October 6, 2007 Dedication Participants

General Lee and his Lieutenants were our honored guests at the
Hollywood Cemetery Dedication on November 11, 2006


President Jefferson Davis gave a stirring oration at Hollywood on September 16, 2006.
He is pictured with his entourage (the 10th Louisiana and 21st Mississippi) at the Whitehouse of the Confederacy before the ceremony.


"Nor shall your Glory be forgot
    while Fame her record keeps,
or Honor points the hallowed spot
    where Valor proudly sleeps."
Theodore O'Hara

These words, written in 1858, speak of a firm commitment to our war dead.  Yet today, thousands of brave Americans, who were as patriotic and loyal to their country as those who fought in any military conflict of our nation’s past, lie in unmarked graves.

From 1861 to 1865, hundreds of thousands of men from all over the South answered the call to defend their native land.  Unlike some would have you to believe, the vast majority of those men did not fight for the institution of slavery.  They fought for their homes; their families; their land; for everything they knew and loved and believed in.  Thousands of those men who made the ultimate sacrifice now lie in unmarked graves.  After the war, the Federal government provided a stone for each Union soldier and established National cemeteries for the Union war dead, but no allowance was made for Confederate graves.  The war-torn, cash-strapped South was unable to honor the majority of these fallen heroes with a marker for their final resting place.  Sadly, these men have been largely forgotten by the generations of today, and many would prefer to keep it that way in order to maintain a "politically correct" stance.

The United States now views Confederate soldiers as American servicemen who died while in service to (or after having served) their country.  The Veteran’s Administration will pay the entire cost of a headstone, but most cemeteries charge for the installation.  We, at the Southern Soldiers Remembrance Fund (SSRF), would like to complete the job that past generations were unable to do.  The SSRF is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to ensuring that memory of those great Southern Patriots is never forgotten!

If this is the type of noble cause that you would like to be a part of, we encourage you to stand with us, and make your mark on history that will not just be remembered in legend or on paper, it will be written in stone!