ELKINSVILLE — Local volunteers have made sure two local Civil War veterans were not forgotten by installing new markers on their graves.
The Brown County Cemetery Preservation Society ordered two military headstones through the Brown County Veterans Office last fall.
The markers for James W. Polley and Tilman H. Crider, both from Elkinsville, were installed at the Polley Hill cemetery near Elkinsville on Feb. 24 by veteran volunteers, with the help of Van Buren Township Trustee and society member Vicki Payne, husband Steve Payne and society member Valerie (Lutes) Edmonds.
Pvt. Crider served in Co. K 55th Reg. Ind. Inf. and Co. K 145th Ind. Inf. between 1862 and 1866. Until now, his grave had been marked with only a crudely carved piece of sandstone bearing his initials.
Pvt. Polley served in Co. G 31st Ind. Inf. from 1861 until he was discharged for disability in June 1863. He was shot at the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee. The ball entered through his shoulder at a downward angle and lodged itself somewhere inside, resulting in total paralysis, the society reported.
Because the ball could not be removed and more than likely was made of lead, his health continued to deteriorate until his death in 1869. In 1870, Dr. George Story, the resident doctor near Elkinsville, swore in an affidavit to the war department that Pvt. Polley’s death was a direct result of his gunshot wound.
“The society would like to thank Ron Higgins of the Brown County Veterans Office, Buddy Mercer and Steve Lowry (the Legion post commander) for all of the hard work and the reverence they displayed while setting the new headstones,” Edmonds said.
“They went above and beyond what was needed to complete their task. They even cut up and carried off a couple of very large trees that had fallen across the cemetery.”
