In early 1853, Colonel Charles Nelson was authorized by the City Commissioners to survey and plan a cemetery. Today, Willow Dale Cemetery holds the promise of much historical significance. Visit the Confederate Monument, erected in 1883 beneath which is the mass grave of 800 Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate. See the resting place of Jarad K. White, a young Texas soldier killed in 1865 while fighting with the Texas Calvary in northern Wayne County, whose grave each year receives a Texas flag above which to fly high.