The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when Southern artillery shelled Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, S. C. and ended four years later on April 9, 1865. The war took more American lives than any other war in history. It divided the people of the United States, so that in many families brother fought against brother and the four years of battle and bloodshed left a heritage of grief and bitterness that remains in part even today.

Many persons have called this tragic conflict the War Between the States, the War of Rebellion, the War of Secession and the War for Southern Independence. But whatever it is called. The war was a great turning point in American history. In American history, school children have studied about the Civil War down through the years and even today one can view movies about the war on the history channel on television but the thing which has brought the war closer home to me has been the recent endeavor of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, to place monuments on the graves of our Civil War ancestors. The dedications I have witnessed have been

beautiful and solemn occasions which have been long overdue for those brave men who gave their lives fighting for a cause they were willing to give their lives for. Until recently, I never dreamed that so many of our relatives had participated in the war and that many of them had never had a monument to mark their graves.

So I dedicate this Civil War page to those brave men I never knew, but had it not been for them, I wouldn’t be here today.

Ruby Ray Boyett Burkett

November 14, 2004

Floyd Willis Boyett is the nephew of Alricks and I, being the son of my brother Eugene Peavy Boyett and his mother, Hattie Pauline Burkett, being the sister of Alricks. So we share these ancestors and other relatives who bravely fought in a war, not of their making, but in which many gave their lives. Are we proud to call them our ancestors? Yes, indeed.

Headstone Dedication for Private Sion Jones

Posting of the Colors                                           SCV

Invocation                                                            SCV

Pledge to the U. S. Flag

 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands---one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Pledge to the Texas Flag 

    Honor the Texas Flag.  I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible.

Salute to the Confederate Flag

 I salute the Confederate flag with affection, reverence and undying devotion to the Cause for which it stands.

Biography of Private Sion Jones                       Floyd Boyett

Unveiling of Headstone                                     Floyd Boyett

Family History                                                   Bonnie Jones Smith

Family History and Poem                                  Ruby Boyett Burkett

Native Soil Ceremony                                        Family Members

Presentation of Roses                                         OCR and Order of the Black Rose

Honor Guard                                                       SCV

Taps                                                                     Sung

Canteen Ceremony                                              SCV

Benediction                                                          SCV

Retiring of the Colors                                          SCV

Private Sion Jones

Captain Campbell’s Independent Company,

Georgia Siege Artillery Volunteer

Enlisted – July 26, 1863

Where – St. Marks, Florida

Period – 3 years

Died – August 14, 1864 – 2 weeks after being sent home ill.

Charles G. Campbell recruited his Independent Company of Georgia Siege Artillery in Bainbridge, Georgia and St. Marks, Florida starting in March 1863.  It formed the garrisoned of Fort Ward at St. Marks (a Confederate reconstruction of Spanish Fort San Marcos de Appalachian) As of January 15, 1864, a report by Captain L. J. Smith state the following.

“I inspected the company of heavy artillery commanded by Captain Campbell acting as a garrison to the batter of St. Mark’s; 125 men; armed with British muskets, caliber .75, in good condition; ammunition dry and in accouterments of leather and in good condition , dry and in serviceable order; have 70 rounds of ammunition for arms.  This battery mounts 5 guns.  The battery is well supplied with the requisite ammunition, and the ordnance stores are in good condition.”

Sion Jones was one of these 125 men.  Today we honor his life and his Confederate service.

DEDICATION SPEECH

On what I believe to have been a hot muggy day on August 14, 1864, Sion Jones, the son of Matthew Jones and Elizabeth (Wester) Jones, breathed his last earthly existence into eternity.

Sion had evidently enlisted in the CSA War effort after his two brothers Zory B. Jones and George W. Jones were killed in action. Knowing the Jones Boys tradition of allegiance to their respective families and each other, Sion felt he had to defend both the honor of his brothers and his own family as the war came closer.

On that August day in 1864, the life and times of Elizabeth Morgan Jones, as well as that of her sister Dorcas Morgan Lee changed dramatically. Left alone in the desolation of a war torn territory, they came to Texas to join their father and mother, Daniel and Mary Morgan. If there be any descendants, relatives or friends of their children present her today, will you please raise your hand and give your names.

Thus began the life and times of the seven children of Elizabeth Morgan Jones and Dorcas Morgan Lee’s families in Jasper and Newton Counties of Texas.

