Historian Chad Boehlke stands near the Grand Army of the Republic memorial in East Cemetery. Six new headstones have been placed in East Cemetery honoring Black Civil War soldiers buried there.
Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree/Journal-Courier
The final two of six headstones have been installed at East Cemetery to honor Civil War soldiers who were members of Gov. Richard Yates Grand Army of the Republic Post 687.
Each of the six graves belongs to a Black Civil War veteran who lived in Jacksonville after the war and was buried in East Cemetery without a proper headstone.
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Chad Boehlke, a member of Morgan County Historical Society, made it his goal to identify where the soldiers were buried and help secure proper headstones through a federal program that provides free headstones for military service members.
“I’m glad these men are no longer unknown, no longer forgotten,” Boehlke said.
The headstones are for Joseph Raymond-Reed, post commander; Nathan Watson; Alexander Harrison; Albert Brown; Edward Terry; and Emil “Thomas” Johnson.
The final two stones arrived in Jacksonville in April.
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The stones will be dedicated at 3 p.m. Aug. 1 at East Cemetery off Myrtle Street.
“We will dedicate six new military headstones to former members of the Richard Yates Grand Army of the Republic Post 687, Jacksonville,” Boehlke said. “These men were part of the 180,000 who joined the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War.”
Many of the post members were buried in East Cemetery, though a few were buried elsewhere, including in Quincy and Jerseyville. Boehlke has not been able to verify the burial place of one member, he said.
Six new headstones have been placed in East Cemetery honoring Black Civil War soldiers buried there.
Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree/Journal-Courier
East Cemetery holds the graves of many veterans of war and they all deserve proper recognition, Boehlke said.
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The area of the cemetery that contains many of the Civil War soldiers’ graves includes a memorial to honoring Grand Army of the Republic members and featuring a Civil War-era cannon.
“This is a chance for Jacksonville citizens to learn something new about history,” Boehlke said. “It’s unknown history. No one knew these guys existed. It feels good to be able to get them something owed to them so many years ago.”
The effort to get headstones for the six men began with a different project on which Boehlke was working, a paper about the organization for the Illinois State Historical Society.
After visiting the cemetery for research and seeing the unmarked graves, he wanted to give them proper headstones.
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Boehlke researched each man’s military service to help qualify them for the program. Once he confirmed their service, he was able to submit applications to have headstones made.
The final two headstones, for Raymond-Reed and Johnson, were the most difficult to get approved because records were harder to find, but Boehlke wanted to make sure they were all honored, he said.
Amvets members and Civil War re-enactors will be part of the dedication, Boehlke said.
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Portions of the ceremony will follow those the Grand Army of the Republic would have conducted during a funeral, he said.
“This is the ceremony they would have received if they had headstones back then,” Boehlke said. “In a way, I hope we are making up for that.”