TX Shepherd Cemetery and Robinson Cemetery, San Jacinto County, and Bethel Cemetery and Wright Cemetery, Polk County, 4/3/2021

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Cemetery Saturday, 4/3/2021

This should be a short thread. I visited 4 cemeteries that day but there were only 12 Civil War veterans between them, all Confederate, and 3 of the cemeteries were very small. My son and grandson were at one their friend's parents' lakehouse at Lake Livingston for Easter weekend. It's about an hour and a half drive north from my house and I usually make a daytrip on Saturday when they're there and hang out a few hours with them. My son is not an early riser. If I leave real early I have time to do my thing on the way.

The east side of the lake is in Polk County. The west side of the lake is in San Jacinto County and you pass through San Jacinto County on the way up. The route I take goes through the town of Shepherd, San Jacinto County, Texas and Shepherd Cemetery aka Shepherd City Cemetery was my first stop. The digital record of my first picture shows I arrived at 7:45AM.
 
If you Google "Shepherd Cemetery" or "Shepherd City Cemetery" for Google Maps directions you get a map of the City of Shepherd but it doesn't show exactly where the cemetery is. Shepherd United Methodist Church is adjacent to the cemetery. If you Google the church you get driving directions to both. There is no historical marker at the cemetery. Not sure how old it is. There is a historical marker at the church. Not sure how old the current church building is but it's pretty old.

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The Cemetery's FindAGrave link is below. There are probably 650-700 persons buried there. Not sure how many unmarked graves there might be. It appears there is some room for future burials but not much. There are 6 Confederate veterans buried there that I know of. It needed mowing when I was there. It looks to me that the City of Shepherd doesn't spend/do much in the way of maintenance beyond that. As usual, I was the only one there during my hour and 15 minutes visit. I did a combination of quick scraping and spraying on 3 stones and I think I mighta scrubbed one a little with a natural fiber brush and water. I was pretty confident nobody would care if they saw me doing it. I don't always get that feeling.

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1553269/shepherd-city-cemetery/photo
 
Pvt. Eugene A. Kinnebrew, Co. D, 28th Louisiana Infantry. Only 2 pages in fold3...an Index Card and a July/August 1863 Company Muster Roll. He enlisted on July 18,1863 at age 19 for 3 years or the war. He filed a Pension Application in September 1909 which was approved in February 1910. In it, he said he served until the regiment disbanded in May 1865 and witnesses corroborated it. The War Department confirmed his service but only found the 2 records that I found in fold3. I searched in vain for a Headstone Application. According to FindAGrave he was married and had 2 children and multiple siblings. In his Pension Application in 1909, he said he had been living in Shepherd for 27 years. As near as I can tell, he has no kinfolk buried in Shepherd City Cemetery. I'd at least like to know who ordered his Confederate Gravestone. I sprayed it with Wet&Forget/water before I left. In retrospect, if I'd scrubbed it with water and a brush first I probably coulda got a lot of the discoloration off. The Cemetery is not so far off the road often travelled though that I can't check on it again some day.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32177580/eugene-a-kinnebrew


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Pvt. Hardin Vickery, Co. E, 20th Texas Infantry. 22 pages in fold3. He enlisted on May 2,1862 at age 21 for 3 years or the war. He is present on all Company Muster Rolls through February 1864. After that, his record are all Regimental Returns except one 1863 Receipt Roll for 28 days pay. Beginning March 3,1864 he was on detached duty as a Teamster in the QuarterMaster Dept. Galveston. Present as such on the RRs through March 1865. His wife filed a Widow's Pension Application on April 30,1917 which was approved same day. One of his daughters filed a Headstone Application in April 1963. I sprayed the black spot on his flatstone with Wet&Forget/water before I left.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27037336/hardin-vickery


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Pvt. Vance Vickery, Co. E, 20th Texas Infantry. Lotta Vickerys buried in Shepherd City Cemetery. 14 pages in fold3. He enlisted on April 30,1862 at age 19 for 3 years or the war. He is present on all Company Muster Rolls through February 1864. After that, his records are all Regimental Returns except one 1863 Receipt Roll for 23 days pay. In the March 1864 RR he was on detached duty as a Teamster in the QuarterMaster Dept. Galveston beginning 3/3/1864. In the August and September 1864 RRs he was "Present. Transferred to Co. A 20th Texas Infantry." He filed a Pension Application as "J.V. Vickery" in 1908 and it was rejected because the War Department found no record of his service. I guess neither he nor they knew it was under "Vance Vickery". His wife filed a Widow's Pension Application in December 1930 which was rejected in January 1932. She didn't know what unit he was in and neither did the witnesses. It was rejected "Failed to prove service". I couldn't find a Headstone Application. Pretty sure I scrubbed the gravestone with water and a brush then sprayed it with Wet&Forget/water before I left.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32450810/james-vance-vickery



