Confederate Memorial Day Activities

On May 8, members of the Colonel John B. Palmer Camp 1946, Sons of Confederate Veterans, gathered to celebrate North Carolina’s Confederate Memorial Day. As in years past, members of the Camp met in front of the courthouse, where the Confederate National flag was run up. Next, the names of Yancey County’s Confederate dead were read, and then three volleys were fired in honor of the more than 1,000 men from Yancey County who served in the Confederate army.

After brunch, members of the Camp headed to the historic Bakersville Court House. From noon until 4:00 pm, a “Find Your Confederate Ancestor” program was held, and several individuals stopped by to chat or have us look up someone. Following this event, several members of the camp journeyed to the Green Cemetery in Northern Mitchell County to place two Veterans’ Administration markers on Confederate graves. One was for Jackson Stewart of the 58th NCT, who was also Mitchell County’s first sheriff. The other was a centotaph for Jasper Stewart, who was killed in action at Kolb’s Farm in 1864.

Finally, members of Camp 1946 gathered in the old Bakersville Cemetery for a candlelight service. There are ten Confederate soldiers buried at old Bakersville Cemetery. The event was well attended and we were happy to see some old friends and to make some new ones. As an added bonus, Jan and Randy Stewart brought their cannon and added three rounds of artillery fire to the rifled-muskets.

Overall, we had a great weekend, recruited some new members, and honored our Confederate ancestors.

Make sure you check out our Flickr account for more photographs.

For the past three or four weeks, members of the Col. Palmer Camp have been out placing flags on the graves of Confederate soldiers in the cemeteries of the Toe River Valley. This year, as in years past, the camp has placed about four hundred flags in Yancey, Mitchell, and Avery Counties. We added some new cemeteries this year and found some new graves. In Northern Yancey County, we were able to document the graves of these soldiers:

John Taylor Beaver, Company C, 58th North Carolina Troops
Jerry M. Ferguson, Company B, 29th North Carolina Troops
John W. Wilhite, Company D, 7th North Carolina Cavalry
Henry Howard, Company G, 29th North Carolina Troops
John H. Tomberlin, Company K, 50th North Carolina Troops
Charles Sconce, Company G, 32nd North Carolina Troops

We also found several others in Northern Mitchell County that we are currently looking into.

The Colonel Palmer Camp will be very busy this Saturday with programs in Yancey County at 9:00 am, Bakersville at 12:00 pm, and the old Bakersville Cemetery at 8:00 pm. We hope to see you there.

The picture on the page is that of members of the Colonel Palmer Camp at the grave of John Houston in the Henson’s Creek Cemetery in Avery County.