By Brent Hardin

EAGLE - The lone African-American Civil War veteran buried in Cass County received a special tribute Saturday 144 years after his service to his country ended.

Members of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War joined other residents to honor Wyatt Hogan at Eagle Cemetery on a snowy morning. The 10 a.m. ceremony honored Hogan's service to the Union in the Civil War from 1863-65.

James Heng, a member of American Legion Post 197 and an Operation Desert Storm veteran, helped organize the 40-minute ceremony. The event featured men in Civil War uniforms, a ceremonial laying of wreaths and roses, a gun salute and speeches near Hogan's new gravemarker.

Heng, 65, learned about Hogan's service after touring Eagle Cemetery this past Memorial Day. He noticed many of the 20 Civil War veterans laid to rest there did not have flagholders by their graves, and he submitted their names to Cass County Veterans Affairs Office and Cass County Historical Society to learn more about the men.

Heng later found out that Hogan's grave was one of those without any additional markings. He also discovered that Hogan was the only African-American veteran buried in Cass County and was one of 93 black Union soldiers buried in Nebraska. He said that disclosure ignited the idea to honor Hogan and other Civil War veterans.

"I was talking with some people and we thought 'why not get a plaque and put it on there for him? It's something he deserves,'" Heng said. "It kind of took off from there because it is pretty neat."

Hogan was enlisted in the 83rd Regiment of the United States Colored Troops Infantry Company B. The regiment was attached to several different brigades of the 7th Corps, Department of Arkansas, from January 1865 to October 1865 and served in Arkansas until Oct. 9, 1865. The regiment lost 245 men to either enemy fire or disease during that time.

Hogan also served in the preceding unit of Kansas volunteers in the 2nd Regiment Colored Infantry. That unit was organized at Fort Scott and Fort Leavenworth in 1863 and saw action in both 1863 and 1864.

Heng said it has been difficult to discover information about Hogan following the 83rd Regiment's dischargement on Nov. 27, 1865. Hogan's gravestone does not list his date of birth or date of death, and local cemetery records from that era were destroyed in a fire.

"I'd certainly like to know more about him, but without the records we don't know for sure how he came to Cass County or how long he lived here," Heng said. "I'm glad we've been able to get as much information on him as we have."