ABOUT US
Old Bayview Chapter organized in 2015. Charter members were Mary Helen Dunnam, Anita Eisenhauer, Kellie Mathieu, Connie Carpeno-Paddock, Jacqie Perabo, Kitty Angell, Ruth Carson, Greer Mahaffey, Viki Welch, Jane Cornett, Theresa Finch, Susan Francis, Kathleen Carr, Robin Stephan.
Old Bayview Cemetery is located on a small hill in downtown Corpus Christi, Texas, at West Broadway and Waco streets, bordered by the I-37 access road. It is the oldest federal military cemetery in Texas. Owned by the City of Corpus Christi, it presently comprises three and a half acres as a Historic Texas Cemetery and a State Archaeological Landmark of the Texas Historical Commission.
Bayview Cemetery originated in 1845 during the occupation of Corpus Christi, or "Kinney's Ranch", by General Zachary Taylor commanded the troops that were sent to the region when Texas joined the United States. Mexico claimed the Nueces River as Texas' southern border, while Texas and the United States claimed the Rio Grande as the border. In 1846 Taylor's forces marched south to Mexico.
Since Corpus Christi Bay was too shallow for troop ships, these anchored at what's now Port Aransas and troops were ferried to the military camp on the city bayfront. On 13 September (some versions say 12 September) 1845 the steamboat Dayton left Corpus Christi heading toward St. Joseph's Island (AKA San José Island, north of Port Aransas). On board were Captain Crossman, Lieutenants Thaddeus Higgins, Benjamin A. Berry, Graham, and Woods of the Fourth Infantry, Lieutenant Gordon of the Third Infantry, a Dr. Crittenden, and several others. At about 12:30 PM near McGloin's Bluff, present day Ingleside, a boiler burst.
Eight persons were killed including Higgins and Barry and a Private Hunt. Seventeen others were injured, among them Graham and Crossman. Woods, Gordon, and Dr. Crittenden were uninjured. The Dayton sank. According to the Nueces County Historical Society, two of the injured later died and a body was recovered, apparently after a day or so.
Colonel Henry Kinney, the founder of the city of Corpus Christi and the main landowner, donated a hill overlooking the shoreline and the Nueces River and probably a vista of woods and meadowland to the west, as the cemetery. Due to "delays" the military funerals were held after sunset, with the services read by lamplight and three volleys fired over the graves. Taps was played and the company left to fife and drums.
The Dayton casualties may not have been the first buried there. The Corpus Christi Caller Times for 14 September 1884 published an interview with a soldier who'd been in Taylor's army, John Henderson, who stated that during the summer several soldiers got sick with diarrhea from "impure water" and that one who died, a German named Engenspiehl, was buried on the same hill. It is certain that other soldiers who died before Taylor's army left lie there.
City Cemetery known as "The Graveyard" and "old Military Cemetery" before becoming Bayview, the cemetery replaced an older one at Nuecestown, some fifteen miles (24 km) upriver and also founded by Kinney.
Local historian Leila M. Webb, as quoted in the cemetery's website, wrote in 1957 that "No lots were ever sold in this cemetery, which served as the only burying ground for almost half a century." She noted that it "was said to have resembled a regular 'potters' field' and everyone who died was buried there, regardless of color, race, or creed." Relatively unusual for the times, black, hispanic, and white persons were laid to rest together.
The cemetery was fenced by the 1860s, according to one account to keep Texas longhorn cattle out. In 1868 one Doswell donated some land and in the 1870s a new fence was constructed. Family plots were fenced by those who could afford to do so. Each family took care of its own area, showing up for all day meetings and dinner when they came to clear weeds and do any needed restoration.
Cemetery Background Information Citation as follows:
Old Bayview Cemetery. (2018, June 15). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bayview_Cemetery
Old Bayview Cemetery is located on a small hill in downtown Corpus Christi, Texas, at West Broadway and Waco streets, bordered by the I-37 access road. It is the oldest federal military cemetery in Texas. Owned by the City of Corpus Christi, it presently comprises three and a half acres as a Historic Texas Cemetery and a State Archaeological Landmark of the Texas Historical Commission.
Bayview Cemetery originated in 1845 during the occupation of Corpus Christi, or "Kinney's Ranch", by General Zachary Taylor commanded the troops that were sent to the region when Texas joined the United States. Mexico claimed the Nueces River as Texas' southern border, while Texas and the United States claimed the Rio Grande as the border. In 1846 Taylor's forces marched south to Mexico.
Since Corpus Christi Bay was too shallow for troop ships, these anchored at what's now Port Aransas and troops were ferried to the military camp on the city bayfront. On 13 September (some versions say 12 September) 1845 the steamboat Dayton left Corpus Christi heading toward St. Joseph's Island (AKA San José Island, north of Port Aransas). On board were Captain Crossman, Lieutenants Thaddeus Higgins, Benjamin A. Berry, Graham, and Woods of the Fourth Infantry, Lieutenant Gordon of the Third Infantry, a Dr. Crittenden, and several others. At about 12:30 PM near McGloin's Bluff, present day Ingleside, a boiler burst.
Eight persons were killed including Higgins and Barry and a Private Hunt. Seventeen others were injured, among them Graham and Crossman. Woods, Gordon, and Dr. Crittenden were uninjured. The Dayton sank. According to the Nueces County Historical Society, two of the injured later died and a body was recovered, apparently after a day or so.
Colonel Henry Kinney, the founder of the city of Corpus Christi and the main landowner, donated a hill overlooking the shoreline and the Nueces River and probably a vista of woods and meadowland to the west, as the cemetery. Due to "delays" the military funerals were held after sunset, with the services read by lamplight and three volleys fired over the graves. Taps was played and the company left to fife and drums.
The Dayton casualties may not have been the first buried there. The Corpus Christi Caller Times for 14 September 1884 published an interview with a soldier who'd been in Taylor's army, John Henderson, who stated that during the summer several soldiers got sick with diarrhea from "impure water" and that one who died, a German named Engenspiehl, was buried on the same hill. It is certain that other soldiers who died before Taylor's army left lie there.
City Cemetery known as "The Graveyard" and "old Military Cemetery" before becoming Bayview, the cemetery replaced an older one at Nuecestown, some fifteen miles (24 km) upriver and also founded by Kinney.
Local historian Leila M. Webb, as quoted in the cemetery's website, wrote in 1957 that "No lots were ever sold in this cemetery, which served as the only burying ground for almost half a century." She noted that it "was said to have resembled a regular 'potters' field' and everyone who died was buried there, regardless of color, race, or creed." Relatively unusual for the times, black, hispanic, and white persons were laid to rest together.
The cemetery was fenced by the 1860s, according to one account to keep Texas longhorn cattle out. In 1868 one Doswell donated some land and in the 1870s a new fence was constructed. Family plots were fenced by those who could afford to do so. Each family took care of its own area, showing up for all day meetings and dinner when they came to clear weeds and do any needed restoration.
Cemetery Background Information Citation as follows:
Old Bayview Cemetery. (2018, June 15). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bayview_Cemetery