MCALISTERVILLE — Even as the Civil War raged on, Union soldiers erected monuments to mark where they fought and where the fallen were buried.

After the Battle of Appomattox Court House in 1865, veterans, families and friends of the Union soldiers who lost their lives in battle commemorated their deaths with funerary memorials in new national cemeteries on major battlefields.

At Gettysburg, construction of the Gettysburg National Cemetery fostered the formation of the Gettysburg BattleField Memorial Association to preserve the Union lines.

Following the 25th anniversary of the war, aging veterans successfully lobbied the federal government to purchase vast acreage at Gettysburg; Vicksburg, Miss.; Chickamauga, Ga. and Chattanooga, Tenn., known as the “Gateway to the Deep South;” Shiloh in Hardin County, Tenn.; and Antietam, Md., and to map and mark Confederate as well as Union positions.

The states then funded thousands of memorials, many by America’s best artists, and additional battlefields were protected and marked over subsequent years.

By the Civil War’s 50th anniversary, memorials were built that included iconic symbols and figures of the area. The 75th anniversary saw the dedication of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial at Gettysburg, while the Centennial saw some southern states that had been previously reluctant to mark fields where, with the exception of Chickamauga, they had suffered defeat, taking the opportunity to raise battlefield monuments.

On the eve of the Civil War’s sesquicentennial, still more monuments were constructed.

Now, the Juniata County Historical Society is recognizing a valiant Civil War veteran with a memorial service at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 17.

“We hope you will join the Juniata County Historical Society as we hold a memorial service for one who never got the funeral he deserved after he gave his life for the unity of our country at the age of 21,” Juniata County Historical Society volunteer Jessica Eaton Guyer said.

Corp. Robert Lyons, of Mercersburg, enlisted in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and was assigned to Co. I of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry.

This unit lost many of its men in the attack at Fort Wagner, a beachhead fortification on Morris Island, S.C., on July 18, 1863.

Sound familiar? Movie or history buffs might remember the 1989 Civil War film called “Glory,” starring Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick. Lyons was among those who died and is assumed to be buried in a mass grave there.

“Glory” depicts the battle where Lyons lost his life. His memorial marker has been placed here with his family.

His two brothers, William and Edward, who also served as sergeants in the USCT, eventually relocated to Fayette Township in Juniata County. They are buried in the Lost Creek Presbyterian Cemetery, 455 Musser Road, McAlisterville.

For the last two decades, Bob Resig, of Hanover, York County, and Jeannette Molson, of California have worked together tirelessly to place gravestones on the unmarked graves of Civil War soldiers.

“They reached out to us to ask us to do this,” Guyer explained.

Molson is a descendant of the Lyons family, and wanted to place a memorial for him near his brothers’ final resting place. With the help of Robert Mosko, who assists with cemetery restoration, Resig and Molson worked with Rev. Graham Fowler, of the Lost Creek Presbyterian Church, and placed a white marble stone for Lyons last year next to his family members.

“We will dedicate it on May 17 – Armed Forces Day – and give him the memorial he never received,” Guyer added.

Sam Leister, of Licking Creek, will provide the memorial remarks dressed in his Bucktail Civil War uniform. A historical society member, Leister is also a Civil War reenactor and pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church in Mifflintown.

Also, Juniata County Veterans Council will close out the event by placing the metal marker with flag and playing the final bugle call.