Greetings From Upstate South Carolina, Y'all!
As I promised at the end of my previous post, today's blog entry will continue my photographic journalism of the annual Confederate Memorial Day Service in Columbia, South Carolina from Saturday, May 6th of this year.
Following the SC Division United Daughters of the Confederacy (SC UDC) service at Columbia's historic Elmwood Cemetery and the 3 mile parade from Elmwood to the State Capitol Building, the SC Division Sons of Confederate Veterans holds its own Confederate Memorial Day events at the base of the Confederate Soldiers Monument located on the southside of the Statehouse grounds.
The following photos were taken by me at this event.
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| The flags of the United States of America, the Dixie Cross banner, & the State Flag of South Carolina stand proudly by the stage. |
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| The posting of the SC Division SCV Camp Colors. |
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| Mr. Paul Graham calls the memorial service to order. |
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| Members of the Palmetto Battalion and 16th SC Color Guard of Honor standing post during the memorial service. |
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| Mrs. Pat Blitch, President SC Society Order of the Confederate Rose reading the last of the names from the Roll Call of the Dead. |
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| Pinning of the newest SC Guardians. Guardians are volunteers who clean and maintain Confederate graves and gravesites. Special pins are awarded to those who have maintained a grave or gravesites for more than two years. |
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| The newly pinned SC Guardians with their certificates. |
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| Congratulations and welcome gentlemen! |
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| Confederate artillery re-enactor from the Santee Light Artilley. |
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| Changing of the guards. |
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| Flags and flowers at the Confederate Soldiers Monument. |
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| Members of the 16th SC Color Guard of Honor and Palmetto Battalion giving the military salute. |
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| "Load!" |
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| "Ready!" |
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| "Fire!" |
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| The playing of "Taps" in memory of the dead. |
Thus concludes the Confederate Memorial Day 2017 services in Columbia, but not those in the State of South Carolina. Confederate Memorial Day State Holiday takes place on May 10th and over the next two weekend dozens of other smaller services and displays honoring the Confederate war dead took place across South Carolina in graves at small church yards, at Confederate monuments in town squares, or simply a few hundred to a thousand Confederate descendants displaying a Dixie Cross banner from their porch or flagpole. Certainly Confederate graves in cemeteries will have flags placed on them.
In Chester County, my hometown of Chester, a small battle flag and Magnolia tree blossom was placed at the base of the town's Confederate soldiers monument on the evening of May 10th and remained throughout the night, and the graves of 55 Unknown Confederate soldiers buried in nearby Evergreen Cemetery were decorated with flag -- the one lone Union soldier buried there had a 36 Star US flag (of the type used by the Union during the middle of the War). For more on this blog about these graves please see my past post HERE.
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In Honored Memory Of Those Who Wore The Gray.
(1861-1865). Not for fame or reward
Not for place or for rank
Not lured by ambition
Or goaded by necessity
But in simple
Obedience to duty
As they understood it
These men suffered all
Sacrificed all
Dared all-and died
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I hope that y'all enjoyed my posts about the Confederate Memorial Day service and my photographs. Please leave a comment below, as well as any questions you might have about this or any other blog post on this site. For more about Confederate Memorial Day and why many of us in the South still celebrate it, please check out my previous post HERE.
Thank you and have a great Dixie Day, Y'all!
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