Confederate Memphis

   Memphis was both an old city and a new city when the war began. Native Americans, like the Chickasaw and their ancestors, had inhabited the area for centuries. Settlers had built some homes on Fourth Bluff prior to October 1818, when the Chickasaw elders sold more than six million acres of land to the United States. Shelby County, named for Revolutionary War hero and Kentucky governor Col. Isaac Shelby, was established by the Tennessee General Assembly in November 1819. By the time Tennessee left the Union in 1861, Memphis was major port on the Mississippi River. Shelby County had a population of 48,092 people, which included 276 free people of color and 16,953 slaves. This included “bankers and manufacturers, cotton buyers and factors, wholesale grocers and slave traders, doctors and lawyers, editors and railroad presidents.” 22,623 people lived in Memphis alone, making it the thirty-eighth largest city in the United States. Memphis had a fire department, hospital, and city streets paved with cobblestones.[1] 

Memphis, ca.1862, LOC

   When the vote for United States president came in 1860, the men of Memphis cast 2,319 votes for Stephen Douglas, 2,250 votes for John Bell, and a mere 572 ballots for Vice President John C. Breckinridge. The men of Memphis were more inclined at this stage to conditionally support the Union. With the secession of South Carolina in December 1860, the tone of the people in Memphis slowly began to change. Both pro-Union and Secession meetings were held across the city. With the Federal resupply and subsequent Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, followed by Lincoln’s call for volunteers to suppress the rebellion, more and more Memphis citizens supported secession. Tennessee Governor Isham G. Harris called for a meeting of the legislature in Nashville. On May 6, the General Assembly passed a Declaration of Independence. The following day, Harris agreed to a military allegiance between Tennessee and the Confederate government. These actions were ratified by a public vote on June 8.

   Memphis, its port, the most important port in Tennessee, and even more importantly, the railroads, quickly entered the discussion. In August 1861, Confederate Rep. David M. Currin requested $160,000 “for the construction, equipment, and armament of two ironclad gunboats for the defense of the Mississippi River and the city of Memphis.” The bill was signed into law the next day.[2] Prior to the war, from 1844 to 1854, Memphis had a US Naval dock. Several private shipyards still existed along the Mississippi River. Two twin-screw vessels, the Arkansas and the Tennessee, were contracted to John T. Shirley, a local Memphis businessman. He was to deliver the two vessels by December 1861, at a cost of $76,920 each. The ships were to be 165 feet in length, and a draft of no more than 8 feet when loaded. Shirley struggled to find skilled carpenters and shipwrights, and both he and Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory implored district commander Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk for details of men to help with building the ships. Not having enough experienced hands, Shirley concentrated on building the Arkansas. Lieutenant Henry Kennedy Stevens arrived from Charleston, assigned as the executive officer of the Arkansas, and took charge of the operations.[3]

   Memphis appeared in the campaign plans of several Federal commanders, including George B. McClellan, David G. Farragut, and Abraham Lincoln. McClellan’s tenure as general-in-chief was short lived, although he did approve of a plan of taking New Orleans first, followed by Baton Rouge, the railroad hub at Jackson, Mississippi, and then Mobile, before setting his sights on Memphis. Farragut, a  “firm advocate of combined operations,” submitted a plan to force the Confederates out of their defenses around New Orleans, then proceed up the Mississippi River, taking Baton Rouge, Vicksburg, and then Memphis. After firing McClellan, Lincoln’s strategy was “a joint movement from Cairo to Memphis; and from Cincinnati to East Tennessee.”[4]

   Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Nashville fell in February. Governor Harris ordered the General Assembly to convene in Memphis on February 20. Island No. 10 fell in April 1862. Only Fort Pillow remained to protect Memphis. Mallory ordered the Arkansas to New Orleans if she was in danger of capture. To the west, the Confederates lost the battle of Shiloh on April 7, and to the south, the bombardment of New Orleans began on April 18. Four of the Southern flotilla from Fort Pillow made their way to Memphis after the fort was abandoned on May 10, 1862. The Federals knew of the construction of the ironclads at Memphis, and Farragut worried that just one of them could destroy most of his ships and maybe even retake New Orleans. Farragut would not get a crack at Memphis.[5]

