TX Oakwood Cemetery, Jefferson, Texas

James N.

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Recently returned from the annual Texas Civil War Symposium in Jefferson, Texas https://civilwartalk.com/threads/8th-annual-jefferson-civil-war-symposium-8-9-8-10-2019.158431/, I thought I'd post these photos in a new thread instead of adding them to existing ones. Prior to the event I spent part of the previous afternoon photographing some of the graves of more significant persons interred here.

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One having his very own Texas State Historical Marker erected during the Civil War Centennial is Brig. Gen. Richard Waterhouse, one of the young officers promoted to that rank in the Trans-Mississippi. In addition, Waterhouse's flag-bedecked grave also has an appropriate footstone and one of the few remaining CSA iron cross markers.

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Colonel Richard Phillip "Phil" Crump was a local Jefferson personality who during the war raised and led companies and eventually a regiment of Partisan Rangers that was active in Arkansas fighting Unionists like Texas renegade Captain Martin Hart. Postwar, Crump was accused of being involved in the murder of carpetbag official Capt. George Webster Smith https://civilwartalk.com/threads/murder-in-jefferson-texas-oct-4-1868.121598/ and was incarcerated in the Union Stockade where prisoners were held during the subsequent trial. Although acquitted, Crump's health was undermined by the experience, leading to his death soon after his release.

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One notorious burial here is that of Reconstruction outlaw Cullen M. Baker, a sort of Robin Hood figure who terrorized Unionists, Carpetbaggers, and Freedmen and who despite his legends likely had more of the robbing and hood aspects than Robin Hood!

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Above and below, two more of the many Confederate veterans buried here in Oakwood Cemetery.

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Although neither a man nor a Civil War figure, the grave of murder victim Diamond Bessie Moore is probably the best-known and most-visited. Her death resulted in Jefferson's most sensationalistic trial which is still commemorated to this day during every Pilgrimage.

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Although Oakwood has a section of military graves above that date from Reconstruction and the occupation of the town by Union troops, I'd never before noticed the monument below over the grave of Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Daniel J. Murphy.

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According to an old thread posted by @M E Wolf, titled Medal of Honor Roll:

MURPHY, DANIEL J.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company F, 19th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Hatchers Run, Va., 27 October 1864. Entered service at: Lowell, Mass. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 47th North Carolina Infantry (C.S.A.).

Unfortunately, I know nothing of how or why Lt. Murphy came to Jefferson, Texas, or what caused his untimely end!

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It appears to have been a beautiful day for the walk and introspection. Thanks for the photos and captions.
Lubliner.
Unfortunately, not so! It was beastly HOT and I spent most of my time trying to stay in the shade pools of the various trees and bushes. Fortunately, I had visited here previously on several occasions and, with the exception of Lt. Murphy who "surprised" me, I already knew which graves I wanted to photograph, and therefore spent little time simply wandering like I often do.
 
Although Oakwood has a section of military graves above that date from Reconstruction and the occupation of the town by Union troops, I'd never before noticed the monument below over the grave of Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Daniel J. Murphy.

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According to an old thread posted by @M E Wolf, titled Medal of Honor Roll:

MURPHY, DANIEL J.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company F, 19th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Hatchers Run, Va., 27 October 1864. Entered service at: Lowell, Mass. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Capture of flag of 47th North Carolina Infantry (C.S.A.).

Unfortunately, I know nothing of how or why Lt. Murphy came to Jefferson, Texas, or what caused his untimely end!

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I must not have scrolled thoroughly through this thread when you posted it. I didn't see those pics and had forgotten that gravesite was there. My 3 visits were all mid-afternoon on brutally hot and sunny Fridays in August and trying like you,and failing, to stay cool long enough to spend a little time there. After looking at my old pics,I see that I did take a picture of it in August 2016.
 
Unfortunately, I know nothing of how or why Lt. Murphy came to Jefferson, Texas, or what caused his untimely end!
I don't guess he was with the postwar occupation forces in Jefferson. The "U.S.,Registers of Death in the Regular Army" says he committed suicide.

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Unfortunately, I know nothing of how or why Lt. Murphy came to Jefferson, Texas, or what caused his untimely end!
Edit to add: The Register of Deaths lists him as a member of the 11 US Inf. I think he was in the postwar occupation forces but got a Civil War veteran gravestone because of his Civil War MOH recipient status.
 
I don't guess he was with the postwar occupation forces in Jefferson. The "U.S.,Registers of Death in the Regular Army" says he committed suicide.

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The unfortunate Capt. George Webster Smith came with his uncle (?) to Jefferson and became a notable Carpetbagger political figure, even attending the Texas Constitutional Convention as a delegate, prior to his murder at the hands of the mob likely led by Col. Crump mentioned above. Possibly Murphy was another such adventurer who also came to a bad end; one could even wonder if his apparent suicide was real or staged!
 
Edit to add: The Register of deaths lists him as a member of the 11 US Inf. I think he was in the postwar occupation forces but got a Civil War veteran gravestone because of his Civil War MOH recipient status.
Elements of the 11th U. S. Infantry and 6th Cavalry Regiments seem to have made up Jefferson's Reconstruction garrison so it's possible he was there in that capacity.
 
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Some of the gravestones that I can read in that picture are 11th US Inf.
Yes, and one of them is this for Lieutenant Edward Colby, another officer of the 11th. From what I understand, these weren't placed until the 1990's so they might not even be in the correct locations for those named; I wonder if that's also true of Murphy, who also has a new stone.
 
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Yes, and one of them is this for Lieutenant Edward Colby, another officer of the 11th. From what I understand, these weren't placed until the 1990's so they might not even be in the correct locations for those named; I wonder if that's also true of Murphy, who also has a new stone.
That's a good question. Maybe I will think to ask about that on my next visit to Jefferson. I bet someone there knows a little more about 2nd. Lt. Murphy too.
 
The unfortunate Capt. George Webster Smith came with his uncle (?) to Jefferson and became a notable Carpetbagger political figure, even attending the Texas Constitutional Convention as a delegate, prior to his murder at the hands of the mob likely led by Col. Crump mentioned above. Possibly Murphy was another such adventurer who also came to a bad end; one could even wonder if his apparent suicide was real or staged!

Old Tom in Jefferson has found a muffin New York officer's button in Jefferson near where the old Black church was. Supposedly Smith was buried in an unmarked grave from local lore.

Can't help but wonder if Old Tom found it....
 
Old Tom in Jefferson has found a muffin New York officer's button in Jefferson near where the old Black church was. Supposedly Smith was buried in an unmarked grave from local lore.

Can't help but wonder if Old Tom found it....
He apparently isn't there anymore and has a grave in the North, but that might've been where he was originally buried - I doubt his remains were welcome here in Oakwood!
 
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