About how

many people does it take to clean a three-acre cemetery

in six hours?

Nearly 30

came by to help the Sharpsburg Sharpshooters, Sons of

Confederate Veterans Camp 1729 to do the job.

Turin Mayor

W. Allen Smith had asked the Camp to clean up the

African-American section of the Tranquil Cemetery. The

Camp put out flyers at the local African-American

churches as well as a press release in local papers

asking for assistance.

More than

15 church members came as well as a white church in the

area, and more than a dozen camp members brought saws,

trimmers and plenty of gasoline to give everyone

something to do.

There are

only 20 black grave sites that are marked and more than

200 sites that are unmarked. The camp has taken on the

project of erecting a cross at each of these unmarked

sites.

"We

really appreciated everyone pitching in and helping

out," said camp Commander Edward J. Lanham.

"The three-acre site was completely cleaned of small

trees and underbrush and those involved worked very hard

to accomplish the task."