A marker finally will be placed Thursday on the grave of a black Civil War veteran who lay in an unmarked Ohio grave for nearly a century.
CINCINNATI (AP) — A marker finally will be placed Thursday on the grave of a black Civil War veteran who lay in an unmarked Ohio grave for nearly a century.
In a Veterans Day ceremony, a headstone will be placed on the grave of Clay Trotter, who died at the age of 90 in 1926.
A burial card but no marker was found for Trotter after restoration of the Hill Crest Cemetery in the Cincinnati suburb of Anderson Township. Township Trustee Russ Jackson said he searched for Trotter’s grave for three years before finding it last year by using a ground probe.
"We don’t know if the grave ever got a headstone or if it was put in the wrong place," Jackson, who heads the township’s Veterans Memorial Committee. "Sometimes the headstones were ordered for these guys, but the people taking care of the cemetery didn’t put them in."
About 2,000 graves are in the cemetery, which was founded as a private burial site for the indigent, and more than 1,300 of those belong to black veterans denied burial in other cemeteries because of their race. The cemetery, neglected for years, was restored a few years ago with money provided by the Ohio Army National Guard and private donations.
The National Guard set up headstones that had been knocked over and obtained news ones for unmarked graves, but one headstone was missing.
Jackson said he found Trotter’s burial card at the Hamilton County recorder’s office, but did not find out much other information about him.
Trotter was farming in the Lexington, Ky., area when he was recruited to join the Union Army in late 1864, Jackson said. He was recruited for three years, but the war ended less than a year later with Trotter owing the Union Army 95 cents for his uniform. The only family member listed on the burial card was Trotter’s wife, Mary.
An honor guard from American Legion Post 318 will pay tribute to Trotter at the ceremony placing the headstone provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Jackson said one other Civil War veteran’s grave in the cemetery lacks a marker. The grave’s location is known, but the Department of Veterans Affairs has no record of that person.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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