Graves of the CSS Arkansas dead will soon be marked

This is the second of two stories about the Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas, which made Naval history here in 1862, and of the men who lost their lives fighting for their country.

After 147 years, 23 men who lost their lives at Vicksburg will have their graves marked.

It’s because of the work and bulldog determination of Bryan Skipworth that their graves at last are going to have tombstones in Cedar Hill Cemetery. He has been at work on the project for the last four years.

The men were among the crew of the ironclad CSS Arkansas, which took on the Federal fleet here in second year of the War Between the States. The vessel’s role in the war lasted only 21 days, but its accomplishments are unparalleled in history. Her story has been told many times, especially in a novel by James Street, “By Valour and Arms,” and there’s an engraving of the vessel on the Arkansas state memorial in the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Skipworth grew up in Redwood, where he heard his grandparents tell stories of the past. His great-grandfather, Edward Warnock, who was from Yazoo County, was a Confederate veteran.

He has always like local history, Skipworth said, “but I really got into it about five or six years ago when I joined the Sons of Confederate Veterans.”

Two people really turned him on to the story of the Arkansas, he said: Wayne McMaster and Anna Leese Fuller.

McMaster is caretaker of Soldiers’ Rest, the Confederate burial ground in Cedar Hill Cemetery where most of the southern soldiers who died here are buried, and Skipworth volunteered to help him.

Fuller, who grew up in Vicksburg, is the daughter of Martha Price Leese and the late Grady Leese. She is a writer who lives in Virginia. She has a website about the Arkansas and another about Soldiers’ Rest. Fuller wanted photos of Confederate tombstones in Vicksburg, and Skipworth offered to send them. “She’s a night owl, and I work the graveyard shift, so I contacted her,” he said. They’ve never met, but because of their mutual interest, “we’ve become pen pals,” Skipworth said.

This unique stone—no doubt one of a kind—sparked Skipworth’s interest in finding the names of the other men who died while serving on the Arkansas. Hicks was a native of Vicksburg.

The photo that sparked Fuller’s interest was the tombstone for William Hicks who was killed while helping build the Arkansas. The stone is topped by the engraving of an anchor.

“That got me to wondering how many died on the Arkansas,” Skipworth said.

The history of the vessel had been researched for years, and it was know that some 75 to 80 men served on her. Imagine Skipworth’s surprise when he discovered more and more names until they numbered 230. Of that number, 23 were killed and are buried here. One was killed in a fight on the Yazoo and was buried in the river, and six others died while the Arkansas was coming past the Union fleet. The remainder died in the battle with the Essex at the Vicksburg waterfront.

One man died in a military hospital here, and in the records, a number was placed by his name. That number was an identifying grave designation in 1862, but no record exists that explains or conveys the numbering system, so the number has no significance today.

That one number, however, became a primary obstacle in Skipworth’s efforts to secure tombstones through the Veterans Administration. Though the lot where the men are buried and their names and ranks are known, VA officials insist there must be grave numbers, too.

Skipworth secured records from the Old Court House Museum telling of the men’s burials, and he found other records, too, including some very graphic accounts of the terribly mangled bodies. He supplied the VA with page after page of research, including drawings and photos of the cemetery plot, but it was all for naught—their minds were made up.

Undaunted, Skipworth turned to the private sector, and the stones have been paid for by the Mississippi Division of the SCV, by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the members of the Order of the Confederate Rose.

The markers, which weigh 270 pounds each, usually cost $350 each. They’re made by Columbus Marble Works in Columbus, Miss., a company that has been filling orders for grave markers from the federal government since the 1930s. The ordinary cost for the 23 markers from the Arkansas would be over $8,000, but the company provided these for $6,000. There was no shipping cost as Skipworth and McMaster drove a truck to Columbus to pick them up—more than three tons of marble.

Skipworth plans to put the stones in place himself sometime after the first of the year, and in late winter or early spring, there will be a dedication ceremony.

“Erecting the stones is a very personal project,” he said.

To read more about the Arkansas, visit the website css.arkansas.com.

 Read the first story, ‘The Arkansas is coming’: A story of unmatched bravery.

Gordon Cotton is the curator emeritus of the Old Court House Museum. He is the author of several books and is a renowned historian.