Walking through the older section of the historic Glenwood Cemetery, a tall gravestone with ornate design instantly captures one’s attention. Reaching towards the sky, the top of the gravestone is met with two sculptured hands embracing with the words, “husband and wife” immediately below.
Let one’s eyes continue looking down the aging sculpture, and one will find lengthy wording concerning the husband’s death…his spotless character, patriot, bravest of the brave. But the wording continues with his persecution and wrongful death. Looking over to the right of the tombstone, the wife followed her husband to the grave only a year later, dying “of a broken heart.”
This is the story of the Dixons, a Main Street shooting, a call for justice, a political circus…a classic mystery.
One could spend hours walking throughout the historic Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City. But upon closer inspection, the aging tombstones and inscriptions leave a hint of mystery with stories almost begging to be researched. With such a specific and unique tombstone, the Dixon couple is one of those mysteries.
Henry Marshall Dixon was born in Virginia in 1847, the son of Major Henry Thomas and Annie Dixon. According to the John L. Nau Center for Civil War History, the patriarch, Maj. Henry Thomas, was the only person in all of Fauquier County, Virginia to vote for Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election. He was, however, a wealthy planter, claiming ownership of several slaves.
“Despite his ties to the South as part of an old and influential family as well as being a slave owner himself, Dixon was the only man in Fauquier County to cast a vote for Republican presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln in 1860,” the article states. “He did so with ‘pistol in hand,’ according to local historian Eugene Scheel. Five years later, after serving as a paymaster in the Union army, he was gunned down in a duel with a former Confederate surgeon on the streets of Alexandria.”
It is difficult to trace the story as to how soon Henry Marshall Dixon made his way to Yazoo City. The first mention of Dixon within local newspaper archives appears on Dec. 15, 1876, when his gin-house, located on his plantation near the Yazoo River, was destroyed by fire by a suspected arsonist.
“…the fell destroyer burnt to ashes the fine gin-house, together with all the fixtures thereunto belonging and 30 bales of cotton,” the article reads. “It was covered by insurance in the amount of $5,500.”
Oddly enough, Dixon’s name cannot be found in the archives again until 1878….for murder.
The first article appeared on March 12, 1878, where it was reported that “on Sunday, we called upon Cpt. H.M. Dixon and Mr. Tucker now confined in our county jail on the charge of murder.” The article continues that both men were “cheerful and hopeful.”
In the May 24, 1878, edition of The Herald, it was reported that Dixon remained a prisoner in jail on murder charges in the alleged killing of Sam Harrison on Main Street during a shootout in January of 1878. The January 1878 edition of The Herald could not be located.
The matter did not appear again until June 21, 1878 when it was reported that “the event of the week has been the trial of Henry M. Dixon for the killing of Sam Harrison in Mississippi in this city on the 31st day of January.” Witnesses claim that Harrison “invoked a final settlement of a bitter feud that had been existing between them for some time and called upon Dixon to ‘out with it’ (meaning to draw his pistol and defend himself).”
Oddly enough, the verdict from the trial is difficult to locate in the archives other than a suspected mistrial reported prior to deadline.
Throughout the remainder of the months leading up to Dixon’s own death on Main Street, little is reported of the Dixon family. The family left Yazoo City briefly during the yellow fever epidemic. But, then an announcement for political pursuits arrived, and the story took a turn.
“I announce myself as a candidate for the office of Sheriff of Yazoo County at the general election-subject only to the choice of the people at the ballot box,” announced H.M. Dixon.
Dixon decided to run as an Independent. His decision to run as an Independent shocked many local Democrats, considering it was alleged that Dixon supported the Democrat party in the past.
“This time it is the Democratic party against what is called the Independent party,” a Butler, Penn. newspaper states.
The political friction between the parties within Yazoo County continued to escalate with many opposers of Dixon reflecting on his own previous involvement with the Democratic party, even citing “he instigated the killing of several Republicans, while they credit him with one murder committed by his own hands.”
It was reported that a “mob of 400” met with Dixon to persuade him to drop his candidacy.
“Cpt. Dixon finally consented to give up his candidacy and signed a card to that effect,” the Butler Citizen reported.
But then it appears as if Dixon changed his mind.
Dixon was shot down by James A. Barksdale on Aug. 19, 1879 on Main Street. It was later reported in the New York Times that “the case of James A. Barksdale, for the killing of Henry M. Dixon, was thoroughly investigated and no indictment found.”
There remain little details in the shootout other than conflicting statements from political parties. Some claim it was an organized duel. Others say it was self-defense.
“Upon going into Yazoo City, Dixon was met by James Barksdale, the Democratic candidate for Chancery Clerk, who hailed him, and stepped into the street armed with a double-barreled shotgun,” an article in the national Harper’s Weekly states. “Dixon drew a pistol, but Barksdale fired and killed him.”
Barksdale went onto becoming a prominent citizen within Yazoo County. His obituary states that he remained “an uncompromising Democrat.” He served in the Legislature and served three terms as the local chancery clerk.
Dixon’s widow, Amy Dixon, continued her crusade to bring justice and awareness to the death of her husband. Letters upon letters were published in many Northern newspapers on her behalf.
Upon her late husband’s gravestone, she inscribed “in 1879, he submitted his name for an official position, and for this crime, he was calumniated, wronged, persecuted and killed in Yazoo City on Aug. 19,1879.”
It remains a mystery if she was ever provided closure. She died close to a year later at the age of 35. Based on her tombstone inscription, one would believe that was closure never arrived.
“Crushed by the cruel death of her idolized husband, driven to despair and madness by the intensity of her grief, a merciful God took her to himself on July 1, 1880,” the inscription reads. “No one name her but to love and praise her.”
The Dixon headstone also states that six orphans were left behind.
One of the Dixon children was named Robert Hudson, after the late Dixon’s close friend and attorney in Yazoo City. Robert Dixon passed away in 1928 at the age of 54 and is buried with no headstone Maryland. According to records, he had taken his own life and was buried near a chain link fence at the extreme edge of the Cedar Hill Cemetery by his brother, Dr. Henry Marshall Dixon Jr.
Dr. Henry Marshall Dixon Jr. was a beloved physician in Washington D.C.
“It was a known fact that after seeing patients each day, he would close his office, take his medical bag and walk across the street where many immigrants and minorities were living to see their medical needs,” an article reported. “Dr. Dixon continued to care for those in need, regardless of their ability to pay.”
Dr. Dixon continued his practice until he retired, moving his family to a farm in Maryland.
