BLACK STUDENT AWARDED SCV COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP

Each year the Americus Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) Camp 78 awards College Scholarships to two graduating high school seniors from Sumter and surrounding counties who place 1st and 2nd in an essay contest. The topic of the essay contest changes each year but always relates to Southern and Confederate heritage, culture, and history. This year the topic was "Black Confederate Veterans". Miss Kahria Hadley placed 2nd. She and her family attended the Confederate memorial service along with about 200 SCV and UDC (United Daughters of the Confederacy) members Saturday May 6 at the Masonic Lodge in Americus. Both scholarship recipients read their essay which was followed by a presentation by Mrs.Teresa Roane of Virginia who is a descendant of a black Confederate and a UDC member.

  

The group then traveled a short distance to Oak Grove Cemetery for a headstone dedication for black Confederate Peter Furlow who was a Confederate veteran in Company D of the 12th Georgia Confederate Infantry Regiment. Technically Peter Furlow was a slave but he was a trusted loyal loved and respected member of the Furlow family. When the South was invaded he accompanied his master's son William Furlow to Virginia. The 12th GA. became part of the CSA  Army of Northern Virginia and served under General Stonewall Jackson in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. On May 8, 1862 at McDowell Virginia Confederate forces were victorious. However the 12th GA was in the center of the front battle line and CSA officers Furlow, Turpin, and Dawson were killed in combat. Peter Furlow had been stationed in the rear with instructions in case of death of the officers. After the battle he searched and found their bodies and brought all three with all their possessions home from Virginia to their families in Americus Georgia.

  

The memorial service included descendants of the Furlow and Turpin families. No Dawson descendants could be located. The later history of Peter Furlow and his actual grave and burial site are unknown. The headstone honoring this brave and faithful black Confederate was placed in the Furlow family plot and is inscribed C.S.A. Peter Furlow 12th Ga. Regiment Company D. 

James W. King

SCV Camp 141 Commander

Albany GA

jkingantiquearms@bellsouth.net