Civil War re-enactors celebrate Memorial Day with descendants of Union soldier buried in Roanoke

[Omaha Steve]

DON PETERSEN |Special to The Roanoke Times
Anne Turner of the Black Rose Society dressed in a period black dress and veil at a Memorial Day ceremony honoring Capt. Robert Day.



http://www.roanoke.com/news/local/roanoke/civil-war-re-enactors-celebrate-memorial-day-with-descendants-of/article_51781a12-a39a-5d8d-971f-c44453d94621.html

Posted: Saturday, May 23, 2015 11:51 am
By Carmen Forman [e-mail] 981-3334

Even though David Day and his wife used to live in a Roanoke townhouse overlooking the cemetery where his great-grandfather is buried, he never knew much about the Civil War soldier.

That changed on Saturday when Civil War re-enactors, city officials and history buffs visited Evergreen Burial Park to remember and honor Capt. Robert Day, the only Union soldier buried in the cemetery with about 4,000 veterans.

Day, for whom the city’s Day Avenue is named, spent 50 years living in Roanoke until his death in 1929 at age 93. The soldier served in a Pennsylvania infantry division during the Civil War and was captured during the Battle of Gettysburg and taken to Libby Prison in Richmond.

In 1865, he was re-captured after making it 1 mile from Union territory after tunneling out of the prison. Through the years, he kept up with his fellow escapees through the Libby Tunnel Prison Association.

FULL story at link.