Martin Van Buren Cotton was born on May 13th 1833 in Perry County Tennessee. He was the son of Charles Perry Cotton (1785-1867) and Elizabeth "Betsey" Lyons (1790-1862). He married Stacy Mabel Sikes in 1853 in Tennessee. To this union were born 8-9 children (This is still being investigated). According to the small biography found by the Searcy County Arkansas Public Library, Martin Van Buren Cotton, according to a Civil War Confederate Widows Pension Application, states Martin died in 1862 at the St. John's College (Later Hospital) in Little Rock. He could have fallen ill to the Measles while serving as a Private in the Confederacy in the Civil War and possibly was taken to a Measles hospital in Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas and died there.

With the help of the Searcy County Arkansas Public Library and with the help of A Local Genealogist in Little Rock. We are pretty sure that Martin Van Buren Cotton, if he did die on Sept 20 1862, than he was probably buried in a trench with other Civil War Soldiers at Mount Holly Cemetery. Then later reburied in the Oakland Cemetery with about 639 other soldiers who had been removed from Mt. Holly Cemetery. Martin being buried in Oakland Cemetery is what I found according to a small biography found by the Searcy County Arkansas Public Library. If this is true that piece of land and those graves were later given over to the Little Rock National Cemetery to help create their Confederate section and to begin that cemetery. Oakland and Little Rock National are super close together. Thus he is probably one of the 640 confederate men who is buried in the mass grave there. Unfortunately, according to the Genealogist, there are no records of the names of the soldiers who were buried in this mass grave. So unfortunately, we will just have to put as much information together as we can to come to this hypothesis. Thank You to the Genealogist and the Searcy County Arkansas Public Library for your assistance with this research!