Like many another Civil War soldier, Hiram Ready led a checkered military life. His adventures will be commemorated as part of a memorial ceremony to be held Saturday, October 11, by the Col. John T. Coffee Camp No. 1934 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Some of Ready's descendants, from near and far, are expected to attend. Included in the proceedings is a rare opportunity to see the elaborate marble vault of five Confederate recruits killed in battle in 1862 and buried where they fell. Thirdly, the commemorations will be followed by the Coffee Camp's annual picnic. The public is welcome to part or all of the day's events. Unfortunately, some who might have wished to attend will be prevented by other engagements. It's almost impossible these days to find a totally free date on which to schedule an event. The Coffee Camp decided to go ahead despite the conflicts. Members and guests will meet at 10:30 A.M. in the old schoolhouse yard in the center of Montevallo, and from there proceed to the Walnut Grove Cemetery a couple of miles east on the Cedar County line. From there, things will move several miles south to the burial vault, isolated in a field on the old Steward farm. Then it's back to Montevallo for the picnic. Hiram Ready lived in Cedar County when the Civil War broke out, and he joined the proConfederate Missouri State Guard. A year later, after the Battle of Pea Ridge, the MSG was disbanded, and like many others Ready joined the regular Confederate army. He was with J. Shelby on his famous raid on Marshall, Mo. At the height of the raid the Confederates found themselves surrounded, and Shelby needed all the military skills of his lieutenants, Nevada's DeWitt C. Hunter and Dade County's John T. Coffee, to rescue the command. None of these men had military training. Hunter and Coffee were lawyers, and Shelby had operated a "rope-walk," making hemp into rope and bagging for cotton. Most of the command was saved, but Hiram Ready was among the unlucky ones. Taken prisoner by the Federals, he was sent first to the Gratiot Street prison in St. Louis, then moved to the major p.o.w. camp at Rock Island, Ill. Conditions there, and in other Northern prison camps, were little better than those at Andersonville, the notorious Confederate prison in Georgia, but it isn't politically correct to say so. According to his great-grandson, Ready was interrogated with an intensity that today would be seen as violating the Geneva Convention. It must have had some effect. In October, 1864, Ready agreed to serve in the U.S. army, becoming what was humorously called a "galvanized Yankee," on analogy to steel "galvanized" or coated with rust-resistant zinc. It was understood such men wouldn't be sent to fight against their late Confederate comrades. Ready spent his year of Yankee service around Ft. Kearney in Nebraska, and was discharged at Ft. Leavenworth in October, 1865. Back home in 1867 Ready married Polly Steward, sister of Eldon Steward's great-grandfather. They settled in Vernon County, southeast of Montevallo, on 80 acres the family had patented in 1854, living first in a log cabin, then in a house that stood into the 1940s. They had 12 children to support. Ready applied for a Federal pension, but so slowly did the bureaucracy work that he was in his grave before it was granted. His widow eventually got a generous $8 a month, with a couple of dollars thrown in for her minor children. After commemorating Ready at Walnut Grove, participants will move a short way south to the elaborate marble vault built over the remains of five Confederate recruits on the old Steward farm. Eldon Steward repaired the dilapidated vault a couple of years ago. A group of young men, all of the Balltown area, were on their way to join Col. Coffee at his recruiting camp on Horse Creek. They were surprised by a Federal party under Maj. Bacon Montegomery. Some escaped, but five were killed, and were buried together on the spot. After the war, a New Orleans-style above-ground vault was constructed, with a marble cover bearing the names and dates and the words "CONFEDERATE: Honor The Brave." Over the years the heavy marble cover warped, just like wood, and cracked. The supporting stones were dislodged by tree sprouts and burrowing animals. But thanks to Eldon Steward's labors, the vault looks almost like new, apart from the cracked cover. It's one of the most noteworthy historical sites in Vernon County, a tangible reminder that the Civil War wasn't something that happened just on famous battlegrounds far away in the East. It happened right here, among our long-suffering ancestors. The SCV's prime purpose is to preserve and commemorate that heritage. And the Coffee Camp is doing its best.