On Monday, May 20 at 7 pm at the Salem Museum, Lee Hadden will share the stories of three largely unknown men from Salem who joined the army to fight in the Civil War. The three—Larkin Burwell, William Keaton, and Ellis Kile—were slaves who fled Salem, but ultimately returned after the war. They are buried in Salem’s East Hill North Cemetery, a cemetery established for African Americans in 1869, located on the hill behind the Salem Museum.
Hadden and other members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War decorate the graves of Union soldiers every Memorial Day. According to Hadden, last year they were distressed to find that these men did not have military gravestones. On Memorial Day, May 27, the veterans group will dedicate new markers for Burwell and Keaton. Both the talk and the dedication ceremony are free and open to the public.
Larkin Burwell was a private in the 127th US Colored Troops. He was born a slave near Fincastle, and in 1864 he ran away, joined the US Army in West Virginia, and was sent to a training camp in Pennsylvania. He was present at the siege of Petersburg, Virginia in the spring of 1864, and at the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. During these actions, he was wounded in the left forehead and left leg. After he was mustered out, he became a day laborer for the rest of his life.
Corporal William Keaton was also born a slave. He ran away and joined the Union Army, enlisting in the 43rd US Colored Troops. During the war, blacks were only allowed to become non-commissioned officers, and so achieving the rank of corporal was significant. The 43rd was involved with intense fighting during the battle of the Crater. Although the regiment suffered many casualties, they not only captured a Confederate flag in hand-to-hand conflict, they also rescued a battle flag taken from another Union regiment. Keaton returned to his home in Salem, and after the war became a janitor at a local school. He was popular with the students, many of them children and grandchildren of Confederate veterans, who marveled at his stories about the war from the Union point of view.
Lee Hadden has ancestors on both sides of the Civil War. He is a retired science research and map librarian from the US Army Corps of Engineers at Ft. Belvoir, VA. Before that, he worked with the US Geological Survey, the Department of Defense (Philippines), the Department of the Army (South Korea), and the US Army Ballistic Research Laboratory (Maryland). He has written several books and articles about history and geology, and is currently working on a biography of Dr. George Frederick Kunz, a 19th-century gem expert and vice-president of Tiffany & Co.
Note: The Salem Museum’s entrance has changed. Turn off Main Street at Oakey Field across from the Berglund Ford service entrance. Then turn left to drive up to the Museum’s parking lot and entrance.
