Pictures from New Orleans and Austin…

As promised, here are some of the the pictures from my whirlwind tour of New Orleans and Austin. This first batch is from Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

The flag marks the grave of Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, which is in a mausoleum that houses veterans of the Army of Tennessee. Atop this mausoleum is a handsome equestrian monument to Albert Sidney Johnston. Sadly, I screwed up my attempt to take a photo of it.

This is the mausoleum of Gen. John Bell Hood and his family, all of whom died of disease in an epidemic.

This is the grave of Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor, the son of President Zachary Taylor, and his family.

This is a cenotaph to the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, one of the finest artillery units of the American Civil War. Note the upright concrete cannon barrels being used to hold the chains surrounding the monument.

This is a gilt monument to Joan of Arc that sits in the heart of the French Quarter. It was a gift to the people of New Orleans from French President Charles de Gaulle.

The next batch of photos is from the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

This is the grave of Confederate Maj. Gen. John A. Wharton, who was killed by a Confederate cavalry officer in Houston on April 6, 1865.

This is the grave of Brig. Gen. Adam Rankin “Stovepipe” Johnson, the fine Confederate partisan and cavalry commander. Johnson and his brigade made the trip to Ohio with John Hunt Morgan in the summer of 1863.

This is the grave of Confederate Brig. Gen. Benjamin McCulloch, killed in action at the March 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge. McCulloch was a veteran of the Texas War of Independence, the Mexican War, and Texas politics.

Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston is also buried in this cemetery. He was briefly interred in New Orleans and later moved to Austin after he died in action at the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to figure out how to get a decent photo of his grave, which is topped by a sculpture of the deceased Johnston lying in repose in his Confederate general’s uniform.

There was a Confederate old soldier’s home in Austin after the war, and many of those old Rebels are buried in a specific section of the Texas State Cemetery. Here’s a panoramic view of some of their graves.

This is the grave of Stephen P. Austin, the father of the Texas Republic.

This is the grave of former Texas governor and Secretary of the Treasury John Connally and his wife. When Connally died, apparently, the FBI wanted to see about recovering bullet fragments from the Kennedy assassination from his body.

This is a monument to the victims of 9/11. The girders are from the Twin Towers. The Texas state flag you can see in the distance is flying at half staff in honor of the victims of the mass killing at Virginia Tech.

This is the State Capitol of Texas. The dome of this building is higher in elevation than the dome atop the U. S. Capitol.

This monument pays tribute to Texas’ contributions to the Confederate cause. Jefferson Davis stands atop it, along with an infantryman, a cavalryman, an artillerist, and a sailor. There are some statistics included, and a list of every engagement where Texas soldiers participated.

This is a monument to Terry’s Texas Rangers, also known as the 8th Texas Cavalry.

This is a monument to the Texas Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia, one of the hardest-fighting units of all of the Confederacy.

This is a monument to the defenders of the Alamo. It’s a handsome monument with a beautiful bas relief of the Battle of the Alamo on its face.

This is my host, Dan Laney, the president of the Austin CWRT. Dan is standing alongside one of two brass Napoleon guns outside the Texas State Capitol. They date from the spring of 1865, after the surrender of the Confederacy.

There are a few more photos, but these are the best of the lot. It was quite a trip.