West Broadway Street | Waco Street | Ramirez Street | Padre Street
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401
Council will appoint sexton for the old Bayview Burial Park
Remains of Heroes of Mexican and Civil Wars are Buried in the Park—Property Belongs to City
The Old Bayview Cemetery located within a stone’s throw of the Sap and (Link) depots and the final resting place for veterans of the blue and the gray, as well as many pioneer Corpus Christians will be reclaimed from the present state of comparative neglect and in the future maintained in a more presentable shape.
Such a decision was reached yesterday when the property was viewed by a committee composed of Mayor Miller and Commissioners Sutherland and Gallagher, representing the city council and fifteen members of the Bayview Cemetery Association and local chapter Daughters of the Confederacy. The council will very likley appoint a caretaker for the property and when the (next words illegible) the old fence will be removed and concrete walks built around the block.
The cemetery was first used as a public burial ground in 1845 and under its grassy hillsides rest veterans of the Mexican, Civil and Spanish Wars. The women of Corpus Christi realizing the obligation imposed upon the people of Corpus Christi in maintaining the grounds, for a half century have attended faithfully to the trust.
At the conference occurring yesterday afternoon Mrs. Mary A. Sutherland told of the sentiment that had prompted the women in their labor of love for many years, saying:
“We meet you here on this sacred spot to ask first that you declare this property to be that of the city, title having been given to this city many years ago, and to remain forever as a burial park. Near this east gate sleeps the only man who was killed in the Battle of Corpus Christi, occurring during the civil war and also in this burial ground lies the remains of Captain Van Buren of the Maryland Mounted Rifles, who was killed in a battle with the Indians in 1854.
His tombstone bears the marks of shot fired from guns of the northern fleet. Here reposes the bodies of many of the Confederate soldiers who died while on duty and of others whom the Angel of Death called after the struggle between the states had ended and the people had returned to their peaceful pursuits. Many of the graves are lost but we daughters of the Confederacy are not unforgetful of the duty imposed.
Source: Corpus Christi Caller and Daily Herald, June 30, 1915, page 3, col. 5
Research and transcription: Rev. Michael A. Howell