NEW YORK—The Green-Wood Historic Fund honored the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War with a series of events through Memorial Day weekend, ending on Monday with an Honor March through the Green-Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, to the Soldier’s Lot, where 127 Civil War veterans are buried.
Following the march, descendants and Civil War reenactors read names of the soldiers buried at Green-Wood cemetery and patriotic songs were sung in tribute.
The fund started the Civil War Project in 2002 to identify all the soldiers buried on the grounds, and Green-Wood historian Jeff Richman said they had anticipated identifying maybe 500 veterans.
“In 2002 we dedicated the Civil War Soldier’s monument we walked past today. New York City sent 140,000 men, just from New York City, to fight for the Union,” Richman said.
“We decided right after that rededication to try to find as many of the Civil War veterans as we could.”
To date, they have identified and wrote biographies for about 4,600 veterans and acquired gravestones for over 2,000 unmarked graves.
Following the march, descendants and Civil War reenactors read names of the soldiers buried at Green-Wood cemetery and patriotic songs were sung in tribute.
The fund started the Civil War Project in 2002 to identify all the soldiers buried on the grounds, and Green-Wood historian Jeff Richman said they had anticipated identifying maybe 500 veterans.
“In 2002 we dedicated the Civil War Soldier’s monument we walked past today. New York City sent 140,000 men, just from New York City, to fight for the Union,” Richman said.
“We decided right after that rededication to try to find as many of the Civil War veterans as we could.”
To date, they have identified and wrote biographies for about 4,600 veterans and acquired gravestones for over 2,000 unmarked graves.
“We have heard from a number of descendents throughout the country and from all over the world,” Richman said. The Civil War Project has hundreds of volunteers from all over the country.
Stephanie Decker and her daughter Danielle Morse flew in from California just for the commemoration event.
Decker says that after her parents passed away she started tracing her ancestry, and for years could not identify her great-great grandfather.
“My dad was in World War II, and his dad was in World War I, and my great-great-grandfather was in the Civil War,” Decker said. Through a relative, she found that he had been buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, and in 2006 he was finally identified.
The event was an educational way for many of the city’s school students to spend their Memorial Day.
The North-South Skirmish team was present at the event with a demonstration of firing one of the real Civil War-era cannons.
Stephanie Decker and her daughter Danielle Morse flew in from California just for the commemoration event.
Decker says that after her parents passed away she started tracing her ancestry, and for years could not identify her great-great grandfather.
“My dad was in World War II, and his dad was in World War I, and my great-great-grandfather was in the Civil War,” Decker said. Through a relative, she found that he had been buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, and in 2006 he was finally identified.
The event was an educational way for many of the city’s school students to spend their Memorial Day.
The North-South Skirmish team was present at the event with a demonstration of firing one of the real Civil War-era cannons.
“This [gun] is 90 percent copper and 10 percent tin,” Denny Pizzini explained. “This was the main artillery arm in the Civil War. When they used to shoot this stuff, if you were two or three hundred yards away, you were really too close.”
“They would load it with a canister—each canister round had 27 one-inch cannon balls in it—it was like a shotgun. And they wouldn’t just shoot one, they would load single, double, and triple, so you’d have almost 80 rounds of balls coming at you and it could take out a hundred people, terrible.”
For the demonstration, about 12 ounces was enough to create a loud explosion and fill the air with smoke. Pizzini explained that when the gun shot a cannonball, the entire cannon would recoil six feet.
Pizzini, a member of the team for over 30 years, said they were present at Green-Wood’s 2007 commemoration event as well.
This 150th anniversary commemoration makes the third reenactment Green-Wood has hosted since the launch of its Civil War Project in 2002.
“They would load it with a canister—each canister round had 27 one-inch cannon balls in it—it was like a shotgun. And they wouldn’t just shoot one, they would load single, double, and triple, so you’d have almost 80 rounds of balls coming at you and it could take out a hundred people, terrible.”
For the demonstration, about 12 ounces was enough to create a loud explosion and fill the air with smoke. Pizzini explained that when the gun shot a cannonball, the entire cannon would recoil six feet.
Pizzini, a member of the team for over 30 years, said they were present at Green-Wood’s 2007 commemoration event as well.
This 150th anniversary commemoration makes the third reenactment Green-Wood has hosted since the launch of its Civil War Project in 2002.
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