A grave older than the state

[AlabamaRelic]

I went to this grave yesterday. I haven't been here since the 80's. It's in a fairly remote area.

It reads:

Alabama
Major 34 US INF
April 11 1819

I found some info about him on google books.
List of officers of the army of the United States from 1779 to 1900.
A dictionary of all officers: who have been commissioned, or have been ... By Charles Kitchell Gardner
He joined the army in VA in 1808 as 1 Lt in 5 INF. Made Capt. in 1811. Made Major June 1814 34 INF. Fought at Lyons Creek in Canada under BG Bissell in Oct. 1814. In May 1815 he was retained as Capt brevet Maj. He died in 1819 just a few months before Alabama became a state. In 1819 the 8th INF was one group working on Jackson's Military road linking Nashville with New Orleans. If he was still in the army at this time, I believe there is a work camp close by.

 

[ouachitacaveman]

That's cool you could dig up the
additional info. Hope you have luck
around that possible cellar hole !

 

[Produce Guy]

Depending on what you want to do at the site,I would either bring a leaf blower or a rake and rake all the leaves to one side and start swinging that coil,and it probably wouldn't hurt to clean that grave stone up a little bit.

 

[The Seeker]

Looks old to me.......that area around it also! Keep on Digging!!!

 

[traverdog]

Good story and pictures.

 

[KyFreeBird]

Great site !!!! Cleaning up his headstone would be appropriate !!!!! I salute this old soldier. God bless him.

 

[Tigger]

Kinda off topic a little, but since we all like history, saw an opening to pass on a cleaning technique - when cleaning tombstones, please don't ever use bleach, leaves behind chemicals that deteriorate the stone - we're in the process of documenting a very old cemetery and have done research on cleaning them. For the most part, just use lots of water and a soft brush - I use a whisk broom (we have a lot of lichens here), it breaks rather than abrades the stone. I know, it surprised me too - so many of them look like they could use a good bleaching, but it's not good for them in the long run, and we want them to last another hundred years! And if anyone is doing cemetery surveys in your county, they would probably appreciate his data. Just a thought! (I'm a genealogist.)

 

[IAsoldier]

Be a cool place to try but I wonder if this guy gets a flag on Memorial day for all the Veterans that we give.

 

[olepossum]

that cellar hole could be a sunken grave also from a decaying csaket

 

[AlabamaRelic]

Be a cool place to try but I wonder if this guy gets a flag on Memorial day for all the Veterans that we give.

I'm gonna put a flag on his grave. Us veterans have to stick together.
Refinding this grave has made me think of many questions. I'm going to have to research him some more. I want to know if he was still in the military when he died. If so, I want to know what he was doing. Many veterans of the war of 1812 settled in this area after the war. His grave was very close if not inside Chickasaw Territory when he died. I'm gonna have to research the land where he was buried.

 

[Nana40]

Great pics, Red. Good luck on your research.

Nana

 

[AlabamaRelic]

Since I'm working 4-10s, I went to the county archives today. They didn't open til noon. I asked about James. The lady there knew exactly who I was asking about. All that she could add to what I already knew was that he was with the soldiers working on building Andrew Jackson's Military Road from Nashville to New Orleans. He died and was buried there. She said it is the oldest marked grave in our county.
At some point, in the early 1900's The Daughters of the American Revolution erected the monument that is there now. I found the Dorman Monument on a 1936 road map.
The lady told me she had been there a long time ago. She asked if the grave was being taken care of. I told her it wasn't. It looks like I will have to clean up around it. Any suggestions That I could do other than raking the leaves away and cleaning the headstone?

 

[kuger]

The unfortunate problem(I know from experience)of getting too carried away is that there are moraless people out there that once you cause or bring attention to graves,they will dig them up

 

[september]

Very cool!