"Fairfax Washington, 19 years old, Confederate Ordinance Sgr., 38th Mississippi, died October 2, 1862 at the home of Rev. William McKnight after a leg amputation from wounds received in the Battle of Iuka, September 19,1862.
The Fairfax Washington saga has continued throughout the years. His burial plot was unmarked in the McKnight family plot until his sister, Louisa Washington Bell, wife of Claiborne Bell, left provisions in her will, recorded in Harrison County, Mississippi in 1911, for a marker for Fairfax. The receipt forits purchase was from a monument company in Columbus, MS. The tombstone was removed during the bicentenial to be cleaned and repaired. It never made it back to the grave and was later placed at Iuka Public Library. Now this marker has been removed from the library and is now in Iuka's old courthouse museum. After efforts to get it returned to the burial site failed and application to the United States Government proved successful, Fairfax Washington's resting place is suitably marked.
Never could he have dreamed that he would become a part of Iuka's history. Not only did he lose his life for his country but he is a descendant of the "Father of Our Country"--George Washington. The paternal chart of Washington's family identifies Fairfax Washington as a first cousin, three times removed, of our first President, George Washington. He was the third child of Fairfax Washington, Sr. and Sarah J. Richards. The parents moved in 1839 to Hinds County, Mississippi and stayed there awhile, then moved to Handsboro, Harrison County, Mississippi before 1850. Fairfax the C.S.A. soldier, was born August 3, 1843; died October2, 1862."
The Rev. McKnight was a circuit riding Methodist minister and a trustee of Snowdown Methodist Church. He got protection papers from Federal officers for his family and property while Union forces were in Iuka. He got passes to go in and out of Union pickets. He once was kept overnight
on a gunboat during a Confederate attack. At times, he boarded Union officers at his home and they protected his property. He received pay for caring for a Federal Colonel.
NOTE: A few years ago, members of the Iuka Surname Society with the cooperation of the Tishomingo County Historical and Genealogical Society,placed the headstone of Fairfax Washington back where it should be, at his grave site, in the McKnight family plot, Oak Grove Cemetery, Iuka, Tishomingo County, MS.