Bell County Historical Commission Newsletter WWII exhibit at BCM to close August 21 Less than a month remains for visiting Memories of World War II: Photographs from the Archives of The Associated Press. The exhibit will close on August 21. Besides 126 historic photographs from the global struggle pitting "good" against the "evil" of fascism, the exhibit, hosted by the Bell County Museum, features memorabilia from the conflict lent by local residents, including a Japanese "rising sun" flag, Nazi flags, uniforms, weapons, photographs of youthful Bell County men in uniform, a life-sized Betty Grable pin-up and, on the museum's second floor, a spectacular wedding dress fashioned from a parachute used by a medic on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Visitors to the exhibit have included multi-generational groups, as "Grandpa and Grandma" share their memories with their grandchildren. The exhibit began its nationwide tour in May, 2004, just before the World War II Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington. The museum, located at 201 North Main in Belton, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 noon to 5 p.m. Phone number is 254-933-5243. DAR honors WWII paratrooper Bearden Ensign Thomas Huling Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, honored World War II veteran Bob Bearden recently with the organization's Medal of Honor – for service to his country. Bearden was a 21-year-old sergeant in the Army's 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He jumped onto the Normandy beach, along with thousands of others invading Europe. Wounded in the attack, he fought for four days before being captured by Germans. Toward the end of the war he was "freed" by Soviet armor units, then completed a harrowing solo journey to Odessa on the Black Sea, from where he eventually found his way back to Texas. In 2010, in a ceremony at Fort Hood, Bearden received 13 medals for his wartime service, including the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Presidential Unit Citation and his prized Combat Infantryman Badge, an honor he was earlier denied. Why the delay in receiving all those medals? Bearden says he never got around to completing the paperwork. His friends got busy, contacted Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and the Pentagon and made sure Bearden received the medals he had earned – only 66 years late.

Summer 2011 Vol. 20, No. 4

Bell County Courthouse Belton, Texas 76513

Great Bell County Quilt Crawl next winter Cooler weather, even cold weather, surely will return by January, just in time for the first Great Bell County Quilt Crawl, a six-weeks' project involving county organizations beginning January 14 and continuing through February 18. Participating organizations will host the Crawl in several county locations. Then, for one weekend, each hosting entity will sponsor special events, combining history, quilts and the interest this craft continues to attract. The Crawl will begin at the Cultural Activities Center in Temple on January 14. The second weekend will feature two Belton museums, the Bell County Museum and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Museum.

The Czech Heritage Museum of Temple will present its program on the third weekend, and the Salado Historical Society will host the Crawl during the fourth weekend; the fifth weekend will be held at the Railroad and Heritage Museum in Temple.

The Crawl will end at the Killeen Civic and and Conference Center and the Killeen Arts and Activities Center on February 18.

Crawl planners note that they hope each participating organization will have its display in place on opening day, January 14. More information is available by calling Joyce Mayer at 254-554-2674 or any of the participating organizations. Temple's hat history on display at 'Hat-itude' Temple's Railroad & Heritage Museum is currently displaying hats from its collection of women's headgear dating from the 1900s to the 1970s. 'Hat-itude' will remain through September 15. "The exhibit provides visitors with a historical view of fashion from the beginning of the 20th century, focusing on how important hats were, at one time, to the appearance of a well-groomed woman," says museum curator Amy Mitchell.

Bell County Calendar BCHC meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 25, 7 pm Memories of World War II (BCM) . . . through August 21 BCHC meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 22, 7 pm 'Hat-itude' exhibit . . . . . . . . . . . . . .through September 15 BCHC meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 26, 7 pm Gathering of the Clans (Salado) . . . . . . . . November 11-13 Bell County Quilt Crawl . . . . . . January 14-February 18

BCHC Newsletter Bloody Bell County due soon at BCM

Rick Miller's long-awaited new book, Bloody Bell County, will soon be available at the Bell County Museum. Director Stephanie Turnham says, "We hope to have it on our gift shop shelf by the end of July."

Miller, who served as chief of police in Killeen and Denton, spent three years as a para-trooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. He holds a juris doctorate degree from Baylor Law School.

Elected Bell County Attorney in 1992, he is the author of Sam Bass & Gang, Bloody Bill Longley: A Biography, The Train Robbing Bunch and Bounty Hunter.

Miller researches outlaws, he says, because he wants to "get inside the outlaw's head and see what makes him tick." He recently bid high on eBay for an unused pass to witness a 1907 hanging in Bell County, unused because the governor commuted the convicted man's sentence. 300 attend 'Battle of Temple Junction' The "North" won the "Battle of Temple Junction" on a recent Saturday, but the "South" was victorious on Sunday during the local Sons of Confederate Veterans third annual event. Sponsors were members of the Major Robert M. White Camp 1250, SCV, who have announced that the 2012 "BTJ" is scheduled for May 18, 19 and 20, 2012. Although no Civil War battles were fought in central Texas, SCV members attempt to educate visitors about military life during that conflict and invite area school students to attend on the first day of the re-enactment. About 100 re-enactors participated in this year's event. July 4, 1826: Two former Presidents die Founding fathers of the American Republic, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, reconciled via correspondence after years of political animosity, died on July 4, 1826, 50 years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson, the nation's third President, died first at Monticello, his Virginia home. The second President, Adams, died a short time later in Quincy, Massachusetts. Jefferson, principal writer of the Declaration, was 83; Adams was 90. The news was reported in London more than a month later.

