The 45th Infantry Division, comprised of National Guard units from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, was one of the first four divisions ordered into federal service by Congress' joint resolution in 1940. Initially stationed at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the 45th was relocated to Camp Barkeley in early 1941. The "Thunderbirds" found Abilene's citizens welcoming, but Camp Barkeley was as yet little more than a tent city on undrained prairie. The new arrivals nicknamed their quarters "Camp Smokey Okie" and began rigorous training at once. In April 1942 the 45th was ordered to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. After another year of training in three more states they departed for North Africa and Sicily. World War II took the 45th far from Taylor County. They saw fierce combat in Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany, culminating in the liberation of the concentration camp at Dachau in April 1945. After 511 days in combat and 3,650 men lost, the 45th Infantry was one of the most distinguished military units of the war. Eight Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to its members, who won the admiration of Allies and Axis powers alike. The division was released from active duty in November 1945. Hundreds of 45th Infantry soldiers came back to Abilene to marry and make their homes, their love for the city recorded in their letters and their lives. The 45th was again called to active duty during the Korean conflict, suffering 834 casualties. One "Thunderbird" was posthumously awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for his Korean service.

The families of Benjamin and Hannah (Weed) Abshier and Benjamin and Sarah (Hanks) Weed came to this area of Texas from Louisiana in 1843. The extended families purchased land and established farms in this vicinity. In June 1852 the Abshiers' 27-year-old daughter, Lucinda Abshier Higginbotham, died, leaving a husband and six children. She was laid to rest on the Abshier family farm, in a plot of land which would become a family graveyard. Since that time, members of many generations of Abshier, Weed, and related families have been interred in the cemetery.

Among those buried here are veterans of the War of 1812, the Texas Revolution, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and Korea. A number of unusual and elaborate grave markers can be seen, including tree-trunk-shaped monuments of the Woodmen of the World Lodge, a 19th-century fraternal organization. There are also a number of unmarked burials.

Established in 1896, a cemetery association maintains the historic graveyard. The original two-acre plot was enlarged to three acres in 1938. The cemetery continues to serve as a reminder of early Liberty County pioneers.

Following his service in the Civil War, Alabama native R.L. Cain came to Texas and settled in this area. In 1867, he deeded five acres to Lee County for a cemetery for this area, known then as Cain School Community. The settlement's name changed to Adina when its post office was established, and the cemetery became known as the Adina Community Cemetery. Predating Cain's deed for the cemetery, the earliest known burials here are the unmarked grave of an infant, the child of a family camping in the area, and that of Martha Cane Slaughter, who died in 1871.

In 2001, six burials from the Mcdavid and Craddock families, originally located in nearby Craddock Cemetery, in Bastrop County, were reinterred here next to members of their extended families. The graves include that of William B. Craddock, one of many victims of the violence that plagued the area in the 1870s and 1880s.

Maintained and operated by the Adina Cemetery Association, the graveyard includes burials of veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The headstones in the well-shaded burial ground tell the stories of the early residents of Adina and surrounding communities.

This cemetery has served the Altoga area since 1881, including what was once the Johnson community to the south and the Ardath community to the west. The earliest recorded burials are those of three-year-old Ida Leomy Parker in July 1881 and Elizabeth Humbard Mantooth in November 1881. William Mantooth donated one and one-third acres of land for the cemetery in 1894. Another two and one-third acres were later added to the site.

A tabernacle to be used for funerals was erected in August 1914. It was built by local men with funds raised by the Woodmen of the World with events such as ice cream socials and pie suppers. The tabernacle is still used each May for observance of Decoration Day. The cemetery contains more than 720 graves, including about 40 unmarked graves. Buried here are early settlers to the area, their families, and veterans of the Civil War (both Confederate and Union soldiers), World War I, World War II, and the Korean conflict.

The Altoga Cemetery Association, formed in 1971, maintains the grounds through a perpetual care trust. The graveyard continues to serve the area as it has for more than a century.

After citizens petitioned for its closure, an unofficial burial ground in this area (Large Lot 13) closed in 1857. That same year, local residents buried prominent planter, Mason and school superintendent William J. Brantley here on one acre donated by Pleasant Tannehill to Masonic Lodge No.165. Adjoining land was set aside for the interment of a girl, named Ward, who could not be buried in the Masons' Cemetery. The two adjacent burial grounds eventually joined, and further donations of land by Nathaniel Pope Coleman (1823-1888), Joseph Marion la Rue (1825-1887) and Joseph Thomas la Rue (1864-1930) added to what is now known as the pioneer section of this cemetery. An association established in 1922 bought an additional 12 acres from Matthias E. Richardson, Jr. (1850-1919), designating the front portion as a park. A trust initiated in 1959 by Sid Williams Richardson (1891-1959) continues to help fund the site's upkeep. Chronicled here are the generations that forged the rich heritage of the City of Athens, along with veterans of the Indian Wars, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

