The Pictures

Where is Vaiden, Mississippi?

Vaiden's Confederate Cemetery Section

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat, the soldier's last tattoo;
No more on life's parade shall meet, the brave and daring few;
On Fame's eternal camping ground, their silent tents are spread;
And Glory guards with solemn round, the bivouac of the dead.

No rumor of the foe's advance, now swells upon the wind;
No troubled thought at midnight haunts, of loved ones left behind;
No vision of the morrow's strife, The warrior's dream alarms;
No braying horn nor screaming fife, at dawn shall call to arms.

Their shivered swords are red with rust, their plumed heads are bowed;
Their haughty banner, trailed in dust, is now their martial shroud;
And plenteous funeral tears have washed, the red stains from each brow;
And their proud forms in battle gashed, are free from anguish now.

The neighing steed, the flashing blade, the trumpet's stirring blast;
The charge, the dreadful cannonade, the din and shout are past;
No war's wild note, nor glory's peal, shall thrill with fierce delight;
Those breasts that nevermore shall feel, the rapture of the fight.

Like the dread Northern hurricane, that sweeps his broad plateau;
Flushed with the triumph yet to gain, came down the serried foe;
Our heroes felt the shock, and leapt, to meet them on the plain;
And long the pitying sky hath wept, above our gallant slain.

Sons of consecrated ground, Ye must not slumber there;
Where stranger steps and tongues resound, along the heedless air;
Your own proud land's heroic soil, shall be your fitter grave;
She claims from war his richest spoil, the ashes of her brave.

So 'neath their parent turf they rest, far from the gory field;
Borne to a Spartan mother's breast, on many a bloody shield.
The sunshine of their native sky, smiles sadly on them here;
And kindred hearts and eyes watch by, The heroes' sepulcher.

Rest on, enbalmed and sainted dead ! Dear as the blood you gave;
No impious footsteps here shall tread, the herbage of your grave;
Nor shall your glory be forgot, while Fame her record keeps;
Or Honor points the hallowed spot, where Valor proudly sleeps.

Yon marble minstrel's voiceful stone, in deathless song shall tell;
When many a vanished age hath flown, the story how ye fell;
Nor wreck nor change, nor winter's blight, nor time's remorseless doom;
Shall dim one ray of Holy light, that gilds your glorious tomb.

The Bivouac of the Dead, by Theodore O'Hara

When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

The Vaiden Confederate Cemetery Section is located at the southwest corner of the original cemetery, and is still referred to as the Shongalo Cemetery.

Although not Confederate, a grave of historic significance is that of John Cain, a Revolutionary War Drummer Boy. He was born December 12, 1766, and died April 17, 1854.

Nearby is another military grave. The marker bears the following inscription: "Lucas C.S.A. Alabama 1862." This is the grave of an ill confederate soldier whom Mrs. Mary Pleasants nursed in her home and after his death, had him buried in Shongalo Cemetery.

In the southwest section of the cemetery is a plot with a stone bearing the inscription, "32 Soldiers Known Only To God." These soldiers died in skirmish fighting between Union and Confederate soldiers, when the Union soldiers divided into smaller units and began raiding through the country. A fierce skirmish occurred just east of Vaiden, near "Briarwood" plantation, with General Grierson in command of the Union soldiers. The sick were treated and the dead buried by the Wilson family of "Briarwood." Due to the humaneness shown the Union wounded and dead, the remaining Union soldiers were ordered not to destroy "Briarwood." Because of the confusion and destruction resulting from the war, the identity of many of these Union and Confederate soldiers who were killed are unknown, but the burial plot remains, and interesting history is kept alive.

On one side of the cemetery's Confederate Memorial, is the inscription: "Dedicated to the Memory of the Confederate Soldiers, Known and Unknown, Who Gave Their Lives During the War for Southern Independence 1861-1865 and are Buried in this Cemetery."

Before the turn of the century, Joseph Vaiden Herring cared for the graves in this plot and many other graves in the cemetery, and through his interest, the Vaiden Chapter of the U.D.C. was organized. On memorial Day, the children would gather at the Courthouse, have a ceremony, and march to the cemetery to place flags and flowers on these 32 graves marked by a single brick.

Through the efforts of Mrs. Mable Wilson Bruce and the cooperation and support of interested citizens, the present marker was erected which bears the following inscription:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.

