By Decoration Day, 1914, Frank S. Blades, sexton, reported marking 105 old soldiers graves. Two of which were for Confederate Soldiers, Richard Fox and Samuel Elijah James. Jay S. Hoar, Professor of American Studies, University of Maine, and author of Youngest Soldierboys of Americas Saddest War, suggests that the Sterling Community Cemetery possibly contains the largest number of Civil War soldiers of any non-military cemetery. Since 1914, the number of old soldiers, buried here, has reached nearly 200.
Hoar has devoted a large part of his career to the study of Civil War soldiers. Following the Civil War, soldiers were given land for the settling in the West and the point to which the railroad was developed then would have led many to this area. Notable in Hoars Youngest Soldierboys of Americas Saddest War is the story of Alonzo McMurphy, a Civil War soldier before his 14th birthday and one who played a significant part in early day Sterling. McMurphy rode his horse in many Decoration Day parades as the oldest surviving Civil War soldier in Sterling. Alonzo Luther McMurphy died when 101 years of age and along with many of his descendants is buried here.
Many of the Civil War soldiers who took up residence in Sterling were professional people and officers within their military units. These men made many contributions to the community and were fondly remembered and honored each May. Decoration Day was first observed on May 30, 1868, on the order of General John Alexander Logan for the purpose of decorating the graves of the American Civil War dead. Since 1971, Memorial Day has been observed annually on the last Monday in May in most of the United States following a newly established federal schedule of holiday observance. Confederate Memorial Day, formerly a legal holiday in many southern states, is still observed on the fourth Monday in April in Alabama, the last Monday in April in Mississippi, and April 26 in Florida and Georgia. Memorial Day is observed not only to honor the Civil War dead but all the nations armed services personnel killed in wartime.