09/02/2024
With a Whole Lotta Help from Our Friends at the American Legion Post 484
Valerie Ratchford, volunteer extraordinaire at the Mt. Washington Cemetery and a member of the American Legion Post 484 Auxiliary, has been working on a passion project for months at the cemetery.
Valerie was concerned about the Civil War headstone of Private John A. Bogart. John was in the 70th Ohio Infantry, Company D, during the Civil War. He mustered in on September 10, 1861, at the West Union fairgrounds, and he mustered out of service in Little Rock, Arkansas on August 14, 1865, having served a period of 3 years, 11 months, and 15 days, an exceptionally long period of service in the Civil War. John’s brother, Corporal James H. Bogart, also enlisted and mustered out on the same days as John. John had another brother who fought in the 70th Ohio Infantry, Company D, in the Civil War: William S. Bogart (December 4, 1863 to June 12, 1865).
As Michael A. Knous wrote in his University of Texas thesis about the 70th Ohio Infantry, their story “is not just a narrative of battles but also of survival, endurance, and an almost unbelievable war record. (…) At the Battle of Shiloh, they helped protect the western flank of the Army of the Tennessee and had perhaps their finest hour of the war. At the Battle of Atlanta, they held their position in the center of the Fifteenth Corps line while Confederates nearly surrounded them. Without their steadfast resolve it is possible the Fifteenth Corps could have been shattered that day. At the Battle of Ezra Church, the 70th Ohio held the center of the Fifteenth Corps line again for five hours and through their actions kept the Fifteenth Corps from being split in two. The 70th Ohio was without a doubt one of the most effective and reliable regiments of the entire Western Theatre of the American Civil War.”
If you, like me, enjoy doing a deep dive into history, you can read a fascinating account of the history of the 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry at a wonderful website managed by the Ulysses S. Grant Homestead Association at this link: https://usgrantboyhoodhome.org/70th-ovi
There are memorials dedicated to the 70th Ohio Infantry is several locations: Vicksburg, Mississippi; Shiloh, Tennessee; and Decatur, Ohio. The 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry's surviving battle flag is kept in the Ohio state capitol.
After the Civil War, John Bogart married Emma Clara Miller on January 7, 1870. John and Emma lived in a house on Ohio Pike (present day Beechmont Avenue) in Anderson Township. They had two sons, Frank and LeMot. John was a farmer his whole life. He died on April 10, 1917.
His family placed both a government-issued Civil War headstone and another headstone at his gravesite in the Mt. Washington Cemetery. Between these headstones and the large Bogart family monument, an ash tree was planted more than one hundred years ago. As the tree grew, its roots became entwined with the headstones, eventually breaking them into pieces. The cemetery lost 28 massive ash trees to the emerald ash borer.
Valerie Ratchford was dismayed that a long-serving Civil War soldier no longer had an intact headstone. Val ordered a replacement Civil War headstone from the U.S. Government. For months now, Val has worked to dig out all the broken parts of both headstones, as well as the extensive base of the Civil War headstone. She has been aided in this task by another wonderful cemetery volunteer, Mary Lou Bolce. Preparing the site for the new headstone has involved Val expertly wielding a large axe to remove the ash roots and using a shovel and pry bar to remove the pieces of the headstones.
While the government will provide the headstone, the cemetery must pay to have it shipped and installed on a new base. The Bogart family monument will also need to be shored up. These tasks are expensive. Val made a presentation to describe the project to three groups of the American Legion Post 484 and all three groups - the American Legion Legionnaires, the Sons of the American Legion, and the American Legion Auxiliary - made extremely generous donations that will cover these tasks and more. When the headstone is erected, the American Legion Post 484 will join the cemetery volunteers for a dedication ceremony for John A. Bogart.
The Mt. Washington Cemetery Association is indebted to the generosity of organizations like the American Legion Post 484 that have allowed the volunteers to not only maintain, but to improve the Mt. Washington Cemetery. We are forever grateful.
Sources:
Ancestry.com
Newspapers.com
Anderson Township Historical Society
Michael A. Knous, University of Texas at Tyler thesis
Ulysses S. Grant Homestead Association
