MOULTRIE, Ga. — Members of the Moultrie-McNeill chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy have completed plans for their 116th annual Memorial Observance to be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 28, at the Confederate War Memorial on the Courthouse square.

This year’s speaker will be the great-great-granddaughter of local Capt. Elijah Tillman, who with 49 other Colquitt County men, left for the war Aug. 4, 1863. This unit was Co. C, 11th GA State Guards Cavalry referred to as “Tillman’s Company.”  Their ages ranged from 15 to 55. They were involved with the siege of Atlanta and surrounding area after the state was invaded by 120,000 enemy soldiers.    

“The names of 77 known area casualties will be read,” the UDC chapter said in a press release. “One local family lost six sons and another lost four, on behalf of states’ rights and small government on which this country was founded.”

Flowers and memorial wreaths will be placed at the monument. 

“Colquitt County casualties are buried on battlefields and mass graves as far away as Maryland, Pennsylvania and Northern prison camps in New York, Illinois and Delaware,” the UDC said. “Colquitt County was only five years old at the time of secession in 1861, with only 1,363 citizens, but organized three units for the war totaling some 226 men.”

The state of Georgia supplied approximately 140,000 men and April 26 was officially made Confederate Memorial Day in 1874 to honor these ancestors.

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans will be assisting with a military salute and Taps.

The Moultrie UDC chapter also announced it had raised $51,000 worth of coupons in its Coupons for Our Troops and Families. Members thanked everyone who participated.