Black Confederate Soldiers Honored
They were 'Patriots who loved our Southland and suffered in its defense'
The Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters
of the Confederacy dedicate memorials to three black soldiers
By KEISHA STEWART
THE ROANOKE TIMES
The following article was forwarded to the SCV Dispatch by Calvin E Johnson, Jr. of the Chattahoochee Guards
Sunday, September 08, 2002
The time came for Creed Holland to
get the recognition he was due. He was a black slave, but also a Confederate
soldier. And for such, Creed Holland was honored Saturday morning at a graveside
ceremony in a small cemetery behind Riverview Baptist Church in Rocky
Mount.
The Jubal Early chapter of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy
dedicated Confederate memorial markers to Creed Holland and two other
black Confederate soldiers, also named Holland, from Franklin County.
Hazel Holland Davis, a member of the Jubal Early chapter
and
great-granddaughter of a Confederate soldier, organized the service as
part of a chapterwide project to identify Confederate soldiers' graves in
Franklin County.
The three Holland soldiers, of no known relation to each
other or
to Davis, worked as slaves on Thomas J. Holland's 732-acre farm in Glade
Hill. Thomas Holland was Davis' great-great-grandfather.
The service was a rare memorial that honored the little-known
Confederate soldiers: enslaved black soldiers.
About 45 Confederate re-enactors and members of the United
Daughters of
the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans performed the ceremony,
which included poems, speeches, prayers and customary military funeral rites
such as cannonball volleys and rifle shots.
William Daniel Holland, great-grandson of Creed Holland,
welcomed the
crowd of about 60 people. He called the service a gathering of all people.
"Today is a day of unification," said William
Daniel Holland, 33, of
Atlanta.
Sam Lougheed, Virginia president of the United Daughters of
the
Confederacy, described the three black soldiers as "patriots who
loved
our Southland and suffered in its defense." Lougheed, of Stafford,
called
the three Hollands "Confederate heroes."
Brag Bowling, state Commander of the Sons of Confederate
Veterans,
used the service as a platform.
"Southern heritage is becoming a cutting social,
cultural and
political issue in the landscape of Virginia," Bowling said. He urged the
crowd to back those behind a monument protection bill that would thwart efforts
to rename buildings and monuments.
Sen. Charles Hawkins, R-Chatham, in a spirited speech,
pointed to a
female re-enactor dressed in a black dress and veil, standing before Creed
Holland's grave.
"We need to come to grips with the ghosts of our past by
understanding
our history," Hawkins said. "We need to understand this history if we
are to grow and prosper."
Linda Stanley of the Franklin County Historical Society said
the
Confederate government required slaveowners to offer a certain percentage of
their slaves to the war effort, possibly explaining the three Holland
men's involvement in the war.
According to federal pension records, Creed Holland worked as
a teamster, hauling supplies for soldiers. Cornelius Holland worked under Jubal
Early as a cook. Claiborne Holland performed breastwork, which involved erecting
earthen walls from which soldiers protected themselves in battle.
Davis and William Daniel Holland knew of their families'
connection. But both families found out about Creed Holland's status as a
Confederate
veteran this year, William Daniel Holland said.
Davis, 61, a retired teacher living on her family's Glade
Hill farm,
asked Creed Holland's descendants if they were interested in having a
Confederate marker and a ceremony at Creed Holland's grave. They agreed.
William Daniel Holland, along with his brother John Wayne
Holland, 47, a Yokohama tire finisher from Roanoke, and another brother are
members of
the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Their sister, Wanda Holland Chewning,
46,
an artist living in Penhook, is a member of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy.
Their grandfather Sam Holland, 75, of Glade Hill, a retired
worker for
Fleetwood Homes, appreciated the ceremony for Creed Holland. "I'm glad
they
remember him," he said.
At the end of the ceremony, Sons of Confederate Veterans
Commander
Robert "Red" Barbour presented a folded Confederate flag to Sam
Holland as
Creed Holland's oldest known living relative.
The second part of the ceremony ended at Davis' Glade Hill
farm off
Virginia 40. There, Daughters members placed two magnolia wreaths for
Cornelius and Claiborne Holland in the Holland family cemetery. (Sadly), Davis
cannot find descendants of the two, or their graves.
