Marked at Last

Marked at Last: Left, some Confederate graves are harder to get properly marked than others. When Richard P’Pool found out that Pvt. Robert Forsythe, Co. C, 1st Kentucky Volunteer Infantry CSA had an unmarked grave, he decided to do something about it. That led to a long trail of detective work and research. Ultimately it resulted in finding Works Progress Administration records which indicated that Forsythe was buried in the Hematite Cemetery , in the area now know as the Land Between the Lakes. Left, Robert Brooks and Tony Merrick pay tribute at the grave marker for Forsythe, while three of Pvt. Forsythe’s descendants, Elwood, Ferrell and Ovid Forsythe, look on. The Times Leader ran a detailed story covering the search and service in their 05/30/07 edition.

Left: The E. F. Arthur camp made quite an impression marching in the annual NIBROC parade in Corbin.

Below Left: Dr. Hiter at the dedication of a new Iron Cross marker for Gen. H. B. Lyons

Below Right: A poignant scene from a recent induction ceremony of the 5th Kentucky Infantry Camp #2122

Vicksburg Monument
17 November 2007 may be a special date for which you may want to mark your calendars. That date is the planned dedication of a monument that is 104 years overdue. In 1903 I am told, the Kentucky Confederate veterans who fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi picked the spot at the Vicksburg National Military Park for their monument. The Kentucky Division over the last few years has labored mightily to erect the monument they wished to have on that ground.


The effort began back in 1997 when the Division first voted to pursue the endeavor (Joey Oiler perhaps being the most outspoken for same back then). With fund raising fervor from across the Division, Mike Gevedon being an example, $20M was raised within 3 years. With that amount raised a potential contractor was found that would require another $30M to be raised to erect the monument. Another obstacle surfaced when the wording for the monument, the first drafts of which were written by Geoff Walden, became an issue with the National Park Service (NPS) insisting historically inaccurate information be included in the wording.

By 2002, those two issues, one involving the extent of the necessary fund raising and the other the stubborn insistence on their views by the NPS brought the project to a near standstill. The Division however, being descended from Southern Warriors, did not give up. Since 2002 the Division took a second look at cost issues and has subsequently entered into contracts that will set the monument in place for the money now on hand. Any contractual obligations that had existed between the first proposed contractor have been extinguished by mutual agreement.




The Division has also compromised with the NPS on wording issues and at this point work is proceeding at Vicksburg by the park service to prepare the site and a dedication tentatively scheduled for 17 November 2007 is now on the schedule. So reserve that date on your calendars so you can be present at a very special and historic service for our Kentucky Confederate forbears.

Originally printed in the Fall 2007 publication of The Lost Cause