“ These Honored Dead
...From
these honored dead we take increased devotion…”
A. Lincoln Nov. 19, 1863 at Gettysburg
They marched off to put down the rebellion or to fight it.
Some marched more
willingly than others.They
fought alongside their brothers, their
neighbors and their friends. Some marched
home to a hero's welcome.
Others were carried home to lie in familiar soil.
Some came home not
at all. They all have marched on into history and left
little behind to
mark the way that they had come.
Rounded
slabs mark their graves engraved with a simple inscription
recording their
names and that of the unit in which they served.
Often their rest is guarded
by a stone sentinel standing a mute watch.
Cannon and morters fire silent
salutes to their service. The stones
are fading as time wears away the stones
and dulls the memories
that they left behind.
This project
is an ongoing effort to create a photographic directory
of their gravestones in the cemeteries of the nation.