When history and government collide

Some fans of a planned Civil War memorial park for ambushed African-American Union soldiers in southwest Missouri are upset that a water tower is being built nearby. • Article

Cigars left at Old Pete's grave

About 50 people gathered for the 12th annual observance of Confederate Gen. James Longstreet’s life at the Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville, Ga., Sunday. • Article

143 years later, monument becomes reality

Residents of the tiny southern Minnesota town of Wasioja will mark Veteran's Day by dedicating a Civil War memorial that was first proposed for construction 143 years ago. • Article

Oldest Civil War memorial has new home

What is believed to be the nation’s oldest Civil War memorial will now call the Frazier Museum in Kentucky home for at least 10 years. The limestone Bloedner Monument was unveiled in the lobby of the museum on Wednesday. The monument was created in 1862 to commemorate the 32nd Indiana Infantry after the 1861 Battle of Rowlett’s Station in Munfordville, Ky. • Article

'Black Jack' Logan championed Memorial Day

John Logan was one of the few untrained civilians who became superb Civil War commanders. "Many communities claim to be the site of the first Memorial Day," said Mike Jones, director of the Gen. John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro, Ill. "But it was Logan who took separate observances and put them on a unified, national basis. Logan was the founder of Memorial Day as a national holiday." • Article

Confederate Memorial Day steeped in tradition

June Murray Wells still remembers the Confederate Memorial Days of her childhood: the ladies in their black dresses, the wreaths, the little flags on the graves — and the last two living Confederate veterans in Charleston. • Article