Cruger, Mississippi, in Holmes County, Mississippi, is home to barely 400 residents. Located on the west side of U. S. Highway 49, the town is roughly 70 miles north of Jackson and about 175 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. It lies within the confines of the large area of fertile agricultural lands known as the Mississippi Delta. Places nearby have unusual names, such as Alligator Bayou, Mosquito Lake, and Mossy Island. Located near Cruger is Egypt Plantation, an active farming area of almost 2,000 acres that sees it share of heavy equipment during farming season. But in the summer of 1969, a backhoe dug up more than Delta soil. It unearthed a coffin buried only a few feet deep that contained the body of a young woman who became known as "The Lady in Red." Below is a partial account of the event as it appeared in Jackson's Clarion-Ledger on August 29, 1969:"The method of preservation used for the Lady In Red was common prior to the Civil War, when custom-made caskets, shaped to the body, were ordered as one would order a dress. The glass that sealed the coffin was placed over the body, and alcohol was poured inside until it was level full, and then sealed with a cast iron tip. When the back hoe machine hit the coffin, alcohol spilled from the casket and spots of the liquid were seen on the folds of the woman's dress." Aptly named for the red dress she allegedly was wearing, the young woman in the cast iron casket was said to be well-preserved. It is any one's guess how The Lady in Red came to be buried in the soils of Egypt Plantation, and there is no information to suggest a cemetery was located in the immediate area. One theory is the casket could have "dropped off" something that may have been carrying it to her final resting place. 
Gravestone for The Lady in Red
Final Resting Place in Odd Fellows Cemetery
Lexington, Holmes County, Mississippi
(Photographed by Natalie Maynor)
The date of birth shown on the Lady in Red's grave stone is the result of expert analysis of her age. Since there is no way to determine her date of death, the date shown on the grave stone is the day her body was discovered on Egypt Plantation.
Many thanks to Pat Garrison, a Burel and Teagle family descendant, for sending me photographs of the grave stones of Burel family members buried in the cemetery at Duncan Creek Congregational Church in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Many of those buried at Duncan Creek are descendants of Louis Burel and his wife Sarah Margaret Jenkins Burel, who moved to the Hog Mountain area of Gwinnett County in the 1840s. Other Burel family members, including Louis and Sarah, are buried in the Hog Mountain Baptist Cemetery, near where the couple allegedly operated Hog Mountain Inn and Trading Posts. Two other Burel brothers, James H. Burel and Thomas P. Burel migrated westward as new lands opened up, with James H. Burell finally settling in Attala County, Mississippi.
