The local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy will hold a grave-marking ceremony in Emmorton Saturday to recognize two Civil War-era soldiers, Edward Hill Dorsey Pue and Walter Preston.
As many as 80 relatives of the men, as well as friends of relatives, are expected to attend the event at the cemetery of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, at 11 a.m. Saturday at 1 Saint Mary's Church Road in Abingdon.
The ceremony will involve placing an Iron Cross, the symbol placed on Confederate graves (also called the Southern Cross of Honor), on the burial places.
Michael Glenn, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said this is "a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
The group decided to organize the ceremony now because "the graves haven't previously been marked. There's some other Confederate soldiers buried there as well," Glenn said.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy is open to women who are descendants of men and women who served honorably in the Army, Navy or Civil Service of the Confederate States of America.
Glenn said the organization is "purely a historical group…We are very, very seriously interested in history."
The church is having its seventh annual peach festival the same day, which is expected to be an added draw.