Confederate Section

Yesterday I braved temperatures in the one hundred degree range to visit Arlington National Cemetery and locate the grave of my current research subject, Capt. Fred Beall of Mississippi. Until now I had no idea that a Confederate section existed, and that the remains of 439 Southern veterans are buried there. Beall’s grave is located in the fourth of six rings arranged in a great circle around an imposing bronze memorial dedicated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

This circle is surrounded by many thousands of graves of those who served in peace and war. Some made the military a career and lived long, while other lives were cut tragically short during armed conflict. The death dates on their graves — 1864, 1917, 1943 and 1968 — poignantly punctuate the end of their young and unfulfilled lives, and cause me to lament their passing and honor their service.