A group will gather Sunday at the final resting place of thousands of Confederate soldiers to remember and honor the sacrifices those men made during America’s bloodiest war.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, the local chapter of Sons of Confederate Veterans will host a public memorial service at Soldiers’ Rest in Cedar Hill Cemetery, said Wayne McMaster of the John C. Pemberton Camp of SCV.

“We think it’s important to remember our ancestors,” McMaster said. “There’s not much going on to honor the Confederate soldiers, and I feel like it’s important to remember them. The least we can do is go out there and have a few prayers.”

The program is a precursor to Confederate Memorial Day, which is a statewide holiday Monday.

At least 5,000 Confederates are buried at Soldiers’ Rest, though other Confederate veterans are scattered throughout Cedar Hill.

“It could be as many as 6,000, but we only have the stones there for a little less than 2,000,” McMaster said.

The grave markers in Soldiers’ Rest are arranged alphabetically and grouped by state, though it is unknown who is buried in most of the graves.

“Some of them we have records of were buried two to a grave,” McMaster said. “A lot of them, we don’t have a clue who these guys are.”