Glory at last for black vets
Subject
West Nyack, Cemeteries, Mount Moor Cemetery, Veterans, African Americans
Creator
Source
Date
1990-02-15
Text
Staff photo by Peter Carr
Craig Toth played the fife attired in Civil War garb during the ceremony at Mt. Moor Cemetery.
Glory at last for black vets
By SCOTT WEBBER
Correspondent
Black American veterans, from the Civil War to the doughboy-who fought in France in 1918 and later the G.I. in Korea, were given full military burial honors at Mount Moor Cemetery in West Nyack last Sunday.
Jerry Donnellan, president of the Rockland chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America, standing on the brush covered hillside, said Sunday's ceremony was a belated tribute-to the black soldiers who rest in the three-acre tract. He noted that when
Logan Lafayette, who fought in the Civil War, was hurled here in 1881 there was no honor ceremony; the only witnesses were
horse-drawn wagons passing on the dirt path known as Nyack Turnpike immediately to the south.
Amidst the volleys that were fired this weekend, the roar of the traffic on the New York State Thruway to the immediate north could be overheard.
Lafayette was a member of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the first black unit to fight for the Union cause. The regiment's story is told in the recently released movie, "Glory," which deals with the formation, training and many of the bloody battles that the black unit fought in Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.
Almost 190,000 black soldiers were enlisted in the Union Army by the time the war ended in 1865. A year later four black regiments were created and many saw service on the American
frontier during the Indian Wars.
Donnellan noted that not until 1948 were black soldiers integrated into white units of the U.S. Army, and it wasn't until the Korean conflict that whites and blacks fought alongside one another on the field of battle.
Lafayette died Jan. 22, 1881, at 49 years of age. He fought in the charge at Fort Wagner in South Carolina where over 600
were killed and over 2,000 wounded.
Also honored Sunday was Hezekiah Easter Sr. father of former County Legislator Hezekiah Easter Jr.. The father was a World War I veteran who died Feb.9, 1986 at 92 years of age. He was the most recent burial in the cemetery, which has 86 graves, the earliest dating back to 1848.
Easter was born in South Hampton County, VA, on May 18,1893, the son of Moses and Addie (Francis) Easter and
served in the Army Quartermasters Corp 1918. He married Jamie Elnora Woodruff on June 1, 1919. They had three sons
Linwood Cosby (also buried at Mount Moor), Hezekiah Herbert and Herman Lee.
His son recalled last week that his father came to Nyack in 1927 "during the great migration for economic reasons," his
first job was as a laborer for the John Rooney Construction Co. which worked on the Nyack YMCA.
A charter member of the Laborers Local 754, Easter started his own woodyard business in 1940 located on Railroad Avenue in Nyack. When Urban Renewal came along in 1959, he moved to West Nyack. He was a lifelong member of the I.B.O.E. of the World, Rockland Lodge 424. He was also a deacon emeritus of the Pilgrim Baptist Church for many years.
A Civil War re-enactment group in full period military uniform fired three rounds of rifle salute at the Lafayette grave. A six-hole b-flat fife from the era was used to sound taps. A Vietnam Veterans rifle squad fired the three-volley salute to Easter at the other end of the cemetery and a bugle sounded
taps for the World War I veteran.
According to Peter Krell in his book on Clarkstown Cemeteries, "So That All May Remember," Mount Moor, which is a black resting ground, has the graves of 20 veterans from the Civil War to the Korean War.
[Photo] Hezekiah Easter bows his head during ceremony at Mt. Moor Cemetery in memory of his father and brother, who are buried there.
Mount Moor figured prominently in another war in the middle 1980s when the Syracuse-based Pyramid Companies moved into the area and bought up surrounding land between the thruway on the north and Rt. 59 on the south, the railroad
tracks on the west and Rt. 303 on the east, for a massive $50 million shopping center. The plans called for four major shopping stores along with 100 smaller Shops on 875,000
square feet, nearly 90 acres.
The plans proposed $100,000 for relocating Mt. Moor. However, members of the Mt. Moor Cemetery Association turned it down. The cemetery will remain where it is. The builder revised its plans so as not to disturb the burial site. On Sept. 15, 1988 the
Clarkstown Town Board, designated Mount Moor as a historic site.
The sounding of taps Sunday afternoon seemed to mark the closing of an era in Rockland history as well. Even though the
Historical Society has a marker on the site and a fence will be put up to enclose the cemetery, Mount Moor soon will be in
the midst of a large parking lot of a great shopping mall.
Soon the heavy brush covering the 90-acre site in back of the recently closed Janet Hogan's Diner (Pyramid bought George
and Janet Hogan out) will be gone.
Whatever changes are wrought by development, Mount
Moor, and its place in history, will hopefully be left intact.
Staff photo/Peter Carr - BURIED TREASURE: West Nyack's Mount Moor Cemetery was named a county landmark and placed on the state register of historic places.
