Harrison County, MS Military Data
Harrison County, MS Military Data
Luke Ward Conerly
Confederate Veteran
[Written by KAT BERGERON and Printed in the SunHerald, July 31, 2008]
For 86 years, the headstone of Luke Ward Conerly was marked by a simple, flat stone at the old Mississippi City Cemetery in Gulfport. Relatives, history buffs and Sons of Confederate Veterans will gather Saturday for dedication of a Confederate veteran's headstone.
Now Harold Connerley knows the count is 14 Yanks, 27 Rebs. Three years ago he joined the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which will provide cannon and rifle salutes for the dedication of the new headstone at the Mississippi City Cemetery, which dates to the 19th century.
Conerly, a Gulfport lawyer, Pike County historian and Louisiana newspaper editor, was 81 when buried there in 1922. For decades, a nondescript flat stone has marked his resting place beside one of his wives.
"The VA recognizes Confederate soldiers as veterans and provides headstones," said Connerley, who will drive from Indianapolis for the dedication. He will be joined by others from the family, including great-grandson Wayne Saucier of Orange Grove, who has worked with Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home to get the stone set and the cemetery open for the public ceremony.
"My father was so interested in genealogy, and after he died I continued his research," said Connerley, a distant cousin whose different name spelling is indicative of a widespread family history. "Now I have the Internet and that has helped uncover a lot more. Discovering Luke was special. He served the full four years of the war, even after a prisoner exchange. From reading his writings, I get the feeling Luke loved his native Mississippi and the Southern people."
Conerly owned a newspaper in Tangipahoa Parish but returned to Mississippi and eventually to Gulfport to form a law firm. After health began to fail, he became a resident of Beauvoir, Jefferson Davis' Biloxi estate then operated as a home for Civil War veterans.
Conerly began the war as a 5th sergeant in Company E, the 16th Mississippi Quitman Guards, later part of the Army of Northern Virginia.
"In over 40 years in the funeral service, I've never seen anything quite like this," said Bubba Lang, a vice president of Bradford-O'Keefe. "We got involved because of the headstone delivery and because the old cemetery needed to be opened. We want to provide a nice setting, so we're putting up awnings and chairs for the public."
What: Dedication of Confederate headstone for Luke Ward Conerly, with family and SCV, through the Sam Davis Camp of Biloxi and the John Slidell Camp of Louisiana conducting the ceremony.
When: 10:30 a.m. Saturday. (Aug 2 2008)
Where: Mississippi City Cemetery, Gulfport. On Pass Road, turn south on Washington Avenue at edge of Pass Road Elementary and go 1½ blocks.
Source: SunHerald
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