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Capt. William H. Beazley, Co. K, Morgan's Regiment Texas Cavalry. As near as I can tell, that's his rank and unit at the end of the war. His records are confusing to me. There's a lot of information on his FindAGrave memorial about his Confederate service beginning in the CSN and the name of a ship/boat on his bronze Confederate flatstone. There is one record in fold3 that I found regarding his naval service. I don't know the first thing about searching Confederate naval records. Perhaps members @AndyHall or @Mark F. Jenkins can shed some light on this Confederate sailor.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32037413/william-herbert-beazley

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Capt. Beazley's bronze Confederate flatstone and civilian gravestone in Shepherd City Cemetery is in a fenced/gated plot under a sizable Magnolia tree. Had to clean the flatstone with a brush. Not much on the ground but dirt and dead magnolia leaves and it was a very overcast day. Dreary pictures.


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I looked briefly in Block's Schooner Sail to Starboard, but didn't see a mention. Will look at a few more sources later when I have some time... but I doubt there will be much to find.. sort of a picket post, navy-version, perhaps.
Thanks for looking. So it was a commissioned vessel in the CSN?
 
Here's a tidbit: ORN I:16, p. 865 : November 8 [1861]: ... Yacht Fanny Morgan, commanded by [W.H.] Beazley, and manned by a detachment of 10 volunteers belonging to Captain [B.] Timmon's company, went and took the Royal Yacht's place as guard boat. The battery at Fort Point mistaking the boat fired several shots at her, but did not do any injury.

She is also referred to as a "sloop" on p. 867, but I'm sure that was in reference to the way she was rigged (not a "sloop-of-war").

From what I can see so far, she may have been chartered but not commissioned by the CS Navy, though she operated under Navy control. She's in a gray area as far as the "CSS" is concerned; I think you could make an argument for or against it. It's not definitely wrong, anyway.
 
Here's a tidbit: ORN I:16, p. 865 : November 8 [1861]: ... Yacht Fanny Morgan, commanded by [W.H.] Beazley, and manned by a detachment of 10 volunteers belonging to Captain [B.] Timmon's company, went and took the Royal Yacht's place as guard boat. The battery at Fort Point mistaking the boat fired several shots at her, but did not do any injury.

She is also referred to as a "sloop" on p. 867, but I'm sure that was in reference to the way she was rigged (not a "sloop-of-war").

From what I can see so far, she may have been chartered but not commissioned by the CS Navy, though she operated under Navy control. She's in a gray area as far as the "CSS" is concerned; I think you could make an argument for or against it. It's not definitely wrong, anyway.
Thanks for all the information.
 
Further.... Beazley does not appear in the compiled register of CS Navy commissioned officers, so if he was in the Navy, it was as an enlisted man or warrant officer-- the latter, most likely. Do we know if he might have been the previous owner of the Fanny Morgan? In which case I could easily see the CS naval officer on station granting him an acting warrant and telling him to go to Captain Timmon's company for some volunteers to man her, for example.
 
Further.... Beazley does not appear in the compiled register of CS Navy commissioned officers, so if he was in the Navy, it was as an enlisted man or warrant officer-- the latter, most likely. Do we know if he might have been the previous owner of the Fanny Morgan? In which case I could easily see the CS naval officer on station granting him an acting warrant and telling him to go to Captain Timmon's company for some volunteers to man her, for example.
Other than the info in his FindAGrave memorial and that transfer record I posted, I know nothing more than the useful information you posted.
 
Capt. William H. Beazley has a total of 34 pages in fold3. There are 5 pages of fold3 records in Co. K, 26th Texas Cavalry. The Jan./Feb. 1864 Company Muster Roll says he enlisted on October 6,1861 for the war. I reckon that's when he actually entered Confederate service in the CSN. He was promoted to Captain on 12/28/1863. A Jan. 1,1864 Report says he was on leave until 1/12/1864. There are 29 pages of fold3 records in Capt. W. H. Beazley's Co., Morgan's Regiment, Texas Cavalry. He is present on the Company Returns for January-April 1864 and July 1864-January 1865. The May-June 1864 Company Returns list him "Absent. On detached service on Trinity River transporting gov't corn". His written Parole Of Honor dated July 15, 1865 is in his records.
 
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