A forearm bone, believed to be from a Union soldier, has been buried at Blakeley State Park in Alabama. A ceremony will pay tribute to those in unmarked graves

The gravesite contains a granite marker and memorial plaque (Historic Blakeley State Park)

Whether resting under cornfields, dense woods or are ensconced in marshes and swamps, the remains of young men who gave all dot battlefields across the South, their names lost to history.

Many Civil War sites have markers for the unknown buried in mass graves or cemeteries. Historic Blakeley State Park near Mobile, Ala., on Saturday will dedicate a memorial that speaks to those who have never been found, or – as in this unusual case – only a partial remain has been discovered.

The park on Tuesday buried a forearm bone that likely belonged to a Union soldier and it installed a granite marker with the words "Unknown Soldier, Civil War." Several feet away is a new metal plaque that reads:

“Here lie the remains of an unknown soldier who died during the siege of Spanish Fort, about four miles south of Blakeley, in 1865. This stone is a memorial to all of those unidentified soldiers, Federal and Confederate, who perished during the Campaign for Mobile and yet lie in unmarked graves.”

Note and display case that contain the forearm bone (Historic Blakeley State Park)

The brief ceremony, which will include a prayer by park director Mike Bunn, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT Saturday during Veterans Day events at the site along the Tensaw and Apalachee rivers. Cannon will fire as a salute to the fallen.

The relic was sent to the park earlier this year after a Gettysburg, Pa., shop bought a collection of artifacts and discovered the partial remains in the groupings. 

The arm bone is believed to belong to a soldier who was part of the fight for Spanish Fort, just below the Confederacy’s Fort Blakeley. Both sites were captured in April 1865.

Greg Goodell, longtime museum curator at Gettysburg National Military Park, acted as a middle man between the Pennsylvania shop and Bunn, ensuring a proper and respectful resting place for the bone.

Bunn (right) said he believes the forearm piece was found with other artifacts by a relic hunter in or near a Federal trench in Spanish Fort. The park director said he does not know the finder’s name but believes he died several years ago. “He had a pretty big collection.” The items were sold by family members to the Gettysburg business.

With the bone, which was wrapped in bubble wrap, was a note: “Found in Extreme Northern end of Union Army lines at Spanish Fort (near Basin Batteries). December, 1973.”

A water artillery battery near the end of the Yankee line was in swampy ground at a body of water called Bay Minette. “All of that stuff is gone,” Bunn said of this part of the Spanish Fort siege line.

There’s plenty of mystery about the bone remaining, despite a story that appears to have a good ending.

Robert Knox Sneden map showing battle zones in and around Mobile, Ala. (Library of Congress)

Relic hunters frequently pored over the area, which is on private land, as a subdivision was built in stages. “I can’t confirm all the details, but I don’t believe the section this came from was developed at the time. Probably dug as they were clearing land for it, though,” Bunn added.

It’s possible the bone was part of a mass grave. Bunn doesn’t know whether the rest of the skeleton was left intact, scattered by animals or taken by other collectors.

Relic hunters today are more likely to report human remains to authorities or leave them in place, officials said.

Officials see no need for DNA testing of the remains at this point.

A long row of Rebel fortifications at Fort Blakely (Civil War Picket photo)

Bunn wanted to place the grave near a main park road and impressive remnants of Confederate defenses.

“We know not every person in the (Mobile) campaign has been found and marked,” Bunn told the Picket of his aim to honor them.

Other events Saturday include firearms demonstrations, a guided river cruise highlighting the fighting at Fort Blakeley, Spanish Fort and elsewhere in the Mobile area and historian and author Kent Masterson Brown’s lecture on Meade at Gettysburg. That talk will be at the fort’s Redoubt 6, not far from the new grave. Details can be found here. The park charges admission.

He volunteered for a mission at Vicksburg that left half his comrades dead. A Medal of Honor recipient is being remembered in Missouri this weekend

"End of the Journey": John Hack took part in doomed fleet (From 1902's "Deeds of Valor")

At a cemetery this weekend in Missouri, as part of a national annual tribute to Medal of Honor recipients, a soldier will be remembered for taking part in a desperate mission to ferry supplies to Union forces below Vicksburg, Ms.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, VFW Post 919 and other lineage groups and city officials will gather at 2 p.m. Sunday for a commemoration ceremony in Trenton’s Maple Grove Cemetery to honor Pvt. John Hack, who survived the ordeal by clinging to a bale of hale after a barge caught fire.

