit: See photos, video would not load.)

Next came the Parade, and then everyone returned to the Virginia Horse Center for the Keynote Speaker and a delicious luncheon prepared by the ladies of the Stonewall Brigade. The Keynote Speaker was Gib Kerr, author of "Un-Cancel Robert E. Lee: An Open Letter to the Trustees of Washington and Lee University." Gib is a graduate of the University and a member of the Generals Redoubt. His presentation was thoughtful and eloquent. You can view it on the Stonewall Brigade's FB page. The silent auction was full of many wonderful items (as always) and I was the lucky third prize winner in the raffle. My prize was a 12 pound Confederate single-shot that was dug at Front Royal!! I was ecstatic!

Many thanks to @Viper21 and the Stonewall Brigade SCV for a memorable weekend honoring memorable and heroic men.

 

[Diane123]

Some may remember the photo I posted in 2024 of an unknown Confederate Soldier's Grave I found in the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery.

Saturday, I visited his grave again and found it in a sad state:

We placed the stone back as close as possible to its original position, secured it with stones found in the cemetery, honored him with Confederate Flags, and also placed coins left by others back on top of the stone. The "Usual Suspects" have now officially adopted this soldier and will always do whatever is necessary to protect his final resting place.

 

[gjpratt]

We also had two great side trips. The day before we explored the May 1864 battles of Cove Mountain and Cloyd's Mountain. Part of Hunter's Valley Campaign. The day after we spent the entire cold day in the field following the maneuvering leading up to and the Battle of McDowell. Amazingly preserved breastworks at Ft. Edward Jonson on Shenandoah Mountain. Fully illustrated posts on separate threads to follow.

 

[stu613]

We also had two great side trips. The day before we explored the May 1864 battles of Cove Mountain and Cloyd's Mountain. Part of Hunter's Valley Campaign. The day after we spent the entire cold day in the field following the maneuvering leading up to and the Battle of McDowell. Amazingly preserved breastworks at Ft. Edward Jonson on Shenandoah Mountain. Fully illustrated posts on separate threads to follo

Glad you made it to Cove Mountain and Cloyd's Mountain. We saw those sites on the tour y'all missed in Nov 2024. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

 

[stu613]

Some may remember the photo I posted in 2024 of an unknown Confederate Soldier's Grave I found in the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery. View attachment 572915
Saturday, I visited his grave again and found it in a sad state:View attachment 572918
We placed the stone back as close as possible to its original position, secured it with stones found in the cemetery, honored him with Confederate Flags, and also placed coins left by others back on top of the stone. The "Usual Suspects" have now officially adopted this soldier and will always do whatever is necessary to protect his final resting place.
View attachment 572919

Congrats on the win!

 

[Viper21]

Lee - Jackson Day 2026 Celebration Highlights (Saturday, January 17, 2026): There were great words spoken given at the wreath laying ceremony on Saturday morning at the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery in Lexington, VA. At the conclusion of the the service, a 21-gun salute was given and Taps was played. (See time-edited video.) View attachment 572909
View attachment 572910Next came the Parade, and then everyone returned to the Virginia Horse Center for the Keynote Speaker and a delicious luncheon prepared by the ladies of the Stonewall Brigade. The Keynote Speaker was Gib Kerr, author of "Un-Cancel Robert E. Lee: An Open Letter to the Trustees of Washington and Lee University." Gib is a graduate of the University and a member of the Generals Redoubt. His presentation was thoughtful and eloquent. You can view it on the Stonewall Brigade's FB page. The silent auction was full of many wonderful items (as always) and I was the lucky third prize winner in the raffle. My prize was a 12 pound Confederate single-shot that was dug at Front Royal!! I was ecstatic! View attachment 572911
Many thanks to @Viper21 and the Stonewall Brigade SCV for a memorable weekend honoring memorable and heroic men.

Thanks for coming..! I'm sure glad y'all had a good time while here. I know I sure enjoyed seeing & visiting with you.

I will look in to what we can do to replace that tombstone in Stonewall Jackson Cemetery. We've been placing some at Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond, and do have a source on affordable replacement stones as the VA won't provide them there. I will follow up once I've talked to the cemetery, and have a plan.