In 1974, the Vaiden Garden Club spearheaded a drive for overall restoration of the cemetery, including the Confederate Section. Through extensive research from an article found in the Commercial Appeal, a discovery was made leading to the renovation and identification of Confederate and Union soldiers buried in this section. This had led to many painstaking hours of work, of which much is outlined in this page.

Dedication of the Vaiden Confederate Cemetery Section

Photos

Memorial Flags

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 8

Flags of the South

Articles

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

Article 4

Article 5

Article 6

Article 7

Article 8 & 9

Article 10

Article 11

Article 12

Article 13

Article 14

Article 15

Article 16

Lists

Grave List 1

Grave List 2

Vaiden and Carroll County Soldier List

CSA Hospital Death List -- Cover

CSA Hospital Death List -- Credits

CSA Hospital Death List -- # 1

CSA Hospital Death List -- # 2

Vaiden group finds graves of soldiers

By Nancy Parkes

Special to the Clarion-Ledger, 06/13/1993

(Transcript of Grave List 1 & 2 (listed above))

The Vaiden Cemetery Association (P.O. Box 206, Vaiden, MS 39176), with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Alan Whitehead of Hernando, have identified the gravesites of 37 Confederate soldiers.

They include Pvt. George W. Alexander, Company F. 4^th Missouri Infantry, who died Dec. 19, 1862; Pvt. Allen D. Boon, Company 1, 1^st (King’s) Infantry, Mississippi State Troops, who died March 27, 1863; James E. Boyd, Company C, 1^st (King’s) Infantry, Mississippi State Troops, who died Feb. 21, 1863; Pvt. C.C. Brewster, Company L, 18^th Alabama Infantry, who died June 5, 1862; Pvt. James Brewster, Company L, 18^th Alabama Infantry, who died in June of 1862; Pvt. J.M. Caver, Company I, 19^th (Dockery’s) Arkansas Infantry, who died Dec. 27, 1862; Pvt. J.M. Clampit, Company J, 9^th Texas Cavalry, who died Dec. 8, 1862; Pvt. Abner Clerk [Clark], Company C, 1^st Florida Infantry, who died June 2, 1862; Pvt. Richmond C. Claunch, Company K, 12^th Louisiana Infantry, who died Nov. 11, 1862; and Cpl. Adam C. Crockerel, Company H, 50^th Tennessee Infantry, who died Nov. 27, 1862.

Others include: Pvt. Howell A. Curtis, Company C, 1^st Mississippi Light Artillery, who died Oct. 20, 1962; Pvt. W.H. Dawsib [Dawson], Company B, 2^nd Infantry Battalion, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died Nov. 14, 1862; Pvt. E. Eveling [Ebeling] [Ed. Note: This name is listed on Find-A-Grave as Pvt. E.E. Beling], Company E, 2^nd Infantry Battalion, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died Nov. 14, 1862; Pvt. Jeff C. Evans, Company E, 1^st Infantry Battalion, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died Nov. 14, 1862; Pvt. John B. Flowers, Company A, 20^th Mississippi Infantry, who died Dec. 23, 1862; and William R. Flowers, Company C, 1^st Mississippi Light Artillery, who died Oct. 26, 1862.

Others include: Pvt. William G.M. Gordon, Company D, 14^th Mississippi Infantry, who died Nov. 9, 1862; Pvt. James Graham, Company E, 37^th Alabama Infantry, who died Dec. 19,1862; Pvt. J.W. Green, Company F, 38^th Mississippi Infantry, who died Oct. 21, 1862; Pvt. John L. Gunnells, Company L, 1^st Mississippi Light Artillery, who died June 23, 1862; Pvt. James E. Helms, Company B, 3^rd Missouri Infantry, who died April 5, 1863; Sgt. C.L. Hibbert, Company C, 2^nd Infantry Battalion, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died April 24, 1863; Pvt. John Keaton, Company F, 10^th Tennessee Infantry, who died Jan. 7, 1863; Pvt. F. Knowl, Co. A, 1^st Infantry Artillery, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died Nov. 14, 1862; and Pvt. John D. McDougal, Company H, 31^st Alabama Infantry, who died Jan. 2, 1863.

