TX Cedron Cemetery, Bosque County, Texas, 5/21/2021

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On Friday afternoon, May 21, 2021, I visited Cedron Cemetery in very rural Bosque County, Texas on the western side of Lake Whitney. The occasion was my annual trip to Lake Whitney on the third weekend in May. There was rain in the forecast on Saturday and Sunday and I knew this might be the only chance I got for a cemetery visit on this trip. I had 4 cemeteries on the list of possibilities. Cedron Cemetery was the closest one with the most military stones so it won out. It was 15 minutes from the lodge I stay at on the eastern side of Lake Whitney. As usual, I had the list of the veterans I was looking for and a grave marker flag for each. I was able to identify 7 Civil War veterans being buried there...3 with military gravestones and 4 with civilian stones. The historical marker is/was not in the cemetery itself. I didn't know that before I got there. It's on the 2-lane blacktop County Road 1135 just before you get to the turnoff to go to the cemetery. In the picture below, I'm stopped in my truck on the caliche road off CR 1135 that leads to the cemetery. The historical marker is to the center-left outside the fence. The time on my pictures show that I arrived at 3:50PM CST.


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After you turn off CR 1135 and go a few hundred yards you come to a metal arch. You turn left to go to the cemetery. If you continue straight on the caliche road instead of turning left, it takes you to a private ranch.

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The historical marker describes the cemetery and a nearby school and says that the cemetery and the foundation of the school are the only visible reminders of a once-thriving community. After you turn left at the metal arch, the foundation of the school is a little ways down on the right. You can see the back of the metal arch at the extreme right of the picture below. It had to have been a one-room schoolhouse. I was tempted to walk around in the inside of the foundation but it looked a little snakey. Bosque County, Texas is rattlesnake country.

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A little ways past the school foundation, you finally arrive at the cemetery. It is surrounded on 3 sides by a pretty nice iron fence. The back fence is barbed wire. It has to have a good fence. The cemetery is mostly surrounded by cattle pasture. It has a gate for vehicle access. There's room for more burials. Took a few pictures outside the fence first. The last picture is looking back towards the school foundation and metal arch.

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Now on to the veterans. Below is the link to the Cedron Cemetery FindAGrave page:

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2823/cedron-cemetery

According to the FindAGrave page, there are around 200 burials at the cemetery. As I said in the OP, I had a list of 7 Confederate veterans I was looking for, the regiment they served in, what type of gravestone they had/have and plenty of grave marker flags. I also had a smaller than usual gravestone cleaning kit for weekend trips like that. I had water, a couple of brushes and scrapers, gloves and a spray bottle of a strong Wet & Forget/water mix. With the weather forecast, I didn't figure there'd be any stone spraying but I took some just in case. On the drive up I figured the best/most I would be able to do was scrape some stones and scrub a few with water and a brush. When I got there, it was partly cloudy, warm and dry and according to the local weather forecast, there was a 5-7 hour window of continued weather like that before the rain moved in that night. The recommendation for Wet & Forget is not to use it unless there's 4 hours of dry weather afterwards. I decided to spray any stones that really needed it. There would be time for the cleaning agent to do some work and get into the pores of the stones. I also decided that if the veterans were buried side-by-side with their wife, I would clean their wives' stones too if needed. Time permitting, that is my standard practice now.
 
Pvt. John Hunter, Co. H, 19th Texas Cavalry. Sparse information on his FindAGrave page. Much better luck with fold3 and Ancestry. 4 pages in fold3. He enlisted and mustered-in at age 32 in Waco, Texas on April 2, 1862. He appears on a "Bounty Pay And Receipt Roll, Camp Stonewall Jackson, Headquarters 19th Texas Cavalry, Dallas County, on June 26, 1862." It says he was paid $50. The last record is "Register of Payments to Discharged Soldiers". It says he was discharged on December 2,1862. It doesn't say how much he was paid or why he was discharged. The first picture is his gravestone as I found it, with cattle and stock tank in the background. The second is after a quick scrape, scrub, spray and flagging, with the Wet & Forget already doing it's thing. I spray the inscriptions really good when I don't have time to scrub them with a small brush made especially for that purpose.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16262393/john-hunter


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Although the grass is a little high the cemetery looks like it was well kept. Thanks for taking us along on your adventure today. Hallowed Ground!
They've had a very wet spring up there and it rained there again a lot the next day. Got more rain on Sunday too.
 
In Ancestry, I found a Texas Muster Card for Pvt. John Hunter that matches the age at and date of enlistment and regiment in the fold3 records. Love those Texas Muster Cards. Lotta other information on some of them.

