Although a local ghost hunter assured us that we could get inside, we never found a way into Pioneers Rest Cemetery. We were missing the large old key needed to unlock the entrance gate. Instead, we walked around the cemetery, peered inside, and learned that the burial ground at this location was established in the summer of 1850, when Sophie and Willis Arnold, the children of Major Ripley A. Arnold (1817–1853), died. Arnold was the commander of the troops at Fort Worth, and his friend, Dr. Adolphus Gouhenant, set aside three acres of land for burials at that time. This is now the site on Samuels Avenue.
In 1871, after the cemetery association was established, a man named Baldwin Samuels donated three adjoining acres to the existing burial ground of the city's oldest cemetery.
In addition to the Arnold children, eleven soldiers who died at the fort were also buried on the grounds between 1849 and 1850. Many other early settlers of Fort Worth were buried here as well, including seventy-five Civil War veterans, and the site contains the graves of Major Arnold and General Edward H. Tarrant (1799–1858). Tarrant County, where Fort Worth is located, was named after him. Other well-known Fort Worth names buried here include the Daggetts, Zane-Cettis, and Peaks.
So, is the cemetery haunted? And if so, who might still linger here? Major Ripley Arnold, who died on September 6, 1853, might still roam here because his children were buried here. He was a prominent figure in the U.S. Army and the founder of Fort Worth, an 1838 West Point graduate who fought not only in the Seminole War but also in the Mexican-American War. He served as a major under General William J. Worth and established Camp Worth on the banks of the Trinity River, naming it after the late General Worth. Arnold was killed by Dr. Josephus M. Steiner in a duel at Fort Graham in Hill County, Texas, where he had gone to arrest him for disturbing the peace. He was originally buried at Fort Graham, but his remains were brought back—though perhaps not to rest in peace.
James J. Byrne (died August 13, 1880) is also buried in Pioneers Rest Cemetery. He was a Union soldier in the Civil War who emigrated from Ireland to New York in his youth. After the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson appointed him U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Texas. On August 10, 1880, Byrne left Fort Quitman, Texas, for Pecos in a stagecoach that was attacked by a group of Apaches. The stagecoach managed to return to the fort for protection, but Byrne was shot in the side and back, leading to his death from gangrene three days later.
Could General Edward H. Tarrant still haunt the place where he was buried? After all, his name looms large in Fort Worth and the surrounding area. He died on August 2, 1850, at Fort Belknap after having been a prominent figure in early Texas history and a veteran of the War of 1812. He also participated in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, was a veteran of the 1836 Texas Revolution, commander of the northwestern frontier rangers in 1837, and a militia general in the 1841 Indian battle at Village Creek.
Many trees cover the grounds, with the graves hidden among them, many too old to read after succumbing to age and weather. Meanwhile, the cemetery has been surrounded by new buildings that have sprung up in Fort Worth in recent years. Near the Trinity River, it is a good final resting place, however you look at it. According to the local ghost hunter, the place is definitely haunted—you just have to be attuned to discover by whom.
Source: wikipedia.org
