Commodore Joel Abbot, Camp No. 21

Article taken from the Newport Daily News, Thursday, June 8 2000 (used with permission)

The motto of many veterans' organizations is "never forget." A local group takes that pledge all the way back to the Civil War. Commodore Joel Abbot Camp No. 21 of the Rhode Island Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is constantly vigilant, repairing and replacing gravestones and markers at the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Burial Plot in Island Cemetery in Newport.

The group raised about $1,500 to buy new aluminum flag holders, replicas of the Grand Army of the Republic holders originally placed in the plot, which contains the remains of 49 veterans from numerous states and units - including some who served in the U.S. Colored Troops. It also purchased plants and flowers and a flagpole to install nearby.

Most recently, the camp marked Decoration Day - the original Memorial Day - with an honor guard and ceremony, including a roll call of the Civil War veterans buried at the cemetery and a wreath-laying at the grave of Maj. Gen. Isaac Ingall Stevens. It has also held Veterans Day ceremonies at the cemetery.

The plot was deeded in April 1889 to Edmund H. Schermerhorn, who made a $1,000 deposit for its perpetual care. Schermerhorn sold the plot to the two Newport Grand Army of the Republic posts, Charles Lawton Post No. 5 and Gouverneur K. Warren Post No.21, for $l. The deed states that only "the bodies of deceased soldiers arid sailors who fought in the Army and Navy of the United States in the late war for the preservation of the Union" can be buried there. The intent was that no Civil War veteran would ever be buried in a pauper's grave.

Members of Camp No. 21 take the duty seriously.. "We're veterans ourselves," said Kenneth Lucier of Middletown, the camp's secretary/ treasurer. "It's the right thing to do."

It certainly is. Although the Civil War represents one of the ugliest periods in America's history, it is appropriate to remember those who fought and to maintain the graves of those who died. Donald Walker, commander of the local chapter representing Bristol and Newport counties and most of Washington County, noted last Veterans Day that the group had not been very active in recent years, but that was about to change. It has, and we applaud the local Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and encourage local residents to support their efforts.

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