Bruff Cemetery is located south of the Skullbone, TN community on Old Jackson Rd. From the Skullbone Store drive south on Skullbone Road about 1.8 miles where Goosefoot Road dead ends into it. At that point it changes to Old Jackson Road and Bruff Cemetery is 2/10 of a mile and it is on the left. There are approximately 70 interred at this cemetery.
Franklin J. Bruff married Martha Jane Johns and the two settled in present-day Goosefoot, between Skullbone and Gann. Frank ran a store in Goosefoot for many years. When Martha died in Jan. 1912, Frank donated a plot of land for her burial just to the north of the store. Since that time, several locals and Bruff-kin have been interred here. After Martha's 1912 burial, there were two others here that year. Frank later married Eunice Crossett. Frank now rests beside Martha in the cemetery that he started.
Also in the cemetery there are two brothers, Greeneville M. & Squire Henry Bruff who have “In Memory Of” stones. Both brothers fought in the Civil War, but research seems to show they were on opposite sides.
Greenville M. Bruff was a Private, Company K, 7th Tennessee Cavalry (Union) and enlisted by for 3 years in Milan, TN on 5/17/1863. The 7th Tennessee Cavalry was organized at Jackson, Grand Junction, and Trenton, Tennessee and mustered in August 28, 1862 for a three year enlistment under the command of Colonel Isaac Roberts Hawkins.
The regiment was attached to District of Jackson, Department of the Tennessee, to November 1862. District of Jackson, XIII Corps, Department of the Tennessee, to December 1862. Cavalry Brigade, District of Jackson, XVI Corps, to April 1863. Unassigned, 1st Division, XVI Corps, to June 1863. 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, XVI Corps, to August 1863. District of Columbus, 6th Division, XVI Corps, to October 1863. Detached Cavalry Brigade, XVI Corps, to December 1863. Waring's Cavalry Brigade, XVI Corps, to January 1864. District of Columbus, Kentucky, to August 1865. The 7th Tennessee Cavalry mustered out of service August 9, 1865 at Nashville, Tennessee.
Greenville married Sarah T Murphy in 1865. He has no discharge date in his muster roll and was reported killed at the home of his parents, Tompson C and Sarah Smith Bruff, while resisting arrest for murder and robbery in Gibson Co in 1874. His brother, Squire Henry Bruff served in the Confederate Army.
Squire Henry Bruff was a Private, Company K, 47th Tennessee Infantry (CSA). The 47th Regiment was a West Tennessee organization, organized at Camp Trenton, Gibson County, December 16, 1861, from 10 companies which had been enrolled during November and December. The regiment went through many consolidations during the war. In the final reorganization of General Joseph E. Johnston's Army April 9, 1865, the 47th was reported in the Second Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel George W. Pease, composed of the 11th/12th/13th/29th/47th/50th/51st/ 52nd/154th Tennessee Infantry Regiments. As part of this regiment it was paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina May 2, 1865.
Henry and Greenville were the sons of Thompson C. Bruff and Sarah Jane Smith Bruff. Their mother Sarah Jane was an Indian and she was known as a doctor in the area. Henry married Virginia A. Tyson Cowsert. Virginia was the daughter of Rueben Tom and Exeline Boyt Tyson, She married first Samuel J. Cowsert. He died during the Civil War. Henry married Virginia A. 5-27-1866 in Obion Co., TN. Their children were Lucie Lee and Sarah Vandala Bruff.
The possible reason for the “In Memory Of” stones is because no one knows exactly where they are buried. Sarah Jane Smith Bruff was a full blooded Cherokee and medicine woman. Superstition prevented Sarah from allowing her family to be buried with marked graves; she feared that their souls would not rest if others knew the location of their graves. So the exact location of their graves has never been discovered, but a number of Bruff descendants have tried and failed to locate them.
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