The oldest known graves here, dating from as early as the 1860's, are those of the Randall and Rowlett families. Finis Dudley Beauchamp (1825-1893), a Confederate veteran from Mississippi, donated the 3-acre site to the newly formed Aurora Lodge No. 479, A.F.& A.M., in 1877. For many years, this community burial ground was known as Masonic Cemetery. Beauchamp, his wife Caroline (1829-1915), and others in their family are buried here. An epidemic which struck the village in 1891 added hundreds of graves to the plot. Called "spotted fever" by the settlers, the disease is now though to have been a form of meningitis.

Located in Aurora Cemetery is the gravestone of the infant Nellie Burris (1891-1893) with its often-quoted epitaph: "As I was so soon done, I don't know why I was begun." This site is also well known because of the legend that a spaceship crashed nearby in 1897 and the pilot, killed in the crash, was buried here.

Struck by epidemic and crop failure and bypassed by the railroad, the original town of Aurora almost disappeared, but the cemetery remains in use with over 800 graves. Veterans of the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam conflicts are interred here.

John Baker, his wife Eliza, and their family migrated to Texas from Illinois in 1835, settling on land granted to him. Baker Cemetery began as a family burial site with the death of their infant son William in 1848. Gradually this site became a three-acre community burial ground, serving other pioneer families and their descendants. Among the more than 800 graves contained here are those of veterans of the Republic of Texas Army, the Civil War, World War II, and the Korean War. The cemetery is maintained by an association established in 1984 and continues to serve the area.

Pioneers who settled the Bleakwood community after the Civil War established thriving mill and cotton gin businesses. Mill-owner Reuben Bennington donated an acre of land for this cemetery to serve area residents. The oldest marked grave, that of Doulie Lee, is dated Jan. 24, 1871. In 1940 J.K. Wilson gave an additional acre of land to the cemetery in memory of his wife Minnie Lee. Veterans of wars from the Civil War to the Korean War are buried here. The graves are given full care by the Bleakwood Cemetery Association, incorporated in 1975.

The town of Bolivar was laid out by Dr. Hiram Daily in 1852 with a burial plot on high ground nearby. Though the site had probably been used as a burial ground for many years, the earliest marked grave is that of 4-month-old Zolly Cofer Waide, who was born and died in 1863.

G.A. Grissom, a prominent Bolivar Masonic leader, died in 1876. After his interment, Bolivar Lodge No. 418, A.F.& A.M. and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 221 set aside five newly purchased acres, including the graveyard, for community burials. A decorative fence was installed across the front of the cemetery in that year. Many monuments were erected by the Woodmen of the World organization.

Many of the nine adults and eight infants buried in 1892 were victims of a nationwide influenza epidemic. Another influenza epidemic in 1918 claimed more lives. Bolivar citizens of all walks of life were buried here. Some were members of farming and ranching families; others were business people, educators, physicians, and ministers. They include veterans of the Mexican War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

Operated by the board of trustees of the Bolivar Cemetery Association, the graveyard continues to serve area residents, many of whom are descendants of those who shaped the history of Bolivar and Denton County. The burial ground remains a record of the pioneer settlers of the area.

Eli and Eliza Buckner moved from Georgia to the Chapman community in 1851. Eliza died in 1857; when Eli died in 1861 he left a half-acre of land including their graves for use as a public burial ground.

The Reverend Julius Caesar Alford Bridges of Georgia married Mary Ann Cosper in 1857 in Alabama. Some years later, they left that state with their ten children in twenty covered wagons and settled in Chapman. Bridges, a Confederate veteran, purchased the land on which the Buckner family and community cemetery was located for $100 in gold and later added more land. He served at the nearby Church Hill Methodist Church from 1880 until his death in October 1881. One of J.C. and Mary Bridges' eight sons, Francis "Frank" Bridges, married Mary E. Lowrie in 1884. Frank Bridges had many occupations during his lifetime. At one point he served as the first postmaster of the Chapman community. Bridges descendants continued to make their homes in the area.

The Bridges Cemetery remains in service to Rusk County and the Chapman community. Among the pioneer families represented here are the Brooks, Futch, Garrison, Gossett, Jimmerson, Lowrie, Shumate, Snelgrove, Smith and Wylie families. In 1999 there were thirty-eight veterans buried in the cemetery. They served in a variety of U.S. and international conflicts including the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. Others served the U.S. Armed Forces in peacetime. Unmarked graves in the back of the cemetery are believed to be those of slaves. The Bridges Cemetery is a chronicle of early Rusk County history.