Monument to Mississippi soldiers buried here to be dedicated May 22

A monument dedication ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 22, at the Tullahoma Confederate Cemetery at 920 Maplewood Ave.

The Mississippi Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy will dedicate a bronze memorial to the 48 known Mississippi Confederate soldiers who died in 1862/1863 in Tullahoma area camps and hospitals and are buried in the cemetery here.

M i s s i s s i p p i Division president Ruth Allbritton will lead a delegation of Mississippi officers, members and guests for the event, which will be supported by the Tennessee Confederate organizations of Kirby-Smith UDC 327, Cheatham SCV Camp 72 and the Tullahoma Confederate Association with some 500 members.

White’s Artillery Battery of re-enactors will perform the military functions.

Dr. Michael Bradley, Tennessee Division commander and chairman of the Tullahoma Confederate Association, will be the guest speaker.

Tullahoma Mayor Troy Bisby, Coffee County Mayor David Pennington and Tennessee Division UDC president Nancy Todd will welcome those attending the dedication “to honor these brave heroes of the South,” said O.B. Wilkinson, trustee of the Tullahoma Confederate Association.

“The Mississippi Division UDC, the Tullahoma Confederate Association, United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans invite everyone to the event, free to all visitors, to come, bring their families and friends and lawn chairs for a historical, educational, solemn event,” Wilkinson said.

Light refreshments at a reception following the ceremony will be provided by Southern Ladies of the Kirby-Smith UDC No. 327 in period clothing.

Other activities, according to Wilkinson, will include re-enactors in Confederate uniforms and real cannons giving a salute to the 48 Mississippi Confederate soldiers “in their last resting place in the sacred soil of the Tullahoma Confederate Cemetery.”