 

[Diane123]

Thanks for coming..! I'm sure glad y'all had a good time while here. I know I sure enjoyed seeing & visiting with you.

I will look in to what we can do to replace that tombstone in Stonewall Jackson Cemetery. We've been placing some at Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond, and do have a source on affordable replacement stones as the VA won't provide them there. I will follow up once I've talked to the cemetery, and have a plan.

I would love to sponsor that stone. Just let me know what we need to do to make it happen! Thank you, so much @Viper21

 

[Viper21]

We also had two great side trips. The day before we explored the May 1864 battles of Cove Mountain and Cloyd's Mountain. Part of Hunter's Valley Campaign. The day after we spent the entire cold day in the field following the maneuvering leading up to and the Battle of McDowell. Amazingly preserved breastworks at Ft. Edward Jonson on Shenandoah Mountain. Fully illustrated posts on separate threads to follow.

I really enjoy those spots as well. As you might imagine, both ways in to there (McDowell & Monterey) are popular motorcycle rides One I've made many times. Ft Edward Johnson on rt 250 is a super cool, somewhat obscure site. It's one of those places that you can really feel the history, especially if others aren't there.

We usually take this route annually. Several times it comes in the spring when Highland county has their Maple Festival, which is usually a big draw. The maple pretzel the Amish make.... wow. The donuts aren't terrible either, but the big draw is the pancakes and fresh maple syrup. The Shenandoah Battlefield Association has had a booth/vending table there multiple times.

Here's a couple pics I took on a previous ride through there:

Here's the Confederate Monument in Monterey. Erected in 1918:

 

[Viper21]

I would love to sponsor that stone. Just let me know what we need to do to make it happen! Thank you, so much @Viper21

Bet on it. I will make that happen.

 

[John Winn]

Thanks for coming..! I'm sure glad y'all had a good time while here. I know I sure enjoyed seeing & visiting with you.

I will look in to what we can do to replace that tombstone in Stonewall Jackson Cemetery. We've been placing some at Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond, and do have a source on affordable replacement stones as the VA won't provide them there. I will follow up once I've talked to the cemetery, and have a plan.

I wish I were close as I could probably restore that stone (assuming the lower half is intact which is likely as it's below ground). It's likely not a difficult fix but one would need to know a few things and use the correct glue and such (big box store stuff is a no-no). I know of a couple of YouTube videos that show how to do it correctly. The glue is expensive unfortunately. The stone should be cleaned, too, which would require some proper cleaning product (also expensive).

Why won't the VA provide stones in that other cemetery ? Haven't heard of that.

And nice to see that you refer to the cemetery by it's correct name. I was lucky to visit it before the PC people came along.

 

[gjpratt]

In response to @stu613 response re Cove Mountain a/k/a Crockett's Cove and Cloyd's Mountain at post #24. Without the tour leadership of Scott Patchan it was not battlefield interpretation as much as self taught interpolation. It was still two good visits to these little known sites. I made good use of the rangefinder at Cloyd's Mountain.

 

[gjpratt]

And a special shoutout to @ChargingStag who made his third consecutive Lee Jackson Day weekend from the UK. He has earned his inclusion in the unofficial "Usual Suspects" clan. We thought he was the winner of the attendee who traveled the farthest for the events until the SCV Hawaii Brigade laid its wreath Saturday.

 

[Viper21]

Why won't the VA provide stones in that other cemetery ? Haven't heard of that.

And nice to see that you refer to the cemetery by it's correct name. I was lucky to visit it before the PC people came along.

Oakwood in Richmond has over 16,000 Confederates buried there. Many unknown soldiers are in this number.

The graves have a deteriorating marble 6" x 6" markers for every three graves. Very difficult to identify, or find individuals.

The short answer to why the VA won't supply individual stones anymore (they were at one time), is politics. It was one of the last pokes in the eye from an administration before leaving office:

So, since then the Virginia Division SCV has made it a project of ours, to raise money & place stones on graves. It's worthy of it's own thread. I have lots of stories and info about it, but don't want to derail my own LJDay thread..lol. I don't have time right now, but will put a thread about it together down the road.

