PagePedia™
History
Segments Presented by Lyle Harvey
THE CIVIL WAR AND OUR VETERANS
(Read at the Page Methodist Church on Apr. 2, 2008)
A good part of the patriotism that exists
today in the Page Community can be traced back to the men and women
who served in our armed forces. The little Pleasant Valley Community
in the 1880’s was the focal point of this patriotism. Many of
the men and women who came here to homestead, had served in the Civil
War or had been displaced because of it. It had been a terrible war
that culminated in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
On one fourth of July in the 1880’s,
the families from Pleasant Valley met at the home of Salinda Page and
made the first flag of our community. Tom McMillan, a civil war veteran
from the Iowa Infantry headed the procession and carried this flag.
The group went by wagon to Inman and celebrated the 4th of July by listening
to speeches, singing patriotic songs and listening to the Declaration
of Independence being read to the group.
Other veterans of the Civil War include;
James Kennedy who served in the Iowa Infantry, John R. Lamason who served
in the Illinois Infantry, Nicholas Grass who served with the Indiana
Volunteers, James Cronk who served with the Wisconsin Volunteers, George
Bryan who served on the Confederate side, John Wilson who served in
the Illinois Infantry, John Darr who served in the Illinois Cavalry,
Waldron Townsend, Anthony Boggess who served in the West Virginia Infantry,
Alfred Snell who served with the 77th Illinois Volunteers and John Braddock
who served in the Pennsylvania Cavalry Volunteers.
One of our more notable veterans was
“Uncle” Matt Stevens who served with the Indiana Volunteers
and made the famous march to the sea with William T. Sherman. Uncle
Matt was a later postmaster in Page and kept a map of Andersonville
Prison on the wall of the Post Office. Every Memorial Day he placed
flags on the graves of the veterans in the Page Cemetery and handed
out small flags to all the children in attendance.
Today, the residents in Page are indebted
to not only our Civil War Veterans but also all of our men and women
who have honorably served our nation’s calling.
I apologize to any Civil War Veterans
I may have overlooked in this writing.
Lyle Harvey
Index
| Next
