“If we ignore those of yesterday, who made an effort to promise us today, then we do not deserve a tomorrow.”
– Michael G Duchaney
In letters I wrote to Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey
protesting the sale of Thomas Kelly’s Medal of Honor
Mount Moriah Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA
Western Cemetery, Baltimore, MD
remember the past
Established 2020
For years I had been visiting cemeteries for my personal enjoyment. It wasn’t until 2019 when unsettling visits to three specifc veteran graves formulated the idea for At Restoration.
"Oh my god! that man is 109?!"
This all started when one day I was walking around Arlington National Cemetery. I just happened to look over and see the incomplete inscription for Colonel Rives O. Booth. In my mind, this man’s wife pre-deceased him and he was still alive. The thought of a veteran’s headstone remaining unfinished never crossed my mind.
It is, after all, Arlington National Cemetery… Our Nation’s most hallowed ground and what is supposed to be the gold standard for how we honor our deceased veterans. There was a horrible feeling in my stomach when I learned later on Colonel Booth passed away in 1996.
"how can they just leave it like that?"
Here’s a little secret about me. I have loved presidential history since I was a child. I had no idea who Julius Peter Garesché was the day I came across his grave. That day, I was looking for the grave of Mary Surratt, one of the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators. The toppled obelisk belonging to Garesché caught my eye immediately when I saw the very sobering inscription: “Killed In The Battle of Murfreesboro.”
I hated seeing a fallen Soldier’s grave sit in such disrepair and for the next few weeks, I found myself at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington D.C. driving by his gravesite. I will never forget the day I went into the cemetery’s office to inquire about having the monument repaired. Even after offering to pay for the repairs myself, I was told only a next of kin can could make that decision.
"Tragic on so many levels"
If you’re a Civil War fan you understand the important roll the state of Pennsylvania played in assisting the Union effort. With the exception of New York, no other state provided more fighting men. So it makes sense its capital city of Harrisburg is home to the National Civil War Museum. What doesn’t make sense is the neglected grave of a Civil War General less than two miles down the road.
Although, he would survive the war, including a stint at Richmond’s infamous Libby Prison, the loss of his wife and two sons would lead to Brevet General Robert McCoy’s suicide in 1891. Today, ivy and vines have started to reclaim the family plot where it sits quietly void of so much as an American flag.
