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The following article was writtend about AC Forum member Courtney Micker (20thMainerCampaigner).
We really should have an annual award for AC members like this young gentleman!
Young Preservationist Is Raising $16,000
By Kathryn Jorgensen
August 2003 WHEELING, W.Va. — “I want to bring him back,” says Courtney Micker about Pvt. William Lamson of Co. B, 20th Maine, who died during the opening shots at the Wilderness.
Courtney, who portrays Lamson, is bringing back more than one soldier. He’s undertaken fundraising to bring back the Soldiers Monument in Wheeling — to restore the 1888 monument to good condition.
This would be an ambitious undertaking for anyone, but Courtney is a 13-year-old about to enter eighth grade.
He has committed to raising almost $16,000 to repair the large granite monument in Wheeling Park.
The first time he visited the monument he found parts broken off the soldier and sailor figures and the monument dirty and vandalized.
“As I examined it I became saddened over its condition. I feel that those individuals who paid the ultimate price deserve to have a memorial that reflects our admiration,” he says. “I believe it is important for us to do what we can to keep their memories alive and show our appreciation by keeping the appearance of the monument in a better condition.”
Courtney researched the record of Union soldiers from Wheeling then contacted the Oglebay Park Commission in October 2001. The commission gave him the OK to proceed with restoring the monument. He had to raise half of the $1,600 cost for a restoration assessment. He filled out the required paperwork, contacted McKay Lodge of Oberlin, Ohio, a restoration company, and raised $800 in a month and a half.
Since then he has raised a total of $1,800 from yard sales, a raffle, presentations and donations. He needs $14,000 more. He says he will apply for grants, contact Save Outdoor Sculpture, get local publicity and hold fundraisers. “I will stick with it until it’s done,” he pledges.
Courtney’s interest in the Civil War started two years ago when he went on a fifth-grade field trip to Gettysburg National Military Park. He’s been back nine times. “There’s something about it,” he says. Not that he’s neglected other sites. He has visited all of the West Virginia battlefields and has been to Antietam four times. He knows of four ancestors from western Virginia who fought for the South.
“Watching the movie “Gettysburg” got me more interested and I started doing some research about other battles and people who fought in the war,” he says.
On a family trip to Gettysburg he met Lee Houser, president of the Civil War Heritage Foundation whose members give first-person living history presentations at the American Civil War Museum and Gettysburg Gift Center.
Courtney was up to the challenge of meeting the foundation’s standards for first-person portrayals. ”Reading the works, and listening, to authors like James McPherson, Jeff Shaara, David Valuska, Troy Harmon and Shelby Foote helped me a lot,” he says.
That summer he decided to portray William Lamson. “He was killed and forgotten about. They don’t even know were he was buried. Everybody pretty much forgot about him,” says Courtney who hopes to visit Maine one day.
He takes part is more than a dozen Civil War reenactment and living history events during the summer, most re-cently with the heritage foundation in Gettysburg over the 140th anniversary. The Micker family visits Gettysburg four times a year. Courtney is also a trustee of the Ohio Valley Civil War Round Table and gives presentations.
He wants to be a historian and has his sights set on Gettysburg and Bowdoin colleges and Duke University.
Tax-deductible donations may be sent to the Soldiers Monument Restoration Fund:
c/o Roger Micker
234 G.C. & P. Road
Wheeling, WV 26003.
We really should have an annual award for AC members like this young gentleman!
Young Preservationist Is Raising $16,000
By Kathryn Jorgensen
August 2003 WHEELING, W.Va. — “I want to bring him back,” says Courtney Micker about Pvt. William Lamson of Co. B, 20th Maine, who died during the opening shots at the Wilderness.
Courtney, who portrays Lamson, is bringing back more than one soldier. He’s undertaken fundraising to bring back the Soldiers Monument in Wheeling — to restore the 1888 monument to good condition.
This would be an ambitious undertaking for anyone, but Courtney is a 13-year-old about to enter eighth grade.
He has committed to raising almost $16,000 to repair the large granite monument in Wheeling Park.
The first time he visited the monument he found parts broken off the soldier and sailor figures and the monument dirty and vandalized.
“As I examined it I became saddened over its condition. I feel that those individuals who paid the ultimate price deserve to have a memorial that reflects our admiration,” he says. “I believe it is important for us to do what we can to keep their memories alive and show our appreciation by keeping the appearance of the monument in a better condition.”
Courtney researched the record of Union soldiers from Wheeling then contacted the Oglebay Park Commission in October 2001. The commission gave him the OK to proceed with restoring the monument. He had to raise half of the $1,600 cost for a restoration assessment. He filled out the required paperwork, contacted McKay Lodge of Oberlin, Ohio, a restoration company, and raised $800 in a month and a half.
Since then he has raised a total of $1,800 from yard sales, a raffle, presentations and donations. He needs $14,000 more. He says he will apply for grants, contact Save Outdoor Sculpture, get local publicity and hold fundraisers. “I will stick with it until it’s done,” he pledges.
Courtney’s interest in the Civil War started two years ago when he went on a fifth-grade field trip to Gettysburg National Military Park. He’s been back nine times. “There’s something about it,” he says. Not that he’s neglected other sites. He has visited all of the West Virginia battlefields and has been to Antietam four times. He knows of four ancestors from western Virginia who fought for the South.
“Watching the movie “Gettysburg” got me more interested and I started doing some research about other battles and people who fought in the war,” he says.
On a family trip to Gettysburg he met Lee Houser, president of the Civil War Heritage Foundation whose members give first-person living history presentations at the American Civil War Museum and Gettysburg Gift Center.
Courtney was up to the challenge of meeting the foundation’s standards for first-person portrayals. ”Reading the works, and listening, to authors like James McPherson, Jeff Shaara, David Valuska, Troy Harmon and Shelby Foote helped me a lot,” he says.
That summer he decided to portray William Lamson. “He was killed and forgotten about. They don’t even know were he was buried. Everybody pretty much forgot about him,” says Courtney who hopes to visit Maine one day.
He takes part is more than a dozen Civil War reenactment and living history events during the summer, most re-cently with the heritage foundation in Gettysburg over the 140th anniversary. The Micker family visits Gettysburg four times a year. Courtney is also a trustee of the Ohio Valley Civil War Round Table and gives presentations.
He wants to be a historian and has his sights set on Gettysburg and Bowdoin colleges and Duke University.
Tax-deductible donations may be sent to the Soldiers Monument Restoration Fund:
c/o Roger Micker
234 G.C. & P. Road
Wheeling, WV 26003.
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