The Maltby Brothers' Civil War

Postscript

Postscript The Maltby brothers’ gravestones are a study in contrasts. Jasper’s at Galena’s Greenwood Cemetery, where four of the city’s other Civil War generals are also interred, is an ordinary standard type as issued for all Union veterans. Because it designates Jasper’s rank as colonel of the 45th Illinois Infantry Regiment, a second memorial, added in 2000 by the John Butler Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the Union 1861–1865, indicates his rank as brigadier general. The Maltby family monument at Brownsville’s historic City Cemetery befits a respected citizen of means. It would have been commissioned by Henry for his wife Hannah, who died in 1896, and their baby, Texas Bird, born in 1877, who died the following year. A small marker next to the monument is inscribed H. A. M. As described by the Internet’s Texas Less Traveled , the Brownsville City Cemetery, dating from 1853, “harbors the glory and richness of the Rio Grande Valley past, and because of its unusual and unique architecture and marbled headstones, it is a site to behold, a prime example of Old World fashion and flavor.” In 2010, Eugene Fernandez, executive director of the Friends of the Brownsville Historic Cemetery, succeeded in having the cemetery listed in the National Register of Historic Places. As Fernandez observed, “It was a forgotten child for so long. People are finally starting to pay attention, so maybe if we talk about it more there will be less vandalism.” William Maltby is interred at Corpus Christi’s Old Bayview Cemetery, which dates from 1845, when Colonel Ethan Allen Hitchcock, a member of General Zachary Taylor’s Army of Occupation, selected it as a military cemetery for the burial of ten soldiers killed by the explosion of a boiler on the steamer Dayton. Hitchcock chose the three-and-one-half-acre site, donated by Henry Kinney, because of its location and scenic beauty. Time, weather, and vandalism have left their mark, with numerous gravestones overturned and shattered. Damage to one gravestone has been attributed to a shell fired during the 1862 Battle of Corpus Christi. For a large number of burials there is no marker at all. The gravestone of William Maltby has recently been restored to its original condition and is a model of 1 Gravestone of Jasper Maltby, Galena, Illinois. (H. Scott Wolfe) Gravestone of Henry Maltby, Brownsville, Texas. (Eugene Fernandez) postscript 1 what can be done through proper restoration. There are no markers for William ’s children, although two are known to be buried near him. Mary Grace Swift Maltby, her gravestone barely readable, is buried in the lot with her parents and sister Marcella, who succumbed to the same yellow fever that caused Mary Grace’s death. Anna Maria Headen-Maltby is not buried at Old Bayview. She most likely went to live in Los Angeles with her daughters Mary and Margaret and is buried with them in California. The burial lots purchased by the two sisters at Old Bayview were never used. Margaret died in 1948 at age seventy-three, and Mary five years later at eighty-six. Concerned citizens, inspired by the example set by Eli T. Merriman decades ago, work to improve conditions at Old Bayview, designated both as a Historic Texas Cemetery and a State Archaeological Landmark by the Texas Historical Commission. Gravestone of William Maltby, Corpus Christi, Texas. (Michael Carlisle) ...