Projects & Preservation

WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA 2017

Wreaths Across America Award

The Major General Thomas H Ruger Camp #1 received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Wreaths Across America in recognition for our hard work and dedication to the Wreaths Across America Program.

2017 was our first year of participation in this worthwhile program. We had 27 wreaths donated and distributed at the Sandhill State Veterans Cemetery, on December 16th of 2017.

Though a comparatively small donation this year, with each wreath sponsored brings the goal of honoring each American Veteran by having a wreath placed on their gravesite in remembrance of their service. Many were donated in memory of family members of the Brothers of the Ruger Camp #1.

Special thanks to Denise St. Andrew, wife of Ruger Camp Brother Dennis St. Andrews – PDC, who helped in solicited 10 donated wreaths through her fellow employees at her place of employment.

Thanks to all who participated this year, we look forward to continued growth in future years.

Brother Jim Johnson

Senior Vice-Commander

Major General Thomas H Ruger Camp #1

Bentonville Battlefield Union Monument Dedication

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Major General Thomas H Ruger Camp #1 Dedicate Monument to Union Solders.

March 17, 2013 (UPI) -- Nearly 150 years after the end of the American Civil War, a monument was dedicated to Union soldiers in North Carolina, officials said. The Department of North Carolina, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War presented the $10,000 monument at a ceremony Saturday at the Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported.

"[Now], we honor all participants for their willingness to die for a cause they believed in," Jerry Devine, of the North Carolina Thomas H. Ruger Camp 1, Sons of Union Veterans, said at the unveiling ceremony.

The ceremony came three days before the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Bentonville. About 80,000 men fought in the battle, 60,000 of whom were Union soldiers, Devine said.

The Battle of Bentonville was fought from March 19 to 21, 1865, and was the largest Civil War battle to be fought in North Carolina, which was part of the Confederate South.

"It's a confirmation that when it comes to recognizing service members, whether they were Confederate soldiers or Union soldiers, what's important for people is that they were American," said Doug Elwell of Fayetteville, the chairman of the monument committee.

The Battle of Bentonville, March 19-25, 1865, was the climatic finale to the Carolina Campaign of the late Civil War. It was the last large battle in which a Confederate force mounted a tactical offensive against Sherman’s army, and the largest battle fought in North Carolina. 60,000 Union men fought against 20,000 Confederates. General Joseph Johnston surrendered to Sherman at Bennett Place near Durham on April 26, 1865

Efforts to place a monument to the Union troops of the Battle of Bentonville began in 1993, a century after the Goldsboro Rifles History Club built a monument to honor the 360 Confederate soldiers buried in in a mass grave in the former battlefield. The battlefield is now a North Carolina state historic site.

The monument was first proposed in 1993, but efforts to build it were stymied by then-Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, who opposed the monument. Opposition was based on the continued resistance to the memory of General William Sherman of the Union Army, who left a swath of destruction across the South during the Civil War.

The monument was re-proposed in 2012 by the Monument Committee from the Department of North Carolina, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and approved by the North Carolina Historical Commission in 2013.

Bentonville Battlefield is still used for Civil War reenactments that often take place close the anniversary of the battle. It is also open to the public, who can visit the visitor’s center or any of the monuments at the site.

With Acknowledgements To:
The Charlotte Observer
North Carolina Historical Sites, Bentonville Battlefield

Captain Alexander McRae Monument

Part of the Sesquicentennial 150th Anniversary of the Civil War

On February 14, 2015, as part of the Sesquicentennial 150^th Anniversary of the American Civil War, the Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, held it's opening ceremonies at the Captain Alexander McRae monument honoring his service during the Civil War.

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1 Members

February 14, 2015

The origin of this special observance started several years through the efforts of Ruger Camp #1 member Doug Elwell.

Honoring

Captain Alexander McRae (MacRae)

On May 18, 2013 a stone marker was dedicated in front of the Old Cumberland County Court House in Fayetteville, NC. This marker was dedicated in honor of Captain Alexander McRae. Captain McRae was a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina and a West Point graduate in 1851. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Alexander McRae was assigned duty to the southwest territory. He was assigned to the desolate region at Fort Craig New Mexico.

In February of 1862 Captain Alexander McRae died during action, some 1,800 miles from his hometown of Fayetteville, NC, near a town called Valverde, at a ford on Valverde Creek. What makes this dedication a little unusual is that there were five McRae brothers who fought during the American Civil War, only one was a Union officer. Alexander McRae’s four brothers fought for the Confederacy. Captain Alexander McRae chose to retained his Federal commission in the service to the Union Army.

Though Captain McRae served valiantly and died a hero during the Civil War, for a long time there was little to remind his hometown about his courage and bravery. That is until, Doug Elwell a member of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1 heard about it.

Fayetteville local city historian Bruce Daws told Captain McRae’s story to Doug Elwell and immediately the wheels were set in motion. With the help of many, including the MacRae family, fellow members of the Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1, Socorro County Historical Society and Fayetteville History Museum the concept of placing a memorial honoring Captain McRae was on the move. With the efforts of many from across the country, a 275-pound slab of volcanic rock from the battlefield area was secured. The bronze marker was made and attached with the stone being placed outside the old historical Cumberland Courthouse on Gillespie Street in May 2013. The property on which the old court house stands was once part of the McRae family homestead.

Inscription

Captain Alexander McRae

USMA 1851

3^rd U.S. Cavalry

KIA February 21, 1862 at Valverde, New Mexico

Born to John and Mary MacRae in Fayetteville on September 4, 1829 Alexander McRae (his spelling) graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1851 and commissioned as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Mounted Rifles, later redesignated the U.S. Cavalry in 1861. He was assigned duty to the southwest and at the outbreak of the Civil War he chose to retain his Federal commission to serve in the Union Army. His four brothers served in the Confederate Army.

On February 21, 1862 at the Battle of Valverde, New Mexico Captain McRae was commanding a battery of artillery when it was overrun by Confederate troops from Texas under General Henry Sibley. During the resulting hand‑to‑hand fighting in defense of the artillery, Captain McRae had been wounded twice when he received a fatal bullet wound to the head. After the battle his commander, Colonel Canby, wrote “Pure in character, upright in conduct, devoted to his profession, and of a loyalty that was deaf to the seductions of family and friends, Captain McRae died, as he had lived, an example of the best and highest qualities that a man can possess.” In 1867 his body was exhumed from its New Mexico grave, placed in a casket, and given a hero’s escort from Army Post to Army Post on its way to his final resting place at the U.S. Cemetery at

West Point.

* The stone behind this plaque is from the area of the Valverde Battlefield *

Transportation and Local Area

History Museum

Fayetteville, NC

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

Department of North Carolina

Maj. Gen. Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1

Fayetteville, NC

Socorro County Historical Society

Socorro, New Mexico

Photo Series