Reenactment group to dedicate memorial stone

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Reenactment group to dedicate memorial stone

The Liberty Hall Volunteers, a Civil War reenactment group based in Indianapolis, will dedicate a memorial stone for one of their own at Oak Hill Cemetery North on Saturday at noon.

The Liberty Hall Volunteers was an infantry unit made up of college students from Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, located in Lexington, Va. They were mustered into the Confederate Army and became the 4th Virginia Infantry, Co. I. They were part of the Stonewall Brigade and served as Stonewall Jackson’s personal bodyguard for part of the war. The unit was in several major battles including Bull Run, Gettysburg, Antietam, Cedar Run and Cold Harbor. John Henry Coffman was wounded at Cedar Creek in southern Virginia, in the furious battle there. He was later captured at Petersburg, Virginia in 1865 and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. At the Battle at Spotsylvania Courthouse, the 4th Virginia suffered many casualties and ceased to exist as a separate unit. There were several members of the Liberty Hall Volunteers at the surrender at Appomattox.

Organizers of the dedication expect as many as 40 or 50 men in full military dress at the dedication which will feature a seven gun salute, which was normal protocol for a private. The Liberty Hall Volunteers reenactment group has members from as far away as Missouri, Illinois, Florida, Michigan and Ohio as well as Central Indiana. Many of the men from out-of-state are expected to attend. There will also be wives dressed in authentic Civil War era dress.

The public is invited to attend the dedication.

John Henry Coffman was a very successful lumber dealer in Montgomery County and was living at 404 West Main in the city at the time of his death. He was born in Botetourt County, Va.

The memorial stone was erected by the Dixie Grays, a Sons of Confederate Veterans camp located at Ladoga which meets in the Old Normal the third Tuesday of every month. This group has been active in erecting other memorial stones throughout Montgomery County.

There are at least 60 Confederate soldiers buried in the county and another 20 buried in surrounding counties, which means that this county has more Confederate veterans buried in it than any other county north of the Mason-Dixon Line, when considering residents who moved here after the war and were not POW’s.

The Dixie Grays and Sons of Confederate Veterans have plans to erect a large memorial stone honoring the Confederate veterans buried in Montgomery County at the Ladoga Cemetery. It will be a large granite stone designed exactly the same as the memorial stone for John Henry Coffman. It will be eight feet tall and four and one half feet wide with the names of all the Confederate veterans buried in Montgomery County and the names of the cemeteries in which they are buried.

There is a list of all the Confederate soldiers buried in Montgomery and surrounding counties on file at the Crawfordsville Public Library.

Anyone interested in more information about membership in the Dixie Grays should contact Camp Commander Stephen L. Ritchie, at 765-759-8038 or by calling Bill Boone locally at 366-1942.