Hack was one of about 10 men to receive the Medal of Honor for the May 3, 1863, attempt to take supplies past Rebel fortifications on the Mississippi River. The gallant effort failed, but it is remembered for what the soldiers endured, including their stint as prisoners. 

“They put their life on the line to do that,” said Kevin L. Miller, commander of Westport Camp #64 of the SUVCW. “They weren’t thinking of a medal. They were thinking of winning the war.”

Hack – a native of Hessen state in Germany -- came to the United States at age 5 when his family settled in Indiana, according to his 1933 obituary in the Trenton newspaper.

He enlisted in July 1861 at age 18, in Adrian, Mich. Hack served with the 47^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which saw hard action at Vicksburg, the linchpin of control of the Mississippi River. (Photo is from about 1915)

“One of Grant’s greatest challenges during the Vicksburg campaign was finding safe passage across the Mississippi River without being cut down by Confederate gunfire,” says the American Battlefield Trust. “He tried to cross his troops at De Soto Point, Lake Providence, Yazoo Pass, and Steele’s Bayou with no luck. Then he came up with an ambitious plan to use the navy to provide transports for the river crossing. Success hinged on getting boats safely past the Confederate guns at Vicksburg and seizing control of the river south of the city.”

Union detachments that crossed below Vicksburg were away from the main supply line, necessitating efforts to resupply them.

Capt. William H. Ward of the 47^th Ohio led the May 3, 1863, nighttime effort to bring supplies.

Walter Beyer and Oscar Keydel provided Ward’s account in their 1902 volume “Deeds of Valor.” The force needed to navigate the “S” bend at Vicksburg and withstand about 100 Confederate guns. “It seemed impossible that anyone could live under such terrible fire,” the authors write.

About 35 volunteers came forward to help move two supply barges. Here is Ward’s account in the book. It’s lengthy, but the information is very compelling.

"We cast off from Milliken's Bend, La. about fifteen miles above Vicksburg at ten o' clock PM. The trip down the river was uneventful until two o' clock in the morning, when a rocket sent up from one of the Confederate batteries warned the enemy of our approach, and we were soon under a heavy fire. It was a wild ride we had from this time on.

"Battery after battery opened on us, as we came within range, until it seemed that the guns were being played upon like the keys of a piano, and to say that the rain of shot and shell was terrific, but faintly describes the situation. The scene was indescribably grand and awe inspiring, as we steamed slowly past the city amid the roar of more than a hundred guns with their death dealing missiles whistling and shrieking over and around us, and exploding on board while the patter of bullets from the infantry resembled a fall of hail stones. The barges were large and unwieldy; and as we could make only about six miles an hour at best, the enemy's gunners were able to get our range accurately. We had been struck many times, but not seriously damaged. The little tug seemed to bear a charmed life, for we passed several times within a hundred yards of the heaviest batteries.

Vicksburg and its defenses; click to enlarge (Library of Congress)

"We had now been under fire three quarters of an hour, and had reached a point below the city where ten minutes more meant safety. The steady puff-puff of the little tug gave assurance that all was right and we were beginning to indulge in mental congratulations on the success of the expedition when a roar like the bursting of a volcano caused the barges to rock as if shaken by an earthquake, and in an instant the air was filled with burning coals flying timbers and debris. A plunging shot from a heavy gun stationed on an eminence far in the rear had struck the tug and penetrated to the furnaces where it exploded, blowing the boilers and machinery up through the deck, and completely wrecking the vessel.

"The blazing coals fell in a shower over both barges setting fire to the bales of hay in hundreds of places at once. The enemy sent up a cheer upon witnessing our misfortune, and for a few minutes seemingly redoubled their fire. The tug went down like a plummet while the barges were soon blazing wrecks, drifting with the eddying current of the river. No recourse remained, but surrender and the waving of a handkerchief from a soldier's bayonet caused the firing to cease. The flames compelled the survivors to seek safety by taking to the water, and having no boats we floated off on bales of hay and found them surprisingly buoyant. The wounded were first cared for and then all took passage on the hay bale line.

"The enemy now hailed us from shore, ordering us to come in and surrender, but on learning that we had no boats, sent their own to our assistance capturing all but one of the survivors. That one, Julius C. Conklin by name, was the only man in the party who could not swim. He managed with the aid of a piece of wreckage to reach the Louisiana shore unobserved by the enemy and rejoined his company two days later.

