Former Mississippi Valley Corps of Engineers Commander Gen. Robert Crear, center, a Vicksburg native, joins Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield, left, and Memorial Day Commemoration Committee Chairman Willie Glasper in Flag Raising at Vicksburg National Cemetery. Photo by: Robert Hubbard, City of Vicksburg.)

Memorial Day 2011 in Vicksburg was better than it was last year, says parade and commemorative services program organizer Willie Glasper.
       Yet the cheers from the sparse, though enthusiastic, pockets of parade-goers scattered along the mile-long route fell somewhat short of the exalted spirit that might be expected for the 150^th year commemoration of the Civil War.
       It is eerily odd that in what should be a boom year—or rather five years to cover the entire period-- for Civil War buffs throughout the country, and especially in a Confederacy-fixated South, the Sesquicentennial (referred to as CW150) of the war barely got honorable mention at the Memorial Day 2011 activities. Memorial Day was first established in 1868 to commemorate the Union dead from the Civil War.
      At Mississippi's three National Cemetery sites, other than Vicksburg, Memorial Day passed as it has for at least the last quarter-century--commemorated, but not celebrated. Both government and nongovernment CW150 promoters and sponsors, however, had indicated in their plans developed before the end of last year that they hoped to raise a five-year lollapalooza to honor the great sacrifices and victory that resulted from the Civil War.
      In Biloxi, a thousand volunteers turned out the Saturday before May 30 to place small national flags next to the gravestones of the 17,000 troops buried there from various wars. The Natchez GAR (Grand Army of the Republic, whose history traces back to the Union Army in the Civil War), conducted its annual parade across the Mississippi River bridge from Vidalia, LA, to Natchez National Cemetery. At least 8,000 soldiers --including 1500 blacks--are buried there.
      In Corinth, a crowd of about 200 turned out for the Sunday commemoration. Corinth National Cemetery holds 5,688 U.S. fighting men, 3,895 of them unknown. Like Biloxi, Natchez and Vicksburg, Corinth showed little enthusiasm for incorporating its Memorial Day observance with the Sesquicentennial celebration.
      Many black Civil War historians and researchers are pushing for an awakened black involvement with the Civil War. The theme for Black History Month 2011 was "African Americans in the Civil War," as it was promoted by the Association for the Study of African American  Life and History, the organization founded by the "father" of black history, Carter G. Woodson.
      The vast number of blacks participating in the Civil War and the importance of their role in gaining a victory for the Union is still not generally known. Of the 208,000 black soldiers and sailors brought into the service under the banner of the United States Colored Troops, 18,000 were from Mississippi, 24,500 from Louisiana, 23,703 from Kentucky, and 20,133 from Tennessee.
       Among those calling for a greater black awareness of their Civil War heritage is Bennie McRae, the Webmaster of a family of sites devoted to black military history among other topics.
      "We should devote as much study and interest to the Sesquicentennial as we possibly can, because this is an important point of transformation from slavery to freedom for 4 million black people," McRae said via telephone Tuesday. "We ought to celebrate this fact. And we should also celebrate the reason for the victory gained by the Union Army. If it had not been for that victory, things would be a lot different in this country for all of us.
       "People just don't understand their history. They don't want to talk about slavery. But that is history. Most of us had ancestors who were enslaved. But they contributed greatly to the freedom of themselves and others. I think that's something to be proud of. I also think that it's something people should rally around and remember the legacy of these individuals."
      McRae cited the example of Congressional Medal of Honor winner Wilson Brown, a native of Natchez who was born into slavery, but who became a runaway and joined the Union Navy in 1862. Though severely wounded in the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864, he recovered and helped secure the victory for the United States. Wilson was the only Mississippian, black or white, to win a Medal of Honor for heroism in the Civil War.
      McRae says that he has been encouraging black people to research their own historic relations to the Civil War. "I've urged people to go out and study the military cemeteries and burial grounds for Civil War veterans in their communities. There are hundreds of them. I have 300 of them listed on my Website."
      Although the Civil War began on April 12, 1861, black fighting men were not recruited until the end of 1862 and in the spring of 1863, and their presence in the Union camps marked a major turning point in favor of the Union.
      "The year 2013 will be a big year for the celebration of the Sesquicentennial in the Mississippi Valley," McRae said. "That's when most of the regiments of the United States Colored Troops were brought on board. But there is cause for celebrating the black men in the Navy before 2013. These sailors became a part of the Civil War fighting forces a year before the soldiers. We should celebrate their early entry into service this year and next."
      McRae says there were some exceptions that made a good effort to combine the Memorial Day and CW150 celebrations this year. The 13^th USCT of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is a group of black enactors who replicate important battles that took place in and around Nashville and along the Tennessee state borders.
      Norman Hill, a member of the Tennessee Historical Commission and also a member of the Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, is one of the re-enactors in the 13^th USCT. Hill says the next four years should be a major learning period for blacks who have not studied the Civil War before.
      "It is time to put aside the fear of our past, and face the promise of our future," Hill says. "Many black and white historians agree that it is our challenge to fill the void of our own silence, recognize the legacy we have inherited. We should be cautious not to spend our valuable time and resources counteracting every Rebel flag, or worse to hide away and hope that we are not noticed."
      Several opportunities to connect national holidays to the Sesquicentennial will again will present themselves beginning with the July 4 holiday, the day that both Vicksburg and Gettysburg brought victory to the North in the war against slavery. On July 16-18, the Grand Opening Celebration of the National African American Civil War Museum takes place. This will present an opportunity at the national for tying together the entire scope of the black role in the Civil War and the acknowledgment of the importance of that role by a sometimes-ungrateful nation.