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Description :
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Army of Tennessee Tumulus
Metairie Cemetery
New Orleans, Louisiana
Riding astride his noble steed, Fire Eater, General Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate States of America, directs his troops to charge the Federal lines on the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. Seconds later he was felled by a Yankee bullet, ending his short, but illustrious, career. Now, he is frozen for all time directing automobiles, trucks and motorhomes speeding toward downtown New Orleans on Interstate 10.
The General and his steed crown the 30 foot high Benevolent Association, Army of Tennessee, Louisiana Division tumulus in Metairie Cemetery. Off to the right and out of view is a life-size statue of a Confederate soldier calling a roll of the honored dead. Entering the tomb through the Gothic archway one sees 48 crypts containing the remains of members of the Society, three of which are sealed for all time by “Action of the Association”. Those crypts contain the remains of Colonel Charles Didier Dreux, the first Confederate field officer to be killed in battle; General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, who ordered the first shot fired at Fort Sumter and John Dimitry, the man who wrote General Johnston’s epitaph.
There were many members of the Benevolent Association, consequently, there wasn’t room enough in the tumulus for all of them. Once the spaces were filled and another member died, one of the crypts was opened, the remains were scooped up, placed on lead sheets and the sheets were soldered together. The package was then tagged and placed in a large receiving vault in the back of the tumulus. There are no members of the association left alive (the last interment was in 1929), so now the bones of the soldiers of the Army of Tennessee can rest easy.
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