The children of Elizabeth Morgan Jones were:

Newton B. Jones who married Ruby Beatrice Kelly

Mary Matida who married Joshua Timothy Hawthorne

Martha Ann who married John Walter Powell

Elizabeth “Lizzie” who married Frank Goetzmann

Sarah Jane “Sallie” who married Henry Cochran Jones (no relation)

      They are my grandparents

Henrietta who married John Wesley Boyett

George Son who married Sally Smith

Sion Jones, I am quite sure, was reluctant to leave such a large and young family seemingly alone and defenseless. But for a cause he believed to be honorable, he did so, along with many others. What a dreadful experience one must encounter when such a time comes to an individual. As one of his great grand daughters, I am deeply grateful for his sacrifice and am honored to be one of his descendants.

Bonnie Jones Smith

Grandmother

Sarah Jane Jones(Jones)

Sarah Jane Jones was the fifth child born to Sion Jones and Elizabeth (Morgan) Jones. She was born in Decatur Co., Georgia on August 12, 1859. She related the following story to one of her granddaughters, Verbal (Jones) Brown/Rhodd. In later years, Verbal told the story to her younger sister, Bonnie Loucille Jones (Smith).

When her father, Sion Jones came home to Decatur Co., Georgia, after fighting in the Civil War, he was sick. He was so happy to be home with his family, relatives and friends that he would not stay in bed. As a result of his illness and forgoing staying in bed, he was dead within a few weeks.

Elizabeth’s sister, Dorcas (Morgan) Lee, had lost her husband as a casualty of the war. As far as we can determine, she and her family also lived in Decatur Co., Georgia. The war had taken a sharply critical toll on the two young women so, together, they made the decision to leave Georgia and join their parents in Jasper Co., Texas. They and their children booked passage aboard a ship, which was sailing from the port of Savannah, Georgia (I have been to this site). The ship came around the peninsula of Florida into the Gulf of Mexico and thence to Galveston Island in Texas. Their father, Daniel Morgan, met his daughters and their families in Galveston and brought them to his home in, or near, Magnolia Springs, in Jasper Co., Texas.

Grandmother, Sara Jane Jones, who was only seven years of age at that time, tells of seeing her first wood-burning cook stove in Galveston. In Georgia, the families had always cooked on “open-hearth fireplaces. These “open hearths” were usually situated in what we refer to as a “great room. The rooms were where most of the family activities took place.

When Sarah Jane became an adult, she met and married grand-father Henry Cochran Jones (no relation), whose family came from South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi. Sarah Jane and Henry became the parents of ten children, of whom seven lived to adulthood. Jesse James “Dock” Jones was the fourth born of their children. “Dock is the father of James Purvis Jones, Verbal Gertrude Jones and Bonnie Loucille Jones.

Sarah Jane is buried in the Magnolia Springs Cemetery in Jasper Co., Texas. She is buried beside her mother. She died before grandfather and this burial site was her wish. Henry Cochran Jones is buried in the Bleakwood Cemetery in Newton C., Texas There are six generations of Jones males buried in the Bleakwood Cemetery as well as many of the descendants of Andrew Jackson Jones. Andrew Jackson Jones was the father of Henry Cochran Jones. Sion Jones is buried somewhere in (?) Decatur Co., Georgia. I’m still, in the year 2001, trying to find where Sion is buried. I traveled through the South about four or five years ago, trying to locate descenndants and burial sites of members of our families who struggled so valiantly to give their posterity a new life after the awful devastation of the Civil War.

Oral History by: Bonnie Loucille Jones Smith

August 20, 2001

Grandmother

Henrietta (Jones) Boyett

Henrietta Jones was born in Decatur Co., Georgia on July 13, 1861, and died November 21, 1896 in Newton Co., Texas. She was the sixth daughter of Sion Jones and Elizabeth (Morgan) Jones. Her sister Sarah Jane Jones was two years older than she, so they and their brothers and sisters, some older, some younger came to Texas on the ship which sailed from the Port of Savannah, Georgia. I can only imagine the thoughts going through the minds of those children during the long voyage to their new home in Texas.

Neither, my older brother, Eugene nor I were born in time to know our grandparents, Henrietta Jones and John Wesley Boyett so we had no stories from older siblings.  We knew nothing about the family’s relocation to Texas but it is a very interesting addition to my website. If only I had had the foresight to ask my Aunt Lizzie Boyett Meadours for family stories, I’m sure I could have written a book.

Henrietta “Rett” Jones was married to John Wesley Boyett, son of Noah Boyett and Susan Putnell on October 24, 1877, in Jasper Co., Texas. They became the parents of ten children.

