Sunday, August 9, 2009

Do You Have Any Civil War Veterans in Your Town?

In the cemetery that is…

I grew up in Shawnee, Oklahoma, a town in the central part of the state. There were a number of Civil War veterans (mostly Union) whose final resting place was in the city cemetery in Shawnee. While growing up, I liked to ride my bicycle to the cemetery and look at the headstones. At one point I even wrote down the names of all of the Civil War veterans buried in the cemetery and did some research on the military units listed on their markers.

Yesterday, I drove into Pryor’s Fairview Cemetery to take photographs of the grave sites of Civil War veterans. It didn’t me long to notice that I was the only visitor at the cemetery. Perhaps this was due to the strong south wind and the nearly 100 degree temperature? The grass is starting to look scorched in the cemetery due to our recent hot temperatures. In a highly unscientific and incomplete survey, the eleven graves that I located in Pryor were divided between four Union and seven Confederate soldiers. The Union veterans were:

Private Andrew B. Collins, Company I, 3rd Missouri Cavalry [This unit campaigned mostly in Arkansas and Missouri.]. According to cemetery records available through the Thomas J. Harrison Public Library website, Private Collins died on 9 June 1904.

Private William B. Collins, Company D, 10th Tennessee Infantry [Organized in 1862, this regiment spent the war on guard duty in Tennessee.] He died on 9 December 1905.

Private Joseph Lewis, Company L, 8th Iowa Cavalry [Organized in 1863, the 8th Iowa campaigned in Georgia and Tennessee primarily.] According to cemetery records, Private Lewis died on 23 January 1903.

Private John D. Wilkins, Company F, 29th Iowa Infantry [This regiment saw quite a bit of service including the battles of Helena, Jenkins Ferry, and actions around Mobile, Alabama.] There is no record of Wilkins' date of death in the cemetery records.

Three of these veterans died before statehood. I wonder what brought them to the Indian Territory? Next time…Confederate Veterans in Pryor

10 comments:

  1. While we have hundreds of Confederate veterans buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Tyler, Texas, we have only one marked federal soldier. His stone is similar to the bottom two that you show.

    http://tiny.cc/cCJD6

    The only information given is Henry Stapp, Corpl., Co. K, 6 Kans. Cav. No birth date nor death date. No family stones adjacent. Checking the Kansas Adjutant General's reports, he enlisted September 24, 1861 and was mustered out Dec. 1, 1864, in Leavenworth, Kansas. His widow filed for a pension on July 12, 1890. He appears in no Smith County, Texas, census. While we did "host" many members of the 6th Kansas Cavalry here at Camp Ford, mostly captured at Massard Prairie, Arkansas, he was not one of them. His death did not rate a mention in the Dallas Morning News and, as previously mentioned, the Tyler papers are almost all gone. His name does not appear on any of our Genweb pages. I have not run him through local probate, deed, or tax records. If I had to make a truly wild guess as to what brought a Kansas man to Tyler, Texas, after the war, I would have to say it might be the expansion of railroads into the area, with many new employees moving in to work at the shops and offices here.

    This might make an interesting local historical society program....

    Vicki Betts

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  2. ....I had family members move from Knox County Tennessee to Texhoma Oklahoma. My Gr. Aunt was born there before Oklahoma was a state. I have no idea why they decided to move. Bob

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  3. My grandmother was born in Sallisaw before statehood. Her father was trying to "prove up" some land on the basis of being part Cherokee. He did not succeed, and the family moved back to Texas. We don't know if he was just trying to get something for nothing, or whether the family had just never made it onto any rolls when they stayed behind in East Tennessee after the removal and on through the Civil War. Incidentally, he is my only Union soldier ancestor, a member of an East Tennessee cavalry unit who spent most of his time AWOL.

    Vicki Betts

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  4. ....one of my ancestors who moved to Fannin County Texas, was a Capt. in the 9th Texas Inf. His cousin who remained here was in the 26th Tenn Inf. He was killed at Murfreesboro and is buried in Confederate Circle there. Have quiet a few Rebs in my family tree and only know of two Yanks.

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  5. The stones for the Collins brothers are unusual. It appears that someone inscribed information on the original government stones rather than burying the long bottoms in the ground.

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  6. I am not an expert on headstones, but I also felt that the markers for A. B. Collins and W. B. Collins were unusual. Has anyone seen any other headstones done in this style?

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  7. The Joseph Lewis headstone has sunk into the ground more than a foot. If it were raised it might show his birth and death dates. The Collins headstones are unusual in that the birth and death dates are inscribed in a "flamboyant" style that I haven't seen before --- and I've seen about 400 civil war era headstones.

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  8. I appreciate your comments on the headstones. It's interesting that the Pryor cemetery includes some rarities in regard to the Collins headstones, and I had not really considered the fact that the Lewis marker has definitely sunk into the ground. I wonder if anyone has ever done a scholarly study of Civil War era headstones...

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  9. My great-great grandfather, William Staines was a private in Co. C 26th Texas Cavalry. He was killed by accident July 22, 1864 in Louisiana. I suspect he was just dumped in a shallow grave and the location is long lost. I'd like to find out where the 26th was at the time of my kinsman's death. Contact me at pete1832@hotmail.com

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  10. According to Ralph A. Wooster's, LONE STAR REGIMENTS IN GRAY (Austin: Eakin Press, 2002), the 26th Texas (Debray's) Cavalry served in western Louisiana during the summer of 1864. "After engagements at Opelousas, Natchitoches, and Alexandria, the brigade [including the 26th] took its turn patroling the Atchafalaya...At the end of November [1864], Debray's Brigade was ordered back to Texas" (p. 172).

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