Old Live Oak Cemetery is a historic cemetery in

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...

founded in 1829 and expanded in 1877. The newer portion is sometimes called New Live Oak Cemetery and the cemetery is collectively known as Live Oak Cemetery. It contains burials of

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

leaders, as well Benjamin Sterling Turner, a formerly enslaved African-American who served as U.S. Representative for Alabama during the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

. The cemetery is at 110 Dallas Avenue approximately west of downtown Selma.

Famous burials

* Robert Woodward Barnswell (1849–1902) Episcopal Bishop of Alabama * Katharine Hopkins Chapman (1870–1930), author and historian * William Joseph Hardee (1815–1873) Confederate Lt. General from

Camden County, Georgia Camden County is a county located in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2020 census, its population was 54,768. Its county seat is Woodbine, and the largest city is Kingsland. It is one of the original ...

whose published military battlefield tactics were used by military commanders from both the North and the South. * Catesby ap Roger Jones (1821–1877) Confederate Naval Captain who commanded the famous ironclad warship the USS Merrimack (1855) during its first battle versus the Union vessel the USS Monitor. * William R. King (1786–1853) 13th Vice-president of the United States. Historians have speculated that King was likely the first gay U.S. vice president and possibly one of the first gay members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. A lifelong bachelor, King lived for 15 years in the home of future U.S. president

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was the 15th president of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861. He also served as the United States Secretary of State, secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and represented Pennsylvan ...

while the two served in the Senate. Buchanan, also a lifelong bachelor, is believed by some historians to be the nation's first gay president. * John Tyler Morgan (1824–1907) CSA General, then six-term U.S. senator after the war. An ex-slave holder, he was an ardent racist and an advocate for Jim Crow laws and racial segregation. * Benjamin Sterling Turner (1825–1894) The first African American U.S. Congressman from Alabama. Turner was born into slavery in North Carolina and taken to Selma by his owner as a child. He remained enslaved until the end of the Civil War. Turner spent much of his congressional career seeking financial aid for his broken southern state. He advocated racially mixed schools and financial reparation for former slaves.

Confederate Circle

The graves of soldiers are to the south of the Confederate Soldier Monument, with cannons pointing north, forever protecting the deceased Confederates. Elodie Todd Dawson, buried nearby, was head of the Ladies Memorial Association (later the United Daughters of the Confederacy) and spearheaded the effort to build the $5,500 Confederate Monument in the cemetery. 155 soldier bodies were moved from elsewhere to be around the monument.

Other Confederate monuments

*Jefferson Davis Memorial Chair in the form of a carved stone chair *Forrest Memorial (2000) inscribed in part "Defender of Selma, Wizard of the Saddle, Untutored Genius, The First with the Most, This Monument stands as a testament of our perpetual devotion and respect for Lt Gen.

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was an List of slave traders of the United States, American slave trader, active in the lower Mississippi River valley, who served as a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Con ...

... One of the South's finest heroes."

Elodie Todd Dawson Monument

The Elodie Todd Dawson Monument marks the graves of Elodie Todd Dawson (April 1, 1844 – November 14, 1881) and her husband Confederate Col. Nathaniel H. R. Dawson (1829–1895). Elodie Todd Dawson was the half-sister of

Mary Todd Lincoln Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (Birth name, née Todd; December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) was First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865. Mary Todd was born into a large and wealthy ...

, wife of President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

. After the war Nathaniel Dawson was appointed U.S. Commissioner of Education, the first from Alabama. Nathaniel Dawson also served as a member of the Alabama legislature which included serving as Speaker of the House. He was an organizer in the Democratic Party. Dawson was considered a leading citizen of Selma who raised money for Selma's Charity Hospital and Dallas Academy. He was a church leader at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, where his funeral was held. In 2015, the Elodie Todd Dawson sculpture was named one of Alabama's "most photographed cemetery monuments".

The Pigeon House

A structure also called the Spring House for when it was used, sits near the Confederate Soldiers Monument. The unusual name arises from the gables that were designed as bird houses, since closed to preserve the structure. The building was used for Confederate Memorial Day band concerts and programs each spring. It is now used for storage.

References

External links

* * {{Find a Grave cemetery
Library of Congress – Cemetery
Cemeteries in Alabama Selma, Alabama