John Hack (left) in later life with Joseph Hack Smith (Grundy County Library)

"When all had been rescued and assembled in the moonlight under guard of Confederate bayonets, the roll was called, and just sixteen, less than half our original number, were found to have survived. Some of the scalded men were piteous sights to behold, the flesh hanging in shreds from their faces and bodies as they ran about in excruciating agony, praying that something be done to relieve their sufferings. These with the wounded were speedily sent to a hospital, where some of them died the next day.

"It is not often, even in a soldier's life, that one is compelled to face death in so many forms as beset our little party on that memorable night, shot and shell, fire, water, and a boiler explosion, with its attendant horrors. Our captors treated us with marked consideration, affording every courtesy consistent with the rules of war, and we were the recipients of many attentions from soldiers and citizens who seemed to marvel at the temerity of our undertaking. We were held prisoners in Vicksburg for two days, when General Grant having crossed the river, and defeated the enemy near Grand Gulf, Mississippi began to threaten the city from the rear. We were then paroled, and hurriedly forwarded to Richmond, Va. where after an eventful journey, through the Confederacy we duly arrived and were assigned quarters in that famous Confederate hostelry, Libby Prison. Here we remained about six weeks, before we were exchanged, and we were only able to rejoin the regiment in the trenches before Vicksburg on the evening before the surrender, just in time to be in at the death.

"Language fails to describe my feelings when with a few companions I entered the city the next morning, July 4th, immediately after the surrender under circumstances in such marked contrast with my forced advent of a few weeks before. Now, no hostile demonstrations of any kind greeted us. The great guns were still, the hostile flags were furled, and Old Glory floated proudly from the public buildings, while our late foes were quietly resting in their camps awaiting the pleasure of the victors."​

Hack told his family he kept under the floating bale until his capture, using a straw to breathe.

The 1907 citation for Hack reads: “The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private John Hack, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 3 May 1863, while serving with Company B, 47th Ohio Infantry, in action at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Private Hack was one of a party which volunteered and attempted to run the enemy's batteries with a steam tug and two barges loaded with subsistence stores.”

According to his obituary in the Trenton Republican-Times, Hack later fought at Missionary Ridge. Hack continued service until Aug. 20, 1864, in Atlanta, when he was discharged for completing his time of service.

According to Tony Ralston, commander of VFW Post 919, Hack worked for the Rock Island and Pacific Railroad as a machinist. Hack came to Trenton from Vincennes, Ind., in about 1890. He served about 15 years as justice of the peace. He was a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic veterans group and was known as an honorary major. In November 1921, Hack traveled to Washington, D.C., for the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Hack had three children and died on March 29, 1933, at age 90. A large crowd attended his funeral and songs included "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." His flag-draped casket was carried by caisson to the cemetery. The American Legion conducted services, according to his obituary, which was provided to the Picket by Doris Baker of the Grundy County Jewett Norris Library.

He has two markers at Maple Grove Cemetery; the Medal of Honor stone was installed nearly 45 years ago, officials said. (Photo, courtesy of Kent Kooi, Findagrave.com)

Sunday’s ceremony in the city of 5,500 about 90 miles northeast of Kansas City will include a color guard, biography, wreath-laying, a reading of the Medal of Honor citation, rifle salute and the playing of Taps. March 25 -- one day before the event -- is the annual National Medal of Honor Day across the United States. 

Shadow box with items honoring Freeman Davis (Courtesy of Kevin Miller)

Miller, with the SUVCW, says camps across the state try to recognize a Medal of Honor recipient each year. In 2021, a ceremony was held to recall Sgt. Freeman Davis of Butler. At Missionary Ridge in November 1863, "This soldier, while his regiment was falling back, seeing the two color bearers shot down, under a severe fire and at imminent peril recovered both the flags and saved them from capture."

Miller made a shadow box of related material for the museum in Bates County. The box includes an SUVCW medal and challenge coins and shell casings from the rifle salute.

No longer kept in a drawer: Descendants donate Medal of Honor to Massachusetts town where hero recipient was laid to rest

Cecelia Miles, Col. Perry, veterans agent Donald Hirschy (Town of Dighton)

Cecelia Miles and her siblings came to realize that a Medal of Honor awarded to their great-grandfather for his actions during the Civil War shouldn’t be just a family heirloom, tucked away in a drawer.

