About 40 Bartholomew County veterans with military service dating back to early America will be remembered with a new memorial.
A ceremony to dedicate a new stone memorial at Hawpatch-Liberty Cemetery, located off County Road 500 North on the north side of the Columbus Municipal Airport, will be at 1 p.m. Monday.
Most people don’t know the historic cemetery’s location, about a half-mile west of Marr Road, said Flat Rock Township Trustee Lisa Moore. Few have a reason to drive along County Road 500N except farmers, airport maintenance workers and perhaps a few bicyclists, she said.
The cemetery is located in what has traditionally been called the Hawpatch area — the first section of Bartholomew County to be inhabited by settlers of European descent, according to an Aug. 12, 1942 edition of the Evening Republican, predecessor to The Republic.
Among the earliest pioneers buried at what was founded as Liberty Cemetery in 1821 are Benjamin Start (died 1822), Benidictus Starr (died 1827) and Enos Owens (died 1826).
These men were contemporaries of Joseph Cox, widely considered as the first white settler of Bartholomew County. Cox, who died in 1851 at the age of 85. Cox is buried just a few miles to the south in a small plot off Middle Road, north of Rocky Ford Road.
The first Revolutionary War veteran to be laid to rest at Liberty Cemetery was Solomon Tracey (1745-1839), according to historic records. He was later joined by Thomas McQueen, a member of a prominent Clifford family who had also fought the British for American independence, records state.
Two other members of the same family who fought for their country in separate conflicts are buried there: Benjamin McQueen (War of 1812) and Joshua McQueen (American Civil War). There were also two members of the Steenbarger family who both fought in World War I laid to rest at Liberty.
When the federal government purchased the cemetery and surrounding land in 1942 to establish what was then called the Columbus Air Support Command base, plans called for moving it to make room for buildings, according to newspaper accounts.
But the military changed its plans, and kept construction to the south, news accounts state.
The cemetery remained within what became the restricted Bakalar Air Force Base (1954-1970) until the base was transformed into the Columbus Municipal Airport.
For several decades, volunteers have maintained the cemetery, and placed flags on the veterans’ graves each Memorial Day, Moore said.
“But over the years, it has gotten extremely difficult to find all the headstones as they are decorating,” Moore said.
In January 2017, the township trustee and one of her advisory board members, Charlie DeWeese, approached the Flat Rock Hawcreek Area Endowment for funds to create the memorial — and it was granted, Moore said.
Four months later, a $3,500 grant administered by the Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County was approved. When the stone arrived, about $1,000 worth of carving was donated by Columbus businessman and former county coroner Larry Fisher, Moore said.
Although the finished memorial was put in place in November, a decision was made to hold off on the official dedication until Memorial Day, Moore said. The ceremony will include a 21-gun salute from an honor guard and speakers.
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What: Dedication of the Hawpatch-Liberty Veterans Memorial.
When: Monday, 1 p.m.
Where: Hawpatch-Liberty Cemetery, located off County Road 500N, one mile west of Marr Road on the north side of the Columbus Municipal Airport.
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