Sgt. Ivy Ritchie- Part 5: About That Grave

Ivy's  body was later exhumed and reinterred  in Poplar Grove National Cemetery near Petersburg.  His tombstone read:  "J. Richie, Sgt. Co. H 14th N.Y. Inf. Died April  9, 1865."  Well, they got the sergeant part right, the 14th and the date of death right, but that was it

Close, but no cigar.  Someone made a mistake somewhere.

Since he first learned about Ivy Ritchie's life ten years ago, Albemarle businessman Jim Harwood, a Wake Forest history major and self-proclaimed history buff, has led  efforts to form the Ivy Ritchie Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

He says:  "Our unit is interested in the history of the Civil War.  We put Southern Crosses of Honor on the graves of those who served in that war.  We started with seven members and have grown to over  180 members today."

Oops.  --Old Secesh

Sgt. Ivy Ritchie-- Part 4: His Death and Grave Found By His Brother

Sgt. Ivy Ritchie was killed on early April 9, 1865, in one of the final offensive moves by what was left of the vaunted Army of Northern Virginia.  Later that day, Robert E. Lee surrendered.  Imagine participation in most of the major battles of the war with ANV and then being killed on the last day?

As the sun set on Appomattox that April 9, Stanly County native Ivy Ritchie, a member of the 14th N.C. Regiment,  became the last of about 40,000 North Carolinians  to give their lives to this horrific war.

Days later, the 14th N.C.'s chaplain and two soldiers from the unit told Ivy's younger brother, Marvel, a member of the 28th N.C. Infantry Regiment, that Ivy had been killed.

In 1923, Marvel wrote in  a letter about we he did when he found out the news:  "We went to the freshly dug grave, opened the grave, and found it was Ivy....  It has been 58 years since and no one has ever disputed this statement."

--Old Secesh

Running the Blockade: Civil War Bones Found-- MOLLUS-- George Dewey

1. CIVIL WAR BONES FOUND-- The May 14th Nashville (Tn) Tennessean reports that construction workers at the former Through the Green Golf Course near the intersection of Columbia Pike and Southwest Parkway in Franklin, Tn., have uncovered bones, teeth and copper buttons.

The copper buttons are with the Union eagle and the thought is that the unidentified Union soldier was killed in the retreat following the Battle of Franklin and hastily buried in a two-foot grave.

2. MOLLUS-- Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, also called the Loyal Legion. Organized by officers April 15, 1865, after the Lincoln assassination.


3. GEORGE DEWEY-- famous for the Spanish-American War Battle of Manila Bay "You may fire when ready," was executive officer on the USS Colorado at Fort Fisher.

The Civil War, It's All Around Us. --Old B-R