This Confederate Cemetery is located at the Beauvoir Estate, post Civil War home of C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis. The tomb of the C.S.A Unknown Soldier is in this cemetery.
"Beauvoir Memorial Cemetery
Explanatory Notes
The Beauvoir Memorial Cemetery was founded when the Jefferson Davis Beauvoir Soldiers’ Home was opened on December 2, 1903. The first documented burial of a Confederate veteran is Adam W. Alexander of Tate County, Mississippi, on January 31, 1904, and the first documented burial of a Confederate wife/widow is Elizabeth L. J. Rough Williams (Mrs. J. R. Williams) on October 6, 1906. The last Confederate veteran burial was James Walton of Winston County, Mississippi, on August 27, 1947, and the last Confederate widow burial was of Bettie Herring of Attala County, Mississippi, on April 7, 1953. The last burial in the cemetery was that of Erwin E. Droege on August 23, 1958, who was married to the niece of Varina Davis.
The large memorial monument to Marion Francis Baxter near the cemetery was placed there by his family. He was not an inmate of the Soldier’s Home nor is he buried in the Beauvoir Memorial Cemetery. There is a smaller memorial plaque to Daniel Showalter who died in 1866, placed by his family.
The first known surviving list of the cemetery was done by Superintendent W. A. Evans, William Richards and Dr. Riley on August 27-28, 1941, titled “Register of Marked Graves in Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery Beauvoir Soldiers’ Home.” At that time there were unmarked graves and notes within the handwritten list such as “aluminum marker without name” or “no marker.” These metal markers were still in place in the cemetery as late as 1977 as evidenced by notations to this effect on the 1941 list. The Resident Register, a book in which veterans, wives and widows are listed who were admitted to the Home, contains the military service of the veterans. No research or correction has been made in this area as of yet.
The study of the Beauvoir Memorial Cemetery is an ongoing project of several years, and this list may be updated with further research—some names may be deleted and others added with proper documentation.
With the advent of the internet it is now possible to view primary sources online and to communicate with the descendants of the veterans, wives, and widows buried at Beauvoir to gain information. Research has been compiled from these sources: The Archives at Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home, The Sons of Confederate Veterans, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Bradford O’Keefe Funeral Home records, and obituaries from the Sun Herald/Daily Herald newspaper of Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi and the Times Picayune, New Orleans States, and New Orleans Item newspapers of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Hurricanes Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005 contributed to the loss of documents from the Soldiers’ Home destroying valuable sources of information on its residents. I have relied on extant documents for this list and to prove or disprove the burials. If anyone has any corrections, comments, or questions, please email Jane Sullivan at jsulli45@yahoo.com or by regular mail at P. O. Box 142, Perkinston, MS 39573. I am searching for any information (primarily photographs, documents) on the “inmates” (residents) of the Jefferson Davis Beauvoir Memorial Confederate Soldiers’ Home.
Jane Sullivan
May 2014" (
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