Honoring those who died for the cause

LIMA - It's been 100 years, but the local Daughters of Union Veterans continue to remain true to their origins of memorializing the Civil War veterans. In fact, their cause echoes the suggestion that a day should be set aside every year - originally the 30th day of May - to honor those soldiers who gave their life in the Civil War.

According to one local newspaper, the first Decoration Day in 1868 was begun, "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion."

Some 23 years later, on Decoration Day, a group of five Ohio women took that concept and expanded it to allow the daughters of Union veterans to join in memorializing. From that humble beginning grew a national organization that exists yet today, comprised of the women whose ancestors served in the Civil War.

As that sisterhood grew, the cause was taken up in Lima, and in March 1908, some 26 women gathered to institute the local Daughters of Veterans.

As the Lima Daily News described the installation, "when the supreme moment came, tears were in the eyes, but joy and patriotic love of country and devotion to the ‘Flag our fathers saved' were in the hearts of that band of women."

President Ada Trevor and the women named their assembly, or tent, in honor of Lizabeth Turner, national president of the Women's Relief Corps who had died one year prior serving her country in restoration of the Andersonville, Ga., prison grounds. As such, they became known as Daughters of Union Veterans Lizabeth A. Turner Tent 23.

The following year, the Grand Army of the Republic held its convention in Lima, with the Daughters of Union Veterans Tent 23 helping promote the work of the veterans. True to their word, they worked to "assist the Grand Army, or other soldiers and their families, if in sickness or need, to perpetuate the memory of the heroic dead, to inculcate patriotism wherever we go."

As member Eva Bowdle Davis wrote in 1935, "we are justly proud of our heritage, for braver or more loyal men never trod this earth than our fathers of '61 and '65, who suffered and died in prison and on the bloody battlefields for the preservation of our union, and this glorious flag to which we pledge our allegiance, will be told to the end of time."

Through the years, the band of women gathering in Tent 23 grew, and at one time laid claim to being the largest group in Ohio.

Although patriotism was their primary goal, the women made certain that every meeting carried its share of fun. As a newspaper article in 1953 noted, "we can't mention the names of the five women who locked themselves in the basement of Memorial Hall Tuesday night. Our informant threatened mayhem if the story got out. But when five women decide to keep a secret, it's bound to get considerable circulation.

"It happened following the officer installation meeting of the Daughters of Union Veterans. How the quintet got into the basement is not clear but somehow they found themselves in the basement with the doors locked.

"The outgoing president, a resourceful person, took charge. She climbed through a window with some assistance. She went to her car and drove 10 blocks to the home of the outgoing president and got a key, then returned and released the others."

But as with all good things, membership in the local group has shrunk over the last several years, and the Daughters have become the great-granddaughters and beyond. However, the work in honoring the Union soldiers has never stopped.

Today, Tent 23 is helping the local Sons of Union Veterans in a project to recognize graves of the Civil War soldiers. Members have been working on the project since 2002 and to date have identified some 1,500 Union veterans in Allen County. Of those, 92 percent of the grave stones have been located.

Cindy Freed, president of the local chapter, said the project is just one aspect of the patriotism the Daughters of Union veterans have promoted in the past century. And, she said the respect for veterans, and the patriotism the members promote is still vital in today's world.

"Not long ago, we were walking a cemetery near Rockford looking for Civil War soldier's graves, and I ran across the grave of one soldier from that time who was only 18 years old when he died. I stood there for a moment and thought of that young man. He probably had no children, and few relatives beyond the next generation to remember him. I thought that if just for that one moment that I stood there looking at his grave, and thanking him for his service to our country, that groups like Daughters of Union Veterans remain vital. Just taking the time to thank those veterans, and to remember that because of the sacrifice this young man made, our country is here today."