Rick,
To order a tombstone for your Civil War ancestor, call the Department of
Veterans Affairs and ask for VA Form 40-1330 Application for Standard
Government Headstone or Marker. To organize a ceremony, contact the nearest Sons of
Confederate Veterans. I found mine by calling the Chamber of Commerce for the
city nearest the cemetery. The SCV can sell you a Southern Cross to place at
the foot of the grave also for about $100.00. Do not set a date for your
ceremony until after the tombstone that you have ordered comes in. It took about
10 weeks for J. J. Camp's tombstone to come in after I mailed in the
application. I can't give you the phone number or address for the Department of
Veterans Affairs. I have misplaced them. The tombstone is free. After you set a
date for the ceremony, contact the United Daughters of the Confederacy and ask
them to participate in the ceremony also. They usually need 2 to 3 months to
schedule their events.
My son and I are Civil War Re-enactors so we are participating with
others from our re-enactor unit in a 21 gun salute. If you know any re-enactors,
they can participate in uniforms and weapons from that period. I chose May
for J. J.'s ceremony because Louisiana summers can be pretty hot and our
re-enactors uniforms are wool which can get pretty hot too. Good luck. Daniel
Singleton