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The officer on the top of this burial mound is Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. Johnston is not buried here, but in his native Texas. This tomb is one of the earliest of the larger monuments in the cemetery. It's located right at what used to be the main gate. In the background, you can see the Metairie Road overpass section of the Pontchartrain Expressway (I-10), which was built over what used to be the New Basin Canal. Compare this shot with one of the memorial from around 1910:
This photo is from the Library of Congress' collection of photos from the Detroit Publishing Company. You can see that the memorial is well-kept 85 or so years later.
The statue in front of the tumulus is of an anonymous Confederate orderly sergeant who is calling the roll of the dead. It was carved by Alexander Doyle. Three of the vaults in the tumulus were ordered to be permanently sealed after the officers in them were buried. These vaults contain the remains of Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, who ordered the first shot fired on Fort Sumpter. It is said that Beauregard was extremely upset with the Army of Tennessee Benevolent Society when they voted to commission the statue of Gen. Johnston for the top of the tumulus. In spite of this, he still chose this as his burial site, and was laid to rest there after his death on February 20, 1893. Additionally, Col. Charles Didier Dreux and Richard "Dick" Taylor are also buried here. Dreux was the first Confederate officer killed in the war, and Taylor was the son of President Zachary Taylor.
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