As a volunteer for Find-A-Grave.com, I recently claimed a request to locate and photograph the grave site or gravestone of Ulysses S. Pittman in the older section of Glassy Mountain Baptist Church cemetery.
Some residents near the cemetery have indicated that Ulysses does not have an etched marker at his grave site. In fact, he does not even have a headstone; only a footstone that, at one time, had “U.S.P.” hand chiseled on it. The footstone is located two grave sites to the left of Big Bill Howard’s grave.
I found Big Bill’s grave, and photographed it on the right side of my frame with a headstone next to it and a footstone two grave sites to the left.
Closely inspecting the footstone, I was unable to distinguish any initials carved on it; not surprising, since the footstone was placed there in February 1894. A lot of wind and rain has attacked the surface of the stone since that time.
Walking back to my car, I began to recall the tale of Ulysses’ demise at the hands of Steve Howard with Mitchell Howard as an accessory.
On a cold February Sunday morning, shortly after services at Glassy Mountain Baptist Church, Anderson Pittman, Shack Howard, James Howard and Ulysses were together at William Ross’ home near the church.
A quarrel arose between James Howard and Ulysses. Anderson Pittman intervened to end it, then he and Ulysses left to go to a nearby fork in the road. They sat and talked at great length.
Shack Howard came up to them some time later and said that Steve and Mitchell Howard, who came by William Moon’s after they left, was following him and that Steve had a pistol in his hand, which might mean there would be some trouble.
Anderson Pittman and Ulysses went further up the road to a spot near John Rector’s, but the Howards kept coming and overtook them. The Howards were upset that Ulysses had beaten up their uncle Shack in a previous altercation.
Steve and Mitchell Howard jerked Ulysses down into the ditch, grabbing a repeater pistol from him as he fell. Mitchell fired one shot at him.
Ulysses started to rise, and Steve Howard, from about six feet away, shot hitting Ulysses near the right eye. The ball entered the inner and upper portions of the eye socket, thrust inwards and upwards, and penetrated the brain.
Steve Howard then walked about 10 feet away and threw both his single barrel pistol and Ulysses’ repeater pistol into a gully beside the road.
James Howard and W.L. Lindsey arrived on the scene, discovered Ulysses was not dead, and carried him to John Rector’s home where he died within 15 minutes. They saw no weapon on or about Ulysses.
Magistrate John B. Dill conducted an inquest into the death the following day. Both Steve and Mitchell Howard were found guilty.
At trial in late March 1895, Presiding Judge O.W. Buchanan sentenced both men to be confined in the State Penitentiary at hard labor for the rest of their natural lives.