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Remembrance Project
In remembrance of the men who served in the 21st Virginia Infantry, Company F 1861-1865 Pvt.WardFebruary 16, 1998 Men and women of Virginia , if we were alive 137 years ago, all of us here today would have been faced with a monumental decision. A decision that for hundreds of thousands of men alive back then, would eventually cost them their lives. These men answered the call of their native soil to defend their families, their homes, everything they held precious on this earth. They responded to their duty with courage, integrity, character and honor, traits which are to a great extent unknown and unfamiliar in the world today. Their unselfish sacrifices and incredible deeds of valor are unquestionably some of the most powerful magnetisms that continue to draw us to this great conflict of our nation’s past. Though the conflict has long since waned, decisions regarding that conflict still exist today. One such decision now rests with us, and the question is whether we will answer the call as these men would have. Our decision involves four men that served with the 21st Virginia Infantry in F Company, three of which who do not have any marker on their grave that will speak of their commitment to untold generations (the remaining man has a small, plain granite maker which rises only inches above the ground and does not include his name). Sadly, in Richmond alone, thousands of these "martyred Sons of the South" lie in unmarked graves. And though we cannot insure that all of these men will be remembered in the same way, we can step forward and answer the call for the men of F Company that we call..............brothers. I encourage all of you to join me in this special endeavor, that we may take part in a glorious mission, and fulfill the words so eloquently described in Theodore O’Hara’s poem "The Bivouac of the Dead": Rest on embalmed and sainted dead, Yon marble minstrel’s voiceless stone Completion of this Remembrance Project has
occurred, culminating with a ceremony at both Oakwook and Hollywood Cemeteries over the
1999 Memorial Day Holiday. The pictures attached were from that ceremony. I
would encourage others to take up the torch of marking these graves of the myarted sons of
the Confederacy. Remembrance is not just for their lives that were given but their
ideals and ambitions that were cut short by this American Civil War. There are other
pictures of the ceremony. Hollywood is a privately owned cemetery and the final resting place of over 18,000 Confederate soldiers from all Southern States, including such notables as U.S. Presidents James Monro and John Tyler, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, J.E.B Stuart, George Pickett, Matthew Fontaine Maury. Hollywood has the largest number of Confederate generals (23) interred anywhere in the world. In addition to the slain from battles around Richmond such as Seven Pines, Gaines Mill, Malvern Hill, and Cold Harbor, the Confederate Dead exhumed from Gettysburg in the 1870s, were reinterred here on what became known as Gettysburg Hill. The Hollywood Cemetery Registry of Confederate Dead, printed in 1869, contains about 7,500 names of the 18,000 soldiers that rest here. The remaining 10,500 names and locations were destroyed in a fire before 1869 (though not the Richmond evacuation fire of 1865). Markers to the men whose burial location is unknown, such as General Garnett of "Pickett’s Charge" fame, exist in certain locations. The three men of F Company listed on the following pages are interred at Hollywood, and NOW have markers to designate their grave sites. 1. D.J. BRIGGS, MAY 14, 1862, HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY - ROW F, GRAVE 101 Listed in the HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY REGISTRY OF CONFEDERATE DEAD. Not listed in 21st Virginia Regimental History.
2. A.C. LEGG, JUNE 27, 1864, HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY - ROW U, GRAVE 505 Listed in the HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY REGISTRY OF CONFEDERATE DEAD and the 21ST VIRGINIA INFANTRY REGIMENTAL HISTORY. Under 18 when enlisted as a Private in Orange County on 11/10/1863. Wounded in Spotsylvania, 5/19/1864. Died of gangrene 6/26/1864.
3. R. MARION, APRIL 14, 1863, HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY - ROW T, GRAVE 414 Listed in the HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY REGISTRY OF CONFEDERATE DEAD and the 21ST VIRGINIA INFANTRY REGIMENTAL HISTORY. Enlisted as a Private in Richmond on 2/17/1863. Died 4/14/1863.
Oakwood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia Oakwood is a city owned cemetery and the resting place of over 15,000 Confederate soldiers from all Southern States. Most of the men buried here were killed during the Seven Days battles or died at Chimborozo, the South’s largest hospital during the war, which was only about a mile away and is now the site of the Richmond National Battlefield Park Headquarters. Most of the names and locations are unknown, and what information is available was compiled by Park Rangers. The man of F Company listed on the following page are interred at Oakwood, and NOW has a marker specifically for him. 1. EDWARD BATES, MARCH 10, 1864, OAKWOOD CEMETERY - DIVISION D, ROW 55, GRAVE 1 Listed in the 21ST VIRGINIA INFANTRY REGIMENTAL HISTORY. Enlisted as a Private in Pittsylvania Co. on 2/4/1863. Admitted to Chimborozo hospital with a fever on 9/17/1863. Returned to duty on 11/28/1863. Died of diarrhea on 3/10/1864
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