Newport ceremony pays tribute, marks resetting of gravestones

By Joe Baker

Daily News staff

NEWPORT - Looking fit and trim in his World War II Army uniform, Colonel Frank S. Hale Thursday afternoon read from a speech given by General C. C. Van Zandt on the day the Newport Artillery Company sailed from the city en route to protect the nation's capital during the Civil War.

"We have grown up side by side from boyhood," Van Zandt told the departing company. "And now you are leaving your wives, your children, your sweethearts and your homes to fight manfully for them all. I have no words of cheer or parting to say, but a heartfelt God bless you."

Looking out at the small group huddled before the gravestone of Major General Thomas W. Sherman in the Island Cemetery on Farewell Street, Hale, curator at Fort Adams, said those words were fitting even today. Sacrifices made by veterans must never be forgotten by those they left behind, Hale said.

The small ceremony put together by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was held not only to mark Veterans Day, but to mark the resetting of the gravestones of General Sherman, a Civil War veteran, and his wife Mary. The stones had been knocked over but were reset this week by cemetery workers.

Hale's message was echoed by John Duchesneau, acting chaplain of the local Sons' camp. He asked for prayers for "those who have made the eternal sacrifice for this country." The Sons are mandated by Congress to perpetuate the memory of Union veterans, said Donald Walker, commander of the Sons' chapter representing Bristol, Newport and most of Washington County. The chapter has not been very active in recent years, but that is about to change, Walker said. "We hope to be doing more of this," Walker said. "We're going to replace some broken stones, too."

Born in Newport in 1813, Sherman was so determined to get into West Point he walked from Newport to Washington D. C. to talk a Congressman into giving him an appointment to the Army academy, said Greg Mierka, department commander of the state chapter of the Sons. Sherman went on to become a decorated Army veteran, commanded Fort Adams twice during his 38-year Army career, and lost a leg during the Civil War.

Click here for a biography of Major General Thomas West Sherman