Almost forgotten hero restored to glory

This the stone after it was restored
and reset on a large base

SMITHLAND, Ky. – An interesting discovery was made in November 2024 in the Smithland Cemetery.  While filling in holes in the cemetery with a tractor, it was discovered, leaning up against a tree, a very old monument for Chaylon Gorden, a man who died in 1923 at the age of 43.  

Who was this man whose stone was carelessly propped up against a tree at the bottom of the hill? With the help of Livingston County cemetery historians, Wanda Trail and her son, Mark Trail, it was discovered that Chaylon Gorden was a hero in his day.

Newspaper archives revealed that in 1901 Chaylon and a friend, William Webb, were on the steamboat, the City of Golconda, which was headed to Paducah from Smithland when the boat sank in a storm just off Cottonwood Bar in the Ohio River.  As it turns out, Gorden, a 21-year-old Black man, and William Webb, another young Black man, rescued a White woman, the wife of the boat’s engineer, and her child from the sinking vessel.  Twelve or more drowned in the incident.  Among those who perished were passengers from Smithland, Paducah, Grahamville, and Evansville. The vessel included Smithland Cemetery committee member Billy Downs’ great-great uncle, Watts Davis, who was taking five head of cattle to market in Paducah.  

The Smithland Cemetery Committee felt Chaylon Gorden deserved better than to have his stone propped up against a tree.  Henry & Henry Monument Company of Marion picked up and cleaned his stone, then remounted it on a base. Henry & Henry delivered the restored monument to the Smithland Cemetery and replaced it on a concrete base, located as nearly as could be determined where Chaylon is buried. The cemetery association is grateful to Henry & Henry for its help in a very worthwhile historic restoration.  

The Smithland Cemetery is maintained solely by charitable, tax-deductible donations. 

This araticle was submitted by the Smithland Cemetery Committee
The article first appeared in the March 26, 2026 Crittenden Press