JPG

By Richard Knight

1 Aug 2009

For PG and RB

Captain Marmaduke Norfleet Cox, Company H, (Ward's) 9th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, was born in 1829 in North Carolina, and moved to Davidson County, Tennessee as a youth.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, in 1861, Cox joined the Confederate service, was commissioned, and was assigned to the 20th Tennessee Infantry Regiment. By the standards of the day, Cox – at 32 – was a little older than average.

In 1863, Cox joined the 9th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment and was elected company commander.

The 9th Tenn Cav was a part of Major General John Hunt Morgan's famous cavalry command. In October of 1863, the 9th Tenn Cav participated in Morgan's famous "Ohio Raid." As the raiders swept across Ohio, they captured supplies and disrupted commerce. However, as the raiders neared West Virginia, they were overwhelmed by superior forces. Morgan escaped, but Cox was taken prisoner.

Cox was eventually transported to Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay in Ohio. All of the prisoner-of-war camps were harsh, on both sides, but the northern camps were especially hard on their prisoners in winter. The records show that Capt. Marmaduke Norfleet Cox died in February 1864 of "rheumatism." He was not quite 35.

A friend and fellow prisoner, Lieutenant W. H. Tindall, wrote a eulogy, which eventually found its way into the University of Tennessee's archives, in Knoxville.

News of Cox' death reached Nashville, where friends – in the absence of any family – prepared to receive his remains.

Nashville in 1864 was under Union occupation, and had been since early 1862. That may have complicated the return of Cox' remains but, in any event, his friends never took possession of the remains. Cox was quickly forgotten, until last year.

Last year, a local historian was researching Tennessee's Cain Family, and learned that Cox' sister had married a man called A. G. Cain. There were references to the Confederate cavalry officer, but little else. Playing a hunch, the historian contacted Nashville's Mt. Olivet Cemetery, where so many of Nashville's prominent citizens were buried in the 19th Century, including a presidential candidate, governors, senators, eight general officers, and more than 1,500 unknown Confederate soldiers. The Cemetery verified that Cox' sister, her husband, and their family were, indeed, buried at Mt. Olivet. But was Cox buried there?

The Cemetery diligently researched its archive and discovered an ancient "burial map" identifying the remains of the individuals buried with Cox' sister and her family. And that is where Cox was found, resting in an unmarked grave within the Cain Family burial plot. He had been there since March 8, 1864. The hunch was correct.

When news of Capt. Cox' identification and the circumstances of his death and burial began to circulate, members of Nashville's heritage community asked whether Cox had received a proper funeral. There was no evidence that he had.

On a dark and overcast Sunday, March 8, 2009, 145 years to the day after Capt. Cox had been laid in an unmarked grave, Lt. Tindall's ancient eulogy was read. A bugler and bagpiper added solemnity to the occasion. A Confederate honor guard rendered the final salute. A beautiful headstone, provided by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs, marked the grave.

A final requiem, at last.

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