|
500 Coffins Ordered Built by Gen. Albert
Sidney Johnston
Submitted and transcribed by Vicki Burress Roach
(originally printed by Mrs. Don Watkins in 1954)
The story today will be about the Confederate soldier who supervised the
construction of the 500 coffins Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston ordered before he
galloped away to Shiloh, at the head of an army of 44,000 volunteers.
The order was obeyed with haste and long before the last regiment had marched
out of Corinth hundreds of hammers and saws were ringing and buzzing in the
town.
As fate willed it Gen. Johnston's body was among the first to be brought back
from the battlefield and placed in one of the plain pine coffins he had ordered.
The coffin that received the body of Johnston was made by this Confederate
soldier. It was the model coffin for the workmen, and the one selected by an
officer and sent to Rose Cottage where the body lay on a couch.
This home was Johnston's headquarters before he left Corinth for Shiloh. It was
the home of Mrs. W.M. Inge. When Johnston's body arrived Mrs. Inge and a
neighbor, Mrs. Ellen Polk prepared it for burial. Mrs. Polk's daughter Eugenia
cut a few locks of hair from Johnston's head. One was sent to the widow, one
placed in the cornerstone of the old courthouse, and one in the cornerstone of
the Confederate monument at Shiloh.
This Confederate soldier who built the coffins was a Corinthian. His full name
was Jackson Carroll Daniel. He was a member of Co. B., 32nd Mississippi
Regiment. Before he joined the army he was a cabinet maker, and during his
enlistment he was called on many times to construct buildings and do repair work
at army camps.
This information was given to me several years ago by the late Mrs. Joe Daniel,
who was a faithful member of the local U.D.C. and held many important offices in
this organization. She also kept clippings and other news about the history of
Corinth, along with stories about the war, its soldiers and events that occurred
throughout the southland in her many scrapbooks, which she was glad to show to
anyone. Mrs. Daniel also kept records of her own family as well as the records
of her husband's family.
Soldier Daniel was the father of the late Joe C. Daniel who served this city as
an official for 26 years-six years as a member of the city council and 20 years
as Chief of Police. Chief Daniel was known and loved by everyone, both white and
colored.
Soldier Daniel was also the father of James B. Daniel, William H. Daniel, Anna
Corrine and Martha Ugenia Daniel, Thomas J. Daniel, D.Q. Daniel, and Marvin
Daniel, all deceased.
He was the grandfather of Mrs. Leroy Gray, wife of Postmaster Gray, Mrs. Joe
Welch, Sarasota, Florida, Mrs. George King, Memphis, Tennessee, Mrs. Lottie
Daniel Hopkins, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Homan M. Daniel, of Chicago. And he was
the great-grandfather of Robert Lee and Rebecca Jane, children of Postmaster
Gray and his wife, Barbara and Peggy Jo Welch, children of M/M Joe Welch,
Sarasota, Florida, and Mrs. Shirley Gann Horton, one of the cashiers at the
Security Bank in Corinth. |
|
|
|
