Texas State Cemetery


The Texas State Cemetery is a cemetery located on about just east of downtown Austin, the capital of the U.S. state of Texas. Originally the burial place of Edward Burleson, Texas Revolutionary general and Vice-President of the Republic of Texas, it was expanded into a Confederate cemetery during the Civil War. Later it was expanded again to include the graves and cenotaphs of prominent Texans and their spouses.
It is a popular tourist attraction and colloquially referred to as the "Arlington of Texas" because of the notoriety of those interred and proximity to the seat of government.
The cemetery is divided into two sections. The smaller one contains around 900 graves of prominent Texans, while the larger has over 2,000 marked graves of Confederate veterans and widows. There is room for 7,500 interments; the cemetery is about half full, after including plots chosen by people who are eligible for burial.

Burial guidelines

The guidelines on who may be buried within the Texas State Cemetery were first established in 1953, and are currently set by Texas state law. Currently, all persons to be buried in the cemetery must be one of the following:
After the death of Edward Burleson in 1851, the Texas Legislature arranged for his burial on land formerly belonging to Andrew Jackson Hamilton. In 1854, the Legislature established a monument at Burleson's grave-site for $1,000 and purchased the surrounding land. The burial ground was virtually ignored until the Civil War, when Texas Confederate officers killed in battle were buried there. In 1864 and 1866 more land was purchased for veterans' burials. An area of was also set aside for graves of Union veterans. The remaining Union soldier is Antonio Briones, who was left at the request of his family. He is interred alone in the far northwest corner of the cemetery.
Because the Texas Confederate Men's Home and the Confederate Women's Home were located in Austin, more than two thousand Confederate veterans and widows are interred at the State Cemetery. Most were buried after 1889. The last Confederate veterans in the Cemetery were reinterred in 1944; the last widow, in 1963.
In 1932, the State Cemetery was little known and had no roads. There was a dirt road running through the grounds of the Cemetery linked to what was then called Onion Creek Highway. The road kept its highway status when Texas historian Louis Kemp brought it to the attention of the Texas Highway Department that the road running through the Cemetery should be paved. The roads, which are officially designated as State Highway 165, are dedicated to Kemp, and were for a time known as "Lou Kemp Highway". Kemp was also the driving force behind the reinterment of many early Texas figures in time for the Texas Centennial in 1936.
The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, but by the early 1990s, the State Cemetery had fallen into disrepair—suffering from vandalism and decay—and was unsafe to visit. In 1994, after noting the condition of the Cemetery, Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock initiated a three-year project that added a visitor center and renovated the cemetery. In 1997, there was a re-dedication and a reopening of the State Cemetery.
A three-person Texas State Cemetery committee oversees operations at the cemetery. Benjamin M. Hanson is chairman. James L. Bayless and Carolyn Hodges also serve. The senior historian is Will Erwin.
Former Governor and United States President George W. Bush announced his intention to be buried in the State Cemetery. However, in August 2018, Bush decided he and his wife will be buried at his presidential center following their death.

Statistics

As of 2019, buried in the Texas State Cemetery are:

Davis Guards Medal recipients">Davis Guards Medal#Recipients">Davis Guards Medal recipients

  1. Michael Carr
  2. David Fitzgerald
  3. John Flood
  4. William Hardin
  5. Thomas Sullivan

    Battle of San Jacinto veterans">Battle of San Jacinto">Battle of San Jacinto veterans

Notable interments

  1. Peter Hansbrough Bell
  2. John Bowden Connally, Jr.
  3. Edmund Jackson Davis
  4. Miriam "Ma" Amanda Ferguson
  5. James "Pa" Edward Ferguson
  6. James Pinckney Henderson
  7. John Ireland
  8. Francis Richard Lubbock
  9. Dan Moody, Jr.
  10. Ann Willis Richards
  11. Hardin Richard Runnels
  12. Robert Allan Shivers
  13. Preston Earnest Smith
  14. Mark Wells White

    Texas Rangers">Texas Ranger Division">Texas Rangers

  15. Stephen F. Austin
  16. Willis Thomas Avery
  17. Jesse Billingsley
  18. Joseph Graves Booth
  19. John Watkins Bracken
  20. Guy Morrison Bryan
  21. Ben Franklin Bryant
  22. George Christopher Brakefield
  23. Edward Burleson
  24. James Hughes Callahan
  25. Walter P. Callaway
  26. William Angelo Dial
  27. Homer Garrison
  28. John Grumbles
  29. Joseph Sidney Fletcher
  30. William Polk Hardeman
  31. John Reynolds Hughes
  32. Ben McCulloch
  33. Charles Edward Miller
  34. Daniel Webster Roberts
  35. James Lambert "Skippy" Rundell
  36. William Read Scurry
  37. Lamartine Pemberton "Lamar" Seeker
  38. William Tom
  39. William Alexander Anderson "Big Foot" Wallace
  40. Eleazar Louis Ripley Wheelock
  41. John Lemon Wilbarger
  42. Robert McAlpin Williamson
  43. Thomas C. Wilson
  44. William Delpard Wilson

    Other