Pickens County Honors Confederate Soldiers

A special ceremony was held Saturday morning to honor “those who wore the grey.”

The Confederate Memorial Day ceremony was hosted at the Hagood-Mauldin House and sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans Jefferson Davis Easley Camp 7 and 2^nd South Carolina Regiment Pickens Camp 71.

“On behalf of the Pickens County Historical Society, we welcome you to our ceremony today at our home,” said Ken Nabors, Adjutant of Camp 7 and President of the Pickens County Historical Society.

The Hagood-Mauldin House is a fitting site for the annual Confederate Memorial Day ceremony.

Frances “Miss Queen” Hagood Mauldin hosted actual Confederate veterans at the house for many years, Nabors said.

“For over 57 years, Miss Queen hosted our actual veterans here on the grounds, the last one in 1947,” he said. “We've brought it back to the very location actual veterans were while we memorialize them today.”

The 16^th Regiment presented the colors and Camp 71 Adjutant Ron Masters presided over the Pledge of Allegiance, Salute to the Flag of South Carolina and Salute to the Confederate Battle Flag and the reading of the Charge to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Camp #7 Chaplain Terry Lee Bailey gave the invocation.

The men and women of the time, including the era's leaders, lived with honor, Bailey said, unlike the leaders of today.

Anne Sheriff spoke about the work being undertaken by a dedicated group of volunteers, the members of the Confederate Graves project, an effort to identify the graves of Confederate soldiers and their wives.

Sheriff said the project began when she was asked how Pickens County would celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War.

She said her thoughts turned to the individual soldiers.

“Who would recognize the privates, the corporals, the sergeants, the captains, majors, colonels, generals buried in our local cemeteries throughout the South, that fought for Pickens County?” Sheriff said. “Who were the individual soldiers and their families? Where were their tombstones? Did they die on the field of battle? Were they buried in a federal cemetery, family cemetery, church cemetery or in some other state?”

An effort began to locate the graves and grave sites of all soldiers in Pickens County, she said.

“This meant locating the graves of every man who was born between 1805, 1810 and 1849,” Sheriff said.

The PCHS, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Central Heritage Society, the Faith Clayton Family Research Room and other groups were invited to take part.

J.B. Norris accompanies the group to identify the graves of Revolutionary War veterans.

On the third Thursday of each month, the group visits 3-4 cemeteries “looking for potential graves of our Pickens County soldiers,” Sheriff said.

After the grave sites are located, they are photographed, and GPS coordinates are entered.

“Then we go home for the month and search for information on the soldiers and their wives,” Sheriff said.

Often, the group can only find the wife's name, then have to search for information on her husband.

“What excitement! What sadness! What stories they had to tell through their service records, newspaper reports and information from their grandchildren,” Sheriff said.

The information is published in the Old Pendleton District Genealogical Society newsletter and at the annual Reunion of Upcountry Families.

The project began in July of 2011 and has visited over 80 of the 300 cemeteries in Pickens County.

“Before we go each month, we check the Pickens County cemetery books to look for certain graves,” Sheriff said.

Most of the area's Confederate soldiers had died by the 1930s, but a few lived into the 1940s, Sheriff said. If a woman was born between 1810 and the 1860s, “there's a good possibility she was married to a Confederate soldiers.

So far, the group has located 700 soldiers, including several Union soldiers, prisoners of war and soldiers who were present at the surrender of Appomattox.

“We have finished all major cemeteries on the western side of Highway 178,” Sheriff said. They are now working on cemeteries between Highway 8 and Highway 178.

The work is not without its hardships.

“We visit the small cemeteries in the wintertime because of the snakes and chiggers,” Sheriff said. Other hardships include ants and yellowjackets.

The group is placing Confederate Crosses of Honor on the graves they've identified.

“We don't have government money helping us with this project,” Sheriff said. “We need local Pickens County people.”

Donations to the Pickens County Historical Society can be allocated to the Confederate Graves project and are tax-deductible.

PCHS Vice-President Wayne Kelley read the “Roll of Honor,” the names of those soldiers whose graves have been honored with Confederate Crosses of Honor.

The 16^th Regiment Color Guard held a canteen ceremony honoring the Confederate dead and the 2^nd South Carolina Regimental Rifles SC Volunteers gave a rifle and cannon salute.Watch the video of the rifle and cannon salute attached to this story. Warning: Cannon is very loud, so turn down your speakers!

The ceremony concluded with the singing of “Dixie.”