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11th Mass. Honors Forgotten Civil War Veterans

On May 25th, the Boston Volunteers held memorial services on Long Island in Boston Harbor, at a neglected and severely damaged cemetery. The cemetery is the last resting place for as many as 3000 people, many of whom were indigents who died while being cared for at former "alms-houses" and a hospital for incurables on the islands in Boston Harbor. Among those buried in the cemetery are approximately 79 Civil War Veterans.

Long Island currently serves as a Boston Fire Department training facility, police shooting range and Department of Public Health facility, and public access to the island is limited by the City of Boston. Over the years, the cemetery was neglected and became overgrown with brush and trees. Some time over the past winter, city workers attempting to clear away some of this growth, mistakenly destroyed and/or displaced many of the headstones. The City of Boston is currently in the process of identifying the gravesites and is attempting to restore the cemetery.

4th Annual Remembrance Day Weekend Trip

November 13th through 16th, 2003

Once again, the Boston Volunteers and the Department of Massachusetts, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War are teaming up to sponsor their annual bus trip to Gettysburg for Remembrance Day, Nov. 13 - 16, 2003.

This year, along with the Remembrance Day Parade and ceremonies at the Gettysburg battlefield, more than 40 participants will take a special day-long tour of the Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg battlefields, in Virginia.