500 Coffins
500 Coffins Ordered Built by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston
Submitted and transcribed by Vicki Burress Roach
(originally printed by Mrs. Don Watkins in 1954)


The story today will be about the Confederate soldier who supervised the construction of the 500 coffins Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston ordered before he galloped away to Shiloh, at the head of an army of 44,000 volunteers.

The order was obeyed with haste and long before the last regiment had marched out of Corinth hundreds of hammers and saws were ringing and buzzing in the town.

As fate willed it Gen. Johnston's body was among the first to be brought back from the battlefield and placed in one of the plain pine coffins he had ordered.

The coffin that received the body of Johnston was made by this Confederate soldier. It was the model coffin for the workmen, and the one selected by an officer and sent to Rose Cottage where the body lay on a couch.

This home was Johnston's headquarters before he left Corinth for Shiloh. It was the home of Mrs. W.M. Inge. When Johnston's body arrived Mrs. Inge and a neighbor, Mrs. Ellen Polk prepared it for burial. Mrs. Polk's daughter Eugenia cut a few locks of hair from Johnston's head. One was sent to the widow, one placed in the cornerstone of the old courthouse, and one in the cornerstone of the Confederate monument at Shiloh.

This Confederate soldier who built the coffins was a Corinthian. His full name was Jackson Carroll Daniel. He was a member of Co. B., 32nd Mississippi Regiment. Before he joined the army he was a cabinet maker, and during his enlistment he was called on many times to construct buildings and do repair work at army camps.

This information was given to me several years ago by the late Mrs. Joe Daniel, who was a faithful member of the local U.D.C. and held many important offices in this organization. She also kept clippings and other news about the history of Corinth, along with stories about the war, its soldiers and events that occurred throughout the southland in her many scrapbooks, which she was glad to show to anyone. Mrs. Daniel also kept records of her own family as well as the records of her husband's family.

Soldier Daniel was the father of the late Joe C. Daniel who served this city as an official for 26 years-six years as a member of the city council and 20 years as Chief of Police. Chief Daniel was known and loved by everyone, both white and colored.

Soldier Daniel was also the father of James B. Daniel, William H. Daniel, Anna Corrine and Martha Ugenia Daniel, Thomas J. Daniel, D.Q. Daniel, and Marvin Daniel, all deceased.

He was the grandfather of Mrs. Leroy Gray, wife of Postmaster Gray, Mrs. Joe Welch, Sarasota, Florida, Mrs. George King, Memphis, Tennessee, Mrs. Lottie Daniel Hopkins, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Homan M. Daniel, of Chicago. And he was the great-grandfather of Robert Lee and Rebecca Jane, children of Postmaster Gray and his wife, Barbara and Peggy Jo Welch, children of M/M Joe Welch, Sarasota, Florida, and Mrs. Shirley Gann Horton, one of the cashiers at the Security Bank in Corinth.
 
--
Alcorn County Home
Copyright Notice:
All files on this site are copyrighted by their creator. They may be linked to but may not be reproduced electronically or otherwise without specific permission from the county host and/or the contributor. Although public information is not in and of itself copyrightable, the format in which they are presented, the notes and comments, etc., are. It is however, quite permissible to print or save the files to a personal computer for personal use ONLY.

Copyright - MSGenWeb Team - All Rights Reserved
Alcorn County Coordinator: Jeff Kemp