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Subject: [TNDICKSO] Reb Grave Found in DC
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 9:45:52 -0600

Folks,
Adj. Anthony Lampley of the Baxter Fairview Camp
2034 & I made a find today while searching for the Old
Porter Cemetery today. After questioning a few of the
locals, we were directed to a farm home where a very
nice D.A.R. member came to the door. She & her
husband directed us to the back of their farm to one
of the most overgrown cemeteries I have seen in a long
time with downed trees throughout & a blocked
entrance. Good thing we had a 4-wheel drive to handle
the mud & snow of the cow field. After jumping the
fence and wading through thorn vines, brush & stray
limbs we spotted the grave of Pvt. Brazzel H.
Pendergrass 24th TN Inf. Co. I. One of the down trees
only missed crushing his grave by a bit. This was a
Dickson Co. boy who joined up just across the line in
Hickman Co. Company H which was consolidated into Co.
I. His stone is hard to make out his birth date but
states his death date as Oct. 4, 1862
which would have meant that he probably died in the
heavy skirmish at Bardstown where the 24th was
marching toward the Battle of Perryville, KY on the
8th. We'll have to coroborate this with his service
records once we get them but is probably the case
based on date & location of unit but you never know.
He was previously unknown to us & will be a new
addition to the next printing of our DC graves book
that we're accepting additions/corrections for. In
addition, many other graves marked only with a rock
are present. Only 3 other grave markers are present &
belong to early settlers of the Porter Community
namesake:
Zilpha wife of John Porter b. 4/3/1813 d. 12/13/1897
Missouri A. wife of G. W. Tidwell b. 6/28/1851 d. 3/7/1929
Unknown broken stone (possibly John Porter) b 11/23/1803 10/10/1850
If anyone has anymore information on these individuals or records of anyone
else buried here please let me know. There are many graves marked only
with rocks.


We also visited the very neglected Aden Cemetery
in the N.W. corner of Williamson Co. after a half a
mile walk off the main road on a private farm. We
cleaned off the grave of Ord. Sgt. John F. Cunningham
of Baxter's Battery TN Lgt. Art. & that of his wife.
His stone has been damaged and snapped but will be
fixed as soon as we can get it done. The namesake of
this cemetery has a birthdate of the late 1700's
listed on his grave which is surrounded by a very nice
but rusted iron fence. Both these cemeteries will
need some serious work so contact me if you are
interested in helping to restore these spots. The
worst of the two is Porter & the farm owner has
pledged his help if we will help him to rectify it &
has a tractor with a front end loader. Snake season
will be upon us before we know it though & there is no
way we will be able to do this if we wait past early
spring. We hope to turn this into a joint project
between the Fairview/Dickson/Hickman Co. SCV if at all
possible. Anyone else willing to roll up their
sleeves, bring some gloves, a chainsaw & come aboard
will be welcomed. I have photos of both sites if anyone
wishes to check 'em out. Contact me off list & I'll be happy to send.


Cmdr. Bryan A. Sharp
"Squirrel"
Capt. W. H. McCauley
SCV Camp 260 Dickson Co.
DC

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