   Braxton Bragg ordered the evacuation of Memphis, and by June 4, the earthworks constructed on the river were empty. Only the small naval flotilla remained. On June 6, Federal Commander Charles Davis, with five ironclads and four rams, headed toward Memphis. The Confederate fleet, eight vessels mounting twenty-eight guns, under Capt. Joseph E. Montgomery, was the only force between the Federals and city. In the two-hour-long fight, only one of the Confederate gunboats escaped: the General Van Dorn. Three Confederate vessels were destroyed, and four others fell into Union hands. The Arkansas had been towed up the Yazoo River a month before the battle of Memphis. Historian William N. Still, Jr., believes that had the Arkansas been left in Memphis, she might have been finished in time to take part in the battle. The Tennessee was destroyed the night before the battle of Memphis.[6]

   Mayor Parks surrendered Memphis, and the city was occupied by Col. G.N. Fitch and a brigade of Indiana Infantry. The civic leaders had to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union, and martial law was declared on June 13. Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant was in Memphis by June 23, finding the city in “bad order” and “secessionists governing much in their own way.”  Elections were held, and voters were required to swear the Oath of Allegiance before they could vote; property of pro-Confederate sympathizers was seized to pay for acts of destruction caused by partisans; partisans were “not entitled to the treatment of prisoners of war when caught”; it became a crime to display Confederate symbols; and, men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five had to take the oath or leave the city. Because Memphis was firmly under Federal control, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to the city.[7]

  With local businesses refusing to open, hundreds of merchants from Cincinnati and Louisville arrived with goods, opening new stores. With open roads, this allowed goods to flow into Confederate hands. One observer believed that more than $20 million worth of supplies left Memphis, bound for the Confederate army, during the war. Confederate forces skirmished with their Federal counterparts in Shelby County frequently.  Memphis became a major supply depot for the Federals operating in western Tennessee, northern Mississippi and Alabama. Numerous raids and large-scale operations, both on the Mississippi River and overland, set out from Memphis. The Federals often retreated to the defenses of the city after confrontations with Confederate commander Nathan Bedford Forrest.[8]

   There was some discussion by the Confederate high command of recapturing the city. In October 1862, Jefferson Davis wrote to Maj. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes with plans to unite Southern forces in the west and drive the Federals out of the area, recapturing Helena, Memphis, and then Nashville.[9] Nothing came of the idea, but on August 21, 1864, Nathan Bedford Forrest rode into Memphis with 1,500 men and two cannons. “I attacked Memphis at four o’clock this morning, driving the enemy to his fortifications,” Forrest wrote later that day. “We killed and captured four hundred, taking their entire camp, with about three hundred horses and mules. Washburn and staff escaped in the darkness of the early morning, Washburn leaving his clothes behind.”[10] “Memphis Captured by Forrest” ran several Northern newspaper headlines. While Forrest failed to capture the three Federal generals in the city and only held the city for a few hours, he did divert the attention and draw resources away from other theaters of the war.[11]

General Washburn leaving his clothes behind. 

   While Memphis was spared the fate of other Southern cities like Atlanta, Columbia, and Richmond, it had one final role to play for history. On April 27, 1865, the boilers on the S.S. Sultana, carrying over 2,200 former Federal prisoners from Andersonville and Cahaba, exploded in the Mississippi River just north of Memphis. It is believed that 1,195 of the 2,200 passengers and crew perished in the explosion and subsequent fire. The loss of the Sultana was the deadliest maritime disaster in United States history. Many of the victims are buried in the Memphis National Cemetery.

    While every other Southern city with a population of over 20,000 people has a history of its wartime years(and in some case, multiple published histories), Memphis apparently does not.

 

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[1] Dowdy, A Brief History of Memphis, 13-24.

[2] Still, Iron Afloat, 16.

[3] Luraghi, A History of the Confederate Navy, 107, 119, 129.

[4] Reed, Combined Operations in the Civil War, 61-62, 66.

[5] Reed, Combined Operations in the Civil War, 198.

[6] Luraghi, A History of the Confederate Navy, 169; Still, Iron Afloat, 62.

