CONFEDERATE MOUND

Oakdale Cemetery

Wilmington, North Carolina

Ode said at Confederate Mound when it was unveiled May 10, 1872.

Why does yon war worn Soldier stand

His lone and silent watch to keep?

No Forman' s step is on the land

None, but the dead, around him sleep.

With Lee on many a battlefield

This gallant Soldier fought in vain,

With Whiting bled, but would not yield,

On Fisher's ramparts, piled with slain.

And now on each Memorial Day

Your vigil o'er your comrades keep,

Oh! Soldiers of honored gray,

Guard well the spot where heroes sleep

History of the Confederate Mound

The Ladies Memorial Association was discussing the question of removing the dead Confederate Soldiers to some place where they could erect a memorial monument.  In 1867 section K of Oakdale Cemetery was surveyed, a map was made and accepted by the Directors.  This "Plat" was just what the Ladies wanted so they asked for it.  On the 15th of December 1867, the Directors donated it to them so that they would have a "Central Plat for the interment of many Confederate Veterans previously buried in the public grounds of Oakdale.  The first to be re-interred were 335 and more were buried later.

Mr. Adrian H. Van Bokkelen gave both of his time and money and was from first to last, one of the most active and efficient assistant of the Ladies Memorial Association.  To his individual efforts was largely due, after nearly six years of untiring and unremitting effort, the erection of the beautiful monument in the Confederate enclosure at Oakdale where the stately bronze sentinel keeps perpetual watch and ward over those who rest there.  Mr. Van Bokkelen was an officer in the Clarendon Iron Works at Wilmington.

The monument was erected through the efforts of the Ladies Memorial Association, organized in 1866, who later merged with the United Daughters of the Confederacy and became Cape Fear Chapter #3.

Author Unknown

History of the Confederate Mound and the Ode was compiled by Pat Gasson.

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