It was the bloodiest four years in the Western Hemisphere.
Between 1861 and 1865, more than 620,000 men lost their lives in the War Between the States. They were mowed down by mini balls and mortar shells in places like Antietam, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Gettysburg. Thousands more lost limbs. Many lost their souls to morphine.
Local Civil War scholar Jim Keib will recall the veterans of those military massacres when he speaks at Liverpool’s annual Memorial Day Parade, hosted by American Legion Post 188, at a 9 a.m. service at Johnson Park, on Monday, May 30.
A former Salina town councilor, Keib is an active member of Onondaga County’s Civil War Flag Committee which has been restoring flags from the war which started 150 years ago in Charleston, S.C.
Besides preserving military flags of the era, Keib has dedicated many hours of research into the Liverpool Cemetery Restoration project, helping to replace damaged, illegible and missing markers on the graves of Civil War veterans. In fact – while he works a day job as director of corporate business development and government relations for the C&S Companies – Keib is a founding member of the Liverpool Veterans Gravesite Committee.
Audio walking tour
His efforts alongside local historians and the American Legion at Liverpool Cemetery have borne solid successes. Keib helped raise money for headstones for 35 unmarked graves of Civil War veterans there. He and Liverpool Historian Dorianne Gutierrez have also developed an audio walking-tour program about the service and sacrifice of 60-plus Civil War veterans buried in the cemetery.
You can download an MP3 audio version of the walking tour at Liverpool Public Library’s Web site, lpl.org. The veterans discussed on the recording served in battles from Bull Run to Appomattox Courthouse. They served in infantry regiments, light and heavy artillery regiments and cavalry brigades. Some were POWs, some were wounded in action and others gave their lives while serving in that costly War Between the States.
Parade ends at cemetery
After Monday morning’s speeches, student awards and a roll call of veterans who have died over the past year, the Memorial Day Parade will form on Second Street. The paraders will march west on Oswego Street and north on Tulip Street to make their way toward Liverpool Cemetery where “Taps” will be sounded and a firing squad will salute the fallen heroes, according to Post 188 member Fred Wyker, a World War II veteran who’s marking his 32nd year as general chairman of Liverpool’s Memorial Day observance.
Longtime Parade Marshal Garrey Curry, a Vietnam vet, will coordinate the parade from his seat atop a golf cart. Curry has helmed the parade for more than a quarter-century.
To get involved, call Curry at 451-1558, or Wyker at 457-5468.
Library out-polls school budget
The single highest vote-getter in last week’s school-budget vote was Liverpool Public Library.
While the Liverpool Central School District’s $133 million budget was approved with 1253 votes, the library’s relatively miniscule budget of $3.6 million drew 1557 yay-sayers, as well it should. Widely regarded as one of the best libraries in Upstate New York, LPL is worth every penny, and district voters know it!
Sharkapaloozas start Thursday
Don’t be dissuaded by all those girls spilling out of their halter tops and the goofus guys wearing their ball caps backward.
If you dig Southern rock or just enjoy the gorgeous grind of electric guitars, you’ve got to catch Frostbit Blue when the Oswego-based band kicks off Sharkapalooza season at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at Sharkey’s Eclectic Sports Lounge, at 7240 Oswego Road (a.k.a. Route 57).
Frostbit Blue is a Syracuse Area Music Award-winning rock combo that plays music by the Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker Band as well as original tunes like “Lake Ontario Twilight.” For Sharkey’s info, dial 214-4116, or visit sharkeyssportsbar.com.