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I also found a Headstone Application for Pvt. John Hunter in Ancestry submitted in 1940. It says his date of death was March 6, 1920. That's not on his gravestone or FindAGrave memorial. His FindAGrave memorial says he was killed in Virginia on July 14, year unknown. Who knows where that came from. According to NPS records, the 19th Texas Cavalry only saw action in The Trans-Mississippi Theater. The gravestone was to be shipped to a "Mrs. Homer Bradshaw". Her name was "Lillian C. Bradshaw". She and spouse Homer are also buried in Bosque County. The applicant was "T.N. Winston". He's buried in Waco, McLennan County, Texas. I could not find any relation those 3 had/have to Pvt. Hunter. I couldn't find a death certificate, census records or Pension Application for Pvt. Hunter. The latest year he is on the Bosque County tax rolls that I could find was 1883. No other information other than his name on the tax rolls...no property information. There are no other "Hunter"s buried in Cedron Cemetery.


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Corp. Ezekiel J.W. Ogden, Co. K, 8th Missouri Infantry(C.S.A.). 7 pages in fold3. He enlisted as a 3rd Corporal at age 19 on September 20,1862 in Washington County, Arkansas for the war. He was promoted to Corporal on December 23,1862. Listed as Present on Company Muster Rolls from 9/20/1862 - August 1863. His last record in fold3 is dated 9/30/1863 and says he was "Selected for Engr. Troops". The first picture is as I found the gravestone. The second picture is after I cleaned it. I scraped if first. Scrubbing it with a brush and water didn't get much off. Sprayed it after that. I think I went back and sprayed the face of it one more time before I left. The engraver misspelled his first name on the gravestone.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16243393/ezekial-j_w-ogden


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Corp. Ogden's oldest son submitted a Headstone Application in August 1943. The person at the War Department who verified his service wrote the following in red on it: "Transferred to Capt. Dickerson's Co. 4 Reg. Engr. Troops/Nov. 1863".


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Great Stuff. Thanks for taking us along.
 
Corp. Ogden's oldest son submitted a Headstone Application in August 1943. The person at the War Department who verified his service wrote the following in red on it: "Transferred to Capt. Dickerson's Co. 4 Reg. Engr. Troops/Nov. 1863".


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In his Engineer Service Record is a muster report showing him present Sept 30, 1863 and present at the date of his transfer to the Engineers, November 1, 1863, but nothing further.
 
For a country cemetery in a ghost community, it's rather well kept up. Is their local churches still using it?
I don't know the answer to that. The closest church I saw was a few miles and had a historical marker itself. I will try to measure the distance from Cedron Cemetery to that church and take a picture of the church and historical marker on my next trip there.
 
Pvt. William H. Ansley, Co. D, 46th Alabama Infantry (CSA) and Co. D, 2nd US Volunteer Infantry . 8 pages in fold3 as a Confederate soldier. He enlisted on April 1,1862 for 3 years or the war. He was captured at Vicksburg on 7/4/63 and paroled on 7/9/63. His Parole is in his Confederate records. He was captured again at Missionary Ridge on 11/25/63 and sent to Rock Island Barracks. 15 pages in fold3 as a Union soldier. He enlisted in Co. D, 2nd US Volunteer Infantry and mustered-in at Rock Island Barracks on 10/6/64. He was listed as either present or absent on detached duty in Company Muster Rolls from Feb.- Oct. 1865. He mustered-out at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on November 7,1865. His Widow filed for a U.S. soldier pension on April 4, 1914. All I did was scrape his civilian gravestone at the top a little and around the inscription and spray it in the same places. His wife's gravestone was next to his and I did the same for her. I put an Alabama state flag and US flag at his gravesite.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16249166/william-h-ansley


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Pvt. Lewis B. Mackey, Co. H, 11th Texas Cavalry. 7 fold3 pages. He enlisted on October 2,1861 for 12 months. Listed as present on the Oct.-Dec. 1861 Company Muster Roll. Gap in Muster Records after that. Listed as "Absent. Sick in camp." on Sept.-Dec. 1862 and Jan.-Feb. 1863 CMRs, but he is also listed as Present on a 12/31/62-4/30/63. Duplicate records for some reason I guess. Also listed as Present on 6/30/63 - Feb. 1864 CMRs. He served more than 12 months. According to the NPS database, the 11th Texas Cavalry saw some significant action in the Western Theater and was dismounted for part of the war. He submitted a Pension Application in March 1905, which was approved in Sept. 1906. Not sure what the delay was about.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16247915/lewis-berry-mackey


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Pvt. James M. Scott, Co. H, 12th Texas Infantry. 6 fold3 pages. He enlisted in Bosque County on February 10, 1862 for 12months. He is listed as present on Company Muster Rolls through February 1864. Beginning with the March/April 1863 CMR, the regiment was redesignated as the 8th Texas Infantry. According to the NPS, it saw action in Louisiana and Arkansas, most notably at Jenkins Ferry. His widow submitted a Pension Application on 8/7/1925, approved 8/18/1925.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16248175/james-m-scott


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