04/28/2026
By late April, 160 years ago, the reburials at the McGavock Confederate Cemetery had been going on for almost a month. John McGavock wrote a letter to update Mary Ann Gay, whose brother Lt. Thomas Stokes was killed at Franklin, and who had raised $400 to fund the removal of the Texas dead. "A portion of the letter was republished in a Galveston, Texas newspaper. He said the 'work of reinterring the Texas dead was completed on Monday. The number is 65.' He also wrote that 117 from Tennessee, 140 from Mississippi, and 130 from Missouri 'have been removed.'" The number of Texans was, in fact, not complete. The final total was 89.
Each body "was laid to rest in a small coffin 'of oak, neatly and compactly made.' The soldiers were buried in state sections and 'by platoon, 15 in each.' Two long columns of these platoons were created and 'separated by an avenue 14 feet in width.'"
"Barely a month into the work tragedy struck. Marcellus Cuppet, who was just twenty-five years old, became desperately ill in the last week of April. What caused his illness is unknown, but he became sick on Sunday, April 22, and was delirious by Tuesday. He died the following day and was buried on April 26...Today Marcellus lies next to some of the men he was helping identify..."
*Quoted material from The McGavock Confederate Cemetery by Eric A. Jacobson. Find it in our shops and online here:
https://store.boft.org/books-and-dvds/p/the-mcgavock-confederate-cemetery-a-revised-and-updated-compilation
