Due to technical problems our friends up in Indiana had some difficulties posting this so they asked me to do it for them, so here it is:<\/p>\n
Mark,
\nI have spent the last few minutes on SHAPE’s web-site. It was really exciting to see pictures of things happening here in Montgomery County. The Dixie Grays have a web-site now. It is coming along nicely and has some great pictures and interesting information about Confederate Veterans in Montgomery County. Much of what we have done is a direct result of the efforts of SHAPE. I couldn’t figure out how to post a message, so would you please do it for me. I have written a formal statement of our thanks. Let me know if it comes through. I’ve been having problems attaching items today. Also sending along a poem I found in an early copy of the Confederate Veteran.
\nMany thanks,
\nBill Boone
\nChaplain of the Dixie Grays<\/p>\n
The Dixie Grays Camp # 2155 of the SCV of Ladoga, IN would like to acknowledge the efforts of SHAPE (Southern Heritage Advance Preservation and Education) in researching and ordering the stones being placed by the Dixie Grays. Without their help, we would not be able to erect these beautiful, white marble stones with the peaked tops to honor our Confederate heroes.<\/p>\n
Here’s the poem I mentioned:<\/p>\n
The Jacket of Gray<\/p>\n
Fold it up carefully, lay it aside;
\nTenderly touch it, look on it with pride;
\nFor dear must it be to our hearts evermore,
\nThe jacket of gray our loved soldier boy word.<\/p>\n
Can we ever forget when he joined the brave band,
\nWho rose in defense of our dear Southern land,
\nAnd in his bright youth hurried off to the fray\u2014
\nHow proudly he donned it\u2014the jacket of gray?<\/p>\n
His fond mother blessed him and looked up above,
\nCommending to heaven the child of her love;
\nWhat anguish was hers, mortal tongue cannot say,
\nWhen he passed from her sight in his jacket of gray.<\/p>\n
But her country had called, and she would not repine,
\nThough costly the sacrifice placed on its shrine;
\nHer heart\u2019s dearest hopes on its altar she lay,
\nWhen she sent out her boy in his jacket of gray.<\/p>\n
Months passed and war\u2019s thunder rolled over the land,
\nUnsheathed was the sword and lighted the brand;
\nWe heard in the distance the sounds of the fray,
\nAnd prayed for our boy in his jacket of gray.<\/p>\n
Ah! Vain, all, all vain were our prayers and our tears,
\nThe glad shout of victory rang in our ears;
\nBut our treasured one on the red battlefield lay,
\nWhile his life-blood oozed out on the jacket of gray.<\/p>\n
His young comrades found him, and tenderly bore
\nThe cold lifeless form to his home by the shore;
\nOh, dark were our hearts on that terrible day,
\nWhen we saw our dead boy in the jacket of gray.<\/p>\n
Ah! spotted and tattered, and stained now with gore,
\nWas the garment which once he so proudly wore;
\nWe bitterly wept as we took it away,
\nAnd replaced with death\u2019s white robe the jacket of gray.<\/p>\n
We laid him to rest in his cold narrow bed,
\nAnd graved on the marble we place o\u2019er his head,
\nAs the proudest tribute our sad hearts could pay,
\nHe never disgraced that jacket of gray.<\/p>\n
Then fold it up carefully, lay it aside,
\nTenderly touch it, look on it with pride;
\nFor dear must it be to our hearts evermore,
\nThe jacket of gray our loved soldier boy wore.<\/p>\n
–Mrs. C.A. Ball, Charleston, S.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Due to technical problems our friends up in Indiana had some difficulties posting this so they asked me to do it for them, so here it is: Mark, I have spent the last few minutes on SHAPE’s web-site. It was really exciting to see pictures of things happening here in Montgomery County. The Dixie Grays […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296,"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.southernheritageadvancementpreservationeducation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}