Elizabeth Leona “Lizzie” Boyett born October 7, 1879

Son (unnamed) born March 28, 1881

Noah Jackson “Noan” Boyett born March 19, 11882

George Peavy Boyett born March 16, 1884

Henrietta “Etta” Boyett born March 9, 1886

John Henry Boyett born July 7, 1888

Martha Ann “Babe’ Boyett born October 22, 1890

Peter “Little Pete” Boyett born February 23, 1892

Minnie Maysel Boyett bornMarch 28, 1893

Ennis Belle Boyett born May 12, 1896

One story that Aunt Lizzie related to me was that for several years, Grandmother Henrietta had suffered with severe headaches which were debilitating. Most of the time she tied a man’s handkerchief tightly around her head and it seemed to give her some relief from the pain. It seems that from the time Little Pete was born, Grandmother was unable to care for him and the responsibility fell to Aunt Lizzie. He was not a healthy baby and required special care so there were times when she had to sit up with him at night. She told me there were times when she would be so tired and sleepy she would lay her head on the bed beside the baby and sleep for a few minutes. What a responsibility for a thirteen year old girl! Perhaps that prepared her for what would come next. Grandmother died when Ennis Belle was just a few months old and Minnie Maysel was three years old so Aunt Lizzie became the care giver and substitute mother to all her siblings. Aunt Lizzie was some woman and there will never be another like her. She was a real “take charge Lady”.

John Wesley and Henrietta are buried in the Newton City Cemetery. I’m not sure where they were living in Newton County at the time of her death, but I do know their home at one time was in Bon Wier, at the location which finally became the home of Harrison Davis and his wife Ethel Hughes Davis.

Oral History by: Ruby Ray Boyett Burkett

July 10, 2004

DEDICATION TALK

Though I never knew my Great-grandfather Sion Jones, the man we are honoring today, oh how I wish I had. I wish I could have sat on his lap and listened to his stories as our little great-granddaughter, Noelle sits on her great-grandfathers lap today.

We all now know he was a brave and noble man who volunteered to fight in a war, not of his liking and one we all wish had never happened. In my heart, I know, he was more than just a brave man, but was also a kind and loving husband and adoring father of his seven children. My grandmother Henrietta was the next to youngest.

Grandfather Sion, we wish you could know that today in Texas and later in Georgia, you will receive the honor so long overdue.

DEAR   ANCESTOR

 Grandfather Sion Jones

You’ve had no tombstone to mark your grave

Since you were buried in Georgia 140 years ago

Though your grave has gone unnoticed,

It won’t be that way anymore.

Now your name and date will be chiseled

On polished marble stone

It will now reach out to all who care

As well as all who pass along.

It isn’t too late for us to mourn,

Though, you died long before we were born.

You would never know that we exist

The great-grandchildren, you would have adored.

Yet, each of us, are cells of you;

In flesh, in blood and bone.

Our blood contracts and beats a pulse,

Entirely not our own.

Dear grandfather, Sion, the place you filled

Some 140 years ago.

Spreads out among the ones you left

Who would have loved you so---

We have no doubt, you lived and loved,

So now we wish you could know;

That we finally found your gravesite,

Where, we’ll place this marble stone.

Your loving wife Elizabeth and daughters,

Henrietta and Sarah Jane and you’re other children

Would be so happy to know what we’re doing for you today.

Original Poem: Author Unknown

Adapted Poem: Ruby Boyett Burkett

Origin  Of  “Taps” Explained

We have, all  heard  the haunting song,”Taps”. It’s the song that gives us that lump in   our throats and usually creates tears in our eyes. But, do you know the story behind the song? If not, I think you will be pleased to learn about its humble beginnings.

   Reportedly, it all began in  1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army  Captain  Robert Ellecombe  was with his men near Harrisons’s Landing in Virginia.  The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land . During the night, Captain  Ellecombe  heard the moans of a  soldier who lay severely wounded  on  the field. Not knowing if it was a  Union  or Confederate  soldier, the captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical    Attention..

   Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the captain reached the  stricken  soldier and began  pulling him toward the encampment. When the captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered   it was actually a  Confederate  soldier, but the soldier was dead. The captain lit a lantern , suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own  son.

   The boy had been studying music in the South when   the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.

   The following morning, heartbroken, he asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted. The captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band  members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral. The request was turned down  since the soldier was a Confederate.

   But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician. The captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a  series of musical notes he had  found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth’s uniform. This wish was granted. The haunting melody, we now know as “Taps” used at military funerals, was born ….

