1812 Society participates in City of Alexandria Bicentennial Ceremony
August 30, 2014
At The Presbyterian Cemetery and Columbarium
600 Hamilton Lane
Alexandria, VA22314
Adjacent to the Alexandria National Cemetery
The participation included a grave marker unveiling for:
The white house mentioned in the inscription on the gravestone is at now Fort Belvoir, VA in vicinity
of the Officers Club that overlooks the Potomac River. The white house was actually at that time a
long white warehouse. This was a five day battle during the period 1-5 September 1814, with the
British ships as they departed from the capture of Alexandria.
Participating from the society were four members of the Color Guard, Mike Lyman, Charles Belfield
and Hugh Markham. Attending from the society as well was Brett Decker.
First some history as printed in their advertisement of the event
Above the gravestone with installed War of 1812 society marker
Above: The color guard is posted behind the gravestone and wreaths to be presented. Below Virginia
Senator, the honorable George Barker gives greetings from the VA Bicentennial Commission
Below Mike Lyman as a member of the General War of 1812 Society Grant committee and as past
president of the Society of the War of 1812 in the Commonwealth of Virginia gives greetings
Jodi Killeen as First Vice President National, United states Daughters of 1812 gives greetings
Above: a portion of the large crowd that attended Below: Patrick O’Neill presents a summary of the
battle at the white house where Robert Allison was killed and shows his great newly published book
about the battle. Below is a photo by Lyman in 2015 from the river of the battle site.
Below Lyman & Markham recite the unveiling ritual
Above L/R are the wreath presenters: Mathew Barlow who presented the VA Society wreath; Mike
Lyman who presented the General society wreath; Senator Barker who presented the VA Bicentennial
Commission wreath; Hugh Van Horn who presented the Presbyterian Cemetery wreath; Jodi Killeen
who presented the National Society United States Daughters of 1812 wreath; and Anita Brown who
presented the Eliza Monroe Chapter wreath of the VA Society of U.S. Daughters of 1812
Above a musket salute is fired by Charles Belfield. Below is Taps played by Eileen Bedlington, Musician
First Class, USN
During the ceremony Mike Lyman presents a copy with an up-dated addendum of the Burials of War
of 1812 Veterans in the Commonwealth of Virginia to the Vice Mayor of the City of Alexandria, Allison
Silberberg. The books identifies 167 burials of 1812 veterans in the city