- Joined
- Jul 30, 2018
- Location
- Germany
Evergreen Cemetery was established in 1880. Over 250 Civil War veterans are buried here, both Union and Confederate. I had been unsuccessful in finding a plan of the cemetery online before the trip; you will definitely need one. The cemetery is HUGE.
I stopped at the cemetery office at the entrance and got a map there (I'll scan the map of the cemetery when I'm back home and upload it). I was lucky the attendant was a history buff and very helpful in locating some of the places I wanted to go. Some others I couldn't go find. The lady at the front desk told me it's their procedure to give them the list of names, they will look them up and then get back to you with where they are buried, which might be from one day to several days. Since I didn't have the time, I took what I got. And I got one extra which I hadn't known about.
My no. 1 priority: John Jackson Dickison, the Swamp Fox of the Confederacy. He is to Floridians what Lee and Jackson are to Virginians.
The extra I got: James Tomb of the Confederate torpedo boat David. The attendant told me the following story: The David attacked a Union vessel and by the explosion got water into its boiler which killed the fire. Believing the boat was sinking, three men abandoned ship. One, the pilot, remained behind because he could not swim. James Tomb who was the assistant engineer felt guilty for leaving a comrade behind and swam back. He got the fires working again and he and the pilot pulled away with the David. The other two were later captured by the Union.
Mary Martha Reid - She worked in the Florida Hospital in Richmond to be closer to her son who served in a Florida regiment in Virginia. The hospital was closed in 1863; she then worked neard Richmond in the Howard's Grove Hospital. Her son fell mortally wounded at the Wilderness and she supervised his burial. She worked as a nurse until the war ended and fled Richmond in the same train that Jefferson Davis used.
Ossian B. Hart - a prominent Unionist and opponent to secession. Served as Florida's 10th Governor from 1873 to 1874 (he died in office).
James P. Taliaferro - served in the Confederate army from 1864 to the close of the war, elected Senator from 1899 to 1911.
Richard Cox Ivory - a veteran I stumbled across near Dickison's grave.