Ceremonies honor Black soldiers for their role in Civil War
By BRENDA S. EDWARDS
brenda@amnews.com
STANFORD - While thousands of skirmishers re-enacted the Battle of Perryville Sunday afternoon, six African-American soldiers who served during the war were remembered during ceremonies in Lincoln County's Barrows Cemetery. New gravestones have been placed at the soldiers' graves.
African-Americans played a big part in the Civil War, said David Gambrel, a member of Sons of Union Veterans in the Civil War. He researched the six Lincoln County soldiers: 1st Sgt. Richard Faulkner and Sgt. Allen Smith, both of Co. K, 12 Colored Heavy Artillery; Isaac Hayes, Co. D. 114th Colored Infantry; Spencer Higgins, Co. B, 5th Colored Cavalry; and Rhodes Lackey and Waller Lackey, both of Co. C 6th Colored Cavalry.
Gambrel hopes others will begin marking the burial spots of Civil War soldiers in forgotten graveyards. He said Barrows Cemetery was in disarray before work began to clear brush and trees. Six new white tombstones and flags marking the soldiers' graves were highly visible Sunday.
"This is be a blueprint of restoration for a small cemetery," he said.
Claude Smith of Lexington, who helped with the restoration project, said work began in June 2000.
"We had to crawl through the cemetery to do research," he said.
Thirty-five loads of dirt were hauled in to fill up holes. With the help of many people, headstones that were sunken into the ground were raised and a brick fence erected.
Took a village
A beautification project is scheduled to begin next spring.
"It took a village to accomplish our mission," he said.
"There is no greater job in life than watching a dream come true," said Dr. Ann Stewart Butler of Kentucky State University's Center for Excellence for the Study of Kentucky African-Americans in Frankfort, who helped with the research.
Stanford should be proud of the soldiers and of the contributions today, said Butler, a descendant of a soldier from Lincoln County.
Frederick Douglass, an old friend of African-Americans during and after the Civil War, also made an appearance at the cemetery dedication. Douglass, portrayed by Michael Crutcher of the Camp Nelson Heritage Foundation, helped recruit black soldiers. Many were mustered in at Camp Nelson.
Douglass was born into slavery, but unlike many slaves, learned to read and write.
Douglass became friends with President Abraham Lincoln and got the president to pay the black soldiers the same as the white recruits and also to pay them pensions."Although they were involved in every major battle in the Civil War, they never received the recognition as they were fighting nor treated fairly after the war," said Crutcher.
It was not until after 1890 that the federal government agreed to pay pensions to the black veterans, he said.
"I'm so proud of these soldiers and so proud of you who came out to honor and pay tribute to them," he said. He urged the crowd to never take for granted the freedoms they have today.
More than 150 people turned out for the ceremonies held by Elijah Marrs Camp 5 and Major James H. Bridgewater Camp 7 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
 David Gambrel, left, and Frederick Douglass, portrayed by Michael Crutcher, take part in a ceremony Sunday honoring African-American veterans of the Civil War in Lincoln County. (Brenda S. Edwards photo) |
 Civil War re-enactors fire cannons at the conclusion of the dedication ceremony at Barrows Cemetery. (Brenda S. Edwards photo) |