Burns Cemetery Fort Polk #1 - Vernon Parish, LA Submitted by Jane P. McManus ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** History of Ft. Polk Cemeteries: Long before there was a Fort Polk in Vernon Parish, there was a sizeable community with churches, schools, houses and farm buildings in the area where the Military Base now stands. In 1941, the Federal Government decided to build a training facility for soldiers to support the large war effort of World War 2, and Vernon Parish was chosen as the perfect location. When they purchased a sizable tract of forest land below Leesville, it included most of this thriving community. Local owners and residents had no choice, and were forced to relocate in other areas when the Government purchased their property. Although families were able to move their personal property, and build new schools and churches, the cemeteries where their loved ones were buried were left behind. Relatives were not even allowed to visit, bring flowers, or tend the graves because of the dangerous military maneuvers that were conducted daily. The Government located 13 of these small cemeteries, put a chain-link fence around each one to protect it from Army maneuvers, and affixed a sign on the fence with a number, if the name was not known. Unfortunately, most of these cemeteries are now located within the Artillery Range of the Base, and as such they are considered off-limits to non-military personnel for most of the year. During a break in the schedule each December, the roads are opened and visitors are allowed to enter the restricted areas to visit the cemeteries. As it could be extremely dangerous (and illegal) to have uninformed personnel roaming around the Firing Range, directions have not been provided with this listing of tombstone inscriptions. Permission to go in the restricted areas must be obtained from Base Ranger personnel, and a locator map is available at the Front Gate. Many of the older tombstones in the Fort Polk cemeteries have eroded to such an extent that they are almost unreadable, and many of the smaller home-made concrete markers have no inscription at all. Fortunately, Jack Hadnot, Vernon Parish Historian, located and originally copied all the inscriptions in each cemetery on the base during the 1960's & early 1970's. It was through Jack's efforts that infromation from the older tombstones was preserved. In the late 1970's, when all the Vernon Parish cemetery inscriptions were published ["L'est We Forget" by Jane P. McManus], Jack's work in this area was preserved for future generations. With the republication and update of this work, each cemetery in Fort Polk was revisited to add new burials and corroborate the previous data. If tombstones or funeral markers were unreadable, the information provided by Jack Hadnot was used. All information on the tombstone was copied, including epitaphs, because of the difficulty involved in visiting these locations. Genealogical information not on the tombstone is added in brackets and was taken from the work done by Jack prior to his death in 1991, and from the files of Karl and Doris (Dollie) Mayo, of Hicks, LA. Most of the Fort Polk Cemeteries are located far off the road, some down barely passable trails or buried deep in the woods, and I would never have found them even with a map. A real debt of gratitude is owed to Dollie Mayo who is a daughter of one of the families who were forced to leave the area when the Base was established. She spent several days of her valuable time escorting me through all the back roads of the base to locate each cemetery, and has worked with local residents to provide names of those in unmarked graves. As co-editor of the Vernon Parish Genealogical Journal, Dollie has campaigned long and hard to assure the Government maintains the Fort Polk cemeteries since families are not allowed to visit on a regular basis to do the work themselves. Tombstone inscriptions recorded by Jane P. McManus, December 1994 & January 1995. * * * * * This small cemetery is located in the southwest corner of North Fort Polk, outside the Artillery Range. Most of the stones in this graveyard are old-style, small concrete markers that have been badly damaged or severely eroded by the elements and passage of time. Several concrete stones are the homemade variety with just a name and no dates, and these were in most part unreadable. The inscriptions were copied as approached from just inside front gate from left to right. Row 1: Taylor, Lavicie Jane, daughter of N. E. & J. D. Taylor - 26 Sep 1892/11 Jan 1893 Mathis, J. P., son of J. W. & Carrie [Burns] Mathis - 1 Mar 1913/7 Aug 1915 Mathis, Infant son of J. W. & Carrie [Burns] Mathis - b&d 25 Oct 1911 Mathis, Willie H., son of J. W. & Carriei [Burns] Mathis - 3 Jun 1908/26 Nov 1916 Row 2: Palmer, Ellen A. Burns - died 1909 [new stone replaces old unreadable concrete marker] [daughter of James Polk Burns] Burns, Infant - [no dates, almost unreadable concrete marker] Burns, Infant - [no dates, almost unreadable concrete marker] Row 3: Burns, Naomia - [unreadable concrete marker, info from 1977 reading] Burns, Mattie - [no dates, unreadable concrete marker] [daughter of James Polk Burns] Burns, Dolly - [no dates, unreadable concrete marker] [daughter of James Polk Burns] Burns, [James] Polk - [no dates, unreadable concrete marker] Smith, S. E. - 20 Nov 1847/23 Jul 1901 [married 1st James Polk Burns, 2nd to (?) Smith] Crosby, Lyda Emiley - 18 Dec 1905/13 May 1907 [daughter of T. J. Crosby & Mollie Burns] Crosby, Edith E. - 16 Jul 1910/26 Oct 1913 Crosby, Jesse M. - 9 Apr 1909/10 Apr 1914 [s/o T. J. Crosby & Mollie Burns] Crosby, Mollie - [no dates] [daughter of James Polk Burns, 1st wife of T. J. Crosby]