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Eagle Scout restores cemetery, honors soldiers
However, not long ago, Brewer-Bell was not the tranquil place it is today. As a requirement for the last step in his Eagle Scout program Ethan Elmore of Chilton literally transformed the historic Bell- Brewer Cemetery from an overgrown patch filled with weeds, brush, downed trees, limbs and debris into the comforting, restful place it now is. In addition to clearing Bell-Brewer, Ethan replaced one side of the fence which was down. On July 13, Ethan, who is a sophomore at Clarke Prep, finished the last badge requirement by personally conducting a memorial service for three of the four Confederate soldiers at Bell- Brewer and dedicating a CSA headstone for Captain John Bell of the 32nd Alabama. The Clarke County Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) assisted in acquiring headstones from the Veterans Administration for Captain Bell and John W. Brewer of the 3rd Alabama. The other two soldiers buried there are Simeon M. Coates and Henry Hawthorne Smith of the 6th Alabama. A color guard of the 38th Alabama Re-enactors commanded by Steve Kennedy of the SCV, marched into the cemetery carrying Confederate flags. The January sun glistened off the brilliant colors of the flags, as the color guard stood at rapt attention at the grave of Captain John Bell, who died on Feb. 14, 1864 of pneumonia in a hospital in Casewell, Ga. The body of Capt. Bell was brought by train from Georgia back to Clarke County. And today, the musical tribute "Going Home," was offered for him. The words could not have been more fitting: "We'll have what we lost and all that we've won when this road finally takes me home." In the dedication address, Ethan told of the terrible condition of the cemetery when he began his project. He said graves of the unknowns were only indentations in the earth. He spoke of doing a great deal of research, assisted by the Clarke County SCV, and his Scoutmaster, Randall East. The research uncovered Mrs. Renae McGhee of Petal, Miss., the great-great-granddaughter of Captain Bell. She was present at the Sunday ceremony, as was Mike Hinson, a local citizen who is also a Bell descendant. Both descendants thanked Ethan for his preservation efforts at their ancestor's final resting place. Then Ethan told of what the project meant to him personally. He spoke of how soldiers of the Confederate States of America loved their country with the same kind of love that the Boy Scouts of America do. He said, "They (CSA soldiers) gave us a lot of the principles we live by today. They did their best to drive an invading army out of their country. And some of them gave their lives doing it." He spoke of the day's program as a "remembrance of what CSA soldiers did for their country." And he praised the Confederate States of America as "a good country though it did not endure long."
Ethan is a member of Boy Scouts Troop 76 of Thomasville and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Glen Elmore. The Boy Scouts Board of Review met Jan. 31 to complete the documentation for Ethan's Eagle Scout confirmation.
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