A new piece of hardware now graces the front of the Morgan County Courthouse to honor some long-forgotten heroes.
Members of the Reverend James Caldwell Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and Elijah Smith Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution gathered on the courthouse steps Sunday afternoon to dedicate a new plaque that has been added to the front of the historic building.
After exhaustive research, members of the organizations identified additional veterans of the Revolutionary War who are buried in Morgan County. Patrica Boldt with the Daughters of the American Revolution says the new plaque was added under an existing set of plaques recognizing Morgan County’s first veterans.
“Today we were dedicating a plaque where we found the remaining, hopefully, the remaining, Revolutionary War Patriots buried in Morgan County. There had been two plaques before but we found more names and we discovered that they came across from the south and then came up to this area, and this is where 48 of them are buried.”
Boldt conducted the dedication ceremony with Sid Welles serving as chaplain. The plaques can be found on the wall at the top of the steps on the east side of the courthouse portico.
Morgan County Commissioner Chair Ginny Fanning says the members of the county board appreciate the hard work put in by all involved. “We are very appreciative of what the DAR and SAR have been doing. With doing a little more research they have found twenty-five more names that are gentlemen that served in the Revolutionary War and have provided a beautiful plaque at the front of our courthouse. So we thank them very much and are certainly very grateful to the gentleman who served our country.”
The brass ensemble made of members from the Community Summer Band shared music from the era ahead of the ceremony.