Back in November 2013, Director Bill Rambo of Confederate Memorial Park warned that three
large dead trees needed to be removed at the old Mt. Zion Cemetery, two miles
north of Deatsville off Highway 143 in Elmore County, to prevent damage to
graves of at least two Confederate veterans buried there. The Executive Committee of the Prattville
Dragoons, Camp 1524, voted to take on the tree-removal project, and pledged monies
to the effort. A tree service in Clanton
had provided a bid to remove the three trees. The Dragoons were in the process over a
couple of months of attempting to raise the funds, soliciting and receiving
donations from Dragoon Karl Wade,
the Yancey Chapter of the League of the
South, and the Autauga County
Genealogical Association but falling well short of the amount needed.
Then
in February came happy news: Three
compatriots from Selma--George Denmark,
Butch Godwin, and Charles Kee--heard of the need for the tree-removal
project and generously offered to bring the trees down for only the cost of
rental of a bucket lift. These
three exemplars of true service to the Cause made two separate trips from Selma
to the Mt. Zion Cemetery, carefully and expertly felling the trees away from
the graves so that no damage was done to any grave. In return for their two days of travel, labor
and expense, these true Sons refused even the offer of a free lunch. At the March meeting of the Prattville Dragoons,
Commander Stuart Waldo will present
each one of them with a Certificate of Appreciation, accompanied by the
heartfelt applause and admiration of those present.
Two of the Confederates buried at Mt. Zion Cemetery
Lt. W.H. Lewis:
2nd Lt. William Henry Lewis died of measles at age 28 in May 1862. He belonged to Capt. John Hall's Company E,
2nd Battalion, Hilliard's Alabama Legion.
Pvt. George
Lewis, Co G, 44th Mississippi Infantry.
Private Lewis died of disease at age 28 in Columbus, Kentucky, in October
1861.
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| One of the Three Trees Removed from the Mt.Zion Cemetery |
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