Paul Ellis-Graham to head Sons of Union Veterans of Civil War

MONROE-Paul F. Ellis-Graham of Monroe has been elected new commander of the Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis Camp #124, Department of New York, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is the successor organization to the Grand Army of the Republic and is made up of descendants of Civil War veterans and other individuals interested in the legacy of those men who fought to preserve the Union from 1861 to 1865. The Ellis Camp has pursued such projects as the restoration of Civil War veterans' graves, documentation and recording of cemeteries throughout Orange, Sullivan, Rockland, and Ulster counties where Civil War veterans are buried. The organization is working with state legislators to amend current laws in order to protect those cemeteries from grave desecration and to prevent the sale of G.A.R. monuments. Also elected officers for 2004: Senior Vice Commander, Jeffrey Albanese; Junior Vice Commander, John Dickerson Jr.; Secretary/Treasurer, Michael S. Bennett, PDC; Camp Council, Harold "Hap" Akers, George S. Miller Jr. and Louis D. Neuburger Sr.; Patriotic Instructor, Jeffrey Albanese; Chaplain, Barry G. O'Neill; Guide, Gordon Mathsen; Guard, Fred Mackerodt; Color Bearer, Warren McFarland; Monuments/Memorials Officer, Louis D. Neuburger Sr.; Counselor, David Stiles, Eagle Scout Coordinator/Newsletter Editor, Michael S. Bennett, PDC. For the current year, the camp has undertaken two major initiatives. Members are in the final stages of raising money to restore the Lincoln Boulder which is located in front of the Nyack Public Library in Nyack. They are seeking to raise the remaining half of the funds ($1,500) to refurbish that memorial. The camp is also raising funds to replace the missing plaque for the gravestone of General Henry L. Burnett who is buried in the Slate Hill Cemetery in Goshen. General Burnett was one of the prosecuting attorneys during the Lincoln conspiracy trial in Washington D.C. in 1865. At its meeting on Monday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m. the camp will present a program on the Lincoln assassination. The public is invited to attend at the 1841 Court House on Main Street in Goshen.