Cemeteries: Gen. Thomas S. Woodward, 1965, Winn Parish, LA
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Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483


From: July 15, 1965 Winn Parish Enterprise

General Woodward Grave To Get New Headstone, Congressman Long Advises

A monument will rise near Wheeling to one of America's pioneers, General
Thomas S. Woodward, a Georgian, Indian expert, military genius, plantation
owner, close friend of President Jackson.

Woodward was born in Elbert County, Ga., around 1794, across the Savannah
River from where Jackson was born in Carolina.  He was orphaned, ran to the
Indians at 11 years of age, was retrieved and reared by an uncle.

As early as 1824 he was a Brigadier General in Georgia's militia, was an
expert on Creek Indians, rose to fame with military genius in Alabama and
points west.

He owned a plantation at Camden, Arkansas, (he named the town), later moved
to Wheeling in Winn Parish on a 16,000 acre spread.  He modeled and named
the town of Montgomery after the Montgomery in Alabama.  (This is debatable;
according to articles by the late historian and Mayor of Montgomery, Lloyd J.
Harrison, and the late historian Richard Briley, Woodward named the town after
a Methodist minister, Montgomery Rodgers).

President Jackson called him a "brave, intrepid, gallant soldier."

Woodward died in 1859 at his home in Wheeling.  His remains lie in an unmarked
grave.  Through the efforts of H. B. Bozeman, Montgomery Mayor Lloyd J.
Harrison, and Congressman Speedy O. Long, a military marker will soon be set
above his grave.  Public subscription may meet the cost of making a monument
even larger than the headstone to be furnished by the Army.  Some money has
been offered by an Arkansas woman already.

A celebration inviting the governors of Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and
Louisiana, may be held.

Montgomery Mayor Lloyd Harrison's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. T. O. Harrison
were close friends of Woodward.  Past efforts to establish Woodward's military
connection failed for lack of records.  Bozeman has written scores of letters
this year to establish his identity.