Joseph Benjamin Like, my great-grandfather, was buried in Rock Church Cemetery in Hood County, Texas. He was born in February 1844, in Bloomfield, Stoddard County, Missouri.

He fought for the South in the 4th Missouri Cavalry (Southern). He enlisted at the beginning of the war in Pocahantas, Arkansas and participated in several "invasions" of Missouri. The last took place in the fall of 1864. The confederates invaded Missouri and fought across the state to Kansas City, Kansas, where they were defeated in a pitched battle. The 4th then retreated to spend the winter near Clarksville, Texas. When E. Kirby Smith surrendered in the spring of 1865, Joseph couldn't go home, so he settled southeast of Bluff Dale in Erath County, Texas. He farmed there until his death on February 1, 1933.

Joseph's brother, John Like, fought for the North and died in the Battle of Nashville. The local residents hated Southerners so much that when the war was over, they took all the headstones from the Like Cemetery and dumped them in a nearby creek. The Like Cemetery was then turned into a large corral. Several members of the extended Like family were hanged by "bushwackers" for refusing to tell where the Southern forces were.

© 2001 Hood County Texas Genealogical Society - All Rights Reserved