Special ceremony May 10 to honor Civil War veteran Andrew Bee

A special ceremony honoring the man said to have captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis after the end of the Civil War will be held at East Martin Cemetery Sunday, May 10.

Scott Kuykendall, Martin Township Sexton and a bit of an Allegan County history buff, said the Sons of the Union Veterans want to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the capture of Davis, in which Andrew Bee was said to be the first Union soldier to lay hands on Davis. Bee is buried in East Martin Cemetery.

“We want to have a plaque dedication with Civil War re-enactors, we want to have a 21-gun salute with musket volleys,” Kuykendall told the Martin Township Board Wednesday evening.

“They (members of the Sons of Union Veterans) are pretty dead set on having this done,” he went on. “It’ll be a nice dog and pony show. They’ll be in full regalia.”

Kuykendall added that he has tried to do some restoration on Bee’s gravestone, but it is old and understandably weather worn. So the Sons of the Union Veterans have crafted a plaque honoring him, hoping to have it placed strategically next to his headstone.

“The cost of this for the township is zero dollars,” Kuykendall told the board. He further noted that as many as 36 Civil War veterans are buried in the East Martin Cemetery, about three miles east of Martin High School.

The Township Board voted to endorse the activity on May 10, beginning at 10:30 on what also will be Mother’s Day.

“I think it will be a nice thing,” said Supervisor Glenn Leep.

Kuykendall said the ceremony is likely to attract at least 100 people and they will try to get the word out about the 21-musket salute so it won’t startle anyone.

PHOTO: Scott Kuykendall shows the specially made memorial plaque honoring Andrew Bee, the first Union soldier to lay his hands on Jefferson Davis in the capture of the president of the Confederacy.