Shiloh was one of the deadliest battles in U.S. history. On April 6, 1862, more men would die there than in the previous history of our nation! Many of the wounded could not be cared for in Corinth, Miss., so in June, 1862, the overflow came to Oxford and Ole Miss in an attempt to save their lives. However, many would not recover from their wounds and those are the earliest recorded burials here.
During this time the Ole Miss campus was basically converted into a hospital during the war as classes were suspended. Nearly 2,000 patients were treated on the Ole Miss campus during this period (1862-64). Of this number, an estimated 700 died. When the Federal Forces captured Oxford in 1863 the Hospital records were lost. Many of the soldiers that perished here were interred in this cemetery. It is believed that at least 11 of those interred were Federal soldiers but shortly after the war; the Union soldiers were reportedly removed and re-interred in the Corinth National Cemetery.
Many of the names of those buried in the cemetery appear on the large stone monument located at the center of the cemetery. The majority of those buried remain unknown.
The original iron fence was in dis-repair so in 1936 the wall you see was built with bricks from the previously burned Gordan Hall on campus and the single monument placed by the Albert Sydney Johnston Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. At one time, around 1900, there were individual grave markers in the cemetery however, rumor has it that a grounds-keeping crew was sent to clean up the cemetery. In order to make the work easier they had removed all the markers and stacked in a corner. As they finished and went to replace they realized they had not marked where they all went.
When the war broke out classes at the University were interrupted when the entire student body and many of the faculty enlisted in the Confederate Army. They became Company A, 11th Mississippi Infantry and were nicknamed the University Greys. The Greys, served in many of the most famous and bloody battles of the war. The most famous engagement of the University Greys was at Pickett’s Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, when the Confederates made a desperate frontal assault on the Union entrenchments atop Cemetery Ridge. The Greys penetrated further into the Union position than any other unit, but at the terrible cost of sustaining 100% casualties—every soldier was either killed or wounded.
In order to log the cache please post a picture at the monument as well as send me the answer to the following questions.
1. What are the names of the men that served in Forrest’s Cavalry?
2. Whose name is shown on the Southern side of the monument where you got the answer to the first question?
Please be respectful to the ones interred here and I hope you have found a place that many don’t know existed.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.