Civil War veteran's unmarked grave receives headstone at Oakland Cemetery
Church members gathered at Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers on Sunday for the unveiling of a headstone marking the grave of Civil War veteran Rev. Henry Edward Duers.
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The ceremony was 84 years in the making.
Church members gathered at Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers on Sunday for the unveiling of a headstone marking the grave of Civil War veteran Rev. Henry Edward Duers.
Although he thought of Ossining as his home, Duers purchased his burial plot in Yonkers. No one knew the location of his final resting place until Ossining historian Joyce Cole did the research that solved the mystery.
"We know that the impact that this man had on life in Ossining and life in the state. He started sixteen churches. One was in North Carolina, the others were throughout New York state," she said.
As an escaped slave, Duers managed to make his way through Confederate lines to enlist in the Union Army. He would serve his country with honor, ultimately becoming a religious leader. At the time of his death in 1940, he was the last remaining Westchester veteran who served in the Civil War.
"We're still here…and we're still doing the work that he planned for us to do," said church member Gwenda Jordan.