Nearly a decade after Pvt. Frederick C. Anderson’s grave was found in Dighton, Mass., Miles recently drove from the Sioux Falls, S.D., area to the cemetery to present it to the town.

Dighton officials on that same day renamed an Elm Street span the Pvt. Frederick C. Anderson Memorial Bridge.

Anderson, a member of the 18^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, received the honor for capturing the flag and color bearer of the 27^th South Carolina during an August 1864 battle in Virginia.

Miles, a university associate professor, told the Picket she knew about the medal and Anderson while growing up in Florida, but the subject was not discussed much.

Anderson who died in 1882 at age 40 in Providence, R.I., was believed to be buried in Somerset, Mass. But Charles Mogayzel, a Korean War veteran and advocate for Medal of Honor recipients, in fall 2011 discovered the grave in Dighton. It had Anderson’s name but did have a Medal of Honor designation.

The late Mogayzel’s niece contacted Miles, who was putting together some information on her ancestor, through Ancestry.com.

“I wrote her back saying you may not believe this, but I actually have the medal. They were completely gobsmacked,” said Miles, who traveled to Dighton in 2011 for a ceremony at which a Medal of Honor marker was installed.

According to a Dighton proclamation, Anderson was born in Boston but was orphaned by age 8. At 14, he was relocated by the Orphan Train, a welfare program, to Raynham, Mass., and was put to work on a farm.

Military, veterans officials at renamed bridge (Town of Dighton)

He enlisted shortly after the Civil War began and participated in several battles with the 18^th Massachusetts. According to the Taunton Gazette, regimental records showed that Anderson was about 5-foot-3 and had blue eyes and sandy hair.

The soldier earned the Medal of Honor for capturing the colors on Aug. 21, 1864, at the Battle of Globe Tavern, also known as the Second Battle of Weldon Railroad. The taking of regimental flags often disrupted communication among enemy troops.

The battle was a significant victory for the Union, netting a Confederate supply line and a portion of a railroad near Petersburg. Anderson received the medal from Maj. Gen. George Meade a month later.

Anderson was discharged at war’s end and settled in Somerset, where he and his wife raised three children, one of whom, Cecelia Ann, was Miles’ grandmother.

Miles, who traveled to Massachusetts with her husband, was presented a U.S. flag during the March 30 ceremony at the Dighton Community Church cemetery.

Col. Perry presents flag to Cecelia Miles (Town of Dighton)

“So many people who have never been in the armed forces don’t have the appreciation for what it takes to be awarded any decoration for military service,” Air Force Col. Bob Perry said, according to a press release from the town. “The Medal of Honor requires extraordinary dedication, valor and courage while under fire. Pvt. Anderson clearly demonstrated all of those traits.”

Officials said the medal will most likely be displayed in a glass case at Town Hall after the building receives some upgrades.

Miles said she is pleased the public will be able to see the medal and learn more about her great-grandfather, a Civil War hero. The ceremony, she said, was emotional.

“Everyone there was so pleased and proud. It just connected me to a much longer line of history and meaning than I had understood before.”

They'll pay tribute to the famed 69th Infantry, Irish Brigade with cemetery ceremony

One week before it leads New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the National Guard’s 69^th Infantry Regiment on Sunday morning (March 10) will honor those who fought for the famed Irish Brigade during the Civil War.

Current and past soldiers of the 1^st Battalion will mark the graves of veterans who served in mostly Irish regiments with U.S. and Irish flags. The ceremony at Albany Rural Cemetery’s Soldiers’ Lot in Menands will include a wreath-laying ceremony at a Grand Army of the Republic monument.

A press release say the ceremony is meant to honor “the Irish immigrants that served in the Civil War's 69th Regiment, the Irish Brigade, and the Irish Legion to support their adopted country.”

The Soldiers’ Lot was chosen because it bears the remains of several veterans, including Pvt. Bernard Trainor, who fled Ireland during the Great Famine.

He enlisted in the 69^th one month before it fought at Antietam. According to the release half of the 69^th New York Volunteer Infantry was killed or wounded in the battle. Trainor had a slight leg wound. He made it through Fredericksburg without injury amid high casualties.

