This is the Confederate Memorial in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Front Royal, Virginia. After a war is over, people usually erect memorials to commemorate those who died and in doing so, try to come to terms with their losses. Confederate citizens had the additional painful task of dealing with an unsuccessful war: all those losses in vain.
A nearby Civil War Trails marker tells us that
On November 7, 1868, the Ladies' Warren Memorial Association was chartered to collect the Confederate dead buried in sites throughout Warren County and rebury them in this circular lot, later called Soldier's Circle. The task of locating and moving the bodies involved much labor and expense and was especially difficult in the post war era. In a short time, however, the remains of 276 soldiers representing every state in the former Confederacy were interred here. Some 90 were identified and placed in separate graves, each with a marble headstone. The remains of 186 unknown soldiers were buried in a common grave in the center of the circle, and on Aug. 24, 1882, the 18-foot-high monument was erected above them. A memorial service is held annually on the anniversary of the Battle of Front Royal.
That's such an interesting memorial!
ReplyDeleteI love visiting memorials, there is so much to learn.
ReplyDeletea lot of work to locate and then re-inter those bodies! wow!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interesting history of this memorial.
ReplyDelete