MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE SET AT MOUND CITY NATIONAL CEMETERY

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- The Memorial Day service to be held at the Mound City National Cemetery Monday will be dedicated to the late Frederic M. Winkler, long-time mayor of Mound City, who died earlier this month, and was buried in the national cemetery.

Winkler was a member of the Mounds VFW Post 8891, American Legion, and National World War II Gliders. He was a glider pilot in the Army Air Corps during WWII.

The Monday service, to start at 10 a.m., is sponsored by the cemetery's Preservation Commission.

A presentation of colors and rifle and canon salutes will be presented by the 1244th Transportation Unit, Illinois National Guard; the 28th Calvary Reconnaissance Unit, 8th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company G, U.S.A.; and the 7th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, Company C., C.S.A.

Guest speakers for the ceremony will be John Plunk, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Veteran Affairs, and Lt. Col. John T. Hennessey Sr., U.S. Marine Corps, currently stationed at Scott Air Force Base.

Prior to the 10 a.m. ceremonies, miniature flags will be placed on each headstone in the cemetery by Meridian High School cheerleaders.

Mound City National Cemetery, located at the Route 51 and Route 37 intersection, just west of Mound City, was established as a burial place for those who died at Civil War military hospitals located in Mound City and at nearby Cairo. The hospitals had been established in the two cities in 1861.

The first patients at the Mound City hospital were men wounded in the Battle of Belmont, Mo., in Nov. of 1861. Combat at Shiloh and Fort Donelson in 1862 sent more wounded to Mound City, and the death rate began to soar.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln authorized establishment of national cemeteries for solders "who shall die in the service of our country."

A dozen cemeteries were established and the Mound City National Cemetery was among the first.

There are more than 2,600 "unknown" soldiers in the cemetery.

More than 5,000 soldiers were buried at the Mound City cemetery during the first 10 years of its existence. Civil War soldiers from both the North and South are buried there.

Burials in the 12-acre cemetery have slowed during the past decade, ranging from 25 to 50 a year. Today, some 7,500 veterans and some of their spouses, are interred in the cemetery.

The cemetery commission is looking into expanding the cemetery itself. Officers of the commission say additional property is available adjoining the cemetery to extend burials far into the future.

One of the most famous soldiers buried at Mound City is Brig. Gen. John B. Turchin, a Civil War officer known as the "Mad Russian." Also buried there is Turchin's wife, who gained fame during the Civil War by assuming command of Gen. Turchin's troops while he was sick.

Nadine Turchin was the first woman to command a U.S. military regiment. Mrs. Turchin accompanied her husband on his Civil War campaigns, serving as a nurse. She assumed command of his regiment when her husband became seriously ill during the early months of conflict in Tennessee.

She led the 19th Illinois Regiment into one of its fiercest battles during the spring of 1862, remaining in command for 10 days. Mrs. Turchin was the daughter of a commander in the Russian army.

The Turchins moved to Southern Illinois following the Civil War.