Norman Dasinger Jr
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2021
By Norman Dasinger, Jr
In the summer of 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early and 10,000 of his troops marched into Maryland. Eventually, these men were stopped outside Washington DC as part of a series of engagements that ended at Fort Stevens, a few miles south of Silver Spring, Maryland on July 12th. The appearance of President Lincoln at Fort Stevens has added supplementary interest in the engagement but the casualties that occurred that day are equally as important. The Union soldiers that fell at Fort Stevens were eventually buried at Battleground National Cemetery but the Confederate dead would remain where they fell.
In 1874, the Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, James B. Avirett, coordinated the exhumation of the remains of 17 of those Confederate soldiers that fell outside Fort Stevens. His efforts resulted in these men being buried in a common grave at his church.
Pastor Avirett was born in North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1861. He served as a chaplain in the Confederate States Army and was, in fact, the first chaplain to be commissioned to serve in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, he served as a priest in Winchester, Virginia and Sligo, North Carolina and Silver Spring, Maryland. He authored a book on his former Army commander General Turner Ashby. His wife, Mary, was the driving force in the establishment of the Stonewall Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia.
As a communal means of remembrance, the church commissioned the placement of a lonely monument over this solemn burial trench.
On June 18, 2020, Kyley Schultz, a reporter for WUSA9 in Washington DC, wrote, "The Confederate memorial, a grave marker, was vandalized last week with black spray paint. This week, it was toppled to the ground. . . An anonymous sign left at the foot of the statue read, 'here lies 17 dead ****s who died fighting to keep black people enslaved."
The official webpage of Grace Episcopal Church includes this statement, "We understand that these soldiers received a Christian burial in consecrated ground, just as their former opponents . . . At Grace, we know that we must be true to our past and learn from it, both the good and the bad."
In the summer of 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early and 10,000 of his troops marched into Maryland. Eventually, these men were stopped outside Washington DC as part of a series of engagements that ended at Fort Stevens, a few miles south of Silver Spring, Maryland on July 12th. The appearance of President Lincoln at Fort Stevens has added supplementary interest in the engagement but the casualties that occurred that day are equally as important. The Union soldiers that fell at Fort Stevens were eventually buried at Battleground National Cemetery but the Confederate dead would remain where they fell.
In 1874, the Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, James B. Avirett, coordinated the exhumation of the remains of 17 of those Confederate soldiers that fell outside Fort Stevens. His efforts resulted in these men being buried in a common grave at his church.
Pastor Avirett was born in North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1861. He served as a chaplain in the Confederate States Army and was, in fact, the first chaplain to be commissioned to serve in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, he served as a priest in Winchester, Virginia and Sligo, North Carolina and Silver Spring, Maryland. He authored a book on his former Army commander General Turner Ashby. His wife, Mary, was the driving force in the establishment of the Stonewall Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia.
As a communal means of remembrance, the church commissioned the placement of a lonely monument over this solemn burial trench.
On June 18, 2020, Kyley Schultz, a reporter for WUSA9 in Washington DC, wrote, "The Confederate memorial, a grave marker, was vandalized last week with black spray paint. This week, it was toppled to the ground. . . An anonymous sign left at the foot of the statue read, 'here lies 17 dead ****s who died fighting to keep black people enslaved."
The official webpage of Grace Episcopal Church includes this statement, "We understand that these soldiers received a Christian burial in consecrated ground, just as their former opponents . . . At Grace, we know that we must be true to our past and learn from it, both the good and the bad."
Bringing the