|
|
Notes:
The address is 4605 Miller Road, Columbus.
In 1987, a leading member of the Coweta Falls Chapter of the SAR named Herschel Harden, Jr. discovered a lone grave, covered by underbrush, deep in the woods NE of a crossroads in Muscogee County. The old tombstone identified Samuel Cooper, Revolutionary soldier. Compatriot Harden launched an effort to renovate the grave site and render the honors that were due the veteran. For two years he went city-wide to public and private sources for in-kind and financial assistance.
Today, the burial site of Samuel Cooper can be seen on the Northeast corner of a busy intersection in the city limits of Columbus by hundreds of passing motorists who stop at the traffic light and notice the 400 foot square, landscaped Cooper family cemetery with 30 foot flagpole, a 24-hour lighted United States flag. A Georgia historical marker calling attention to the REvolutionary veteran is at the roadside. A gated, wrought iron fence surrounds the plot. The patriot's grave and that of a family member are marked with six-foot granite slabs, SAR and DAR bronze markers and the old tombstone. It was the result of Harden's single-handed effort.
A proclamation by the United States President George Herbert Walker Bush was read at the grave marking on May 20, 1989. The date preceded the existence of SAR and Georgia Society Color Guards, furnished instead by ROTC units from Columbus College, and Shaw and Kendrick High Schools. A George Washington re-enactor mounted on a white stallion read the Washington, D.C. certificate of President Bush. NSSAR Secretary General James R. Westlake of Georgia, in two months to be elected President General of the SAR, was one speaker. So was the Mayor Pro-Tem. Three Columbus DAR Chapters--Oglethorpe, George Walton and Button Gwinnett--joined Coweta Falls SAR Chapter in sponsoring the ceremony and marking the grave. No descendants of the Patriot were located but over 100 people attended the hour-long ceremony.
Cemetery Photos
| |
Thumb |
Description |
| 1 |
|
Cooper, Samuel
GPS location is 32° 31' 24" N and 84° 54' 85" W. |
|
|
