Memorial Day 2018: Learn about four Civil War veterans buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery
Ever since Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was established in 1868, Mount Olivet Cemetery has been at the helm of Hanover’s annual celebrations.
The tradition began when Hanover community members gathered for Memorial Day observances at Col. Richard McAllister’s gravesite in the cemetery to honor those who died defending our country.
McAllister, who founded the Borough of Hanover in 1763, was a Revolutionary War veteran and is buried under a small tablet marker at Mount Olivet Cemetery.
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Mount Olivet’s Soldiers Monument was officially dedicated on July 28, 1911, and Hanover held its first Memorial Day observance at the monument in 1912. Services have been held there ever since, as the Soldiers Monument is the final destination for Hanover’s Memorial Day parade.
“The parade is important in so many ways and to so many people," said former Mount Olivet Cemetery board member Mary Staub. "The service reminds us of the men and women who lived before us and made sacrifices for our town and for our country."
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The cemetery was established in 1859 as a non-denominational and non-profit cemetery. It serves as the final resting place for more than 1,800 veterans, including some from as early as the Revolutionary War.
According to Staub, there are eight known Revolutionary War veterans who were reinterred at Mount Olivet and 134 Civil War veterans buried at the cemetery.
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“I am constantly amazed at what there is to be learned about Hanover," Staub said. "It was on one of numerous visits to the cemetery office to ask where one of my ancestors was buried, and my research grew from there and my interest in researching the cemetery and discovering yet another dead soul is still growing."
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Here are just four of the Civil War veterans who are buried at Mount Olivet:
Corporal John W. Hoffacker died June 30, 1863 from a shot to the forehead during the Battle of Hanover. He was the first local soldier to die at the beginning of the Civil War. It is presumed that his last words were “Oh, God, I’m too close to my home to die.”
Major William S. Diller, who died March 31, 1896, served three years as a Civil War Union Army Officer with the 76th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. His brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel William B. Coan of the 48th New York Infantry commended Diller’s efforts in his official report, “Too much praise cannot be awarded to Major Diller, commanding Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers.”
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George Washington Welsh was born on Feb. 22 and shared the same birthday as former President George Washington, hence his name. Welsh only served in the Civil War for a few months in 1861 as a Private with Company G, 16th Regiment. He is well-known for the historical iron dog statue — Iron Mike — that stands in Center Square today. Welsh had the iron statue cast years before his death.
According to The Evening Sun archives:
Iron Mike originally stood on the front lawn of the home of George Washington Welsh, who lived in Hanover during the 1800s. When Welsh died, the statue was moved to Mount Olivet to look over the family burial plot.
However, the statue spooked the horses that traveled through the graveyard at the time, so the statue was donated to the borough in the late 1800s.
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Of interest: A list of York County men in the Union Army in the Civil War, Part I
Of interest: A list of York County men in the Union Army in the Civil War, Part II
John William Crapster O’Neal, MD., was a Civil War medical figure who utilized his medical practice in Gettysburg to help slain soldiers in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg. He is most well-known for identifying the deceased bodies of Confederate soldiers in his “Journal of Confederate Burials” which he used to help Southern families locate their loved ones. For the fallen soldiers he had record of, O’Neal would locate, exhume and prepare the bodies to be shipped to the inquiring families. He never received money for his efforts and was known as a “southern sympathizer” and humanitarian for his efforts.
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Mount Olivet honors all of its veterans year-round with the Garden of Honor, which features flags formed in the shape of a V, representative of every U.S. military branch. Other events such as Veterans Day observances in November and the Wreaths Across America ceremony held in December pay tribute to the hometown heroes who sacrificed their lives.
Did you know?
William S. Diller was laid to rest under a granite monument with a locked drawer. According to The Evening Sun archives:
Maybe it holds the soldier's sword, or his pistol. No family has stepped forward and no one knows what's inside, cemetery caretaker Ken Floyd said, not even more than a century later.
Mount Olivet is the final resting place of a local Civil War-era newspaper correspondent. Mary Shaw Leader walked from Hanover to Gettysburg to record President Abraham Lincoln's famous address there, and then wrote a newspaper account.
A single Confederate soldier is buried at Mount Olivet.
The eight known Revolutionary War veterans buried at Mount Olivet are Col. Richard McAllister, Henry Felty, Jacob Eichelberger Sr., Captain Casper Reineker, Henry DeWald, Christopher Slagle, Col. Henry Slagle and Johan Heinrich Welsch, according to the blog Garden of Souls at Mount Olivet Cemetery.
