Sonny's Corner: Remembering the Civil War

"Sonny's Corner" is a regular column in Prairie Fire, featuring commentary on civil rights and justice issues. Our friend and Omaha colleague, Joseph P. "Sonny" Foster, died suddenly at age 54 in August 2005. He left an uncompleted agenda, as did many of our civil rights and justice mentors and heroes. We shall attempt to move forward on that unfinished agenda through this column.

By Shirley Gilfert

This year the country is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, although perhaps “celebrating” is a poor choice of words, for it was the darkest days our country has ever experienced. It’s important that we remember what happened. We also must recognize how that war affected our country’s further development. We are a very different nation than we were then. But for that struggle, we might not be a nation at all.

We all learned about the Civil War and its dire events when we were in school, but so often, especially as children, such things have little meaning to us, except to remember dates and names in order to pass the test that will surely follow. As adults, hopefully we are wiser and are conscious of the suffering, the political maneuvering and the future results of any war.

As a volunteer at our local museum, I recently walked Park Hill Cemetery in Syracuse, Neb., to record the information on the tombstones. Often, people searching for their ancestors or wanting to know about their family history will turn to a local museum for the answers, and we try to provide them. I noticed that one area in our cemetery is set aside for Civil War veterans, and a cannon with a plaque listing many names of local Civil War veterans who had served the union stands guard near their graves. Since I am a genealogy buff, I became curious and decided to dig further into the records of those veterans.

As I searched through the records in the museum, I examined the cemetery plat of all the graves and discovered there was one veteran who had been buried in the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) section, but his grave was not marked in any way. Who was he and why wasn’t his gravesite marked? His name was Isaac Stewart. There must be a story here. My curiosity was aroused, so I dug deeper.

His story unfolded through the records I found, and it was heart breaking. I discovered that Isaac Stewart was a former slave in Kentucky, but he had served in the Union army. He was the only black man to live in Syracuse for many years and was apparently well respected by his fellow townsmen. He had passed away in 1906. Other graves were marked with government headstones, why not his? Why was there no recognition of his service, no place to honor him with flowers? Somehow I felt it was up to me to find out and make it right.

Few clues were to be found. Did he have a wife? Were there children? Were there none of his descendants who cared? It took some digging through old newspapers, but I did find a wife and five children. I also found a sentence in an old local newspaper stating that the Negro who had lived in town had gotten a raise in his pension and was now making $8 a month, with the comment, “He should be able to live comfortably on that.”

Another clue: Isaac Stewart had one son who was born “without a backbone and was completely helpless.” A more modern newspaper would have listed the boy’s disability as spinal bifida, but medicine has come a long way since the 1880s. That son died at the age of 12 and was buried in potter’s field, with no marker. Another daughter died from diphtheria at 14 years of age. Again, no marker.

It appeared that here was a man who had suffered an intolerable life of slavery and then, when finally free and offering his service to his country to show appreciation for his freedom, was repaid for his service by going from slavery to extreme poverty after the war was over. I read with a heavy heart that at one time the family was so poor they exhibited their disabled son at a regional fair, charging 10 cents a person to view him. I also discovered that when Isaac Stewart died in 1906, the local American Legion had tried to get a government headstone for him but was unsuccessful. Why? Was it a part of the racism that was so prevalent back then? Somehow this all seemed so wrong. I felt it was time to show respect for Isaac Stewart’s service to his country.

Enter the director of Mayhew Cabin, the Sons of the Union Civil War Veterans and the Otoe County Veterans Service Officer, all of whom agreed with me that this man should at least have a headstone to mark his grave. This required a good deal of research to prove his military record. Many, many wonderful people offered to get involved. After months of research and some discouraging replies, we continued to try. Finally we received confirmation that a headstone would be provided by the government. But the beauty of this story is that several people offered to donate money for a headstone if the government would not come through with one. That was heart-warming and an indication that there are many people who care and do remember, even if it was 150 years ago.

How did a slave born in Kentucky, to a mother and father who were slaves born in Virginia, and sold to a planter in Kentucky end up in Syracuse, Neb.? Does Isaac have any living descendants? If so, where are they? I don’t know, but I’m working on that.

For now, however, I am content to know that we can honor one man on Memorial Day, May 30, 2011. The Sons of the Union Civil War Veterans will be there. The Nebraska Civil War Re-enactors will be there, The Massey-Richards American Legion will be there, as well as many, many Otoe County citizens who remember the sacrifices made so our union would be preserved and every man could be born free. We hope many others will come to honor this former slave. The gray-haired woman holding a flag and a bouquet of flowers over on the edge of the crowd? That will be me!

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