Memorial Day 2011

Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery
Sculpted by Moses J. Ezekiel

Confederate Memorial, Arlington Cemetery

Dedicated 1914; Sculpture by Sir Moses Ezekiel, former Sergeant of Cadets, Virginia Military Institute, who is himself buried at the base of this monument.

Inscription:
NOT FOR FAME OR REWARD, NOT FOR PLACE OR FOR RANK, NOT LURED BY AMBITION OR GOADED BY NECESSITY, BUT IN SIMPLE OBEDIENCE TO DUTY AS THEY UNDERSTOOD IT, THESE MEN SUFFERED ALL, SACRIFICED ALL, DARED ALL, AND DIED 

See also jameswebb.com, Speech at the Confederate Memorial, 1990.

Moses J. Ezekiel was one of the VMI cadets who were called into action to plug a hole in the Confederate center at the Battle of New Market, and to repulse a Union Army advance.  Though young (17 to 21 years of age) and untested in battle, the VMI cadets prevailed, charging the Union cannon and sending the Yankees into retreat.  Ten of the cadets were killed outright or later died of wounds from the battle; fifty-seven were wounded.  Although Ezekiel later became a world-renowned sculptor, he chose to be identified on his tombstone simply as:

Sgt. Moses J. Ezekiel

Moses J. Ezekiel
Sergeant of Company C
Battalion of Cadets
of the
Virginia Military Institute

Ezekiel once wrote: "The VMI, where every stone and blade of grass is dear to me, and the name of the cadet of the VMI, the proudest and most honored title I can ever possess."

A detailed description of his life and works can be found here.  

Virginia never had a finer son. May he rest in peace.

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For more of my views of Memorial Day, see my 2006 (updated to 2007) post, "In Flanders Fields." That story and the poem it created is unsurpassed in our remembrance of our war dead.

A list of several prior year posts on Memorial Days past can be found at this link.