DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says, right here in Polk County, Texas. Now, some men leave a mark on the land they're buried in. Captain Isaac Newton Turner left a mark on two states — and the story of how he ended up in the right one is something else entirely.
Ike Turner was born on April 3, 1839, in Putnam County, Georgia. His father, J. A.
S. Turner, was a plantation owner, and the family's holdings stretched beyond Georgia — they had land in both Polk and Liberty counties right here in Texas. Before the Civil War broke out, the Turner family made the move to Texas, and Ike put down roots in Polk County alongside them.
When the war came, Ike Turner didn't wait around. He helped organize and train a mounted artillery company — eighty Polk County volunteers, every one of them, ready to ride for the Confederacy. And on September 3, 1861, he assembled that company right at the County Courthouse in Livingston.
He'd been elected captain by his men, which tells you something about the kind of figure he cut. That company headed east to Virginia, where they served as Company K, 5th Texas Infantry, under General John Bell Hood, in what history would come to know as Hood's Texas Brigade. Now consider this: Ike Turner was the youngest company commander in that entire brigade.
The youngest. And yet he led his troops through sixteen battles, mostly in Virginia — sixteen, with the weight of command on his shoulders the whole way. He was injured twice before the third time caught up with him.
Near Suffolk, Virginia, Captain Turner suffered a fatal wound. He was twenty-four years old — born April 3, 1839, gone April 15, 1863. His brother Charles took the body.
Put it on a train and carried it back to Georgia, to the family's former plantation called Turnwold, near Milledgeville. And there Ike Turner was buried. But family legend had always held something else.
Captain Turner's wish, they said, was to be buried in his family's cemetery in Texas. That wish had gone unfulfilled for a long, long time. Then, in 1994 — more than a century after that train carried him south — his remains were disinterred in Georgia, transported all the way to Texas, and reburied here, among his family members.
Right where he'd wanted to be. Some wishes, it turns out, just need a little time. The marker here was placed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Ike Turner Camp 1275, out of Livingston, Texas — a camp that carries his name.
And now, finally, so does this ground.
What the marker says
(April 3, 1839 - April 15, 1863) was born in Putnam County, Georgia. His father, J. A. S. Turner, was a plantation owner with Texas landholdings in Polk and Liberty counties. The Turner family moved to Texas prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Ike Turner helped to organize and train a mounted artillery company of 80 Polk County volunteers for the Confederacy. Turner, who was elected captain, assembled his company at the County Courthouse in Livingston on September 3, 1861. He led them to serve in Virginia as Company K, 5th Texas Infantry, in Gen. John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade. The youngest company commander in Hood's Texas Brigade, Capt. Turner led his troops in 16 battles, mostly in Virginia. He was injured twice before suffering a fatal wound near Suffolk, Virginia. Capt. Turner's brother. Charles took his body by train to be buried at the family's former plantation "Turnwold" near Milledgeville, Georgia. Family legend has maintained that it was Capt. Turner's wish to be buried in his family's cemetery in Texas. In 1994 his remains were disinterred and transported from Georgia to Texas and reburied here among his family members. (1997) Incise on base: Sons of the Confederate Veterans Ike Turner Camp 1275, Livingston, Texas