Confederate Cemetery, Vicksburg

The remains of approximately sixteen hundred Confederate soldiers rest here on this hillside in Vicksburg, Mississippi. From May 18 until July 4, 1863 (47 days), they fought and rested and ate when they could. They dreamed about home and their mama's cooking and the way the crickets sounded at dusk. They read and reread the scented letters from their girlfriends and imagined a time when they could be together. Usually in early summer, they were plowing the cotton and corn and swimming in creeks to bathe and cool off. In the summer of 1863, they sweated and fought and wished this war was over and they could go home again. Thousands of them didn't go home; sixteen hundred of them were buried here, not far from the Mississippi River.

We were there last Saturday (June 20, 2015), just days before a few people decided the Confederate flag was a shameful thing and would be hidden from sight, in order to stop evil-consumed people from killing other people.

Will these flags be removed from the Confederate cemetery? Will this beloved memorial to the Confederate soldier be torn down to stop violence?

What about the grave markers? Are they safe? After all, wouldn't these lonely graves offend those few uninformed people who make decisions for all of us?

God help us.

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