Major General Thomas West Sherman Camp no. 1, Rhode Island Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, will hold its annual Memorial Day observance and ceremony at Island Cemetery in Newport at 3 pm on Monday, May 27 (Memorial Day).
Sherman Camp 1 invites members of the public to join in the annual observance at the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) burial plot for a public ceremony that will feature a speaking program, poetry and patriotic readings, the laying of flowers, and a military salute with firing detail provided by the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry.
Signage will be placed within Island Cemetery to direct visitors to the G.A.R. plot behind the Belmont Chapel.
Memorial Day was established in 1868 by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan through his General Order no. 11.
Made up of men from all walks of life, The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is the Congressionally chartered, legal heir to and representative of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Initially established in 1881 as the Sons of Veterans, the men of the GAR, recognizing their mortality, sought to preserve their legacy by establishing a lineal organization of descendants that would exist in perpetuity to keep Memorial Day, to decorate the graves of the “Boys in Blue,” to tell a true account of the service of the Union Army, and to promote fraternity, charity and loyalty.
The SUVCW engages the public through educational events designed to teach about the Civil War by working with local historians and living history interpreters to tell the stories of the “Boys in Blue.”
Through participation in flagging the graves of Civil War veterans, working in cemetery restoration and preservation, and through historical and genealogical research, the SUVCW continues its mission, as established by the Grand Army of the Republic, to “keep green the memory” of the men who fought and died to preserve the Union, 1861-1865.
