Photographing old headstones is a hobby of mine. Some of them are almost works of art. One of the most interesting headstones I ever photographed was in a small cemetery about 10 miles from where I grew up. I had passed this particular cemetery hundreds of times but decided to stop and look around one day. It had many very old headstones some from revolutionary war veterans, war of 1812 veterans and many others one that caught my attention was from the Civil War era.
The stone stated " Came to his death by a ball to the head fired by a rebel guerrilla in the town of Eckmiansville on July 15 , 1863 Since there were no battles of the civil war fought in Ohio , I just figured he was killed somewhere else and sent home to be buried.
When I got home I started to search his name , the town of Eckmiansville , and the dates on the internet. What I found out was the man was killed just a mile or two from where he was buried. The town of Eckmansville didn't even exist any more. What happened is when Confederate Gen. Morgan ( Morgan's Raiders ) went on there foray into Indiana. & Ohio robbing and pillaging farms and towns along the way word spread ahead of them. So the people of Eckmansville got together and tried to defend there homes and property . They were waiting on Morgan and his men when they arrived in town. A gun battle broke out and this man was killed in the engagement. As far as I have been able to determine he was the only killed in the confrontation.
Kind of interesting that one headstone had a whole historical story behind it less than 10 miles from where I grew up and no one knew about it.
@goodlil666 I got some from Bonaventura cemetery too... but there are no readable headstones on those. But that's a pretty big and fascinating cemetery to visit.
@MissingLink YW, I just thought it was rather interesting esp since I grew up in that area and not myself or anyone I could find in the area were aware of it.
@goodlil666 Its very interesting, I'm sure there are many stories like that from the civil war, to bad they are lost to time.
SW-User
I live near several historic graveyards and like to walk there occasionally to look at the stones. I don't recall any with stories as interesting as your example though. The one thing that stands out in my memory is that many of the oldest headstones include a verse of poetry or other quotation , some of which are odd and others downright creepy.
I asked old and young alike that lived and grew up in that area, and not a single person was familiar with the story, the town or even that Morgan's Raiders had been in that area during there raids.
@soar2newhighs nice shots, Thanks for sharing. Great history in your area. Love those really old Headstones but many were carved from sandstone , soapstone, limestone, etc and didn't hold up really well to weathering.
