Civil War reenactor Steve Thomas plays an emotional and powerful version of the national anthem on his fife, while holding the flag behind him are members of the Seneca High School ROTC Color Guard.
Lenni Lenape Native Americans – including a princess namd Ann known for making hand-woven baskets, lived and thrived in the Tabernacle area long before European settlers arrived.
Then in 1778, missionary John Brainerd decided to build a one-room church and schoolhouse at the intersection of today’s Carranza and Medford Lakes roads to convert the local “Delawares” to Christianity. By 1888, most of the Native Americans were gone and Princess Ann, known as The Last of the Delawares, was buried in 1895 at the cemetery, behind the Tabernacle in the Wilderness church from which the township got its name.
The church no longer exists, but the cemetery, created in the early 1800s, holds the remains of many residents – including 21 Civil War veterans. The Tabernacle Historical Society paid tribute to them on Oct. 26 with its “Civil War Veterans Speak From The Grave,” presentation, the first event of the society’s 50th- anniversary celebration.
Members of New Jersey’s 8th Infantry Regiment, the Reenactors of Living History and members of American Legion Post 526 dressed in period costumes to honor those who fought in the war by gathering at every one of their graves and offering a biography for each.
The first was for Harry Myers, who served with the Union Army for three years and died at age 73 in 1903. When not fighting every major battle involving the Army of the Potomac, Myers said during free time, he and his fellow soldiers indulged in dice games, checkers and chess, and that a lot of drinking took place, according to the reenactor.
Other reenactors talked about James Snow, Jacob Emmons, Amos Alloway and Charles Bowker, who was honorably discharged in November of 1864 after fighting in more than two dozen battles. His unit fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, where the 223 lives lost or wounded are honored by a monument on the battlefield.
The reenactors giving the oral histories included Michal Rowan, Tim Boyle, Bill Boyle, Michael Roskiewich, Steve Thomas, Nick Guzman, Rich Beebe, Guy Duran Sr., Guy Duran Jr., Ramilia Scott, George Scott, Acey Wilburn and John Lowdon. Serving as Color Guard were Seneca High School ROTC Cadets Sam Schmitz, Johan Schmitz, Anthony Abrams and Hazel Brown.
Organizer Gail Corey of the historical society said the group plans more events for the anniversary celebration.
“The mission of the Tabernacle Historical society is to preserve, protect, promote and publish our local histories,” she explained. “We have been fortunate to receive grant money over the last two years that focused on preservation. Funding was received from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and the Burlington County Historical Partnership Program.
“Our hopes and plans in the coming years are to continue to apply for grant funds to further our research and publish our history,” Corey noted, adding that one current grant project the group received funding for is to document the history of African Americans who resided in Tabernacle and their contributions to the community.
“This will be accomplished by locating missing records and the census of the African American population in Tabernacle during the 1800s,” Corey said, “as well as researching genealogy studies of the founding persons of the cemetery, contacting descendants and gathering oral histories.
“All that we know of the African American population in Tabernacle is the existence of an African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery,” she added, “the resting grounds for freed and enslaved people. In the past, many Black cemeteries did not have deeds.”
Corey went on to explain that a deed was issued in 1868 for the sale of 1.9 acres, in what is now Tabernacle Township, to a Black farmer and his wife, John and Mary Ann Gray. They deeded the property to the AME Church for a church and burial ground. A copy of the original deed is in the historical society’s possession.
