The Confederate Memorial Friends Association, along with the Confederate State Historic Site in Higginsville, is sponsoring the annual Confederate Memorial Day on Saturday, June 13. At 10 a.m., refreshments will be served at the pergola, to mark the completion of restoration of the foundation of the Confederate Memorial rock. At 11 a.m., the memorial service will begin.

The memorial service will be held on the lawn of the Confederate Chapel, located on the grounds of the Confederate Memorial State park. Music by Hank Roberts will begin outside at 9:30 a.m.; the Chapel will open at 10 a.m.. The service will begin at 11 a.m., with the procession of the Color Guard into the cemetery. At the close of the program, flowers are placed by many of the veteran’s descendants on their ancestor’s graves; the public is invited to help remove the flags from the graves after the service.

The Missouri Confederate monument is modelled after the Lion of Lucerne in Lucerne, Switzerland. The Swiss monument commemorates a key episode in the French revolution: the capture of the Tuileries Palace by armed insurgents on Aug. 10, 1792 and of the murder of over 300 Swiss Guards who were protecting the king of France. This important event marked a turning point in the revolution with fall of the monarchy and the beginning of the Reign of Terror in France. The designer of Missouri’s monument, M. H. Rice, deemed the Lion, mortally wounded yet proud and defiant, as an appropriate symbol of the Confederacy. The monument is constructed of Vermont Barre granite, cost $5,000 when it was built in 1906.

The Confederate chapel, built in 1892, is one of two Confederate Chapels still in existence and the only one west of the Mississippi. In case of inclement weather, the memorial service will be held in the Chapel, which now has air conditioning!

The public is invited to come out to beautiful Confederate Park and share in this special day to honor and remember Missouri’s Confederate veterans.