Outdoor Event – Oakland Cemetery
by 3 1/2 speakers

Noon — Bring a sandwich & a lawn chair.
2101 Barber St, Little Rock, AR
Southeast corner (top ‘o the hill) at the Confederate mass grave.

Topics:

Confederate Soldier on Campaign
by Vernon Dutton, 3rd Arkansas Infantry, CSA

Military History at Oakland Cemetery
by John Rains, Oakland Cemetery

Confederate Mass Graves
by Mary Evans, (1/2 speaker) Heritage Seekers, Civil War Round Table

Confederate Mass Graves in Little Rock
by Randall Freeman, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Newton Camp

Speakers:

Vernon Dutton of 3rd Arkansas Infantry, CSA

Vernon Dutton will demonstrate a day in the life of a Confederate soldier. What the Southern Soldier had to know, wear and contend with to stay alive during campaign season. So what did the soldiers do all day? The war was life-changing for the young men and boys, most of whom had never left their hometowns. What was life was like on those endless boring days with nothing to do? Vernon is an expert in exactly that!

Vernon Dutton holds the rank of High Private in the 3rd Arkansas Infantry, CSA, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Civil War History. Since his first event at Prairie Grove Battlefield in northwest Arkansas in 1994, Dutton has participated in more than 25 national reenactments at historic battle sites, including Gettysburg, Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Pea Ridge, Red River Campaign, and Antietam.

Dutton was recognized in 2013 for his first book, “Civil War Reflections,” an anthology of original poetry and prose that honors the battles, soldiers, and spirits, as well as contemporary reenactors who recreate historic moments from the American Civil War. In December 2019, his latest work, “Assassins of History: Creators of Chaos,” will be released. He also appeared in a local film about David O. Dodd.

Dutton served his country as a decorated United States Marine Corps helicopter pilot in Vietnam and taught flight training in Pensacola, Florida after his tour of duty. He is a retired attorney, a retired executive of a large insurance agency, and holds a 4th Degree Black Belt in Aikido. Vernon practices Qi Gong for mental clarity and physical longevity. He and his wife Nancy have been together for more than 52 years. Vernon is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Civil War Roundtable.

John Rains, Sexton of Oakland Cemetery

John Rains was born in Greenville, Mississippi. John had the choice to join the Navy in 1982 but chose to join his father in his optical business instead. They moved (as a family) to Little Rock in 1990 where John continued pursuing his other interest in jewelry repair. His father always instilled in him to diversify, no matter what job he had. This worked well for him through several, very different “careers” over the years. One of the most enjoyable was being an explosive technician for Arkansas and Southern Missouri, then as an interior installer working with the avionics department for Dassault Falcon Jet. After a couple of other inconsequential jobs, he landed right where he thinks he was meant to be, as the sexton for Oakland & Fraternal Historic Cemetery Park. He has been sexton for over 10 years and has found it most rewarding in many ways.

Did you know? While Little Rock was under Union occupation, there was a Union hospital for smallpox on the site of Oakland Cemetery? There are union soldiers buried at National Cemetery? There is a Confederate mass grave at Oakland containing 900 burials? There is a Confederate mass grave at adjoining National Cemetery containing 640 more disinterred from Mount Holly? A lot of war dead associated with the site?

Mary Evans & Randall Freeman, Confederate Mass Graves

Mary will give a brief discussion of Confederate mass graves that are located all over the south; known or unknown, on or off battlefields. Confederate casualties were never given the same burial rites as the Union boys. Some still lie in ditches or cornfields across the south. Many families never learned the location of their loved ones. The impact of MIAs & the losses felt by the families is relevant then & now. What about the possibilities of 900 genealogical brick walls?

Randall will talk about the mass grave here in Oakland. He knows who the 900 are, where they came from, the history of the obelisk & much more.

Randall Freeman was born in Harrison, Arkansas, raised in the rugged Searcy County Ozarks. His mother was an avid genealogist long before the internet and spent hours in courthouses, libraries, and sending correspondence in search of information. She dragged Randall in and out of cemeteries his entire young life. One time in particular, at the grave of his great-great-grandfather, John Caldwell Calhoun Freeman, Randall learned he was a Confederate soldier.

As life went on, time went by and as both parents passed, Randall developed an interest in the Civil War. He discovered 33 Confederate Freemans just on his paternal side. He got involved in local Southern heritage events and joined the local Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He has now been Commander of the oldest Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp West of the Mississippi River for the last 5 years (Newton Camp.)

Eventually, (fate) Randall turned up in the Confederate section of Oakland. He began doing research on the cemetery and made a discovery that his mother never could. She and others worked tirelessly to find the place of burial of a young man who would be my great-great-uncle on her side of the family. Through research, I found him resting at Oakland Confederate Cemetery. He is one of the 900. “Sometimes when I am there, I speak his name aloud, as I wish I could for all these young heroes. Reece Jefferson Kimbrell.”