Dozier School's "Mystery Graves"

I have received many questions this week about the supposed "mystery graves" at Dozier School in Marianna. Allegations have been made that these burials might result from cases of abuse at the school for juvenile offenders.

While I have no knowledge one way or the other about the abuse claims, I do know that most if not all of the graves in the little cemetery at the school can be explained.

Ten of them date from a tragic fire that broke out in the main dormitory of the school (then the Florida Reform School) in November of 1914. An oil lamp exploded starting an accidental fire from which eight students and two employees were unable to escape. A number of other individuals, including the superintendent of the school, were injured trying to rescue them.

Twelve more graves date from the great influenza epidemic of 1918. The flu epidemic that year is believed to have been the worst outbreak in American history. An estimated 500,000 people lost their lives, including at least eleven students and one staff member at the school.

These two events, then, account for more than two-thirds of the graves in the school's little cemetery. The others are thought to be those of several boys that died between 1918 and 1949. Among these was a youth who died from illness, a 13-year-old student who was murdered by another student and a 14-year-old who died from exposure in the woods after escaping.

The cemetery is also said to contain the remains of two pet dogs and a pet peacock named Sue. They were buried there by students from the school.

The real history of the little burial ground is undeniably tragic, but at least 28 of the 31 or so graves long predate the recent allegations made by former students of the school.

An Incorrect Two Egg Legend

On September 27, 1864, when Union troops threatened Marianna, a call went out for the local home guard units to come to town for action. Dozens of men and boys from throughout the greater Two Egg area went to fight. Some made it in time for the Battle of Marianna. Other's arrived too late to lend a hand.

There is an old family tradition in the area that at least one of these boys never made it home.

Nasrey L. "Z.T." Brogden was supposedly a member of a home guard unit from eastern Jackson County. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Marianna, beneath an old headstone that simply identifies him as "C.S.A., 1861-1865" and a newer marker that lists his date of death as "September 27, 1864."

Family tradition holds that he was killed during the Battle of Marianna and buried at Riverside with a group of other Confederate soldiers, most of them unknown, that supposedly died in the battle.

In this case, however, the tradition probably originates from the fact that he is buried in Marianna combined with local memories of the battle there. In truth, Brogden was already dead by the time of the Battle of Marianna.

The son of William Brogden, he enlisted at Marianna in Company H, 11th Florida Infantry on July 24, 1863. Like so many other soldiers of that horrible war, however, he soon became seriously ill. Disease and sickness were rampant in the military camps of the time, due in large part to poor sanitation, bad food, contaminated water, etc.

Hospitalized in the post hospital at Marianna, Brogden died in a hospital bed on December 22, 1863, just five months after enlisting in the Confederate army. He was buried at Riverside Cemetery.

Although most of the graves in the two rows of Confederate dead where Brogden is buried are those of unknown soldiers, the few that can be identified were also victims of illness. This indicates that this little burial plot was actually used to bury soldiers who died at the Confederate hospital in Marianna rather than in battle.