Saturday, candles will be lit at each of their graves at Fredericksburg National Cemetery, a dramatic remembrance that is becoming part of Fredericksburg's Memorial Day traditions. The cemetery is next to the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center at 1013 Lafayette Blvd. Parking is limited at the cemetery. They bag the sand, place candles in the bags, then set a luminaria on each grave in the rolling cemetery overlooking the city. At dusk, each candle is lit.
Speakers tell of the war, the monuments, the individuals buried beneath the modest tombstones.
William C. Morgan is buried at No. 3615. A member of the 3rd Maine Infantry regiment, he was killed during an attack at the North Anna River. With soldiers dying by the thousands, graves were dug helter-skelter around the countryside. After the war, many of the bodies of Union soldiers were collected and buried in the new National Cemetery. Morgan was among them.