All that remains of the historic cemetery at the summit of the mound are a few depressions that may mark the locations of individual graves. Descriptions from observers who actually saw the cemetery intact vary slightly in the number and dating of the graves (see Table 1), but it is clear that the cemetery contains a dozen or more burials from the 1800s. None of these reports contain information about the gravestones except for bracketing dates. The last mention of intact gravestones at the cemetery are from Dollar (1958), who also reports observing "what was reputed to be a human skull, in badly mutilated condition, taken from a three foot grave at the top of the mound" (1958:2). It is therefore possible that one or more of the graves was looted prior to 1958.

An 1887 land plat of Sebastian County (Hayes 1887) shows the land under the ownership of Henry Stappleman ("Stappleman" is either a misspelling or earlier variant of "Stoppleman"). A plat book from 1903 shows that the land was divided and the mound was owned by Mrs. B. Stoppleman (Foote 1903). In a short article on Cavanaugh Mound in the Journal of the Fort Smith Historical Society, Minor (1995:16-17) reports that the gravestones were removed before 1968, but that broken pieces had been found sometime after then. The only piece with writing contained the epitaph "Truth was her motto and God her trust" (Minor 1995:17). Minor also reports that Fort Smith Putman Funeral Home records show that twelve members of the Stoppleman family were buried on the mound between 1890 and 1900. A few local informants remembered seeing the Stoppleman name on the gravestones, but could recall no other details.

Minor relates a story of one of the Stoppleman descendents visiting the cemetery:

During the last decade an elderly visitor to the graveyard on the mound, paying respect to a relative, believed himself to be one of the two remaining survivors of that family. Within his memory he recalled his kin owning the farm at the turn of the century. He remembered the tunnels in the mound were used for storing hay and grain. (1995:17)

All accounts agree that the cemetery is located on the summit of the mound, and Newkumet's sketch shows the cemetery in the northeast quarter of the summit. It is unclear whether this sketch reflects the full extent of the cemetery. The depressions currently visible on the summit (which may mark the location of sunken graves) are within the northeast quarter. There are no clear photographs of the grave plots or marker stones, but one of Dollar's photographs (from 1958) shows features that appear to be displaced grave stones, near the bottom of the western slope of the mound (Figure 15). This photo also shows horses grazing on and around the mound, which may well account for the overturned and displaced stones.

Figure 15. Close-up view of Figure 5. Arrows point
to features that appear to be displaced gravestones.

The cut into the eastern portion of the mound reaches from the ground surface up to the top of the mound, and may extend past eastern edge of the summit itself now. Particularly if the cemetery were located on the eastern portion of the summit (as depicted in Newkumet's 1940 sketch), it is in danger of being disturbed as the eastern cut continues to erode westward into the mound.