General Grant to be the Speaker for the Mound City, Illinois, National Cemetery Memorial Day Ceremony, on May 29th, Instant

The Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission will hold its annual Memorial Day gathering this year in a different location. The National Cemetery Administration forbids any public programs at the national cemetery. For this reason, the Memorial Day program will take place at Veteran’s Park in Mound City on Saturday, May 29th at 10:00 am.

This year’s speaker will be General Ulysses S. Grant, Commander of the Federal Forces at Cairo, Circa 1861. Portraying the Union general will be Dr. Curt Fields, a nationally recognized Grant historian from Memphis, Tennessee.

During the 150th Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, Dr. Fields portrayed General Grant during events at Fort Donelson and Shiloh, TN, Vicksburg, MS, and at the 150th anniversary of Lee’s Surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House, VA in 2015. He also portrayed the General at Appomattox in 2012, 2013, and 2014 and every year since the 150th. He appears as General Grant in the Visitor Center film at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. Dr. Fields also appeared in the Discovery Channel three-part documentary series “How Booze Built America” as General Grant.

Once again, the Annual Memorial Day Program will be held this year at the Veterans Park in Mound City, Il, on Saturday, May 29th starting at 10 am. The public is invited to an old-fashioned Preservation Picnic, held on the Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission historic “Rawlings Reservation” home located at 315 S. 4th St Mound City after the program.