“His luck finally ran out at Gettysburg in June 1863. By that time, the 69th was a shadow of its former self, deploying with less than one hundred soldiers. Trainor was severely wounded fighting in the notorious Wheatfield. He was discharged as a result of these wounds. He was likely sent to Albany to convalesce, where he died in 1868.”

'Old War Horse' James Longstreet will be remembered at graveside service

Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet was famous among the ranks for the camaraderie, poker games and whiskey that were featured at his camp headquarters during Civil War campaigns.

So it was in remembering that spirit that Richard Pilcher left a cigar at the general’s resting place in Gainesville, Ga., about 35 years ago. It was the anniversary of Longstreet’s death – Jan. 2 – and Pilcher spoke with the sexton at Alta Vista Cemetery.

“He told me there was never any service there and I resolved not to let that happen again,” said Pilcher, former president of the Gainesville-based Longstreet Society, which promotes the controversial officer’s legacy.

The society and a couple of Sons of Confederate Veterans camps for several years sponsored the annual graveside memorial service. About nine years ago, SCV Camp 1860, Blue Ridge Rifles, took over. The Longstreet Society hosts a reception at the Piedmont Hotel (Longstreet’s residence and hotel), featuring hot chocolate and cookies, following the service.

Longstreet

This year’s event is scheduled for 2 p.m. Jan. 15.

The SCV camp customarily has speakers, a prayer and a volley fired by re-enactors. On occasion, music is performed.

“One year they re-enacted the whole funeral from the site of the old courthouse to the cemetery with the ancient, glass-sided, horse-drawn hearse bearing a casket with police blocking streets along the way,” said Pilcher, who today is a society director.

“Old Pete” Longstreet spent the last decades of his life in Gainesville. He lost one wife, a home to fire and married again in his last years. He died at 82 in 1904.

The general's story is, well, complicated.

Controversy about his conduct at the Battle of Gettysburg and his postwar support of the Republican Party, Reconstruction and suffrage for blacks dogged him to his grave. Longstreet in postwar years voiced his opinion that Gen. Robert E. Lee should not have launched the disastrous Day Three attack at Gettysburg.

Advocates of the “Lost Cause” lashed out at him, and said he failed Lee at Gettysburg by delaying the execution of orders.

But many Confederate veterans lionized him and he was popular at reunions, including a notable gathering at Gettysburg in 1888. As Civil War blogger John Banks recently wrote, he attended many events there featuring former Union foes. “No man now in Gettysburg, the New York Sun wrote of Longstreet, “is more honored nor more sought than he.”

The Piedmont Hotel in 2009

As the Picket wrote in 2009, Longstreet’s reputation, especially among military historians, has been more positive in recent years.

William Piston, a history professor at Missouri State University, published “Lee’s Tarnished Lieutenant” in 1987. The book “reveals how Longstreet became, in the years after Appomattox, the Judas of the Lost Cause, the scapegoat for Lee's and the South's defeat.” 

Many historians and family members portray Longstreet, who was born in South Carolina, as a proud and stubborn warrior who was a truly loyal lieutenant to Lee. 

The general became Lee’s “right hand” during the war and led victorious assaults at Second Manassas and Chickamauga. He may be best known for his notable defensive use of terrain, such as at Fredericksburg.

Alta Vista Cemetery is at 521 Jones St. Longstreet’s grave is in Lot 36. The Piedmont Hotel is at 827 Maple St, also in Gainesville.

Cemetery ceremony marks 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

Civil War historian and author James B. McPherson and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell were among those on the program today at the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg National Military Park. Here is the Civil War Picket's account of events, viewed as they happened via a video stream, followed by the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:

11:34 a.m.: Conclusion of the ceremony, with mention of a noon ceremony at the graves of U.S. Colored Troops.

11:29 a.m.: Benediction, followed by the playing of Taps.

11:27 a.m.: Pledge of Allegiance followed by a musical selection, "God Bless America."

11:25 a.m.: President Barack Obama, in a recording, welcomes the new American citizens. He mentions their solemn oath to their country and mentions "great responsibilities." No dream is impossible, Obama says. "You can help the write the next great chapter in our American story."

11:20 a.m.: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia prepares to administer the oath to new U.S. citizens. He reminds people that freedom is not free. About 15 take the oath, raising their right hands. "Welcome, my fellow Americans," Scalia says, as the crowd stands and applauds.

