Confederate Memorial Day Service National Park Service ~ Manassas National Battlefield Park Groveton Confederate Cemetery May 30, 1999

By virtue of a long-standing agreement with the National Park Service, the 42nd Virginia assists with the maintainance of the fences and grounds at Groveton Confederate Cemetery, located in the Manassas National Battlefield Park. In return for this assistance, every Memorial Day the 42nd is invited to participate in a ceremony sponsored by the Park Service to honor the 266 Southern soldiers killed at the Battles of First and Second Manassas and buried in the cemetery. This year's ceremony was marked by a living history encampment next to the cemetery, a speech by Dan Paterson (the great-grandson of Confederate General James Longstreet), and a surprise pre-ceremony concert by period brass musician Mark Elrod and the Olde Towne Brass from Huntsville, Alabama.

(ABOVE) Members of Olde Towne Brass perform under the trees at Groveton Confederate Cemetery (RIGHT) Dan Paterson, great-grandson of Confederate General James Longstreet and president of the Bull Run Civil War Round Table, gives the keynote address

42nd Virginia military commander Jim Carr and bugler Walter Weigle of the Paul VI High School Wind Ensemble

Katie Fraser and Jason Martindale, son of 42nd Virginia armorer Paul Martindale, place flowers in honor of the Confederate dead