Captain Isaac Newton Moreland Turner, C. S. A.
Livingston, Polk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(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
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Georgia in 1839 and raised on a family with Texas plantation holdings, Isaac Newton "Ike" Turner mustered eighty Polk County volunteers at the Livingston courthouse in September 1861 and was elected their captain. He led them east as Company K of the 5th Texas Infantry in Hood's famed Texas Brigade, fighting through some sixteen battles—the youngest company commander in the brigade—before a mortal wound near Suffolk, Virginia, ended his life at twenty-four. First buried in Georgia, his remains were brought home to Texas in 1994 to rest among his family.
Why it matters
Turner's story captures how the Civil War drew even the youngest men of the Texas frontier into the great eastern battles, and how their memory was later reclaimed by the communities they left.
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Related people
- · Isaac Newton Moreland Turner
- · John Bell Hood
Related events
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
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