Capt. Jos. P. Wier - Covington, TX
N 32° 10.842 W 097° 15.728
14S E 663838 N 3561789
A 10' marble obelisk marks the final resting place of Captain Joseph Patterson Wier in historic Covington Cemetery. His is the earliest marked grave here.
Waymark Code: WM14YBR
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/11/2021
Views: 0
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 was brought here "the next spring", which would have been early 1865.
Date Created/Placed: Unknown
Address:
Itaska and Cemetery Roads, Covington, TX 76636
Height: 10'
Illuminated: no
Website: [Web Link]
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