Leo Edward Craigen
Fannett, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1845-1910) During the Civil War, Leon Edward Craigen joined the Confederate Army of the Mississippi and was wounded at Shiloh. Following surgery to remove his leg, he served with the Cavalry until the end of the war. In 1879 he became a teacher at Taylor's Bayou School near Hamshire. One year later he married Ellen Aurelia Schneider, one of his students. From 1895 until his death in 1910, Craigen served as rural mail carrier for the Fannett area.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Leo Edward Craigen's life traced the arc of the post-Civil War South. Wounded at the bloody Battle of Shiloh in 1862, he lost a leg to surgery yet returned to serve with the Confederate cavalry until the war's end. He rebuilt an ordinary but rooted life in Jefferson County, Texas — teaching at the Taylor's Bayou School, marrying one of his own students, and finally carrying the rural mail through the Fannett area for the last fifteen years of his life.
Why it matters
His story is a window into how thousands of maimed Confederate veterans rejoined civilian life as teachers, farmers, and public servants in the rural South.
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Related people
- · Leo Edward Craigen
- · Ellen Aurelia Schneider
Related events
- · Battle of Shiloh
Themes & tags
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