Published Thursday, April 16, 2009

Confederate Memorial Day is this Saturday

By Winston Skinner

The Times-Herald

It has been almost 135 years since William Thomas Overby was hanged by federal troops in Virginia, but he is still remembered in the county where he grew up.

Two local Sons of Confederate Veterans groups bear his name. A state historical marker is located near the site of his boyhood home, and a large monument pays tribute to the "Nathan Hale of the Confederacy" at the historic Coweta County Courthouse.

On Saturday, area residents will gather near Overby's grave at Oak Hill Cemetery. Overby's remains were removed from Virginia to Oak Hill more than a decade ago.

SCV Coweta Guards Camp 715 SCV and Sharpsburg Sharpshooters Camp 1729 are joining forces to sponsor the annual Confederate Memorial Day ceremonies. LaVada Vaillancourt-McCosh will sing, and a cannon salute is planned.

The program will start at 10 a.m. in the Confederate Section of the historic burial ground just north of downtown Newnan. Mike Webb of the Coweta Guards urged local citizens to "honor these brave men who fought and died for principles they believed in."

Members of the SCV groups have been thinking about Overby, who grew up near Sharpsburg and whose family members are buried at Cokes Chapel United Methodist Church.

Three members of the Sharpsburg Sharpshooters attended ceremonies earlier this year where Overby was inducted into the 2009 class of the Georgia National Guard's 48th Brigade Hall of Fame. The naming of the fallen Coweta soldier from Civil War days to the Hall of Fame was particularly poignant as members of the 48th Brigade left Newnan headed to Afghanistan on Monday.

On Monday night the Sharpsburg Sharpshooters met at Turin Masonic Lodge 337 for their annual candlelight ceremony. During the ceremony, each person holds a candle that is extinguished when the name of an ancestor of the holder -- or some other designated Confederate soldier -- is called. The ceremony ends with the playing of "Taps" and a benediction.

Earlier in the meeting, John C. Todd referred to Saturday's event. "I'm looking forward to the service on Saturday morning," he said. "We want a big crowd."

George Piner presented a program on the federal prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout, Md. Piner said there were 32 or 33 POW camps maintained by both sides during the Civil War. Piner said an exchange program that had existed early in the war had broken down by August 1863, when Point Lookout became a POW camp.

Union soldiers exchanged "would really go home," Piner said, but the released Confederate soldiers usually rejoined a CSA unit.

Piner said the death rate at Point Lookout was 12 percent. The death rate was even higher -- more than 30 percent -- at the camp in Elmira, N.Y.

Prisoners on both sides had a difficult time, but Piner said the Southern camps were impacted by the blockade and devastation of war. Prisoners and guards ate the same food at Andersonville in south Georgia.

Union facilities "had the means and supplies to do a whole lot better," he said. Somewhere between 3,000-14,000 men died at Point Lookout, Piner said.

After the meeting, Todd and Ronny North showed visitors the certificate and medal presented to Overby on Jan. 30 at the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Infantry Ball at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis in Atlanta. The theme for that evening was "Georgia Volunteers: A Heritage of Service, 1825-2009, Send Me!"

CSM Robert Hawk invited representatives of the Sharpsburg Sharpshooters to accept the award for Overby. Todd, North and Brad Maddox attended the ball, which Todd described as "an incredible evening."

The three SCV members were seated with SPC James Vinson Bowles, who was named Soldier of the Year during the ceremonies.

"It was quite an honor to be there, see these young men and women having a good time before going off to defend our country. They had recently been told they would soon be shipping out to Afghanistan," Todd said.

"The camaraderie, pride and patriotism in the room was incredible. They were in their military dress uniforms, their spouses in their finest attire, us in our Confederate uniforms," Todd said. "We were well received by all and thanked numerous times for being there."

A brief biography of Overby was read by LTC Mathew Smith, and Todd was presented with the certificate and an Order of the Volunteers medal on behalf of Overby.

"What an honor," Todd said. "What an incredible night."