[7] Dowdy, A Brief History of Memphis, 13-24.

[8] Dowdy, A Brief History of Memphis, 13-24; Long, Civil War Day-by-Day.

[9] Papers of Jefferson Davis,  8:454-56.

[10] Wyeth, That Devil Forrest, 417.

[11] Daily Ohio Statesman, August 25, 1864; The Times-Democrat, August 28, 1864; New York Daily Herald, August 29, 1864.

Confederate Escort Companies

   At first glance, the title, “Confederate Escort Company,” might seem suggestive. But in reality, the escort companies that hovered around the headquarters of various generals probably served more of a utilitarian service than one providing comforts. Yet the role of Confederate escort companies is a topic that seems to slip through the cracks of Confederate history.

   What exactly would an escort company be? Where they simply there to ride around with a general, keeping him safe, or did they perform some function? Escort Companies likely served as scouts, guides, and couriers for their commanding officers. Probably the most famous two, or at least the two most documented, are the 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, who served in the Army of Northern Virginia, and Forrest’s Escort Company, under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

   The men of the 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, also known as Lee’s Body Guard, were recruited in the last half of 1862. Some members of the battalion were conscripts. Prior to that date, various cavalry companies were dispatched to headquarters to serve as couriers and guides. Cavalry commanders complained that their regiments were operating with fewer and fewer men. Richard Ewell had a company in mid-1862 known as Ewell’s Body Guard. This was the core unit of what became the 39^th Battalion, which eventually numbered four companies. These men did just about everything. They escorted prisoners to Richmond, escorted new conscripts to their regiments, relayed messages between telegraph stations and headquarters, drove headquarters wagons, and delivered messages. You can learn more by checking out my book, Lee’s Body Guard, here. 

Nathan Bedford Forrest

   Forrest’s Escort Company was made up of men recruited by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Much of this company came from Bedford County, Tennessee, and was likewise recruited in mid-1862. Montgomery Little, who raised the company, was the first captain. Unlike the 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, Forrest’s Escort Company was a front-line fighting unit and was engaged with Forrest at places like Trenton, Tennessee, in December 1862. The Escort Company, like their command, was often in the thick of the fighting. At least 25 members of the company were killed during the war. A great resource on this command is Michael Bradley’s Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Escort and Staff.

   Another escort company with perhaps less information available is Shockley’s Escort Company, formed from students at the University of Alabama in 1864. The company numbered over 100 students and was created in mid-1864. They originally served as the escort company for General Gideon J. Pillow, but after the battle of LaFayette, Georgia, they transferred and served as an escort company under Brig. Gen. Daniel W. Adams, in the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest. Most of the company was captured on April 1, 1865. The rest surrendered on May 10, 1865, at Gainesville, Alabama. William Hoole wrote History of Shockley’s Alabama Escort Company in 1983.

    There are other commands that served as escorts throughout the war. Detailed histories of these groups seem to be lacking. In January 1863, Bolen’s (Kentucky) cavalry company was listed as an escort company to Brig. Gen. John Adams, Fourth Military District, in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana. (OR, vol. 24, pt 3, 613)

Company A, 7^th Tennessee Cavalry, under Capt. W.F. Taylor, was listed as Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Lee’s escort on August 20, 1863 – Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana. (OR, Vol. 30, pt. 4, 515.)

On December 31, 1863, the Army of Tennessee, Joseph E. Johnston commanding, listed the following escorts: (OR, Vol. 31, pt. 3, 889

1^st Louisiana Cavalry – army headquarters

Raum’s (Mississippi) Cavalry Company – Hardee’s Corps

Merritt’s (Georgia) Cavalry Company – Cheatham’s division

Vandyke’s (Tennessee) Cavalry Company – Stevenson’s Division

Sanders’s (Tennessee) Cavalry Company – Cleburne’s division

Boydstum’s (Georgia) Cavalry Company – Walker’s Division

Lenoir’s (Alabama) Cavalry Company – Hindman’s division

Foules’s (Mississippi) Cavalry Company – Breckinridge’s division 

This is a topic that deserves much more research, especially in the Army of Tennessee and the Trans-Mississippi Department.

