TX Cooke Memorial Cemetery and Liberty City Cemetery, Liberty, and Linney Cemetery, Dayton, Liberty County, 1/30/2021

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This Edition of Cemetery Saturday begins at Cooke Memorial Cemetery in Liberty Texas. If you've followed my posts here in CivilWarTalk for the last 11 months you may have noticed that all of my Civil War road/day/field trips have been for cemetery visits, except the CWT Shiloh Muster last year and there were plenty of cemetery visits there too. Unless something changes, it looks like that pattern will continue for me this year until after Labor Day Weekend at least. Knowing that, I spent almost the entire month of January scouring the records of Central Texas cemeteries in anticipation of 6-9 regularly scheduled weekend trips to Lake Whitney,Texas and Waco,Tx, beginning in February and running through Labor Day weekend. Got some really good ones lined up too. Got a little antsy waiting for February, so about a week ago I started looking for something close to home for a quick visit. My attention turned to Liberty County, northeast of my home. Lotta Civil War and Texas Revolution history there even though no battles were fought there. Liberty,TX is the county seat of Liberty County and is right on the banks of the Trinity River. 5.5 miles to the west, at the western edge of the Trinity River basin, is Dayton, Texas. Picked out 2 cemeteries in Liberty and one in Dayton for visits. Had to drop my spouse off at a church event at 8:30am and pick her up late in the afternoon. Liberty was/is a little over 40 minutes from the church. I busted a move and picked Cooke Memorial Cemetery as the first stop.
 
Lotta history with the land itself. The original owner of the land was a Texas Revolution veteran and a Civil War veteran who was killed in the Battle Of Franklin. Read the cemetery's historical marker. I looked him up in fold3. He was a Sgt. in Co. I, 25th Texas Cavalry.

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Cooke Memorial Cemetery is also known as Griffin Methodist Cemetery. Here is the cemetery's FindAGrave page:



The cemetery is very well kept and has plenty of room for future burials. It's also very secure. It is behind the City Of Liberty Police Department, Liberty Fire Department and Liberty City Animal Shelter. I'm guessing it's very well-lit at night too.
 
1st Sgt. Henry Steusoff, Co. F, Waul's Texas Legion. At first, I couldn't find a thing in fold3 for this soldier. Then I checked Ancestry. According to Census records, he was born in Germany. In all the records on Ancestry, his last name is spelled 4 different ways. Pension records have him under "Stensoff" although that's not how he filled the application out or signed it. He had good handwriting and he signed it "Steusoff". It was filed in September 1903 and approved on March 17, 1904. I then checked the roster of soldiers for Waul's Texas Legion in the NPS database which confirmed his Confederate records being under Henry "Stensoff". In fold3 there are 13 pages of records. At age 31, he enlisted for 3 years and was appointed 4th Corporal on October 15, 1861. He was present on all Company Muster Rolls, the last in fold3 being for Jan.-Feb. 1864. He rose steadily in rank to 1st Sgt. sometime apparently after he was captured at Vicksburg of 7/4/1863 and paroled on 7/9/1863. His written parole is his last fold3 record.




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Pvt. Richard M. Perryman, Co. F, 5th Texas Infantry. The reason I chose to go to Cooke Memorial Cemetery first was because, according to FindAGrave, only 3 Confederate veterans were buried there in marked graves and the gravestones were Confederate gravestones. I figured they'd be easy to find. When I pulled into the cemetery and was near what turned out to be the oldest section, I spotted a couple of Confederate stones from the driveway and stopped there. I had all the soldiers' names and units written down from FindAGrave on a piece of paper to check off as I found them. This was the second gravestone I spotted. I couldn't read much of the stone. It was covered with organic matter. Got a rag and some water from my truck and cleaned it as best as I could. This soldier does not have a memorial in the cemetery's FindAGrave page. Hood's Texas Brigade...exciting stuff. Something I didn't expect to find there.

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Not sure why there is no memorial for Pvt. Perryman in the FindAGrave page for Cooke Memorial Cemetery. Lotta material on him in Ancestry and fold3. Here's the Headstone Application submitted by his son. The gravestone has been there since 1934 apparently.

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13 pages of fold3 records for Pvt. Richard M. Perryman, Co. F, 5th Texas Infantry. He enlisted on March 7, 1862 for 3 years or the war. Apparently he did not see any combat during his brief service. The Company Muster Roll for July-August 1862 lists him as absent with the note "sick in hospital Richmond since July 10, '62". The CMR for Sept.-Oct. 1862 says "Discharged. Date of discharge not known." A November 1862 Regimental Return says "Discharged Aug. 16, 1862, Richmond, Surgeon cetf. disability". Pages 9-11 of his fold3 records is his Certificate Of Disability For Discharge. He was found to be incapable of performing the duties of a soldier because of, quoting the doctor specifically, "Tertiary Syphilis of Five years(5) standing, rendering him totally unfit for service, and in my opinion his discharge would be a service done the Country." The last pages of his fold3 records are a signed receipt for $66.43 pay for March 7, 1862 - July 1, 1862. The CMRs and Surgeon's Certificate differs somewhat from statements he made under oath in his Pension Applications.
 