Others include: Pvt. James McPeters, Company H, 50^th Alabama Infantry, who died June 8, 1862; Pvt. Alex M. Morrison, Company G, 20^th Mississippi Infantry, died Feb. 18, 1863; Pvt. Samuel J. Oliver, Company F, 1^st Infantry Battalion, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died Oct. 23, 1862; Pvt. M.C. Parker, Company B, 2^nd Infantry Battalion, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died Jan. 8, 1863; Pvt. Wesley Rodgers, Company I, 20^th Mississippi Infantry, who died May 29, 1863; Pvt. Hugh Smith, Company L, 18^th Alabama Infantry, who died June 20, 1862; Pvt. Martin Sussen, Company B, 1^st Infantry Artillery, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died Nov. 25, 1862; Pvt. Franklin H. Tanner, Company C, 1^st Mississippi Light Artillery, who died May 5, 1863; Pvt. F.M. Truitt, Company B, 2^nd Infantry Battalion, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died Nov. 23, 1862; Pvt. E. Willrodt, Company F, 2^nd Infantry Battalion, Waul’s Texas Legion, who died Nov. 11, 1862; Pvt. C.W. Wood, Company H, 50^th Alabama Infantry, who died June 14, 1863; and 1^st Lt. Williams P. Young, Jr., Vaiden Light Artillery, who died May 17, 1862.

Send queries to Family Trees, P.O. Box 387, Louisville, MS 39339.

Confederate Section Dedication – 1993

Dedication Announcement

Program Cover

Program Contents

Program Insert

Songs of the South

Entertainment

Yankee Atrocities

CORRECTIONS:

Pvt. George W. Alexander’s birthdate listed as UNKNOWN, should be 1832

Corp. Adam C. Crockerel’s birthdate should be 1832

William W. Cain’s death date listed as 1859 should be 1929

William C. Billingsley’s birth date listed as 1837 should be 1857

Markers not listed elsewhere on this page:

Corp. George M. Red – Photo 1 Photo 2

Pvt. Rufus A. Moorehead

. . . . . . End of Corrections . . . . . .

ADDITIONS:

Private Albert Ivey – d. 1862

1937 Interview with Elbert Myers (Colored), Age 86, Vaiden, MS

From the W.P.A. Files, 1936-1938, Carroll County, Mississippi.

Elbert Myers, who was born a slave in 1851, property of Tommy Harris, relates the following:

I was taken from my mother at the age of five years, carried up to Old Marster's house, trained up as a house and yard boy. We were living near Old Shongalo, then one mile west of Vaiden. We lived there until the Harris Academy burned then moved up to what is now called the old Colmery place; Marse Jim, my young master, was a member of the Vaiden Artillery under Captain Baines.

One day when ole Marster was kinder sick, the dogs started barking and just kept on barking. Ole Miss told me to go see what they were barking at. When I walked out the door, I saw lots of men on horseback. They said, "Boy, we want that horse you have here;" I said "'Tain't no horse here 'cept Marster's ridin' horse;" They said, "We want the horse; if you don't get him we are going to kill you." So I turned Marster's horse, 'a big clay bank,' out of the stable. They cussed and said that the one thay were looking for was a big white horse, the swiftest animal in the country; and they wanted him for their lieutenant. The horse that they were looking for was the one that had been run out from Yazoo City.

You see, these men were Yankees. About that time, I heard young Marse Jim come riding the white horse through the woods, he rode up and said, "What the ____ are you doing here?" They said, "We want that horse you are riding." Marse Jim said, "You can't get him; this horse is mine." They said, "If you will go with us up to this little "Hog Hole" (meaning Vaiden) and prove he is yours, we will give you $200." About that time, Mr. Arl Caldwell from Vaiden rode up and asked what the trouble was. He said "You can't do that. Jim is a paroled soldier." This horse belonged to Dr. C. Gadberry of Lexington. Anyway, they took the horse but left Marse Jim his saddle.

. . . .

I went to the war and stayed three weeks and came back; I didn't like it. When Captain Forrest and Jefferson Davis ordered all troops to Vicksburg, Ole Marster carried Marse Jim and Mr. Arl Caldwell back to their regiment. I went with them. We went in a wagon. During the Siege of Vicksburg, we could hear the Boom ! Boom ! of the cannons day and night; sometimes I can almost hear them now. I used to love to see them drilling the soldiers out here at Old Shongalo. Mr. Tom Purnell was the captain, and wooden guns were used in drilling. Ole Marster's oldest son was killed in the Siege of Vicksburg. I was eighty-six years old the thirteenth day of last December and am now living right in Old Marster's house, about one-quarter of a mile from the cabin where I was born.

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