A Day of Southern Remembrance 2015

“A Day of Southern Remembrance 2015”

April 26th was set aside years ago as Confederate Memorial Day.  The day that Southerners who had relatives in the War Between the States could remember their lost loved ones.  Many graves dot the countryside and battlefields from Pennsylvania to the south and west.  Graves would also dot the P.O.W. camps near Chicago and Point Lookout.  The South lost nearly 300,000 men to battle and disease during the war.  The State of Georgia lost 18,253 dead.

Today we descendants of those who died in the war appreciate the chance to remember them in a correct fashion.  The US Government began recognizing the Confederate dead as full American Soldiers in 1958 by act of Congress and signed by President Eisenhower.  Think about the Confederate dead right here in Henry County, Georgia.  Over 1,000 graves dot the landscape in Church cemeteries, private cemeteries and city cemeteries.

Governor Nathan Deal on January 5, 2015 signed a Proclamation declaring April as Confederate History Month and April 26th as Confederate Memorial Day.  State Offices will observe the Day by closing on April 27, 2015.

Please take time to say a prayer for those men who fought on the Southern side in the War of wars.  Here is a prayer: “Father in Heaven, I come to thee at this time to remember those who fought in the long ago Civil War who died for various reasons.  Father, I pray for those who died on both the North and the South in a war that many of those who fought went to fight to save their homes.  Lord, may they be friends today in Your presence in eternal glory on high.  I ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.”

Pastor Dr. Mike Moon
Senior Researcher for the Cemetery Research Group and B&M Civil War Research Group