Pvt. Perryman submitted Confederate Pension Applications in January 1908 and July 1909. The first was disapproved for some reason I cannot ascertain and the second was approved in August 1909. In both he stated under oath that he enlisted in February 1862 and was discharged in December 1863. In both he also stated that his disability was due to the effects of old age and from the effects of "measles" which he contracted in the service and never fully recovered from. All those statements are at odds with the CMRs, Surgeon's Certificate and War Department records.

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1st Lieut. Jesse Daniel Lum, Jr., Co. B, 25th Texas Cavalry. 60 pages of fold3 records. He first enlisted as Sgt. at age 39 on October 15,1861 in Co. D, 9th (Nichol's) Texas Infantry which was a 6 month regiment. Present on all CMRs the last one being on April 24,1862 which said he reenlisted. He did so as a 2nd Lt. in Co. B, 25th TX CAV. 53 pages of fold3 records in that regiment, some of them handwritten and illegible. Mostly present on CMRs. Some of them said "Absent Trans Mississippi Department", some said he was on recruiting duty, one said he was on "nominal duty". A few Regimental Returns said he was on duty as a Drill Master. Lotta Forage and Pay Vouchers. Captured at Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post on 1/11/1863 and spent some time as a POW at Camp Chase and Fort Delaware. Can't tell exactly when he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Last record is an April 1865 Regimental Return which showed him Present. Sure was hoping there would be something about the Battle Of Franklin in his records but the November 1864 CMR said he was on recruiting duty.





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1st Sgt. Henry Steusoff, Co. F, Waul's Texas Legion. At first, I couldn't find a thing in fold3 for this soldier. Then I checked Ancestry. According to Census records, he was born in Germany. In all the records on Ancestry, his last name is spelled 4 different ways. Pension records have him under "Stensoff" although that's not how he filled the application out or signed it. He had good handwriting and he signed it "Steusoff". It was filed in September 1903 and approved on March 17, 1904. I then checked the roster of soldiers for Waul's Texas Legion in the NPS database which confirmed his Confederate records being under Henry "Stensoff". In fold3 there are 13 pages of records. At age 31, he enlisted for 3 years and was appointed 4th Corporal on October 15, 1861. He was present on all Company Muster Rolls, the last in fold3 being for Jan.-Feb. 1864. He rose steadily in rank to 1st Sgt. sometime apparently after he was captured at Vicksburg of 7/4/1863 and paroled on 7/9/1864. His written parole is his last fold3 record.




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Great looking cemetery chocked full of Texas boys. Is he the only member of Waul's Texas Legion buried there.
 
One for the medical folks. Asst. Surgeon James P. Cooke, Co. F&S, 47th Alabama Infantry. This soldier is gonna take about 4 posts to do him right. Pretty good little writeup about him in his FindAGrave memorial. See the black streak running down the center of the gravestone? That part of it was totally unreadable until I wiped it vigorously with a wet rag. To the right and behind him in the picture is Pvt. Perryman's gravestone.



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Prior to entering Confederate service as an Assistant Surgeon, James P. Cooke enlisted as a Private on June 6,1861 in the Texas State Troops. The state Muster Roll Index Card doesn't say how long that enlistment was for.

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There are 41 pages of fold3 records for Asst. Surgeon Cooke. He received his Regimental Appointment on February 12,1863 and was on a Roster of Prisoners of War of the ANV that surrendered at Appomattox CH on 4/9/1865. He was hospitalized himself for 2 short stays in Richmond due to illness during his service. About half of his records are Forage Requisitions and pay Vouchers for wages and forage expenses. There is this too in his records:

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It's a really good thing that somebody reviewed the Headstone Application submitted for Asst. Surgeon Cooke's Confederate gravestone and corrected some errors before the stone was inscribed. :D

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I stood on a concrete bench in the cemetery to take the picture below. If you look real close, you can see all 4 Confederate gravestones right down the center of the picture. If I can wrangle a quick trip back there in the early spring, I'm gonna run up there with a plastic scraper and a squirt bottle of D/2 or Wet & Forget and give each one of those stones a quick scrape and spray and let the chemical agents in the spray and Mother Nature do the rest. I've searched the soldiers' last names in the burial records in all of Liberty County. Those are old and big families in the county and I am reasonably certain that all of those soldiers have descendants still living in Liberty County. However, neither they nor anyone else has cleaned those gravestones in awhile and maybe never. Not gonna take my complete cleaning kit there and do the full deal on them. Don't wanna get in trouble. I can do a quick scrape and spray and get out of there without attracting attention. I was there for 45 minutes last Saturday and only 1 car made a quick pass through the cemetery. Whoever it was, saw me putting the flags out and didn't say anything.

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