Confederate Dead

Confederate Dead. . Side A , Erected to the Honor and Memory of the Confederate Soldiers of Mercer County, Virginia (now West Virginia) By the Members of Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 1694-'Flat Top Copperheads’ and Parshandatha Foley Chapter of the Order of the Bonnie Blue September 11, 2003 , , CO. D, 8TH VA.CAV-CO. A, 17TH VA, CAV-CO. D, 17TH VA. CAV. CO. E, 17TH VA. CAV-CO. K, 34TH BATN. VA. CAV. Jonathan Lilly’s CO. Swann’s BATN. VA. CAV. , , CO. B, 23RD VA. INF., ‘Bluestone Grays’-CO. G. 24TH VA. INE CO. C, 26TH VA. INF.-CO. H, 26TH VA. INF. CO. B, 30TH BATN, VA. Sharp Shooters-CO. I, 36TH VA. INF. CO. I, 59TH VA. INF., Princeton Guard CO. M2,60TH VA. INF.-CO. I, 60TH VA, INF. , , CO. A thru F, 151ST VA. Militia CO. B, French’s Mercer County Battery Capt. Alexander Pine’s Mercer County Reserves Capt. A. B. Calfee’s Provost Guard CO. D, 11th BATN, VA. Reserves , , ALL THOSE AT HOME WHO SACRIFICED FOR THE CAUSE , , Side B , Let the stranger, who in future time reads this inscription know that no Virginia county ever had truer sons or fearless defenders than those of Mercer county, Virginia, now West Virginia. Their loyalty to their state taught them how to live and how to die, teaching future generations who claim the same birthright that truth, courage, and patriotism endure forever. , "When Mercer county residents entered the ‘War Between the States,’ 1861-1865, it was with brave determination and vigor-not counting the cost. It was to them simply the question of defending Virginia and Virginia's soil from the threatened invasion of a Northern army, and to preserve our rights and liberties as free people, and for which our ancestors had shed their blood in our contest with Great Britain. We were forced to the choice of which master to serve. We could not serve both. We regarded our primary allegiance due to the state which, with other states, had given life and existence to the federal agent that now, proposed to turn upon, crush, and destroy its creators. These were the arguments and presentations of the question of the time. For these contentions our people stood ready to surrender their lives, their all, save honor, and fought to the finish, only yielding to overwhelming and overpowering force. So faithfully and bravely battled, these principles are just as sacred to us today as they ever were, they were not lost by the results of the war, only the effort to maintain and establish them by arbitrament of the sword was a failure." , -David F. Johnston, Sgt, Maj, Co. D. 71ST Virginia Infantry, CSA-