The Turnbo Manuscripts

by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925


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SUBSTITUTING PIECES OF PLANK AND A DOOR SHUTTER FOR A COFFIN
By S. C. Turnbo

It is sad to reflect back to the turbulent days of the great conflict between the men of the north and south and write of the great number of men who were killed in South Missouri and North Arkansas. War means to destroy property and kill men, and many men of both sides bit the dust and weltered in their own blood. It is terrible to think back to those dark and gloomy days. How well the writer remembers Jonah Haworth, son of McCajor Haworth who lived on the south side of the river from Forsyth, Missouri. I and Jonah were schoolmates together in 1860 and passed many hours in friendship together. During the Civil War he was killed in Boone County, Arkansas. His fate was a horrible one. After he was shot and wounded the enemy beat him on the head with a pistol until the angel of death spread his wings of relief over him. I am told that he was buried near the Jim Upton land on West Sugar Loaf Creek. I was reliably informed that after his death some women and a few small boys took charge of the body and dug a grave near where he was slain. A coffin could not be had and no vault was dug, but two pieces of plank the length of the body was placed side and side in the bottom of the grave and the remains of Haworth was placed on them, and a, piece of plank was then placed edgeways on each side of the body and a door shutter was put on then and the dirt thrown in and a little mound was formed over this victim of the war. I am told that the names of the ladies who took part in the burial were Mrs. Martha Jackson, Mrs. Betsey Moore and two of Mrs. Moore’s sisters, Mary and Ada,, and two of Alph Cook’s daughters, Miss Minerva and Elizabeth. How kind of those Christian-hearted women in performing this sad duty which necessarily devolved upon them. Let us never forget the kind and brave women of war times.

 

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