Show Dedication of a New NevI Per in d I Louisiana Lousana 4 Recalls Historic Acre Army Romance Romances s Acre Ono Plot of Ground Includes the h e Almost Forgotten Burial Place of Sarah Knox Taylor Tay 1 Old Rough a and d Read Y s Daughter Who Became the Bride of Young Jefferson Davis Destined to be President of the Confederate States of America ft f W Western stern Newspaper Union I I II I By ELMO ELl SCOTT V WATSON ATSON I HE recent dedication as a aI I THE JL state monument of a little little little lit lit- tle one-acre one tract of land near St. St Francisville La recalls a romantic episode in American Ameri Amen can history the story o of which has been often retold usually with fact much diluted by fic fic- fic- fic tion For this newest link in inthe inthe the Pelican states state's growing chain of tourist preserves is Locust Grove cemetery where as the dedicatory sign at the entrance informs the visitor lie the remains of Sarah Knox Knot Taylor daughter daugh daugh- ter of President Zachary Taylor and first wife of J Jefferson Jef Jef- e Person ferson Davis President of the Confederacy In the marriage of Jefferson Davis and Sarah Knox Taylor more than one romantic writer has found the necessary ingredients ingredients for a love story such as the Victorians mid-Victorians would have tel tel- el a a gallant young lieutenant who became enamored of the beautiful ul daughter of his colonel a stern father who forbade their marriage an elopement the untimely untimely untimely un un- un- un timely death of the young bride the hatred of the father for the son-in-law son who defied him and finally their reconciliation on the field of battle Unfortunately for romance however the real story didn't follow that pattern in all its details The Real Story There seems to have been just enough truth in some parts of this version of the story to make it sound plausible The real story however however so so far as it is possible to piece it together from the available le fragmentary evidence is 15 is this After his graduation from West WestPoint WestPoint WestPoint Point Davis began his military career on the Northwest frontier and in 1831 was ordered to Fort Crawford near Prairie du Chien Wis where Colonel Taylor was commandant Apparently these two strong personalities very soon clashed and when the young lieutenant lieutenant lieutenant lieu lieu- tenant who had fallen hi iri love with it c S Ms 3 It y k 4 r i JEFFERSON DAVIS year seventeen-year-old Sarah Knox Taylor asked for permission to marry her it was denied The next year Davis served under Taylor in the Black Hawk war and when the captive Sac chieftain chieftain chieftain chief chief- tain was sent to Jefferson Barracks Barracks Barracks Bar Bar- racks near St. St Louis the colonel selected the young Mississippian as Black Hawks Hawk's escort After their trip down doom the river the Indian leader praised Davis saying He is a good and brave young chief with whose conduct I was much pleased and he treated treated treated treat treat- ed us with great kindness Evidently Evidently Evidently Evi Evi- dently the tte feeling was mutual for according to Allen Tate in his biography Jefferson Davis His Rise and Fall the young lieutenant admired Black Hawk who he said with characteristic candor was the real hero of the war Taylors appointment of Davis to command the guard of BlackHawk Black BlackHawk BlackHawk Hawk seems to disprove the bea belief belief be be- a lief that Old Rough and Ready had an instinctive prejudice against the somewhat fastidious young officer Tate continues Further disproof of that belief is the fact that Taylor knew Davis was in love with his daughter Taylor opposed Davis' Davis suit for two reasons the proud young man was penniless and he would not be able to retire from the army The hard-bitten hard old Indian fighter may not have liked the young mans man's high and mighty ways but the real objection seems to have been that he lie was wasa a soldier Taylor was set dead-set against letting his daughter repeat repeat repeat re re- peat the hardships his wife had gone through The young couple was equally set upon marrying and after four years of intrigue and hostility between father and would-be would son-in-law son which almost almost almost al al- al- al most came to a duel Jefferson Davis and Sarah Knox Taylor were married at the home of or her hert t I t r t 4 L. L 4 Miss Emily Samuel ot of St. St Francisville the little Louisiana town near which is the Locust Grove cemetery lays a memorial wreath on the modest tomb which Is Sarah Knox Taylor Davis Davis' last resting place aunt near Louisville Ky on June 17 1835 If Colonel Taylors Taylor's objection to the match was simply a dislike of having his daughter marry into the army Davis had already met it by resigning JJ says Tate The resignation took effect June 30 1835 less than two weeks after the wedding And his brother Joseph Emory Davis now rich had met the objection to his poverty poverty poverty pov pov- erty by giving him binl a plantation in Warren county Mississippi next to The Hurricane and by selling him on credit fourteen slaves As for the legend of an elopement elopement elope elope- men ment that was dispelled in 1928 in an interview printed in the Ule Kansas City Star with Miss Faith Casey a granddaughter of Mrs John Gibson Taylor a sister-in- sister law of Old Rough and Ready and aunt of Sarah Knox Taylor In this interview Miss Casey attributed attributed attributed at at- Taylors Taylor's opposition to the fact that his children had all been sent to eastern schools and were unused to frontier privations and hardships He did not believe Davis could give his daughter comforts enough to be happy The next year the young folks still wanted to get married and Taylor wrote to my grandmother that he would no longer withhold his consent to the marriage That was in 1835 He asked her to help get a trousseau for Knox that she might be married as befitted a daughter of Zachary Taylor We Ve had this letter for years but it was lost in the mail when mother sent it to a co cousin sin in in Louisville No Elopement Further confirmation of the fact that there was no elopement was provided in 1933 when members of the famous Filson club of Louisville Louisville Louisville Lou Lou- while investigating bundles bundles bundles bun bun- of old documents found inthe inthe in inthe the attic of the Jefferson county courthouse came across the marriage marriage marriage mar mar- bond of Jefferson Davis and Sarah Knox Taylor This showed that Hancock Taylor uncle of the bride accompanied young Davis to the clerks clerk's office and both men signed the bond On the back of this document Alex H. H Pope deputy deputy deputy dep dep- uty clerk wrote Hancock Taylor Taylor Taylor Tay Tay- lor made an oath before me that Sarah Knox Taylor daughter of Zachary Taylor as mentioned in inthe inthe inthe the within bond is of lawful age to the best of his knowledge and belief the belief the d day y of June 1835 The wedding ceremony was performed by Reverend Ashe of Christ church and was witnessed by many of the brides bride's relatives According to family tradition she was very beautiful slight and not very tall with wavy brown hair and clear gray eyes very lovely and lovable and a young woman of af decided spirit She was dressed in a dark traveling dress with a small hat to match Lieutenant Davis was dressed in ina ina ina a tail long-tail cutaway coat brocaded brocad brocad- ed waistcoat breeches tight fit ting and held under the instep with a strap and a high stovepipe hat He was of a slender build had polished manners and was of a quiet intellectual counte counte- nance After the service everybody everybody every every- body cried but Davis and the Taylor Taylor Tay Tay- lor children thought this most pe pa- culiar euliar In the leisurely manner of the period the newlyweds stayed in Kentucky for another fortnight then boarded a packet boat on the I Ohio for the trip down to Vicks- Vicks burg From this city they went by coach to Brierfield Davis' Davis new plantation About seven weeks after they had arrived there the bride wrote to her mother Write to me my dear mother as often as you can find time and tell me all concerning you Do not make yourself uneasy uneasy uneasy un un- easy about me the country is quite healthy As a matter of fact that was just what the country wasn't and Sarah Taylor Davis little realized as she wrote that letter that she was already infected with the germ of malaria fever Eager to get their plantation going the young couple stayed there too long before going on to Louisiana for a visit They went first to New Orleans and happy to forget the hardships ps and limited social life of a frontier army post plunged gayly into the round of pleasure offered by that cultural center of the Mississippi valley They enjoyed enjoyed enjoyed en en- joyed a brilliant series of balls entertainments operas and parr par- par 2 r Kc H a t id o II wt aa GEN ZACHARY TAYLOR ties interspersed with picnics on the picturesque bayous and excursions excursions excursions along Louisiana's winding waterways to the hospitable plantations plantations plantations plan plan- of friends Victims of Malaria At Locust Grove the home of Davis Davis' sister Mrs Luther Smith both of them came down with the malaria Davis was too ill to be told how near death his bride was wasand wasand wasand and how in her delirium she sang fragments of an old song Fairy Bells But at last when the end was near he was brought to her bedside and saw her die still unconscious She was buried in Locust Grove cemetery and with the passage of years her tomb became almost covered with a growth of ferns feins and other foliage Within recent months a local historian sought out the grave and petitioned Governor Leche of Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana Lou Lou- to have the cemetery taken over by the state so that proper care might be given to the grave of Sarah Taylor Davis and to that of another historic character Gen Eleazor elock Ripley hero of the battle of Lundys Lundy's Lane in the War of 1812 who is also buried there In August of this year the governor set aside the cemetery as a state monument Now flowers and landscaping have replaced the tangled foliage in it a simple white picket fence has been constructed around it and it has been made accessible to visitors by building a modern road leading to it from St St. Fran Fran- |