update on george crawford
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Back in 2024 I wrote this blog post about the Crawford family. Sometimes, I love technology because in this case, it crossed my research with that of another historian in a different state.
I had originally thought that George Crawford (1828-1862) was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Virginia near where he fell as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War because he has a marker in that cemetery. I wasn't wrong.
I hypothesized that the Crawford family added a marker for him in the family cemetery back in Iredell County, North Carolina. I wasn't wrong here either.
Where I was wrong was thinking he was still buried in Virginia and the marker in North Carolina was a cenotaph (a marker where no body is buried). I recently found out that it's the opposite!
Chris Ferguson is the Chief Civil War Historian for the Hollywood Cemetery and apparently, a reader of my blog. He reached out to me to inform me that George Crawford was in fact buried in Virginia but his body was removed and sent to North Carolina to be reinterred. According to the Ladies Hollywood Memorial Ledgers for North Carolina Soldiers, George was buried on November 17, 1862. He died the day before of typhoid fever.
The ledger was created in 1867 from a pervious ledger that had been kept throughout the Civil War documenting burials in the cemetery. Page 36 lists George Crawford among other North Carolina Confederates. It also has a unique note that George was removed and "sent home" on March, 23, 1863, presumably to his family cemetery where the footstone for G.M.C. is located. If there was a larger more detailed headstone at one time, it is no longer there. I'm forever grateful for people like Chris Ferguson who share that type of information. It's so important that the historical research community share information like this. I would have never known the true burial place of George Crawford without this documentation.
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