Capt. Jos. P. Wier - Covington, TX - Graves Mentioning a Cause of Death on Waymarking.com

A 2017 Texas Historical Marker provides some information about the cemetery, its benefactors, and Captain Patterson's role in its history:

Established in the mid-1800s, the Covington Cemetery honors the memory of early Texas pioneers of Hill County and their descendants. In the early 1850s, James Jackson Gathings (1817-1880) moved from Mississippi to Texas, bringing his family, slaves, and enough livestock and essentials for creating a new life on the Blackland Prairie of north central Texas. In May of 1853, he purchased 3,136 acres on Aquilla Creek, which was the first recorded land purchase James made in Hill County. In 1854, James' younger brother, Philip Gathings (1819-1895), purchased 1,471 acres adjacent to his brother and together they developed two large plantations for agriculture and raising stock. James designated one hundred acres of this land to be laid out in lots of one to five acres for the town of Covington. He installed a steam mill, saw mill tannery, wood shop, cloth loom, and brick yards. The brothers donated 10 acres for a church and the Gathings Male and Female College, the first in Hill County.

The earliest marked grave in the Covington Cemetery is for James Gathings' son-in-law, Joseph Patterson Wier (1831-1864), who was killed during the Civil War, at the Battle of Yellow Bayou in Louisiana. Joseph was initially buried near the battlefield. James had Joseph's body brought home and reinterred on the highest elevation in the cemetery. The cemetery includes 7.5 acres and almost 2,500 marked graves maintained by the Covington Cemetery fund. In 1970, Allie Plumlee, Lucille Cowley Williams and Wileta Gathings McCall organized the townspeople to clean and restore the cemetery. A distinguishing feature of the cemetery is the native rock wall surrounding the property.

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Two grave markers are at Captain Wier's final resting place. One is a modern government-issued plaque with a tag noting that it was placed here by the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Livingston, TX. The other is this ten foot tall marble obelisk. The three links of the Odd Fellows are on the shaft, while the inscription on the front reads:

Capt. Jos. P. Wier

Son of
R.N. & M.J. Wier:

Died
May 18, 1864,
Aged 32 Yrs. 11 Ms. 28 Ds.

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Fell defending the Southern
cause in the Battle of
Yellow Bayou, L.A.

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On the reverse plinth is a cannon, flags, and cannonballs, with a quote from Theodore O'Hara's "The Bivouac of the Dead:"

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo;
No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards the solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.

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Captain Wier's Findagrave page (see below) notes that he had been a lawyer and established the first newspaper in Hill County. He represented the county at the Secession Convention of 1861 in Austin. Once the Civil War began, he established Company of the Texas Twelfth Cavalry, and during the course of the war, he saw action in Arkansas and Louisiana. While leading the Twelfth Cavalry in the Battle of Yellow Bayou on May 18, 1864, he was shot through the head and died instantly. Initially buried near the battleground, he was brought here the following spring and, as mentioned on the historical marker, given a place of prominence in his father-in-law's new cemetery.

Type of Death Listed: War related (Killed in Action) Cause of death inscription on headstone: Fell defending the Southern cause in the Battle of Yellow Bayou, L.A. Website (if available): [Web Link]

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