If it takes more than a century to get it right, one group says so be it. Saturday, the Sons of Confederate Veterans honored a soldier who died at the Battle of Franklin Tennessee on November 30, 1864.
"So who was this impressive young hero that we honor today in this beautiful historic cedar rest cemetery?" Sons of Confederate Veterans (SVC) member Maj. Arnold Huskins said.
His name is Lott M. Sones, born 1841 in Shieldsboro Mississippi, known today as Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. He's the son of the town's first mayor.
"You might say he had it all, he was living at the pinnacle of southern society," Huskins said during the eulogy
He went to war as part of the 3rd Mississippi Infantry, to protect his home and defend the south, but his tombstone never reflected his service in the military.
"You see he felt a commitment to the Southern cause just as we sons feel that same commitment today," Mississippi Division Comdr. John French said.
So Saturday the Sons of Confederate Veterans gave Sones the memorial service they say he deserves, along with a new foot stone.
"Lt. Sones, you rest because you've earned it," French said.
Flying above Sones's headstone was a hand painted flag of the third Mississippi Infantry. Major Arnold Huskins presented the Sones's Family with the flag and his thanks.
"When you look at flags like this one remember that some 90 percent of confederate soldiers never owned a slave, they were fighting for liberty, home, family and self government, look upon that banner with pride, look upon our noble state flag with pride and remembrance," Huskins said.
"I think it will be a place where I and my family will enjoy visiting from time to time and reflecting on his life and what he did," family relative Daniel Sones said.
As 'Southern Taps' echoed off the trees and the gray granite stones, the oath these men took to keep the history and the heritage of the confederacy alive, lives on in memory of one man they call a 'Gallant Southern Patriot.'
For more information on Lt. Sones and Confederate Heritage, you can visit these site:
http://www.geocities.com/samdavis596
http://www.geocities.com/samdavis373
http://www.mississippiscv.org
http://www.scv.org
http://www.confederateflags.org
http://www.beauvouir.org
http://www.florida-scv.org
http://www.hqudc.org
http://www2.datasync.com/history/welcome.htm
by Nathan Mihelich
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