Through photographs of veterans and reunions, monuments, and
tombstones, Hardy shows the many ways that the old Confederate soldiers
are commemorated across the Old North State.
The American Civil War was scarcely over when a group of ladies met in
Raleigh and began to plan commemoration for the honored Confederate dead
of North Carolina. In 1867, they held their first memorial service. Two
years later in Fayetteville, the first monument to the state's fallen
Confederate soldiers was erected. Over the next 14 decades, countless
monuments were commissioned in cemeteries and courthouse squares across
the state. Following Reconstruction, the veterans themselves began to
gather in their local communities, and state and national reunions were
held. For many of the Confederate veterans, honor for their previous
service continued long after their deaths: accounts of their sacrifice
were often chiseled on their grave markers.