Members of the Pennsylvania Hallowed Grounds congregated at Shippensburg University on Oct. 24 to discuss their progress of preserving endangered cemeteries that are the final resting place for United States Colored Troops (USCT).

The organization is a fairly loose alliance of kindred spirits who have taken up the call of stewardship, heritage activist Lenwood Sloan said at the third annual meeting, held in the Tuscarora Room at SU. Dozens of students, professors and historical preservationists showed up to learn and share what stewardship means when it comes to restoring and maintaining the almost forgotten cemeteries of USCT Civil War veterans.

The meeting, which was organized in part by SU’s history/philosophy department, featured technical workshops, lectures and discussions on ways to locate and preserve the burial grounds and how to put them into a historical context.

Pennsylvania Hallowed Grounds works to expose and preserve history to make sure society is paying an appropriate tribute to the USCT and their families, said Barbara Barksdale, a member who helped organize the event. Many of the USCT from the Civil War were buried separately from white soldiers, often at cemeteries that became endangered, forgotten or neglected.

“They were as segregated in death as they were in life,” Sloan said. “If black lives matter, then the history of black lives matter.”

Preservation activist Randy Harris spoke during an open session about the well-being of several cemeteries in the Lancaster region and noted ongoing problems with stewardship. Shreiner-Concord Cemetery, which includes the graves of Civil War USCT and U.S. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, faced particular challenges.

Many of the descendants of the dead either moved away from the area or died, and the city of Lancaster declined to take ownership of the cemetery due to financial reasons, according to Harris, a Lancaster resident. The fate of the cemetery now rests in the hands of volunteer community members, who have organized ways to maintain the landscape, provide tours for students and have dawn-to-dusk visiting hours.

The Shippensburg community has a cemetery of its own to maintain and though it is being preserved, there are concerns for residents to work out.

“The Locust Grove Cemetery is in good shape,” said Steven Burg, the history/philosophy department chairman at Shippensburg University. “One of the ongoing issues is maintaining the leadership,” Burg said.

A common message the Pennsylvania Hallowed Grounds members and supporters tried to get across to attendees is how vital it is for young community members to start participating in stewardship practices.

“Once we go, the history will be lost,” an elder of the organization said during the open session. Though support from younger generations may be in question, it was clear there are active professionals working diligently for the cause of preservation.

Lynn Rainville, a research professor at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, traveled to SU to outline numerous ways of identifying cemeteries using geographical and cultural resources. She explained that some burial grounds are located on private property and have been disturbed by modern development practices, making them difficult to access and find.

Talking to community elders, locating historic black churches and schools and using aerial maps are some ways cemeteries can be found. Everything from sunken plots of earth to particular types of invasive plants can be clues as to the location of grave sites.

Once a cemetery is found, it is important for preservers to mark the area and post signs that explain what they know about the cemetery, Rainville said. Gravestones are not always inscribed, and the ones that do have markings are often weathered to the point they are illegible, making it difficult to know which USCT are buried there.

Historical and segregated cemeteries are a window to and testament of the past, according to Rainville. She added that preservation and research can unite descendants with their ancestors.

Attendees also heard from Tonya Thames-Taylor, associate professor of history at West Chester University, who gave a lecture on putting images of USCT into context with their burial grounds. There are many images depicting USCT in literature and on the Internet, but their life narratives are missing, according to Thames-Taylor.

“As preservations of cemeteries happen, you are now creating a narrative,” she said.

“This is really exciting to see people coming together to see the work the Hallowed Grounds is doing,” Burg said. “It is extremely meaningful and extremely daunting work.”

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