s/o Josiah Durden and Gilly Baker
After the battle at Thompson's Station, a search of the battlefield was made for the missing members of the 53rd Alabama Cavalry. The three members killed were John P. T. Cooper, Co. I; Washington Lafayette Durden, Co. K; and Clinton Thompson, Co. K. Thirteen members were wounded. There are several pages in my book detailing the battle. On the search for his body was written by Cpl. Adam H. Whetstone., ".......With great difficulty we wended our course over the fallen corpses where the battte had raged fiercest. Here might be seen riders and horses heaped up together in one red burial blend. Still we sped on to the locality where our comrades fell, and after a diligent search found the body of our friend Durden near a ditch where he had probably crawled for water to quench his thirst. We were not so successful in finding the body of poor Clinton Thompson. Time and time again we turned over the cold, stark bodies trying to discover his manly form, and were on the point of despair as the darkness of the hour precluded a longer search. Fortunately, at this moment we recognized a well-known article of his clothing on a body nearby, which was so much swollen as to prevent a previous recognition. Slowly and gently we raised the stiffened corpses from their gory bed, carrying them a short distance from the battle field and buried them with two Texans in a common grave. No coffin enclosed their manly forms and their winding sheet was but a soldier's suit of gray."
Information Courtesy of Bob McLendon
After the battle at Thompson's Station, a search of the battlefield was made for the missing members of the 53rd Alabama Cavalry. The three members killed were John P. T. Cooper, Co. I; Washington Lafayette Durden, Co. K; and Clinton Thompson, Co. K. Thirteen members were wounded. There are several pages in my book detailing the battle. On the search for his body was written by Cpl. Adam H. Whetstone., ".......With great difficulty we wended our course over the fallen corpses where the battte had raged fiercest. Here might be seen riders and horses heaped up together in one red burial blend. Still we sped on to the locality where our comrades fell, and after a diligent search found the body of our friend Durden near a ditch where he had probably crawled for water to quench his thirst. We were not so successful in finding the body of poor Clinton Thompson. Time and time again we turned over the cold, stark bodies trying to discover his manly form, and were on the point of despair as the darkness of the hour precluded a longer search. Fortunately, at this moment we recognized a well-known article of his clothing on a body nearby, which was so much swollen as to prevent a previous recognition. Slowly and gently we raised the stiffened corpses from their gory bed, carrying them a short distance from the battle field and buried them with two Texans in a common grave. No coffin enclosed their manly forms and their winding sheet was but a soldier's suit of gray."
Information Courtesy of Bob McLendon
s/o Josiah Durden and Gilly Baker
After the battle at Thompson's Station, a search of the battlefield was made for the missing members of the 53rd Alabama Cavalry. The three members killed were John P. T. Cooper, Co. I; Washington Lafayette Durden, Co. K; and Clinton Thompson, Co. K. Thirteen members were wounded. There are several pages in my book detailing the battle. On the search for his body was written by Cpl. Adam H. Whetstone., ".......With great difficulty we wended our course over the fallen corpses where the battte had raged fiercest. Here might be seen riders and horses heaped up together in one red burial blend. Still we sped on to the locality where our comrades fell, and after a diligent search found the body of our friend Durden near a ditch where he had probably crawled for water to quench his thirst. We were not so successful in finding the body of poor Clinton Thompson. Time and time again we turned over the cold, stark bodies trying to discover his manly form, and were on the point of despair as the darkness of the hour precluded a longer search. Fortunately, at this moment we recognized a well-known article of his clothing on a body nearby, which was so much swollen as to prevent a previous recognition. Slowly and gently we raised the stiffened corpses from their gory bed, carrying them a short distance from the battle field and buried them with two Texans in a common grave. No coffin enclosed their manly forms and their winding sheet was but a soldier's suit of gray."
Information Courtesy of Bob McLendon
After the battle at Thompson's Station, a search of the battlefield was made for the missing members of the 53rd Alabama Cavalry. The three members killed were John P. T. Cooper, Co. I; Washington Lafayette Durden, Co. K; and Clinton Thompson, Co. K. Thirteen members were wounded. There are several pages in my book detailing the battle. On the search for his body was written by Cpl. Adam H. Whetstone., ".......With great difficulty we wended our course over the fallen corpses where the battte had raged fiercest. Here might be seen riders and horses heaped up together in one red burial blend. Still we sped on to the locality where our comrades fell, and after a diligent search found the body of our friend Durden near a ditch where he had probably crawled for water to quench his thirst. We were not so successful in finding the body of poor Clinton Thompson. Time and time again we turned over the cold, stark bodies trying to discover his manly form, and were on the point of despair as the darkness of the hour precluded a longer search. Fortunately, at this moment we recognized a well-known article of his clothing on a body nearby, which was so much swollen as to prevent a previous recognition. Slowly and gently we raised the stiffened corpses from their gory bed, carrying them a short distance from the battle field and buried them with two Texans in a common grave. No coffin enclosed their manly forms and their winding sheet was but a soldier's suit of gray."
Information Courtesy of Bob McLendon
Family Members
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
