Memorial Headstone

The Camp put up a Confederate
memorial headstone on Saturday,
June 2 for John W. Pilcher who served
the Confederacy in Co. G, 11th Regiment
Georgia Volunteer Infantry. The
soldier was wounded on Aug. 30,
1862 at the Battle of Second Manassas
and died from his wound on Sept.
5. Hc is buried in n mass grave on the
battlefield along with 12 other Georgians.
He enlisted in the Confederate
army in Catoosa County on July 3,
1861.
The marker was ordered by the
Camp at the request of Thomas E.
Pilcher, Rome. The soldier is the
great-uncle of Mr. Pilcher.
The soldiers' family has requested
a headstone dedication ceremony
on a date not determined at
present. The ceremony had originally
been set for Sept. 22 to coincide
with a Pilcher family reunion on that
date. However, Mr. Pilcher stated
that he wanted to hold the ceremony
sooner and make it a by-invitation only
affair because of limited parking
space at the cemetery.
While the Sons of Confederate
Veterans will conduct the ceremony,
Mr. Pilcher asked that the United
Daughters of the Confederacy be involved
also. It was suggested that
Commander Espy contact the UIIC
about them providing the guest
speaker .
The headstone was put up in
Pilcher Family Cemetery on Pilcher
Pond Road off Pocket Road.
John Pilcher's brother, Samuel,
is buried in the cemetery. Their Confederate
headstones now stand side by-
side to record their valiant service
to their country. Samuel Pilcher
served in Co. H, 2nd Regiment Georgia
Volunteer Infantry. He survived
the war.
A work detail from Camp 599 visited
the cemetery in July 2000 and
cleaned Samuel's headstone. At that
time the soldier's grave was the only
one marked there.
A story in the August 2000 issue
of Rebel Yell said, "The cemetery is
hidden among the woods, unmarked
except for the lone Confederate headstone
and four small metal rods sticking
out of the ground at the four corners
of the grave. The headstone is
embedded in a concrete base with the
date 1951 scratched in the wet concrete."
It went on to say, "There is a possibility
that there are other graves at
the site as evidenced by several depressions
and mounds nearby. However,
none are marked with even the
smallest of stones."
When Camp 599's work detail arrived
at the cemetery to put up John
Pilcher's headstone, they discovered
that the cemetery had undergone
many, many hours of tender love and
care since their last visit in 2000.

Thomas Pilcher, who sen7es as the
family historian, had taken the cemetery
under his wing and orchestrated
an almost unbelievable transformation.
Now at least six graves have family
headstones and the cemetery has
been completely cleaned up. Also a
large multi-thousand dollar central
"family" marker has been added.
The change in the cemetery goes
to show what can be accomplished
when a caring family member sets his
sights on correctly recording the history
of his ancestors for this generation
and generations yet unborn.
Camp 599's work detail on June
2 was made up of Jerry Turman, Jack
Robertson and David Espy. Thirteen year-
old Daniel Espy also helped out.
Also on hand beside Thomas Pilcher
was Fred Pilcher who resides in the
Villanow community.

(June 2007 issue of Rebel Yell - Official Newsletter of John B. Gordon Camp 599 - Sons of Confederate Veteran, LaFayette Ga.)
∼inscription is on reverse of "Pilcher Family Cemetery" marker as shown pictured