Baldwin County Alabama is south and east of Mobile in the corner of Alabama where it borders Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. The fabled Missouri Brigade CSA made its last stand against overwhelming odds at Fort Blakeley on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. But that is not the only important event in Missouri history to reside in Alabama.
Just a few miles south of the town of Fairhope about 25 miles SE of Mobile on scenic US 98 is the small Confederate Rest Cemetery. Not far from the famous Marriott Point Clear Hotel (a favorite honeymoon destination) this piece of hallowed ground is the final resting place for hundreds of Unknown Confederate Soldiers many in trench graves. Of the few that are marked about 40% are Missourians.
Probably wounded at the Battle of Vicksburg and transported to a nearby hospital many Missourians died from their injuries. Because a fire destroyed the records of the hospital no one knows for sure how many soldiers are buried here and in the surrounding area. At least scores of Missourians are resting here without any headstone or other identification.
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In no particular order here is a list of Missouri dead that have headstones: James Blain, Co. D 1st MO Cavalry, 1Aug63; Thomas A Hyde, 2nd MO Cavalry, Sept63; James M Daughters, Lut.1st MO Cavalry, 29Aug63; Augustine Smith, 5th MO Cavalry, 26July63; Edmund Smith, 3rd MO Cavalry, 18Aug63; Richard Robertson, Co. I 1st MO Cavalry, 15Aug63; James Offutt, Co. D 1st MO Cavalry, 15Aug63; Jacob Sharp, Co. H 1st MO Cavalry, 15Aug63; and Pierce Sampson, Pvt. Co. K 1st MO Infantry Regiment, 23Aug63.
If you or your family has a record of any Confederate Soldier that might be buried here please contact the J. T. Coffee Camp. We need help to properly identify the scores that lie at rest here and mark their graves so they will be remembered.
There are other problems here as well. The owner of the cemetery is the American Legion Post #199. For various reasons they no longer want to be involved with the old cemetery. Earlier this year they voted to sell the property.
Alabama Division SCV as well as Baldwin County groups are trying to find some way to provide for the cemetery. It is not only a Confederate shrine but an old graveyard where many pioneering Alabama families are buried. The graveyard is right in the middle of some very desirable development property and that has not made the situation any easier as various interests search for a solution. Both the Mobile Press-Register and the Baldwin County Commission believe that the cemetery should be protected but no one has come up with a plan to resolve this controversy at the time of this report.
There are many historic and blood ties between Missouri and Alabama and that relationship is very evident in this place. Please write letters of support for Baldwin County to preserve this important and historic treasure. Tell them we need to save the graves of the brave Missouri Confederates buried there! Your input will help decide the fate of our ancestors; please write:
You can also support the newspaper and their drive to save the cemetery by writing:
or support the newspaper by sending emails about our Missouri soldiers to: letters@mobileregister.com