11:12 a.m.: Wayne Hill sings several stanzas of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

11:09 a.m.: James Getty, who portrays Abraham Lincoln, reads the words of the Gettysburg Address. He stands hatless, like Lincoln, to give the remarks. Getty wears a black suit, black bow tie and white gloves at the lectern.

11:07 a.m.: Morgan Brooks, law enforcement ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park, reads words from President Barack Obama, who is not attending the ceremony. Obama remembers those who gave the "full measure of devotion for the country they love." Obama talks about a self-made man who believed that it falls to each generation to preserve the freedom for which its predecessors "so valiantly fought."

11:04 a.m.: Sally Jewell, secretary of the Interior, says Lincoln was wrong to say Americans would not long remember his words. "We are reminded of the sacrifice of so many for freedom." She cites the bravery of Rosa Parks and others. Speaking of Lincoln, she says he personified honesty and decency.

11 a.m.: Director of the National Park Service, Jonathan Jarvis, says his staff is appreciative of Americans' love for their national parks.

10:56 a.m.: The U.S. Marine Band plays "The Old One Hundredth," a song familiar in 1863.

10:52 a.m.: McPherson says that Lincoln in two minutes brought the past, present and future together and weaved in additional images -- death, rebirth, among them. Americans should closely study and analyze the words of the Gettysburg Address, the historian says. "Men died that the nation might live." McPherson said the institution of slavery also died. McPherson asks the crowd whether Lincoln's vision will be around for another 150 years. He says Americans should commit themselves to fulfilling the task of Lincoln and the soldiers buried at the cemetery.
 
10:47 a.m.: Pulitzer Prize winner and historian James McPherson, author of "Battle Cry of Freedom," says people should reflect on Lincoln's life and speech at Gettysburg. "During the many dark days of that war ... it looked like the nation ... might indeed perish from the earth." Lincoln's legacy has inspired people of other lands, he says. McPherson talks about 4 million slaves who were to become forever free. Citing MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963, McPherson says King praised Lincoln. The historian tells the crowd that Lincoln had a reverence for the generation that brought forth a nation in 1776. The Civil War was a great test to see whether Lincoln's generation was worthy of that heritage.

10:41 a.m.: Gettysburg College President Janet Morgan Riggs says the "battle swept through our campus." A building was used as a Confederate field hospital. Freshmen at the college re-create a walk from the town to the cemetery to reflect on the address.

10:36 a.m.: Honoring of a Pennsylvania student who wrote an address that was in tribute to the Gettysburg Address. Lauren Pyfer took part in "In Lincoln's Footsteps." She tells the crowd that it is up to citizens to nurture and preserve the rights of freedom and humanity in all nations. "Intentions are good, but actions are lasting." She said the world needs to fulfill the vision of Abraham Lincoln.

10:32 a.m.: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett: "President Lincoln sought to heal a nation's wounds by defining what a nation should be."

10:30 a.m.: Sen. Bob Casey talks about recent wars, including the deaths of Pennsylvanians in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We do need to recommit ourselves to the unfinished business this country faces today." The cause then was the Civil War and the future of the country. Casey says the cause of veterans is crucial today. "Let us recommit ourselves to those who serve us."

10:28 a.m.: Sen. Pat Toomey says Abraham Lincoln used words that matched his deeds. (See Gettysburg Address text at the bottom of this post).

10:24 a.m.: Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania talks about "intense political rhetoric" in 2013. He mentions Lincoln's promise of a new birth of freedom. "Everything we have achieved since this time" is born out of the sacrifice of soldiers who fought at Gettysburg.

10:21 a.m.: Gettysburg National Military Park Supt. Bob Kirby describes the battle in July 1863 and the Union victory. He cites the 51,000 casualties, including 7,000 deaths. He also outlines the history of the cemetery at Gettysburg and Lincoln's attendance and speech. "Lincoln's 272 words brought meaning to the terrible sacrifices ..." The legacy of the address shows that the bid for freedom and equality did not end with the Civil War, says Kirby. "This truly is hallowed ground."

10:15 a.m.: The Rev. Michael Cooper-White, giving the invocation, mentions Lincoln's consecration of the hallowed ground at Gettysburg. "Give us to the courage to heal our divisions so that freedom once again might again flourish," says the pastor.

10:11 a.m.: The program is being live streamed to about 70,000 classrooms across the country. The 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry fife and drum corps, dressed in Federal uniforms, accompanies the presentation of the colors. The U.S. Marine Band plays the National Anthem.