Jefferson Davis and Proclamations of Thanksgiving

Jefferson Davis 

    During the war years, it was fairly common for presidents, or army commanders, or a congress to call for days of thanksgiving after a military victory. Braxton Bragg called for such a day on September 18, 1862, following the surrender of 4,000 Federal soldiers at Munfordville, Kentucky, the previous day.[1] Robert E. Lee, following Braxton Bragg’s victory at Chickamauga, called on his men to render “to the Great Giver of Victory… our praise and thanksgiving for this signal manifestation of His favor…”[2] Nathan Bedford Forrest, writing from Tupelo, Mississippi, declared “Chaplains in the ministration of the gospel are requested to remember our personal preservation with thanksgiving and especially to beseech the Throne of Grace for aid in this our country’s hour of need,” on May 14, 1864.[3] There were calls for the governor of South Carolina to have a public day of Thanksgiving following the battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861.[4] This was followed by a call from the Confederate Congress for a day of Thanksgiving on the Sunday following the battle of First Manassas.[5] There are undoubtedly others. 

   Jefferson Davis would issue at least ten such calls for prayer, fasting, and/or thanksgiving during the war.[6] June 13, 1861 was one of the first, a call for a day of prayer and thanksgiving.[7] On February 20, 1862,  a proclamation on the “termination of the Provisional Government offers a fitting occasion to present ourselves in humiliation, prayer and thanksgiving before that God who has safely conducted us through the first year of our national existence.”[8]

 

   On September 18 came another proclamation, this time thanking “Almighty God for the great mercies vouchsafed to our people, and more especially for the late triumphs of our arms at Richmond and Manassas.[9] The text is copied below:

 

THANKSGIVING DAY 1862 for victory in battle BY JEFFERSON DAVIS

To the People of the Confederate States:

Once more upon the plains of Manassas have our armies been blessed by the Lord of Hosts with a triumph over our enemies. It is my privilege to invite you once more to His footstool, not now in the garb of fasting and sorrow, but with joy and gladness, to render thanks for the great mercies received at His hand. A few months since, and our enemies poured forth their invading legions upon our soil. They laid waste our fields, polluted our altars and violated the sanctity of our homes. Around our capital they gathered their forces, and with boastful threats, claimed it as already their prize. The brave troops which rallied to its defense have extinguished these vain hopes, and, under the guidance of the same almighty hand, have scattered our enemies and driven them back in dismay. Uniting these defeated forces and the various armies which had been ravaging our coasts with the army of invasion in Northern Virginia, our enemies have renewed their attempt to subjugate us at the very place where their first effort was defeated, and the vengeance of retributive justice has overtaken the entire host in a second and complete overthrow. To this signal success accorded to our arms in the East has been graciously added another equally brilliant in the West. On the very day on which our forces were led to victory on the Plains of Manassas, in Virginia, the same Almighty arm assisted us to overcome our enemies at Richmond, in Kentucky. Thus, at one and the same time, have two great hostile armies been stricken down, and the wicked designs of their armies been set at naught. 

   In such circumstances, it is meet and right that, as a people, we should bow down in adoring thankfulness to that gracious God who has been our bulwark and defense, and to offer unto him the tribute of thanksgiving and praise. In his hand is the issue of all events, and to him should we, in an especial manner, ascribe the honor of this great deliverance.

   Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, do issue this, my proclamation, setting apart Thursday, the 18th day of September inst., as a day of prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God for the great mercies vouchsafed to our people, and more especially for the triumph of our arms at Richmond and Manassas; and I do hereby invite the people of the Confederate States to meet on that day at their respective places of public worship, and to unite in rendering thanks and praise to God for these great mercies, and to implore Him to conduct our country safely through the perils which surround us, to the final attainment of the blessings of peace and security.

   Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States, at Richmond, this fourth day of September, A.D.1862.[10]

 

   Davis would submit other days for official days of thanksgiving. One came in January 1863, following the victory at Fredericksburg the previous December.[11]  Another came in March 1863. “In obedience to His precepts, we have from time to time been gathered together with prayer and thanksgiving, and he has been graciously pleased to hear our supplications, and to grant abundant exhibitions of His favor to our armies and our people,” Davis wrote.[12]   

   Even though there were Confederate victories in 1864, such as Olustee, Kenesaw Mountain, Brice’s Crossroads, and Monocacy, there were fewer calls for days of thanksgiving. There were calls for days of prayer, humiliation, and fasting. One of these latter decrees came from the Confederate Congress in March.[13] Another came in February 1865.[14] It would be one of the last.

 

 

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[1] Official Records, Vol.16, pt. 2, 842.

[2] Official Records, Vol. 29, pt. 2, 746.

[3] Official Records, Vol. 39, pt. 2, 597.

[4] The Charleston Daily Courier, April 29, 1861.

[5] The Semi-Weekly Journal, (Raleigh), July 24, 1861.

[6] Allen, Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart, 312.

[7] Newbern Weekly Progress, June 11, 1861.

[8] Southern Confederacy (Atlanta) February 21, 1862.

[9] Southern Confederacy, September 6, 1862.

[10] McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, 154.

[11] The Tarborough Southerner (North Carolina), January 17, 1863.

[12] The Abington Virginian, March 6, 1863.

[13] The Daily Dispatch, March 24, 1864.

[14] Richmond Dispatch, January 12, 1865.

Reburying Confederates

    This past weekend, the decade-long task of disinterring Nathan Bedford Forrest from a park in Memphis and reburying him in Columbia, Tennessee, came to a close. Some people view this as a good thing: placing the famed Confederate cavalry general in a spot where people actually care. Others view this as a dangerous precedent. If one Confederate can be disinterred and moved, then how about the others? While this post does not usually support the idea of moving the remains of old soldiers from their resting spots, it has actually happened several times before.

   Forrest, following the war, returned to Tennessee, became president of a railroad, and then died in October 1877. He was originally buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. Later, the remains of both he and his wife were interred under an equestrian statue in Forrest Park. In September 2021, their remains were reinterred at Elm Springs in Columbia, Tennessee.

   Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded by his own soldiers on the night of May 2, 1863, during the fighting near Chancellorsville, Virginia. He lingered for several days before dying at Guinea Station on May 10. His body was transported to Lexington, Virginia, where he was interred in a family plot in the Presbyterian Cemetery. Later, his remains and those of his wife were removed to a different plot in the cemetery and reinterred under a monument bearing his likeness. The Presbyterian Cemetery was renamed the Stonewall Jackson Cemetery in 1949, and then the Oak Grove Cemetery in 2020.

   Ambrose Powell Hill must be one of the most well- traveled post-mortem generals. Following his death near Petersburg, Virginia, on April 2, 1865, Hill was originally interred in the old Winston Family Cemetery near Coalfield, Chesterfield County. In 1867, Hill’s remains were moved to Hollywood Cemetery. In June 1891, the remains were again moved, this time to the intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road. Thanks to a recent ruling by the Richmond City Council, it appears that Hill is going to be moved once again, possibly to Culpeper, Virginia.

   Patrick Cleburne, Hiram Granbury, and Otho Strahl were all Confederate generals killed at the battle of Franklin. All three were originally interred in the potter’s field at Rose Hill in Columbia, Tennessee. Shortly thereafter,  they were removed to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ashwood, Tennessee. Many years later, all three were exhumed and reburied in different cemeteries. Patrick Cleburne was reburied in Helena, Arkansas. Otho Strahl was reburied in Dyersburg, Tennessee. Hiram Granbury was reburied in Granbury, Texas.

   Albert Sidney Johnston, killed in April 1862 at the battle of Shiloh, was originally interred in New Orleans. In January 1867, he was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas.

   William Barksdale was mortally wounded in the fighting on July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg. He died the following day and was buried in the yard of the Hummelbaugh House. In January 1867, Barksdale was reburied in the Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, Mississippi.

   Richard Garnett was killed during killed in a skirmish at Corrick’s Ford, Virginia (now West Virginia) on July 13, 1861. He was originally interred in Baltimore, Maryland. He was later reinterred next to his wife and a child in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.

