This is Al Metts, This is my response without the picture attachments. The Hodges list will not send them. Subject: Re: Old Hodges Family Cemetery Dear Mr. Spurlock, I appreciate your message and I am encouraged by your active interest. YES, I will send you as much information as you wish. This fight for justice has gone on for a long time with many Hodges descendants involved. I do not know, exactly what Bruce Cobb sent, so I will start with the article that was published recently and with two attachments of the grave before and after the stone was broken, scattered, and rearranged on the ground by some descendants. The first attachment shows the grave of John Hodges and that of his wife, Frances, before the destruction. The second attachment is recent. My e-mail has limited ability for long messages, so there will be a number of messages sent. I will be interested in whether you get what you need. Thank you so much for doing this for a great Revolutionary soldier. Sincerely, Albert C. Metts, Jr. Colonel, Infantry, Retired Unithed States Army ----------------------------------------------------------- This is the e-mail copy of my recent article that was published in GRAB. THE DESECRATION OF A REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER’S GRAVE By Colonel Albert Caswell Metts, Jr. John Hodges was an heroic American Revolutionary soldier. His body lies in the old Hodges family cemetery near Hodges, South Carolina. For over ten years, vandals have been allowed to desecrate the graves in the hallowed ground of this small South Carolina cemetery. In June, 1995, The Carolina Herald and Newsletter, page 119, contained a detailed report by Mary Clyde Reid Mungo, of Lancaster, South Carolina, telling about the sadistic destruction of the tombstones in that cemetery. At that time, she wrote, "They have broken sixteen (16) of the twenty-seven (27) stones that were erected there. Some of them date back a century and a half.". One of the broken tombstones has the inscription, " Maj. JOHN HODGES / who departed this life / 24th December 1834 / aged about 78" Near that stone is a separate small marble stone with a cross at the top and the words, "JOHN HODGES / PVT. SC MILITIA / REVOLUTIONARY WAR / DEC. 24, 1834". The story tells about how pleas to the owner of the land; the Greenwood, SC, newspaper; various political authorities; and genealogical societies were futile. Today, February 3, 2001, almost every tombstone has been broken, some into many pieces. The owner of the land where the cemetery is located operates The Piney Grove Go Cart Track next to and including the cemetery. He has placed two portable toilets within a few feet of one of the graves. Customers are allowed to drive the vehicles through the cemetery and to liter the area with debris including broken bottles. Obviously, the riders are allowed to destroy the tombstones. This is a shameful disgrace for the State of South Carolina. The landowner and the vandals do not deserve the freedom given to them by that Revolutionary soldier! This brings the reader to the question: "Who was John Hodges?". He was an American, born in Essex County, Virginia. His parents were Richard and Elizabeth Jones Hodges. The family moved to South Carolina before the Revolutionary War. The father, Richard, died before the war started, leaving a widow with twelve children. As the war began, the Indians fought for England. They attacked the Hodges home and burned it. The mother, Elizabeth, took most of her children into the woods hiding them in hollow trees. John saw the Indians burn his home, capture his sister Dorothy and take her away. When John became fifteen years old, he volunteered into the South Carolina Militia. He served in Captain Samuel Rosamond’s Company, part of General Greene’s Army. John’s pension request in the U. S. Archives gives a complete account of his active service from April 1, 1780 until the end of the war. He participated in the battles at Ninety-Six and at Chaota Town. After the war, he continued to serve in the militia and this accounts for the rank of major on his tombstone. During the Revolution, he was a fifteen year old private soldier in the infantry. His many descendants are very proud. John Hodges married Margaret Long and they had two children. She died after their son, Reuben was born. John Hodges married Frances Anderson and she gave him eighteen (18) children! Every one of the twenty Hodges children lived to maturity. After the Revolution ended their daughter, Dorothy, was released by the Indians and she returned to her home in Hodges, South Carolina. The family held a reunion with every member of the family present - an unbroken family! The little South Carolina town of Hodges was named for John’s son, General George Washington Hodges. The descendants of John Hodges are many. Some still live in South Carolina. Many live in locations scattered across America. Many of them have been following the awful situation in Greenwood County as the vandalizing of the Hodges cemetery continues. The landowner does allow family members to enter the cemetery, but he refuses to sell or fence the grave area or to stop the vandals from continuing the destruction. Descendants cleaned John’s tombstone and placed it in an appropriate position on the ground. It would be foolish to try to repair it because further damage would result when it is knocked down again. Many Hodges members are participating in efforts to solve the sad problem by use of the Internet ([email protected]). Use of the list allows communication between family mambers and every action is documented. Recent contacts are being made with Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, and Governor Jim Hodges of South Carolina. Also, plans are going forward to encourage participation by the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the American Revolution. The story told here is meant to inform genealogists and other patriotic citizens of South Carolina so that they will join our crusade. We, the Hodges descendants, continue to be patient and persistent as we try to protect the hallowed graves of our ancestors. The State of South Carolina should be ashamed of allowing the desecration to continue. Hodges, SC, is several miles northwest of Greenwood, SC. To visit the cemetery, from Hodges, follow highway 178, turn east on Road 374, and cross the old railroad bed. Then, follow the gravel logging road about 200 yards. Across a gully east, the old Gaelic stones can be seen in the woods. Today, that is a sad sight.