Craig Toth played the fife attired in Civil War garb during the ceremony at Mt. Moor Cemetery.
Glory at last for black vets
By SCOTT WEBBER
Correspondent
Black American veterans, from the Civil War to the doughboy-who fought in France in 1918 and later the G.I. in Korea, were given full military burial honors at Mount Moor Cemetery in West Nyack last Sunday.
Jerry Donnellan, president of the Rockland chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America, standing on the brush covered hillside, said Sunday's ceremony was a belated tribute-to the black soldiers who rest in the three-acre tract. He noted that when
Logan Lafayette, who fought in the Civil War, was hurled here in 1881 there was no honor ceremony; the only witnesses were
horse-drawn wagons passing on the dirt path known as Nyack Turnpike immediately to the south.
Amidst the volleys that were fired this weekend, the roar of the traffic on the New York State Thruway to the immediate north could be overheard.
Lafayette was a member of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the first black unit to fight for the Union cause. The regiment's story is told in the recently released movie, "Glory," which deals with the formation, training and many of the bloody battles that the black unit fought in Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.
Almost 190,000 black soldiers were enlisted in the Union Army by the time the war ended in 1865. A year later four black regiments were created and many saw service on the American
frontier during the Indian Wars.
Donnellan noted that not until 1948 were black soldiers integrated into white units of the U.S. Army, and it wasn't until the Korean conflict that whites and blacks fought alongside one another on the field of battle.
Lafayette died Jan. 22, 1881, at 49 years of age. He fought in the charge at Fort Wagner in South Carolina where over 600
were killed and over 2,000 wounded.
Also honored Sunday was Hezekiah Easter Sr. father of former County Legislator Hezekiah Easter Jr.. The father was a World War I veteran who died Feb.9, 1986 at 92 years of age. He was the most recent burial in the cemetery, which has 86 graves, the earliest dating back to 1848.
Easter was born in South Hampton County, VA, on May 18,1893, the son of Moses and Addie (Francis) Easter and
served in the Army Quartermasters Corp 1918. He married Jamie Elnora Woodruff on June 1, 1919. They had three sons
Linwood Cosby (also buried at Mount Moor), Hezekiah Herbert and Herman Lee.
His son recalled last week that his father came to Nyack in 1927 "during the great migration for economic reasons," his
first job was as a laborer for the John Rooney Construction Co. which worked on the Nyack YMCA.
A charter member of the Laborers Local 754, Easter started his own woodyard business in 1940 located on Railroad Avenue in Nyack. When Urban Renewal came along in 1959, he moved to West Nyack. He was a lifelong member of the I.B.O.E. of the World, Rockland Lodge 424. He was also a deacon emeritus of the Pilgrim Baptist Church for many years.
A Civil War re-enactment group in full period military uniform fired three rounds of rifle salute at the Lafayette grave. A six-hole b-flat fife from the era was used to sound taps. A Vietnam Veterans rifle squad fired the three-volley salute to Easter at the other end of the cemetery and a bugle sounded
taps for the World War I veteran.
According to Peter Krell in his book on Clarkstown Cemeteries, "So That All May Remember," Mount Moor, which is a black resting ground, has the graves of 20 veterans from the Civil War to the Korean War.
[Photo] Hezekiah Easter bows his head during ceremony at Mt. Moor Cemetery in memory of his father and brother, who are buried there.
Mount Moor figured prominently in another war in the middle 1980s when the Syracuse-based Pyramid Companies moved into the area and bought up surrounding land between the thruway on the north and Rt. 59 on the south, the railroad
tracks on the west and Rt. 303 on the east, for a massive $50 million shopping center. The plans called for four major shopping stores along with 100 smaller Shops on 875,000
square feet, nearly 90 acres.
The plans proposed $100,000 for relocating Mt. Moor. However, members of the Mt. Moor Cemetery Association turned it down. The cemetery will remain where it is. The builder revised its plans so as not to disturb the burial site. On Sept. 15, 1988 the
Clarkstown Town Board, designated Mount Moor as a historic site.
The sounding of taps Sunday afternoon seemed to mark the closing of an era in Rockland history as well. Even though the
Historical Society has a marker on the site and a fence will be put up to enclose the cemetery, Mount Moor soon will be in
the midst of a large parking lot of a great shopping mall.
Soon the heavy brush covering the 90-acre site in back of the recently closed Janet Hogan's Diner (Pyramid bought George
and Janet Hogan out) will be gone.
Whatever changes are wrought by development, Mount
Moor, and its place in history, will hopefully be left intact.
Staff photo/Peter Carr - BURIED TREASURE: West Nyack's Mount Moor Cemetery was named a county landmark and placed on the state register of historic places.
Original Format
Newspaper article
Collection
Citation
Scott Webber, “Glory at last for black vets,” accessed April 29, 2024, https://rocklandroom.omeka.net/items/show/54.