Barrett's in the Military
Note: Links with * are links that work, I am still collecting data and adding it.
*Revolutionary War
*War of 1812 (Barrett's from South Carolina)
*Confederate Barrett Soldiers Buried in the North
*Confederate Barrett's Pension List in Texas
Karen Hett's 24th Cavalry Page
Madison County, TX Pensions List
If you have an ancestor who served in the military and his/her grave is not marked with a military headstone you can order one free. I have included below text from e-mails to share with you on how to order a military headstone and the process one Barrett descendant went thru in order to order 131 markers for a mass Confederate grave, very intresting reading even if you don't want to order one.
The markers are free
from the federal government, the Veteran's Administration. Even for
the Rebs who served in the Confederacy. The only requirement is that
the man has to have had an honorable discharge (can't have deserted.)
The instructions and the application form are available on the VA
website, to be downloaded as PDF. It works perfectly, and the form
prints out looking like an original.
If the soldier's remains cannot be pinpointed (for example, if he died
on the battlefield but there is no cemetery there), then you can
request a memorial marker to be placed there or in the soldier's home
cemetery.Karen Hett
My experience' is drawn from my ambitious effort to have 131 Mississippi
soldier's graves marked with the appropriate CSA tombstone.
My gggrandfather and two of his brothers served in the 21st MS Infantry,
Co., G. My gggrandfather and one brother survived the War of Northern
Aggression, but the youngest, 17-year old James John Mitchell died shortly
after enlistment in June 1861. Any knowledge of his demise and burial
location was unknown to the family for the last 142 years until recently.
The three brothers marched to Manassas, VA to join up with Lee's Northern
Virginia Army. James John was ordered to picket duty at Sinclair's Ford and
Black Ford on the Occoquan River until he developed camp fever and died at
the General Hospital at Leesburg during the night of November 11, 1861. His
body was placed in a mass grave in Union Cemetery, Leesburg, VA with about
200 other fallen Mississippi soldiers from the 13th, 17th, 18th and 21st
Infantries. These soldiers remained unknown for 140+ years until two
gentlemen from Virginia were able to identify 131 of the 200 along with
other fallen CSA soldiers from neighboring states. What started as an effort
to have James John's grave marked with a single CSA tombstone has now
escalated in to an effort to have 131 tombstones installed in memory of
those that have been identified.
All soldiers that have fought in any War since the American Revolution as an
American soldier, regardless of color, creed or religion, are entitled to a
government supplied tombstone free of charge. That marker can be on the
actual grave such as at or near a battlefield where he or she fell, or as a
memorial marker at the hometown cemetery. It does not have to be placed at
the point of burial. But only ONE tombstone will be provided by the
government. Both Yankees and Rebs have the right to these tombstones. It's
not about which side they were on [or still are], it's about fighting and
dying as an American.
Obtaining all the appropriate Service Records from MDAH, NARA, etc. is the
first task at hand. You must be able to provide proper CSR documents
identifying your soldier and his/her service to our country.
Date of Birth and Death are not necessary to obtain the tombstone.
You do not have to be a relative to the deceased to obtain the tombstone.
Anyone can order it.
Upright 'peaked' tombstones vs. upright rounded tombstones are
advisable...you can't sit on them.... all CSA stones will have the Southern
Cross of Honor.
The tombstone can be delivered to ANY address as long as it's not a PO Box
or similar. ? There needs to be someone there to receive the stone[s]. Keep
in mind that an upright 'peaked' tombstone with a Southern Cross of Honor
weighs in at 230 pounds. For that reason, a place of business may be best.
If delivering to your home and the cemetery is 'nearby', you will have to
transport it to the cemetery. Some cemeteries will receive for you. Check
with your local cemetery, funeral home, or funeral marker companies as to
what they can do for you. Inspect your tombstone upon arrival. Any damaged
stones will be replaced free of charge by the government. In my case, the
receiving of 131 tombstones will be monumental...[!]
You can actually install the tombstone yourself if you are capable. It needs
to be set one foot in to the ground. Generally, you can receive assistance
from the cemetery, but in rural areas, you'll need the assistance of good
strong individuals. I don't find the SCV units helpful in this regard,
because they're generally older gents like myself. Since you need to pay the
costs to install these tombstones out of your own pocket, I find it
advisable to talk to the local law enforcement folks and they will have the
local prisoner population do it for you. I noticed this while I was up in
the Drew, MS cemetery and after seeing prisoners digging graves, I asked the
constable about it, and that led me to having the nearby prison in Virginia
as my resource to have 131 tombstones installed when the time came. Be
resourceful with your available labor pools. College kids are great, but
mine have flown the coop.....I hear it's $75 charge at some cemeteries to
install the tombstone, but I'm not sure.
