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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -...

Salute! NEVER FORGET! This Warwick County Confederate Memorial (redesignated as a memorial to ALL VETERANS) in Newport News, Virginia was removed in 2020 and remains in storage to this day! (photos I took March 2019). It had stood in front of the 1884 Warwick County Courthouse for over a century and was considered the most important war memorial in the city. Having been rededicated "In Honor of our Brave Warwick County Veterans" in 2009, this +20-foot granite obelisk had been erected in 1909 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to honor locals who honorably answered the call to serve and who had died while in service to their country as Confederate soldiers. The monument bore the inscription; "Unveiled May 27, 1909 to our Gallant Soldiers of the Confederacy, Warwick County." (photos taken March 3, 2019) Following George Floyd protests, on July 7, 2020, the Newport News City Council voted 6-1 to remove it. The monument was removed on October 21, 202...

This is the Mills County Courthouse and Confederate Memorial, located on the courthouse square in Goldthwaite, Texas. The monument was erected in 1915 to commemorate and memorialize residents who served in the Confederate States Army during the War Between the States (1861–1865). Funded by public donations, the Self Culture Club, Jeff Davis Camp 117, and the United Confederate Veterans, the monument features a Confederate soldier statue on a column and lists the names and units of Confederate veterans. The monument is situated near the Mills County Courthouse, a Classical Revival building completed in 1913 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (photos taken May 26, 2019) The courthouse grounds have historical significance, notably hosting the 1905 Confederate Reunion, the county’s largest public gathering. In 2020, the square drew attention when locals guarded the Confederate monument amid rumored protest threats. Goldthwaite, Texas, is a small city and the count...

The Battle of the Wilderness 160th Anniversary Reenactment on May 5, 2024 on the Wilderness Battlefield, Spotsylvania County, Virginia. This reenactment was awesome but unfortunately poorly attended primarily because of persistent forecasted heavy rains, limited advertising, and location. The Battle of the Wilderness (May 5–7, 1864) was a brutal, inconclusive clash between Ulysses S. Grant’s 119,000 Union forces and Robert E. Lee’s 66,000 Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, marking the start of Grant’s Overland Campaign. The dense, tangled terrain of the Wilderness led to chaotic fighting, with heavy casualties on both sides—around 18,000 Union and 11,000 Confederate. Confederate Soldier letters from the Battle of the Wilderness mention the “awful slaughter” or “hellish thickets,” as the battle’s conditions—wildfires, disorientation, and close-quarters carnage. Here's some quotes from soldier's letters... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A Confederate soldier from th...