January 18, 2009 Update: Unveiling of Texas Historical Marker at     Old Jeff Davis Hospital

Jefferson Davis Hospital has been abandoned until recently. It is currently high-end housing lofts. The Union Pacific now owns and operates the tracks with a modern AMTRAK station on the other side of the tracks from the old Jeff Davis Hospital. AMTRAK's "Sunset Limited" makes a stop here. The site is near (almost below) the intersection of I-IO and I-45.
 
Burials were made outside and under the Jefferson Davis Hospital. Parking lots for impounded and demolished vehicles for the Houston Police and Houston Fire Depts and other buildings are now located over the cemetery and there is no trace that any cemetery existed. The hospital and burial area is well-known to be haunted.  
 
A list of the names, company, regiment, and death date for over 200 men who died at the Confederate General Hospital in Houston, Texas appears in the article "Confederate Hospitals" by Loretta Elliot Burns in STIRPES (Texas State Genealogical Society) Vol. 23 (1983) #2 A-D and #3 D-W.  The name of the magazine, STIRPES, is not a typo.
 
William Bozic
Houston, TX

(6-05) Enlarge In the foreground this photo shows the monument to unidentified Confederate veterans erected in 1924 or maybe before that date and a portion of a burial plot, with the Jefferson Davis Hospital in the background. The Jefferson Davis Hospital was built in 1924 and the hospital was named after CSA President Jefferson Davis, The hospital has an above ground basement per request of the Confederate Veterans because the hospital was built over the cemetery.. The monument was inscribed "Sacred to the Memory of 32 Confederate Soldiers who Died in their Country's Service-Rest in Peace". The hospital building was sold by the city and is currently luxury apartments (NOTE: new beige section.) The area was the old city cemetery and is believed to have held 5,000 graves. Obviously the city cemetery held more than CSA veterans!
 
The exact number of Confederates buried in this area is currently unknown.
  
William Bozic photo

(7-07) Enlarge This is a July 12, 2007 close-up view of the marker  on land which is now in the City of Houston Fire Department parking lot/maintenance area. The entire facility was built over a cemetery near the Jefferson Davis Hospital. The monument erroneously states "32" Confederate burials. No one believes this number to be correct as the number of burials is substantially higher by all accounts. 30 unidentified graves were found in 1986 when the foundation for a new shed was being built. These remains were held by the University of Houston and were reburied in the burial plot in 2006.
  
William Bozic photo

(6-05) Enlarge This view shows the monument to unidentified CSA veterans in the center of a burial trench near the Jeff Davis Hospital. The site my only be reached by special permission since it is literally in the middle of the City of Houston Fire Department maintenance area/parking lot.
 
William Bozic photo

(7-07) Enlarge July 12, 2007 view of the Confederate burial trench. The ground mounted monument was moved to cover 30 additional remains which had been held at the Univ of Houston. The 30 people's remains were buried under the monument's new location in 2006.
 
William Bozic photo