Cemetery Tours digs in to Civil War history

P. Thomas Carroll paints a pretty picture of the mid-19th century Troy
landscape: ‘The rolling hills and trees, the striking architecture, and a beautiful view
of the Hudson Valley,’ says the executive director of Riverspark Heritage Area.

‘On a nice Sunday afternoon in the summer, you would go out after church
and have a picnic there. It was a very fashionable thing to do.’

Oakwood Cemetery was a place where people buried the dead as well as memorializing
them, in an idyllic setting.

Founded in the 1840s, there are approximately 60,000 souls buried at Oakwood Cemetery, says Carroll, a number that is greater than the current population of Troy.

There is a particular emphasis on military history at Oakwood Cemetery and Sunday
afternoon tours focus on this military history in general, and the Civil War in particular.

The tour visits the grave sites of John Wool, one of the most decorated soldiers in the
Mexican War; Civil War soldier and diarist Rice Bull and George Geer, who was aboard the USS Monitor during its fateful encounter with the Merrimac. The best known grave site is that of George Thomas. History records Thomas as the only Union Army general to never lose a battle
during the Civil War, earning him the nickname ‘The Rock of Chicamauga.’

‘George Thomas was born in Virginia and then went to West Point. There he became
an expert in artillery,’ Carroll says. ‘He married a woman from Troy, and when the Civil War broke out he had to choose who he would be loyal to. His oath of allegiance to the Union took precedence over the ‘accident’ of his birth, so he stayed with the Union army. His family disowned him as a result. When he died he was sent to Troy to be buried
with his wife’s family,’ Carroll says.

‘President Grant came up to Troy for the funeral and he brought along his cabinet and some important army generals from the war,’ Carroll says. ‘It was a big national event.’

At the Albany Rural Cemetery, hundreds more Civil War soldiers are buried.
The grave sites of Philip Schuyler (Revolutionary War), Stephen and Solomon Van
Rensselaer (War of 1812) and Henry Quackenbush (French andIndian Wars and the Revolutionary War) are on the tour visiting schedule.

Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga Springs was consecrated in 1844, and a number of
soldiers buried within its gates have ties to the city. Former Lake Avenue resident James
Madison Andrews, Henry Street’s Charles W. Stewart, and longtime Broadway auctioneer Charles H.J. Hurd, are among them.

‘A loyal defender of his country, a true friend, and a kind husband,’ reads Hurd’s tombstone, who survived more than 50 years after being severely injured during battle
in the spring of 1862.

At Vale Cemetery in Schenectady, more than 100 Revolutionary War
and 150 Civil War veterans are buried.

Tours of the 18th century burial ground include the reading of stories of veterans
dating back to the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.

by Thomas Dimopoulos
published in The Saratogian, May 13, 2005.