Edward Dorris
Died July 21, 1865
Aged 31 years
2 Ms. 28 Ds.
EDWARD Thou Hast Gone to Rest
In This Far Country of the West
Brothers and Friends Mourn and Weep
Thou in this Tomb Dost Sweetly Sleep
Edward Dorris, a stagecoach driver, died of a sunstroke or a heart attack enroute to Bent's Old Fort, a Barlow and Sanderson stagecoach station in the 1860's. Like others who had gone before him, the hardship of life on the Santa Fe Trail ended here at Bent's Fort. Of the thirteen graves located in this cemetery, twelve are covered with adobe bricks while Dorris' grave is covered with limestone and marked. This may be the cemetery described by visitors to Bent's Fort in the 1840's.
"In the evening another Missouri volunteer died, and was buried. They were obliged to cover the graves with prickly pear, or rocks, to prevent the wolves from tearing the bodies out of the ground ..." Lt. Abert, U.S. Army of the West, 1847.
The cemetery was never completely excavated. Please stay on the trail to protect this resource.
Comments 0 comments