Group To Dedicate Monument For Civil War Hero At Calvary

More than a century after being buried in an unmarked grave at Woodside's Calvary Cemetery, a decorated Civil War veteran will be recognized for his service with the dedication of a monument in his memory this Sunday, Sept. 14.

The United States Marine Corps League New York Department will hold the ceremony at 11 a.m. at the gravesite of Pvt. Henry A. Thompson in Section 11 of the new area of Calvary Cemetery, located at 49-02 Laurel Hill Blvd.

Thompson, a Marine who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during the January 1865 battle at Fort Fisher, N.C., died in Manhattan in 1889 and up until recently had no marker signifying his final resting place.

Born in England in 1841, Thompson enlisted with the Marines while living in Pennsylvania at the age of 20 and was assigned to the USS Minnesota, which took part in the January 1865 amphibious invasion of Fort Fisher, a Confederate fort near the coastal North Carolina city of Wilmington.

One of 1,400 Marines to take part in the operation, Thompson managed to come closest to the fort during an hand-to-hand battle between Union and Confederate soldiers. According to the citation that came with his medal, he stayed with a number of wounded colleagues until darkness, then removed the injured safely back to their ship long after other soldiers retreated.

Al Cavallo, public relations officer for the New York department of the Marine Corps League, told the Times Newsweekly that Thompson came to Manhattan after receiving his medal and remained in the city for the remainder of his life, working as a varnisher.

The location the decorated soldier's remains reportedly came to light several years ago through research conducted by league members. After further investigation by Cavallo and the Kennedy-Roth Funeral Home in Woodside, he noted, it was determined that Thompson was buried in an unmarked grave in Calvary Cemetery.

Last year, a Marine Corps color guard and local veteran groups gathered at the site for a formal memorial service in Thompson's memory. A military headstone provided by the Veterans' Administration was placed at the gravesite.

Cavallo noted that the Kennedy- Roth Funeral Home donated funding to purchase and install the memorial stone that will be dedicated at the gravesite this Sunday. Numerous dignitaries and elected officials have been invited to attend, including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, Representatives Joseph Crowley and Anthony Weiner, Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, State Sen. Serphin Maltese and City Council members Eric Gioia and Anthony Como.

Editor's note: Information about Thompson's life and military service as well as the battle of Fort Fisher was compiled from the North Carolina Historic Sites website, www.nchistoricsites.org; the National Atlas overseen by the U.S. Department of Interior, www.national atlas.gov/articles/history/ a_civil war.html; and the U.S. Marine Corps League.