11th Annual Confederate Memorial Service
Joyce M. Searson, Publisher
The Confederate Memorial
service was held on the
Bamberg County Courthouse
grounds Saturday, May 8th with
Rivers Bridge Camp # 842,
Commander Peter Boineau,
opening the ceremony and
welcoming everyone to join in
and remember ‘our Confederate
Soldiers.’
The Reverend Eddie
Williams, Jr., Pastor of Hutto
Chapel Baptist Church, gave
the invocation which was
followed by Bamberg County
Historian and member of the
Historical Society, Nancy
Foster, telling of one
Confederate soldier in Bamberg
County that made history.
“Joseph Josiah Brabham
was a captain in the
Confederate Service and was a
signer of the Ordinance of
Secession. Brabham , who
married Susannah Elizabeth
McMillan, daughter of Henry
McMillan, was a successful
farmer and merchant at
Buford’s Bridge, which was
destroyed by Sherman’s army.
Brabham died on July 8, 1883
and was buried in the Mizpah
Church Cemetery, where he
was a church member” said
Foster.
Betty Jane Miller, Chaplain
of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy, read one
Confederate soldier’s letter to
his children, which was written
on his death bed, “My country
called me. Be brave, a coward
is contentment of mankind.
Don’t disgrace my name by a
cowardly act.”
Ed Moody, past
commander of Camp #842 told
of how his grandson, Marine
Corps Corporal, Jesse Moody,
who had just completed a tour
of duty Japan, found a
Confederate flag that had
erected in Japan. Moody went
on to say, “We are in this thing
together. There will always be
controversy concerning the
Confederate Veterans. Moody
then read the roll call of the
Bamberg Confederate and
Bamberg African- American
Confederate Soldiers.
The featured speaker for
the occasion was Denmark
native and historian, Eddie
Hightower of Branchville.
Hightower elaborated on how
many ‘Sons of the Confederate’
refer to the Confederate War as
the Civil War.
“It was not the Civil War; it
was the War of the Northern
Aggression. 149 years ago, the
War of Aggression was started
and on April 12, 2011 we will
celebrate its 150th anniversary.
The war has inspired many
songs and books. For a long
time many southerners thought
they were going to win the
war,” said Hightower.
A wreath was placed at the
Confederate Soldier’s
monument at the courthouse
and flags were placed on the
soldiers’ graves at Restland
Cemetery.
