Those Who Went Before Us (Sumnerville I)

Located north of Niles, Michigan is the little village of Sumnerville. In my first year of reenacting I took part in a ceremony honoring an original member of my home unit, the 21st Indiana Light Artillery.  I've always remembered this cemetery. Due to its scale I thought it would be a good place to start covering those who were more common soldiers.  There are many graves I would love to highlight but I'll only cover a few per post.  Please note that the historical sign above is incorrect. It says that veterans starting with the War of 1812 are buried here.  I have pictures of their graves for later posts but below are two veterans of the American Revolution, some forty years earlier.

Something Jade taught me about Victorian times was the leaving of pennies on the headstone.  This symbolized paying the deceased way with the ferryman across the River Styx. I have seen this on many graves after I started looking for it, including one in this cemetery. This custom continues today.  It was almost a spur of the moment thing to stop up here so I didn't have many pennies with me.  Before I left I made sure to leave one on William Benton's grave as a personal offering. I will make it a point to get a couple rolls of pennies just to have in the car for this purpose.

One more thing I did and this is a personal habit of mine.  Every veteran grave I stopped at to take their picture I took the time to come to attention and salute. My personal way of thanking them for allowing me to visit and take their photograph.  I also did a general salute in all four directions when I arrived and left, complete with orders. I did this as a general greeting and goodbye. Again, my personal practice. I was not in uniform, but I did it anyway.

Original 21st Indiana Light Artillery William Benton

Revolutionary War veteran John Burk of Virginia

The son of John Burk, William.

Israel Markham, Revolutionary War veteran from Massachusetts.

Known now only to God. The stone is molded and weathered into illegibility.

The last marker is part of why I started doing this.  Just to provide a place where a handful of soldiers and their stones can be remembered before they wear away to nothing.

-Corporal