Rob's Historic Sites

You too can be buried in a Confederate cemetery! This is the Confederate Cemetery in Alvin, Texas, established in the 1890s by the John A. Wharton Camp of the United Confederate Veterans (U.C.V.) as a burial ground exclusively for Confederate veterans and their families, but it was later expanded for public use. The Confederate Cemetery is the official name for the entire cemetery although perhaps 99% of the +5,000 burials are non-Confederate. (photos from 2 separate visits: 1st time: May 28, 2019, 2nd time: June 27, 2023) The cemetery that had begun as a small plot for Confederate Veterans and their families now spans approximately 15 acres, with land purchased to expand the Confederate Cemetery in 1898, 1903, and 1927. It is well-maintained with a full-time caretaker and contains the graves of about 40 Confederate veterans, as well as veterans of four wars (including the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II), victims of the 1900 Galveston hurricane, and prominent ...

MAJOR NEWS! Over 700 unmarked Confederate graves were likely just found/identified here on this inaccessible city property that serves as a natural gas booster and storage facility in Richmond, Virginia. Here's a video I took of the cemetery site March 2023. (links to news articles are below and in the comment section). The only marker is a stone marker placed there in 1939 by the UDC that honors the "more than 100 Confederate solders" buried there. Nobody suspected so many more graves there! Most of the records of the burials had been lost and any trace of grave markers dissapeared perhaps over a century ago. News Links: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hundreds-of-confederate-soldiers-others-likely-buried-under-city-property-in-richmond-s-manchester/ar-AA1FO25w?ocid=BingNewsSerp https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/virginia-capital-likely-has-742-unmarked-graves-some-of-confederate-soldiers-study-finds/ar-AA1FOlwj?ocid=BingNewsSerp - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -...

The King-Stuart House in Saltville, Virginia, where JEB Stuart's wife lived following his death. This historic log cabin was built around 1795 by Irish immigrant William King, an early commercial salt producer in the region. In 1856, William Alexander Stuart, brother of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart, purchased the property. (most photos taken Oct 2024, RJ) After J.E.B. Stuart’s death at the Battle of Yellow Tavern in 1864, his widow, Flora Cooke Stuart, moved to the house with her two young children, (James Ewell Brown Stuart Jr. and Virginia Pelham Stuart), to live with William Alexander Stuart and his family. Flora, honoring her husband’s wish to raise their children in the South, resided in the King-Stuart House for about a decade and opened a school there with her sister-in-law, Mary Stuart Headen, to support herself and educate her children. Two major battles occurred in Saltville, Virginia. During the First Battle of Saltville (October 2, 1864), Confederate forces ...

Salute! Wilbarger County Confederate & WWI Memorials in Vernon, Texas! Inscription reads, "IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO FOUGHT AND DIED, OF THOSE WHO FOUGHT AND LIVED - THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY THE DAUGHTERS FO THE CONFEDERACY OF VERNON TEXAS AD 1916" (photos taken June 11, 2021, RJ) The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), founded in 1894, collected donations from various sources, primarily grieving family members and communities, to fund their activities. These activities aligned with their mission to honor Confederate veterans and preserve Southern heritage. The UDC raised funds through methods like bazaars, bake sales, and direct contributions to support initiatives such as: - Monument Construction: The UDC was instrumental in erecting numerous Confederate monuments across the South, often funded by community donations and contributions from families of Confederate veterans. - Care for Widows and Orphans: Donations were used to support indigent Confederat...

NEVER FORGET!!! Visiting the remnants of the John C. Calhoun Monument shortly after the Maoists destroyed it in Talibanesque fashion in Charleston, South Carolina! (see video in comment section). This base was removed shortly after these photos were taken on Sept 25, 2020. This beautiful monument was a 115-foot-tall monument in Charleston, South Carolina’s Marion Square with a statue depicting John C. Calhoun on top. Erected in 1896 by the Ladies’ Calhoun Monument Association (LCMA) after decades of fundraising, the monument was the pride of the city for well over a century. On June 23, 2020, Charleston City Council voted to remove the statue. The pedestal/column was actually toppled and came crashing down on June 24, 2020. The statue’s current location is undisclosed, with no museum, including the Charleston Museum, agreeing to house it as of October 2020. In 2022, the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia discussed an “extended loan agreement” to store and contextualize it,...