Jefferson Davis reburial in Richmond, 1893. (The Valentine)

   It is not only some generals who have been reburied. Confederate president Jefferson Davis died in New Orleans on December 6, 1889. His body was laid to rest in a vault in Metairie Cemetery. After many requests, his widow agreed to allow his remains to be reinterred in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. He was reburied there in 1893.

   Confederate Senator Landon Carter Haynes passed away in Memphis on February 17, 1875. He was originally buried in Elmwood Cemetery, but later (1902) his son had those remains removed to Jackson Cemetery, Jackson, Tennessee, where he lies in an unmarked grave.

   There are doubtless many others whose remains have been moved over the years, such as the eight members of the crew of the C.S.S. Hunley who were reburied in the Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2004. It would be nice to know how many of the 425 Confederate generals have been moved at least once. Of course, there are a handful whose current resting places are still a mystery anyway. We’ll save that for another post.

Site Visit Saturday: the Grave of Abraham Buford, Lexington, Kentucky

    Cemeteries are wonderful history lessons. Often, the larger cemeteries have scores of lessons. We could spend the rest of the year just in today’s cemetery, the Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky. For now, we’ll concentrate on just one story, the life of Abraham Buford.

    Born in Woodford County, Kentucky, on January 18, 1820, Buford was educated by a private tutor before attending Centre College and then West Point, where he graduated in 1841. Among his classmates were Richard B. Garnett, Robert S. Garnett, Josiah Gorgas, John Marshall Jones, Samuel Jones, and Claudius Wistar Sears, all Confederate generals. (There were a few Union generals in his class as well, including Horatio G. Wright, Schuyler Hamilton, John F. Reynolds, and Nathaniel Lyon.) After graduation, Buford was assigned to the 1^st US Dragoons, seeing duty in Kansas, Mexico (where Buford was breveted to captain for gallant and meritorious service in the battle of Buena Vista), New Mexico, and at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Buford resigned from the army in 1854 and took up farming in Woodford County. He was soon breeding racehorses and shorthorn cattle, gaining a national reputation.

   A biographical sketch states that while Buford was an ardent advocate of states’ rights, he counseled

Abraham Buford. 

against secession, and remained neutral until the summer of 1862 when he joined with John H. Morgan. Buford raised what amounted to a brigade composed of the 3^rd, 5^th, and 6^th Kentucky Cavalry regiments. Buford led the brigade at Perryville and during the Murfreesboro campaign. Official promotion to brigadier general came on November 29, 1862. Following a dispute with one of his regimental commanders, Buford was transferred to Mississippi and placed under John Pemberton. He led his brigade at the battle of Champion Hill and served in W. W. Loring’s Division for several months, escaping the surrender at Vicksburg. In March 1864, Buford was assigned to Nathan Bedford Forrest’s command, and Buford’s infantry raided into Kentucky to supply itself with horses. Buford was assigned to command one of Forrest’s cavalry divisions.

   The battle of Brice’s Cross Roads in June 1864 is considered Buford’s finest hour, and Forrest’s greatest victory. Buford rode with Forrest until November when his division was attached to the Army of Tennessee. They opened the battle at Spring Hill, fought at Murfreesboro, and Buford was wounded in the shoulder near Franklin on December 17, and in the leg at Richland Creek on December 24. He returned to the war in February 1865, and fought at Selma, Alabama in April 1865. Buford was paroled at Gainesville, Alabama, on May 10, 1865.

Lexington Cemetery 

   Following the war, Buford returned to Kentucky to raise racehorses, advocate reconciliation, and serve in the Kentucky legislature in 1879. However, the death of his only son and his wife, as well as a series of severe financial reverses that resulted in the loss of his home, led Buford to commit suicide at his brother’s home in Danville, Indiana, in June 1884. He was buried next to his wife in Lexington. The Lexington Cemetery is the final resting place of a number of Confederate generals, including John H. Morgan, John C. Breckinridge, and Basil Duke.

   There is no stand-alone biography on Abraham Buford. However, there is an excellent sketch in Kentuckians in Gray, edited by Bruce Allardice and Lawrence Lee Hewitt (2008)

   I have visited the Lexington Cemetery once, in the fall of 1997.