A Sunday Stroll in Frankfort's Greenhill Cemetery

With the upcoming Memorial Day on my mind, I decided to take a rather short walk down Versailles Road to the Greenhill Cemetery here in Frankfort.

Several years ago, before I began studying history seriously, I never thought much about segregation and that in the past people felt the need to separate the white and black races on everything from eating and entertainment facilities to where their bodily remains would rest for time immemorial. Of all things segregated, cemeteries to me seem the most ridiculous. But, nonetheless, custom and tradition determined that Greenhill would be the historically African American cemetery here in Kentucky's capital city.

I had previously posted about the Colored Soldiers Monument at Greenhill back on June 8, 2010, and I drive past it twice everyday on my way to and from work, but ashamedly I had never taken the time to make a personal visit. I suppose I should not have been surprised to see the memorialization that vividly shows the local African American population's contributions the United States military over the years, but I was. I saw headstones for African American soldiers that were involved in every major US combat endeavor from Korea back to the Civil War while I was in Greenhill, but the number of Civil War soldiers stood out to me in particular.

A wayside interpretive marker in Greenhill Cemetery

A memorial marker dedicated by Kentucky State University

The Colored Soldiers Monument - erected 1924 (north elevation)

The Colored Soldiers Monument (west elevation)

The Colored Soldiers Monument (south elevation)

The Colored Soldiers Monument (east elevation)

Howard Anderson, Co. E, 119th United States Colored Infantry

Corporal Alexander Rennick, Co. F., 5th United States Colored Cavalry, Born March 4, 1841

Newton Bush, Co. E., 5th United States Colored Cavalry

James Butler, Co. I, 114th United States Colored Infantry

Corporal Morrison Butcher, Co. H, 114th United States Colored Infantry

Lewis Page, Co. F, 5th United States Colored Cavalry

Corporal Lewis A. Smith, Co. G, 117th United States Colored Infantry

Guy Owens, Co. I, 115th United States Colored Infantry

Corporal Frank Johnson, Co. K, 12th United States Colored Heavy Artillery

Corporal Benjamin Brightwell, Co. G, 114th United States Colored Infantry

John Roward, Co. I, 114th United States Colored Infantry

Jason Payne, Co. H, 119th United States Colored Infantry

Henry Starks, Co. G, 114th United States Colored Infantry

George Washington, Co. I, 114th United States Colored Infantry

William Pedrick, Co. F, 113th United States Colored Infantry

Sergeant Conway Madison, Co. D, 116th United States Colored Infantry

Merritt Madison, Co. D, 116th United States Colored Infantry

Isaac Frank, Co. F, 116th United States Colored Infantry

Levi Berry, Co. I, 107th United States Colored Infantry

William Streets, Co. K, 12th United States Colored Heavy Artillery

Harry Johnson, Co. K, 6th United States Colored Cavalry

Henry Rhodes, Co. C, 114th United States Colored Infantry

Edward Mitchell, Co. H, 8th Regiment, United States Volunteer Infantry, Spanish American War

Willie A. Queen, Kentucky Private First Class, US Army, World War I

Kenneth Childs, US Army, World War II

Howard R. Caldwell, Kentucky Private First Class, US Army, Korea