A Tale of Two Monuments
In two cemeteries, separated by a high brick wall, two monuments stand, each telling its own story.
I was born in Norfolk, Virginia and have lived most of my 67 years within about less than 20 miles of Elmwood Cemetery. On October 9th I was planning to visit Beaverdam, Virginia, but inclement weather forced me to reconsider that journey. So, on a whim, I visited Elmwood Cemetery. It was a pleasant adventure that produced some wonderful images that I’ll be sharing in subsequent posts. I ran into Shannon Stafford, a tour guide, while I was there and he was a wealth of information. One of the questions he asked me was had I visited the African-American cemetery? Sadly, I acknowledged that I didn’t even know such a cemetery existed.
Right beside Elmwood, separated by a high brick wall is West Point Cemetery. A sparsely occupied cemetery with primarily simple graves. Except for a monument, that towers above the graves, dedicated to Sergeant William H. Carney. Carney “was attached to the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry. In July 1863, Carney found himself in the fierce Battle of Fort Wagner. After being wounded, Carney saw that the color bearer had been shot down a few feet away. Carney summoned all his strength to retrieve the fallen colors and continued the charge. During the charge, Carney was shot several more times, yet he kept the colors flying high. Once delivering the flag back to his regiment, he shouted "The Old Flag never touched the ground!"“
For his outstanding bravery in holding the flag aloft in the heat of the terrific fight, and bringing it safely into camp, Sergeant William H. Carney was awarded the coveted Congressional Medal of Honor, becoming the first African American to receive this honor.
Now, as expected, in Elmwood Cemetery, on the other side if that wall are two monuments dedicated “to our Confederate Dead.” To date the Civil War is the deadliest war America has ever experienced with estimates on “the total number killed was between 640,000 and 700,000.” What struck me was, 160 years later, there is an African-American cemetery with approximately 100 graves of Union soldiers, essentially right beside a white cemetery. Despite the segregationist policies, Jim Crow laws, White Councils, the Eugenics movement popularized by Margaret Sanger of the Dixiecrats, this cemetery, this monument stands; in stark but subtle defiance.
In speaking of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, in which two of his own sons served, Douglass wrote: “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on the earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.”
If these two cemeteries can co-exist, with such a history, there is hope for us, the living, today.
The monument to the Confederate dead.
A headstone honoring a soldier’s bravery - note how important the flag is.
This is the monument to Union Soldier Sergeant William H. Carney also honored for his bravery in keeping the US flag aloft.
