shanniereb
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2012
- Location
- Mt. Croghan South Carolina
Confederate Memorial Day
by Louise Pettus
The traditional date for Confederate memorial services is May 10 - Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's birthday. The custom began in Charleston in 1866 after a group of ladies led by Mary Amarintha Snowden met in the parlor of Mills House and organized the Ladies' Memorial Association.
The idea spread until practically every town in South Carolina that was any size at all had at least one organization dedicated to keeping alive the memory of Confederate gallantry.
Money was raised to build statues, place markers or hang plaques in connection with public buildings or cemeteries. In an age that saw few women working outside the home, avenues for raising money were limited. Somehow, the proceeds of bazaars, cake sales, surplus garden produce and "egg money" gradually built up. Sometimes it took two decades or more from the initial plans until the unveiling of a statue.
The monument in front of the Ebenezer A. R. P. Church, 2132 Ebenezer Rd., Rock Hill, was built in just such a manner by the S. D. Barron Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The obelisk was unveiled on Sept. 3, 1908.
The ceremonies were typical of the times. There was an "orator of the day." A quartet and a chorus furnished musical accompaniment.
Special guests at the Ebenezer unveiling were members of the local "Catawba Camp," a group of Confederate veterans led by Iredell Jones. It was 43 years after the surrender at Appomattox.
The chapter's name honored Samuel DeKalb Barron, who first enlisted in the army at the age of 15. Local men persuaded him to come home and enter Erskine College. Determined to reenlist, Barron convinced his mother to equip him for service when he reached his 16th birthday.
Barron enlisted in Lafayette's Artillery, which had the task of protecting the S. C. coastline from Union invasion. He quickly proved his bravery by being the first to volunteer for the dangerous assignments. Several times he distinguished himself before he was captured by Kilpatrick's cavalry during Sherman's march. Barron spent 11 months in prison at Point Lookout, Md. When he got out, he was described as "a physical wreck."
Barefoot, emaciated and dirty, Barron walked from Richmond, Va. to York County. Though not as robust as he had been before his army service, Barron was not ready to settle down. He went west. After one year teaching school in Missouri, he was in Texas working for a newspaper. After that he was a farmer in Louisiana.
In Louisiana, Barron received word that he was needed in York County. It was the time of Merrill's Raiders and the Ku Klux Klan. Barron's brother had had to flee for his life; his father was not able to operate the farm alone. Barron returned to York County.
In 1874 Barron married. Farming turned out to be too demanding on his health and he returned to teaching. He began writing letters to the newspapers in which he pleaded for assistance for disabled Confederate veterans. In 1885, two years before his death, Barron and his Bethesda Academy students organized memorial services for the Confederate dead. It is the first known Confederate memorial service in York County.
During the early 1900s, the S. C. Barron Chapter would join with Rock Hill's Ann White Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Winthrop Chapter of the UDC, the Sons of Veterans, ministers of the city, family and friends, for a memorial service at Laurelwood Cemetery in Rock Hill.
This would be followed by a picnic in Hutchison's grove. After dinner the old veterans would deliver reminiscent talks. What tales they must have told!
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scyork/Pettus.htm#31
by Louise Pettus
The traditional date for Confederate memorial services is May 10 - Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's birthday. The custom began in Charleston in 1866 after a group of ladies led by Mary Amarintha Snowden met in the parlor of Mills House and organized the Ladies' Memorial Association.
The idea spread until practically every town in South Carolina that was any size at all had at least one organization dedicated to keeping alive the memory of Confederate gallantry.
Money was raised to build statues, place markers or hang plaques in connection with public buildings or cemeteries. In an age that saw few women working outside the home, avenues for raising money were limited. Somehow, the proceeds of bazaars, cake sales, surplus garden produce and "egg money" gradually built up. Sometimes it took two decades or more from the initial plans until the unveiling of a statue.
The monument in front of the Ebenezer A. R. P. Church, 2132 Ebenezer Rd., Rock Hill, was built in just such a manner by the S. D. Barron Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The obelisk was unveiled on Sept. 3, 1908.
The ceremonies were typical of the times. There was an "orator of the day." A quartet and a chorus furnished musical accompaniment.
Special guests at the Ebenezer unveiling were members of the local "Catawba Camp," a group of Confederate veterans led by Iredell Jones. It was 43 years after the surrender at Appomattox.
The chapter's name honored Samuel DeKalb Barron, who first enlisted in the army at the age of 15. Local men persuaded him to come home and enter Erskine College. Determined to reenlist, Barron convinced his mother to equip him for service when he reached his 16th birthday.
Barron enlisted in Lafayette's Artillery, which had the task of protecting the S. C. coastline from Union invasion. He quickly proved his bravery by being the first to volunteer for the dangerous assignments. Several times he distinguished himself before he was captured by Kilpatrick's cavalry during Sherman's march. Barron spent 11 months in prison at Point Lookout, Md. When he got out, he was described as "a physical wreck."
Barefoot, emaciated and dirty, Barron walked from Richmond, Va. to York County. Though not as robust as he had been before his army service, Barron was not ready to settle down. He went west. After one year teaching school in Missouri, he was in Texas working for a newspaper. After that he was a farmer in Louisiana.
In Louisiana, Barron received word that he was needed in York County. It was the time of Merrill's Raiders and the Ku Klux Klan. Barron's brother had had to flee for his life; his father was not able to operate the farm alone. Barron returned to York County.
In 1874 Barron married. Farming turned out to be too demanding on his health and he returned to teaching. He began writing letters to the newspapers in which he pleaded for assistance for disabled Confederate veterans. In 1885, two years before his death, Barron and his Bethesda Academy students organized memorial services for the Confederate dead. It is the first known Confederate memorial service in York County.
During the early 1900s, the S. C. Barron Chapter would join with Rock Hill's Ann White Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Winthrop Chapter of the UDC, the Sons of Veterans, ministers of the city, family and friends, for a memorial service at Laurelwood Cemetery in Rock Hill.
This would be followed by a picnic in Hutchison's grove. After dinner the old veterans would deliver reminiscent talks. What tales they must have told!
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scyork/Pettus.htm#31
Bringing the