Unmarked "slave" graves found at Red Banks, MS

DixieRifles

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The news from Friday is that locals have used Ground Penetrating Radar to located 119 unmarked graves in the Cemetery located next to the Red Banks Baptist Church. The news report said that many locals had know stories about slaves buried there. There are a few simple stone markers existing in the cemetery. The Cemetery dates back to 1848 and includes many marked graves of Confederate Veterans.

The following link takes you directly to the Fox13 video without getting all the pop-ups.
Link:
Slaves Graves at Red Banks.

I still wonder how they know these are actually graves of slaves. I'm sure that many are ex-slaves who died years after the emancipation. But could any of these be graves of slaves buried prior to the Civil War?

The Report in the video shows some orange markers in the dirt access road at Time = 1:50. My daughter's grave can be seen in the background at the far Left of that last row. She is on the back row because she died 1 year ago this month.

I'm watching to see this show up a YouTube video.

{Edited} Red Banks is located in Marshall County, Mississippi, at an exit on I-22 just a few miles West of Holly Springs.
 
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The news from Friday is that locals have used Ground Penetrating Radar to located 119 unmarked graves in the Cemetery located next to the Red Banks Baptist Church. The news report said that many locals had know stories about slaves buried there. There are a few simple stone markers existing in the cemetery. The Cemetery dates back to 1848 and includes many marked graves of Confederate Veterans.

The following link takes you directly to the Fox13 video without getting all the pop-ups.
Link:
Slaves Graves at Red Banks.

I still wonder how they know these are actually graves of slaves. I'm sure that many are ex-slaves who died years after the emancipation. But could any of these be graves of slaves buried prior to the Civil War?

The Report in the video shows some orange markers in the dirt access road at Time = 1:50. My daughter's grave can be seen in the background at the far Left of that last row. She is on the back row because she died 1 year ago this month.

I'm watching to see this show up a YouTube video.
Theres tons of unmarked graves across the country, from pioneers to lost family plots, slave sections could also be pauper sections, so its doubtful it will ever be known who is buried there. In many cases they would have been marked, from simple rocks to wood markers, but over time and through neglect they have been lost. In family cemeteries on private ground, in some cases intentionally dozed
 
I'm sure that many are ex-slaves who died years after the emancipation. But could any of these be graves of slaves buried prior to the Civil War?

Good question. There could be enslaved children graves there. The article didn't give any details on the graves - if they thought they were all adult graves, etc. OR there could be slaves there born before 1848 that died before 1860, OR it could be just free Black people that have unfortunately been forgotten and the white community just assumes they were slaves. I think a lot more investigation has to go into this before any definitive answer can be made. I'm guessing cemetery records, if any are missing, so it will be a tedious search through other historical records like probate, wills, county historical records, etc.

I'm very sorry to hear about your daughter! Please accept my condolences on that.
 
The news from Friday is that locals have used Ground Penetrating Radar to located 119 unmarked graves in the Cemetery located next to the Red Banks Baptist Church. The news report said that many locals had know stories about slaves buried there. There are a few simple stone markers existing in the cemetery. The Cemetery dates back to 1848 and includes many marked graves of Confederate Veterans.

The following link takes you directly to the Fox13 video without getting all the pop-ups.
Link:
Slaves Graves at Red Banks.

I still wonder how they know these are actually graves of slaves. I'm sure that many are ex-slaves who died years after the emancipation. But could any of these be graves of slaves buried prior to the Civil War?

The Report in the video shows some orange markers in the dirt access road at Time = 1:50. My daughter's grave can be seen in the background at the far Left of that last row. She is on the back row because she died 1 year ago this month.

I'm watching to see this show up a YouTube video.


Thank you for posting, and I am very sorry to hear of the loss of your daughter.

Respectfully,
William
 
OR it could be just free Black people that have unfortunately been forgotten and the white community just assumes they were slaves.

I got involved with a research project to locate the unmarked grave of a black WW2 Veteran: one of the Wereth 11. In the case, the family could have installed a headstone provided free of charge from the Veteran's Administration but no one filled out the paper work.
 
The news from Friday is that locals have used Ground Penetrating Radar to located 119 unmarked graves in the Cemetery located next to the Red Banks Baptist Church. The news report said that many locals had know stories about slaves buried there. There are a few simple stone markers existing in the cemetery. The Cemetery dates back to 1848 and includes many marked graves of Confederate Veterans.

The following link takes you directly to the Fox13 video without getting all the pop-ups.
Link:
Slaves Graves at Red Banks.

I still wonder how they know these are actually graves of slaves. I'm sure that many are ex-slaves who died years after the emancipation. But could any of these be graves of slaves buried prior to the Civil War?

The Report in the video shows some orange markers in the dirt access road at Time = 1:50. My daughter's grave can be seen in the background at the far Left of that last row. She is on the back row because she died 1 year ago this month.

I'm watching to see this show up a YouTube video.

{Edited} Red Banks is located in Marshall County, Mississippi, at an exit on I-22 just a few miles West of Holly Springs.
Thanks for sharing this--and also, you and your family have my condolences about your daughter. I am so sorry for your loss.
 
I stopped by the cemetery to see exactly where this area was located. I forgot that there was a clear area ---almost like it was a section or lot that had been reserved. There are headstones one three sides of this lot and an access road on the 4th side. They found 3 unmarked graves under this dirt road.
These two photos are of the same area ---just that one is looking West and one is looking back East. The flags indicate the graves are laid out in neat rows. This lot is not as large as it may seem in the photo and yet there are 119 flags inside this perimeter.

RedBanks1.JPG

RedBanks2.JPG
 
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss, sincere condolences to you and your family.

It's possible church records document the unmarked burials. PK here. One of the churches I grew up in has a very old cemetery attached to it. Relatives would come to the church office asking the secretary to look up who was buried where. They could find funeral records, what their ancestor died of, other relatives in the cemetery etc. It stands to reason burials of enslaved would be documented too.
 
I still wonder how they know these are actually graves of slaves. I'm sure that many are ex-slaves who died years after the emancipation. But could any of these be graves of slaves buried prior to the Civil War?

I was under the impression that slaves were buried at or near home, but I'm sure it's different from family to family.

That said, there were a couple yellow fever outbreaks, Holly Springs lost so many but there were not 119 white people who disappeared. Didn't loose that many black folks during the fevers either, not in one area.

I don't believe it was yellow fever and I don't think they were black. Probably native. Would like to find out if they allowed the bodies to be examined. Curious.
 
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