Confederate Biography : A SACRED TRUST - Major J. Dean,  Smith county, Tx

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Submitted by Susie McFarland Lemin slemin46@yahoo.com
24 November 2001
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson, p.  170

Major J. Dean, just before the fall of Fort Donelson was detailed to 
convey to Tyler, Texas, for burial, the remains of Tom Jones, brother 
of the late Mrs Willis Roberts, of Tyler, and the ramins of Thomes Jordan 
Epperson, son of the late Green B. Epperson, of Smith county, both of 
whom were members of Company K, Seventh Texas Infantry, and had died of 
measles.  The dread disease had been epidemic in the army of Albert 
Sidney Johnston, while it was stationed at Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  This
delicate and sacred duty Major Dean performed at the time of deranged
transportation facilities, with the fidelity and thoroughness that 
always characterized him in all his undertakings.  Tom Jones and Tom 
Epperson, early sacrifices on the altar of the Southern struggle for 
independence, were the first Confedrate soliers to be buried in Oakwood 
Cemetery, Tyler, where now sleeps so many lion-hearted men who wore the 
gray.