I know about Camp Chase, but have never been there. If they have a single
monument to honor those fallen unknown soldiers of the Civil War, just as
the cemetery in Leesburg does, those cemeteries will allow individual
tombstones to be places as well for those soldiers that have be subsequently
identified.
If I missed some of your questions....let me know.
I commend any person or persons that make the effort to honor our fallen
soldiers. They are the reason we are here today.
R/Steven
smm@focalpointlights.com
Steve--this is all so very interesting!
Thanks for answering the questions, and for shedding more light on
exactly what it is you are doing. So, am I to understand that all of
the men you are marking are in one cemetery?
Please explain to us how the gentlemen were able to identify these guys
as having died and been buried here. Did they find hospital records,
or other types of records? How, specifically, did they identify James
John as being in that mass grave?
I think something we all fail to realize is that there are a lot of
Civil War records that have never seen the light of day; they are not
accessible to anyone who doesn't go to where they are and read through
them page by page. I discovered that one of the CSA surgeons who was
in charge of an Atlanta hospital where one of my men died left papers
and records from the hospital that are now, somehow, in the LBJ History
Center in Austin! I plan to have a look at them eventually, and see if
I can find out anything about my Cavalrymen.
By the way, the Confederate Research Center at Hillsboro has a burial
project; they have about 18,000 soldiers' names in their data base now
(in a card file, not on computer). You might consider submitting your
names for their project--they want names, dates, state of service
regiment name and number, death date and burial place. I'm sure it
will eventually be computerized, but it will take a change of personnel
there, probably. There was a couple who were researching the names
when I was there last time, they're working on a book of CSA officers
buried in Texas.
Thanks again, Steve, for giving us guidance on honoring our military
ancestors by marking their final resting places!
Karen
Webmaster's note: Karen Hett is the webmistress of the 24th Cavalry Page. To view her page click on the link above.
Karen,
Ok, I'll try to keep it brief.......
My search for James John started over 13 years ago but went nowhere until I
started working under the counsel of Gerry back in January 2003. The only
bit of information we had was that he died in 1861, somewhere. Our only
thoughts was to trace the steps of the 21st MS Infantry after they left
Corinth. I had taken our research up to the fine folks on the MS Civil War
Message Board who sent me over to Virginia's CWMB. One knowledgeable fellow
suggested I try Balch Library's treasure-trove of Civil War data. Balch
Library, I learned, has an on-line listing of fallen CSA soldiers and to my
stunning disbelief I found what certainly appeared to be my soldier buried
in Union Cemetery in Leesburg, VA.
With verification being the basis of all of our research, I needed to
determine the validity and source of their information. The gracious
librarian at Balch informed me, regrettably, that the source of their
information was now deceased and they had no immediate way to help us out.
But, they referred us to two authors that had written a book on the Union
Cemetery and perhaps they could be of help.
We contacted the authors of 'No Sound Can Awake Them To Glory Again' and
found that what started out as an historical piece on the cemetery turned in
to a work of love. Their research at NARA led them to the official " Report
of Sick and Wounded" submitted for November 1861 by Dr, Armistead R. Mott to
the Surgeon General's Office, Confederate States Army, Richmond, VA. Dr.
Mott was a civilian Leesburg physician (later Chief Surgeon on the staff of
Major Generals Daniel Harvey Hill and Robert Rodes with the rank of major)
who served as Chief Surgeon of the 7th Brigade Hospital. This pointed them
to the hospital, now a church, in Leesburg, VA where they found the actual
records still stored in the attic!
Dr. Mott's records indicated that my James John Mitchell died the evening of
November 11, 1861 of chronic diarrhea, a common ailment during those war
time years due to the unsanitary conditions of their camps. A historical
account of the original cemetery found the original citizens of Leesburg
giving their plots to the fallen soldiers of the first battles of the War
Between the States. Over 200 soldiers from Mississippi, as well as many
others from other neighboring States rest in unmarked graves here at Union
Cemetery. The authors of 'No Sound' meticulously documented the soldiers of
Dr. Mott's records with help from their compiled service records at NARA. I,
of course, have purchased this book from the authors.
With a desire to seal the research, we contacted the Superintendent of the
cemetery and he was able to verify from his records that James John was
indeed interred in this cemetery. This fine young man even provided us with
digital pictures of the mass grave, as well as an etching of the Southern
Cross of Honor marking the grave.
Without the assistance of all these wonderful folks, we would have never
been able to find our soldier. The authors of 'No Sound' have asked that
they be kept up to date in our efforts to have the mass grave marked with
the appropriate 131 individual CSA tombstones. The day will come when we
have our dedication ceremony and we will most certainly have the authors and
all involved on the dais. It will be a great day!
R/Steven
Military Markers