Nearly directly across from the Hilton Marietta Hotel and Conference Center is the historic Marietta Cemetery. The reader is referred to the late January and early February posts on this blog for information and photographs from the writers initial visit to this wonderful final resting place for thousands of Confederate veterans, many who died in defence of Kennesaw Mountain, Marietta and Atlanta as well as many Confederate veterans who resided in Soldiers Homes after the War. The cemetery has a wonderful walking trail with benches providing touching excerpts from the memoirs of Mattie Harris Lyon who, along with the other widows and members of the Ladies Memorial Foundation and subsequently the United Daughters of the Confederacy moved the soldiers bodies from the surrounding battlefields to this sacred place and cared for the graves and grounds. Flags of all the states of the Confederacy as well as the Confederate States of America flag and Battle flags flew stiff again in the cool winter breeze. Erosion conservation work was currently underway to prevent the soil from washing from atop the graves and from under the old oak trees. Also, a new memorial including a life sized bronze Confederate soldier atop a granite foundation was a great addition. The monument was dedicated in 2014 by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to the memory of the Confederate Soldiers, erected in conjunction with the Marietta Confederate Cemetery Foundation. The monument included an engraving of the Great Seal of the Confederate States of America and the inscription "Deo Vindice, God is Our Vindicator" on the front face. On the back face were the acknowledgements to those who erected the monument and on one side a list of all the states whose men fought and died and are buried in the Marietta Cemetery in defence of their homes and the Confederacy. A stirring tribute to the Confederate veterans interred here and a wonderful surprise to see a new monument to commemorate these heroes in this Sesqicentennial.
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| The Confederate Soldier Monument at the Marietta Cemetery |
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| The Rear of the Monument, the Soldier Looking Out Over Historic Downtown Marietta |
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| View of the 2nd National and Battle Flags from the Confederate Soldier Monument |
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