Gadsden County and the town of Quincy served the Confederate war effort in many ways during the four years of conflict, with Quincy functioning as a crossroads, a military center of activity, and a commissary that supplied units with everything from socks to beef. In times of emergency, hospitals were established in public buildings, churches, and private homes, and the sick, wounded, and dying were cared for by the Ladies Aid Society, which in April 1868 became the Ladies Confederate Memorial Association. Soldiers Cemetery was established early in the war years as a final resting place for those who had no family there or were too far from home to be returned to their loved ones. The Ladies Memorial Association worked to preserve the memory of the Southern soldier even though most of the markers and names of those buried there were lost, and for years in the springtime the association held Confederate Memorial Day ceremonies at the site. Mrs. John Lawrence, president of the association from 1892-1900, raised $1,200 to erect the first iron fence around Soldiers Cemetery.