I don’t know why this stuck out for me. Maybe it is because I have such a deep interest in cemeteries. I have loved them since I was a kid. All the stories for all the people buried in them just fascinate me. Anyway, I was reading the book on the 1975 excavation of where they thought Fort Miro might have been. It is called “1975 Excavations At The Site Of Historic Fort Miro (160U3) In Monroe, Louisiana” by G.R. Dennis Price, Glen S. Greene and Lorraine Heartfield. They dug in the area that is now the memorial to Jack Hayes, across the street from the Old Ouachita Parish High School and in between the Garrett Law Office and the I 20 Overpass. They really didn’t find definitive proof the fort was there, but they still believe it is the site. On page 37 of the book, they were listing some of the things they found. A stone artifact that was found at the dig was a piece of a headstone. The only thing they could read states:
Born May 5
1890
Died October 12
1894
He has Gone to the
Mansions of Rest.
I wonder who was this little four year old boy? Who were his parents? Why did he die so young? Of course, the newspapers are gone for 1894 and no surrounding newspapers reported a young boy’s death in Monroe. Something tells me that where they found the stone is not where he was buried. It just breaks my heart this little boy is now forgotten!
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 