Confederate burial conducted in Nolanville, 150 years after end of Civil War
Posted: Sunday, July 27, 2014
James Harper | Herald staff writer
NOLANVILLE — It was almost surreal.
Confederate soldiers, flags and traditions were on full display at a 2014 funeral. But the full Confederacy burial is exactly what Margaret Sprott, 93, asked for before she died July 20, and her request was granted Saturday afternoon at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
Sprott was a proud member of the Confederate Rose, which is the auxiliary to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group that volunteers and helps people learn about the true spirit of the confederacy.
According to her son, Rocky Jim Sprott, a first sergeant in the Sons of the Confederacy, his mother spent much of her life honoring the Confederate veterans of the Civil War — some of whom were directly related to her.
“We had about 12 family members who fought for the South during the war,” Sprott said. “Her father, uncles and cousins — so many.”
To see such a burial is rare, just ask Chris McClure.
“I have over 25 years experience in this field,” said the funeral director of Heartfield Funeral Home in Belton. “I have never seen anything like this.”
There was a 21-gun salute, fairly standard for a military funeral, but rather than taps, tattoo was played — the Confederate version of taps — and the Black Rose Ceremony was displayed, where yellow roses were placed on the deceased’s casket.
It’s strictly a Confederate ceremony, according to Rocky Jim Sprott — as well as the folding of the flag into a square, rather than the triangle fold that is today’s American military tradition.
It was important to Margaret Sprott that Confederate veterans were honored, and recognized, not for a defense of slavery, but in defense of state’s rights. An issue that is ever present.
“A lot of people think that the soldiers fought for slavery, but you have to remember that most of those who fought didn’t own slaves themselves,” said James P. Kinnear, camp commander of Brigadier General J.C. Moore Camp 578. “They were fighting because their home was invaded. They fought for state’s rights.”
Sprott was active in her community, church and with the Confederate Rose.
© Copyright 2014, The Killeen Daily Herald, Killeen, TX
