Stars and Stripes honour volunteers

Rosanne and Joe Foy, who are both Canadian and America citizens, honoured Hantsport and area residents who volunteered to serve in the American Civil War, by placed the stars and stripes beside their monuments. They wanted to honour these men on July 4, Independence Day in the United States. 

Dr. Frederick Burgess served as a surgeon with the Union Army. He returned to Nova Scotia after the war. 

The “Grand Army of the Republic” [“GAR”] was a fraternal organization for veterans who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.  It began in 1866, the year after the war ended, and lasted for ninety years, its membership peaking in the 1890s.  The veterans had annual National Encampments in various cities, for example, Boston in 1904.  Their symbol was a five-pointed star, with one point for each branch of the American Military in 1865: Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Navy and Marines.  Those are the metal plaques placed at the graves of Jackson, Burgess and Patton.  

My Great Grandfather, Charles Watson of Hannibal, Missouri, was a GAR Member, having served in Company D, 39th Missouri Volunteer Regiment.   [This was a Union Missouri regiment; there were also numerous Confederate Missouri Regiments!]   We still have his pistol and carbine; his unit was part of the "mounted infantry."

My thinking that the 1927 encampment was unusual seems to be a mis-understanding; I will have to check the details when I am next back in St. Louis.

-Joe 

Rosanne and Joe decorate the Pelton grave.

While Thomas Pelton served in the Union Army, he was captured and confined in the notorious Andersonville prison. He returned to Nova Scotia after the war but never recovered his health.

Ben Jackson served in the Union navy. He returned to Nova Scotia and lived on the Old Post Road (HWY 1) .