** The cemetery in Lexington will always be, Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery to me....

 

[Viper21]

And a special shoutout to @ChargingStag who made his third consecutive Lee Jackson Day weekend from the UK. He has earned his inclusion in the unofficial "Usual Suspects" clan. We thought he was the winner of the attendee who traveled the farthest for the events until the SCV Hawaii Brigade laid its wreath Saturday.

We have something special coming for our across the pond friend next year....

 

[Diane123]

The cemetery in Lexington will always be, Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery to me....

Ditto, @Viper21, ditto!

 

[G Low]

Happy birthday General Lee!!!!

This is an event right?

 

[Philip Leigh]

View attachment 572238

The annual Lee-Jackson Day events will kick off January 16th & 17th. The Stonewall Brigade SCV Camp will mark this years event as our 27th annual celebration in Lexington. This will surely be another great event this year. I look forward to seeing some of y'all again this year...! If you've never been, or experienced this event, you should at least once.

Friday's symposium will feature Dennis Frye, Amanda Low Warren, & Bill Potter. There will be refreshments, & vendors on display from 12:30 to 5pm. On Saturday we will gather at Jackson's grave site for our annual service, followed by the parade through downtown Lexington. Our keynote speaker on Saturday is Gib Kerr, followed by a catered luncheon.

After the luncheon on Saturday, there will be a brick laying ceremony at Lee Jackson Park. For those of who have been to the park, you'll quickly notice we've been busy..!

See you soon..!

You can see the entire event schedule here: https://leejacksonpark.com/event-schedule

I watched several of the videos. Glad you posted them. Your audience is skyrocketing. You, and your SCV camp, put in the work during the cancel culture era when prospects for reviving respect for the Confederate soldier seemed hopeless. Thanks to you and your camp for all you have done.

 

[gjpratt]

Oakwood in Richmond has over 16,000 Confederates buried there. Many unknown soldiers are in this number.

The graves have a deteriorating marble 6" x 6" markers for every three graves. Very difficult to identify, or find individuals.
View attachment 572937

The short answer to why the VA won't supply individual stones anymore (they were at one time), is politics. It was one of the last pokes in the eye from an administration before leaving office:

View attachment 572939

So, since then the Virginia Division SCV has made it a project of ours, to raise money & place stones on graves. It's worthy of it's own thread. I have lots of stories and info about it, but don't want to derail my own LJDay thread..lol. I don't have time right now, but will put a thread about it together down the road.

** The cemetery in Lexington will always be, Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery to me....

I vote separate thread.

 

[John Winn]

Oakwood in Richmond has over 16,000 Confederates buried there. Many unknown soldiers are in this number.

The graves have a deteriorating marble 6" x 6" markers for every three graves. Very difficult to identify, or find individuals.
View attachment 572937

The short answer to why the VA won't supply individual stones anymore (they were at one time), is politics. It was one of the last pokes in the eye from an administration before leaving office:

View attachment 572939

So, since then the Virginia Division SCV has made it a project of ours, to raise money & place stones on graves. It's worthy of it's own thread. I have lots of stories and info about it, but don't want to derail my own LJDay thread..lol. I don't have time right now, but will put a thread about it together down the road.

** The cemetery in Lexington will always be, Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery to me....

Thanks. That's a new one for me; sad.

Yeah, I'd love to see a thread on your project. If you provide a donation link that's something I'd like to support (being both an old cemetarian and great grandson of two Virginia CW vets).

 

[lelliott19]

.... Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery.

And nice to see that you refer to the cemetery by it's correct name.

why the VA won't supply individual stones anymore (they were at one time)

...The foeman need not frown,
They all are powerless now--
We gather them here and we lay them down,
And tears and prayers are the only crown
We bring to wreathe each brow.

And the dead thus meet the dead,
While the living o'er them weep;
And the men, by Lee and Stonewall led,
And the hearts that once together bled,
Together still shall sleep.
Excerpted from "March of the Deathless Dead" in Father Ryan's Poems by Abram Joseph Ryan.