10:06 a.m.: A moment of silence is held for those who, President Abraham Lincoln said, did not sacrifice in vain.

10:03 a.m.: The program has begun. Various dignitaries are placing patriotic wreaths in front of the stage at Soldiers' National Cemetery.

9:55 a.m.: We appear to be only moments away from the start. Re-enactors, politicians and children waving U.S. flags are bundled against the chill. Skies are gray.

9:40 a.m.: Band performing as crowd awaits beginning of program. It's a chilly morning at Gettysburg, with a current temperature of 40.

Gettysburg Address (delivered by President Lincoln on Nov. 19, 1863)

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Charleston events Wednesday will mark crucial role of the 54th Massachusetts

Every year, Joseph McGill and his comrades return to the island where the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry secured its place in American history.

They’ll do so again Wednesday afternoon, traveling on three boats to Cummings Point on Morris Island, where the regiment assaulted Confederate Battery Wagner.

Although the July 18, 1863, lead assault by the 54th was not a tactical success – although the damaged fort guarding Charleston, S.C., held on for just two more months – it has come to stand for so much more.

“You have to look at the social aspect of it and what it meant to the African-American race and this nation,” said McGill, member of Company I, 54th Massachusetts Reenactment Regiment. “There were doubts on the ability of these men to actually be soldiers. These men did prove they could be soldiers.”

The 54th, made famous in the 1989 film “Glory,” is undoubtedly the most famous U.S. Colored Troops unit in the war.

“It helped to convince me African-Americans had a major role in the Civil War,” McGill, a former Fort Sumter park ranger, said of “Glory,” which starred Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and Matthew Broderick.

Company I, with about 15 active members, on Wednesday will host members of other 54th re-enacting units from along the East Coast.

Battery Wagner – which guarded the southern approach to Charleston Harbor -- is long gone, a victim of erosion. The beachhead fort and remains of those killed in the assaults were washed out to sea.

About 280 of the 600 charging 54th soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. Col. Robert Gould Shaw was among those killed.

The boats, carrying re-enactors and spectators, will travel from three locations to Cummings Point. Participants will disembark for the 3:30 p.m. ceremony.

A wreath will be placed and members of the 54th will fire a salute.

McGill said owners of private boats are welcome to attend the event.

Also Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fort Moultrie, on the north end of the Charleston harbor, will sponsor events honoring the 54th’s service.

A special Junior Ranger program, which can be completed in less than an hour, will focus on the role of the 200,000 men in the U.S. Colored Troops. Children who complete the program will earn a special patch.

At 2 p.m., scholar and researcher Russell Horres will lead a free discussion in the visitor center.

“It is a fun way to engage them to learn about history,” Chief Ranger Dawn Davis said of the program for youth, geared to those between the ages of 4 and 12. Teens also can participate.

Davis told the Picket she and McGill’s group will soon start drawing up plans to mark Battery Wagner’s 150th anniversary next year.

“It’s an integral part to the story. It’s part of what we talk to on a daily basis,” she told the Picket.

The 54th’s bravery in Charleston inspired more African-Americans to join the Union army and Navy “It proved that they would stand up and fight their freedom,” Davis said.

McGill said African-Americans are playing a larger role than in the 1961-1965 Civil War centennial. Fifty years ago, African-Americans were engaged in a different fight: civil rights.

“There was not a whole time to commemorate a war that should have given us those rights,” said McGill.

Civil War scholarship has improved, he said, and colleges are telling the story that “Glory” helped along.

“We are a little more receptive to talking about this institution of slavery and not sugarcoating and falsifying information about it,” McGill said.

Some members of the 54th taking part in the Morris Island ceremony may try to get over to Fort Moultrie at some point Wednesday.

“We don’t just put these uniforms on for show,” McGill told the Picket. “We are obligated to make sure the story of these guys is told and not forgotten. That is not relegated to a footnote of history. What those guys did on the island was very important to not only African-American history, but to American history.”

For more information on the Morris Island event, and to learn whether any boat seats are available, contact Joe McGill at 843-408-7727. Illustration assault, courtesy of Library of Congress; Morris Island photo, courtesy of Joseph McGill; Fort Moultrie photo, courtesy of the National Park Service

• More information about Fort Moultrie
• History Channel's page on the 54th