Day is done

Gone the sun

From the lakes

From the hills

From  the  sky.

All is well,

Safely rest.

God is nigh.

Fading light

Dims the sight

And a star

Gems the sky,

Gleaming bright

From afar,

Drawing nigh,

Falls the night.

Thanks and praise,

For our days,

Neath the sun ,

Neath the  stars,

Neath the sky,

As we go,

This we know,

God is nigh.

I too, have felt the chills and the welling of tears in my eyes while listening to “Taps” but had never seen all the words until recently.

I now have a deeper respect for the song ,than  I’ve ever had before, especially after hearing the  haunting melody at the dedication  of the monument  for the long forgotten  “Yankee Soldier, David Chapin, who had lain in an unmarked grave from February 1863 to December 2001.

Ruby Boyett Burkett

June  18, 2004

Headstone Dedication for Private Burrell B. Zeagler

Brookeland Cemetery

March 19, 2005

 

 

 

 

                                 BURRELL B. ZEAGLER Family History 

 

The Zeagler/Zeigler family is of German decent. It appears that three generations of the family arrived in the New World together and most likely immigrated in at Charles Town, South Carolina about 1752. In this extended family group was Burrell’s GG-grandfather, Frederick, Sr., his Great-grandfather, Frederick, Jr., and his Grandfather, Michael.

  Michael was a volunteer in the Revolutionary War, also a member of the Indian Field Company Militia under the command of Capt. John Fullerton. In 1775 he became a member of Imhoff’s in the 3^rd Regiment commanded by Colonel William Thompson. In June of 1776 he was in Capt. Jacob Rumph’s Company of Sullivan’s Island. Between April 14 and may 1, 1778 he was in the East Florida Invasion and in October 1779 he was at the Siege of Savannah.

  Michael’s son John was born in 1778 in Orangeburg District, South Carolina, the first of our line to be born in America. John served his country in the War of 1812, as a private in Capt. Jacob Guice’s Infantry from the Militia of Mississippi Territory.

  John’s son Robert was the first of our line to move to Texas, arriving in San Augustine County by 1851. Robert and his wife, Nancy Stokes, would have seven children, four sons and three daughters.

 

  Their first son, John Robert Zeagler, Sr. was a Private in the 13^th LA Infantry and died in Camp Douglas, Illinois on October 10, 1863. John is buried in the Townsend Cemetery in San Augustine County.

  Their second son, Burrell B. Zeagler was a Private in Co. I,Young’s Regiment, Texas Infantry. He would die soon after returning home, because of illness, in 1862.

   Their third son, Benjamin Franklin Zeagler was a Private in Whitefield’s Legion, Texas Cavalry. Ben would make it through the war and is buried in the Little Flock Cemetery in San Augustine County.

  John and Nancy’s fourth son, William Zeagler was a Private in Co. G, 13^th Texas Cavalry and would die Nov. 10, 1962 in the War for Southern Independence.

 

Our Zeagler family came to America seeking freedom and they were willing to give all they had to get it. This southern soil is soaked with their blood.

 

Floyd Willis Boyett, March 19, 2005

 

 

DEAR ANCESTOR BURRELL ZEIGLER

 

Here, beside your beloved wife Francis,

Now stands this marble stone.

Though you were buried elsewhere,

The exact site, to us, unknown.

 

Now your birth and death dates

Are chiseled on polished marble stone;

So that anyone passing by,

Will know when you died and when you were born.

 

They will know you fought in the Civil War,

For a cause, in which, you believed.

That you died soon after returning home,

Not from wounds, but from disease.

 

Your descendants here today never knew you.

 You died long before they were born,

But, at last they know about you,

Even though, it’s too late to mourn.

 

Yet each of us, are cells of you,

In flesh, in blood and bone

Our blood contracts and beats a pulse,

Entirely not, our own.

 

Dear Ancestor, the place you filled

So many years ago

Spreads out among the ones you left,

Who would have loved you so.

We don’t have to wonder if you lived and loved,

Or whether you knew

That someday we would find your gravesite

And come to visit you.

Author Unknown

Adapted Poem by Ruby Boyett Burkett, wife of your great-grandson, Alricks Burkett

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4^th Great-granddaughters

Amy and Alisa Price

singing

 

“Amazing Grace”

 

4^th Great-grandson

Ashton Burkett

playing

 

“Taps”

 

 

WHAT A TRIBUTE

TO THEIR

ANCESTOR

 

 

Press the button to hear Taps played by Ashton