Honoring Heroes and Preserving History at Peninsula Cemetery

On July 28, AmeriCorps members Dwayne Bartley, Joni Morris, and Sharon David joined 22 community volunteers for a much-needed preservation event at Peninsula Cemetery in Wheeling, WV. Spearheaded by the Ohio County Cemeteries Foundation (OCCF) and funded by a 9/11 Day of Service and Memorial Grant from Volunteer West Virginia, the event focused on cleaning, restoration, and honoring the veterans buried in this historic cemetery.
 
Preparation for the event began earlier in the month with long-time Peninsula volunteers Penny McConnell and Carla Tustin identifying veteran tombstones for cleaning and repair. PAWV and the West Virginia Humanities Council sponsored a workshop on cemetery documentation and restoration on July 26, where volunteers were trained in effective documentation and approved tombstone restoration techniques. This training led to the formation of the OCCF Tripod Team, a group of dedicated volunteers who will assist with heavy digging and lifting projects in the future.
 
On the main workday, volunteers sprayed the headstones and monuments of 175 veterans and 50 civilians with an environmentally friendly cleaner to remove moss and dirt. Other volunteers applied fresh coats of paint to railings and concrete posts, cleared trash and debris, and trimmed branches from the cemetery’s original trees that threatened to damage tombstones.
 
Peninsula Cemetery is the last resting place for at least 324 veterans. Some have dedicated military stones or markers, while others have military information inscribed on their regular stones. Sadly, some veterans have no markers at all. Several stones were unreadable, so the identities of these veterans are a mystery; however, volunteers continue to search obituaries and military records to identify to identify them.
 
Among the veterans honored are Sgt. Charles Fleming, killed by friendly fire during the Philippine-American War; Stephen Clark, a prisoner of war shot while attempting to escape captivity; Percy Mathison Hannan, who died from influenza in 1918 while serving at Camp Meade, Maryland; and Edward Franklin "Eddie" Bowman, a WWI veteran killed in France. It is interesting to note that Bowman has a military stone in Peninsula, but his actual burial site is in another Wheeling cemetery. This reflects what was then a common practice of erecting headstones before the service members’ remains arrived in the US.
 
A significant achievement during the project was raising the Marcus Wilson Amick monument, which weighs approximately 2,000 lbs. Amick served for the Union during the Civil War and is buried in the same lot as his father Jacob, who served in the War of 1812, and other immediate family members. Volunteers decided to clean and reset the entire family lot, not just the veterans’ stones.
 
Among the many veterans buried in Peninsula, volunteers identified four African Americans whose stories reflect both their service and the challenges of their time. George R. Jennings and James H. Howard served in regiments of the US Colored Volunteers during the Civil War and Louis James Walton, a WWI veteran, died from health problems related to exposure to chemical weapons. Captain Hamilton Davis, who served in the 50th Regiment United States Colored Infantry, was laid to rest in Peninsula, but no stone marks his grave.
 
Peninsula Cemetery, established in 1851, was once the third largest cemetery in West Virginia. Unfortunately, the construction of Interstate 70 in 1964 greatly affected the cemetery, leading to the exhumation and reinterment of over 2,500 bodies and splitting the site in two. Volunteers hope to continue working on the orphaned portion of the cemetery, which houses the original colored/enslaved peoples and paupers’ cemeteries, at a future event.
 
Volunteers, with their dedication and hard work, ensure the preservation of the legacy of these veterans and the history they represent for future generations. We encourage you to support this cause by volunteering with or donating to a cemetery organization near you.

Sharon David

Sharon has served two AmeriCorps service terms with the Friends of Wheeling and the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia.