Mound City National Cemetery
Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Dixon 'Wild Bunch', the Tilghman Camp and the 1st Illinois Battery D Light Artillery journied to Mound City, Illinois, on Saturday to celebrate the service and sacrifice of over 2000 Confederate soldiers buried there.

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Smallpox Island no longer exists. During the Civil War it was used to quarantine victims of smallpox from the Prison at Alton, Illinois. After the war it's grim purpose was forgotten.

In the early 1930's the Army Corp of Engineers began to dredge the island in preparation for the construction of the first lock and dam. 

Every shovel full of muck revealed skeletons. The island was eventually removed.

A monument to all those who died there was erected on a man made peninsula on the western bank of the Mississippi River.

As part of the national Wreaths Across American project, members of the George E. Dixon Camp #1962, Sons of Confederate Veterans, laid wreaths at the monument. Saturday, December 15, 2012.

William Wilson (1844-1880)

William Wilson was born September 2^nd, 1844 in Bennett’s Bayou, Fulton County, Arkansas.  He was the son of Jacob and Lydia Wilson.  When the War Between the States came along, William’s father, Jacob Wilson, joined with a band of Confederate “Irregulars” while Jacob’s brother, Joshua Wilson, was a strong Unionist.  On February 8, 1862, 16-year-old William and his brother, Joseph, who was 18, along with 8 to ten cousins, travelled to Howell County, Missouri and enlisted in Company C of the 4^th Missouri Infantry, Confederate Forces.  

The Wilson boys served together at Farmington and in the Iuka and Corinth Campaigns where Joseph was wounded and captured.  He was paroled and went home.  William went on to fight on to the battle of Hatchie Bridge, the final battle for Vicksburg, when his one-year enlistment was up.  

After the war, William moved to Coffeen in Montgomery County, Illinois. In December of 1870 in Sharon, Fayette County, Illinois, he married Jane Browning.  They were the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters. Just ten years after being married, William died on July 8, 1880 from a carbuncle.  He was buried in the Browning Cemetery at Shafter.

William was much more than just a soldier in the war.  He was a farmer, a husband, a father, a member of the community, and a good Christian man.  He served for the Cause of the South, but went on with life.  While we honor his service today as an American veteran, we also honor him for his life and the legacy he left for his posterity.

Wilson's descendants are members of the Lt. George E. Dixon Camp # 1962, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Squad East.

Joe Starek and Billy Altman demonstrate the loading of an 1861 Springfield Rifled Musket. Video from the Freeburg, Illinois Homecoming. August 18, 2012. Joe and Billy are members of the Lt. George E. Dixon Camp #1962, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

 Joe Starek, from the Lt. George E. Dixon Camp #1962, Sons of Confederate Veterans, demonstrates just how dangerous a black powder revolver can be - even when it's loaded with only powder! The Camp was set up at the Homecoming at Freeburg, Illinois on August 18, 2012.

The Village of Smithton, Illinois dedicated their Veterans Memorial on Monday, May 28, 2012. The ceremony was hosted by the Smithton American Legion Post with the assistance of  Scouts from the area as well as members of the 3rd Illinois Cavalry and the Lt. George E. Dixon Camp 1962, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The annual memorial service held at the Confederate Cemetery in Alton, Illinois. The service is sponsored by the Lt. George E. Dixon Camp #1962, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

1354 Confederate Soldiers are buried in unmarked graves. Many died of Smallpox while being held as Prisoners of War.