On Sept 12, 1845 the steamship "Dayton" exploded in Corpus Christi bay near Ingleside. The ship was transporting U.S. soldiers from Gen. Taylor's army which was encamped on North Beach.
The boiler explosion killed 8 men. Their bodies were brought ashore for burial. Gen. Taylor selected a site at the top of the highest nearby hill and the internment took place beneath a large mesquite tree. A young lieutenant, named Ulysses S. Grant, had decided at the last moment not to board the ill-fated ship, saving his life and likely changing the course of future history.
Today the burial site is known as Old Bayview Cemetery. It is the oldest federal military cemetery in Texas and would become the primary burial site for the city of Corpus Christi over the next 40 years.
Known in the beginning as simply “The Grave Yard”, many of the city’s earliest pioneer settlers are buried here.
The cemetery is the final resting place of at least seven of Corpus Christi’s earliest mayors, including the first mayor, Benjamin Neal.
Veterans from five wars, including the Texas Revolution, are buried here. Victims of the 1867 yellow fever epidemic are at rest in Old Bayview alongside some of the city’s most illustrious early citizens.
By 1900, the markers for the 8 men killed in the Dayton disaster had long since vanished, and the cemetery was largely neglected and forgotten. A group of ladies would form the “Bayview Cemetery Association” to clean up the old cemetery and raise money for its maintenance.
Newspaper publisher Eli Merriman, whose own parents were buried there, would take up the task of the Association when he retired in 1912. He worked tirelessly to publicize the historical importance of the cemetery and raise money for its upkeep. In 1925, he convinced the city to take over ownership and maintenance was transferred to the Parks Department.
Today, the historic cemetery is fenced and fairly well-maintained. On September 21, 2002, I attended a ceremony where new grave markers were placed for each of the eight soldiers killed aboard the “ Dayton” in 1845….their names are no longer forgotten. Then, on May 6, 2023, a marker was dedicated, naming Old Bayview Cemetery to the “National Register of Historic Places”.
(Come celebrate and learn more about Corpus Christi’s oldest and most historic site….Old Bayview Cemetery…..this Saturday, November 4, at the 14th annual “Voices of South Texas”. On Ramirez Street next door to Solomon Coles HS, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.)
Robert Parks is a special contributor to KRIS 6 News. Parks was a history teacher at Carroll High School for 19 years and is now retired. His knowledge of Corpus Christi history makes him a unique expert in the subject.