Summer 2011 Picnickers buy most of new SHS cups This year's Salado Historical Society's July 4 picnic guests purchased most of the society's new "Historic Salado" coffee cups designed by Pete Stebbins and based on the society logo created by Maurice Carson. More cups are being re-ordered, according to Stebbins, SHS membership chairman. A Killeen firm, Designer Awards, assisted with the design, Stebbins said; the cups were produced by Custom Printing of Belton. Price of the cups is $9.50. SHS and Bell County Historical Commission members may buy them for $6 each. The design incorporates an illustration of Salado College, first used as the logo for the Salado Historic District. The college was begun in 1859 when Bell County leaders met and organized the Salado College Joint Stock Company, raising $5,000 through sales of stock. Colonel E. S. C. Robertson, president of the seven-member board, donated 100 acres of land, of which 90 acres were sold to raise more money, making Salado College the first college in Texas to operate without state or church funding. The co-educational institution operated from 1860 until 1885. In some years attendance exceeded 300 students; from 1866 to 1872, average enrollment was 250. Money troubles then began plaguing the school, and by 1880 the state failed to renew its charter. It closed in 1885. Texas Terquasquicententennial half gone So those who plan to celebrate with the 6,000-mile road trip to 175 sites that "made us what we are," according to Texas Monthly, need to get busy. 2011 is the 175th anniversary of the year when Texas won its independence from Mexico and declared itself the Republic of Texas.

Those who began the journey in the spring, when the TM road trip map landed in mailboxes around the world, may have a head start, but catching up is still possible.

With 23 weekends remaining this year, all one has to do is drive 300 miles on each of 20 weekends, leaving three weekends to do the laundry, mow the grass and clean out the garage.

The route begins in Glen Rose and ends in Austin, with stops in every region of the state. Doesn't that sound like more fun than chores?

A.L.

BCHC Newsletter

James Lowry Smith

* * * * * Carter discusses career, Hex-Bug Joel Carter of Innovation First enter-tained some 100 guests at the recent Wilmer Memorial Lecture, sponsored annually by The Institute for the Humanities at Salado. In addition to describing his own career and the development of robotic educational toys, Carter, son of the late artist John Carter and Cae Carter of Killeen, the vice president and chief marketing officer at Innovation First empha-sized the need for encouraging the nation's youngsters to study math and science. "High achievement comes from high expectations," he said, adding that in Asia "expectations are higher than they are here." Among developed nations, young people in the United States, according to Carter, rank 17th in reading skills, 32nd in math and 23rd in science. Everyone in the audience received a Hex-Bug, a six-legged, beetle-like micro-robot introduced in 2007. Carter and his assistants also provided demonstrations showing how the latest innovation works; HEX-BUG Micro Robotic Creatures won Specialty Toy of the Year honors at last year's International Toy Fair in New York. Intended to inspire youngsters in the audience, the display attracted more than a few adults. A.L.

Summer 2011

Professor's grave receives marker The Texas Historical Commission has

recognized James Lowry Smith, 1827-1883 as a "significant part of Texas history" by awarding an official marker placed recently at his grave in the Old Salado Graveyard.

The marker recognizes Professor Smith for his tenure as the fourth president of Salado College, from September, 1865, to July, 1874, and from July, 1879, to July, 1880. During these years, college enrollments averaged 250 students annually; in addition, the college achieved high standards for its excellent faculty.

As both president and professor of metaphysics and natural sciences, Smith pro-moted two literary societies which demonstrated "the general tone and morale of the school as well as the progress and development of the student body." One of these societies, known as "Eupradian," was for men to study parliamentary law, public speaking and debate. The other, "Amasavourian," meaning "love of knowledge," was intended to elevate "womanly refinement and literary culture" in the college and community .

Smith was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1827, moved with his parents to Texas in 1834, married Julia Catherine McDowell and became the father of seven children. He served as a captain in the Confederate army and earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Baylor College at Independence. A charter member of the Salado Baptist Church of Christ in 1864, he later served as a deacon.

After his death on January 10, 1883, an obelisk-shaped monument was erected at his gravesite. An inscription on the monument is said to have been hand-carved by former stu-dents. Smith is one of 16 Salado pioneers buried in the graveyard who have been honored as "Salado's Heroes." The Salado Historical Society hosted the dedication ceremony. Speakers included SHS president, Dr. Wallace Davis, and Smith descendants. – Bill Kinnison

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For those deprived of recent Internet offerings: "This year July has five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays, a phenomenon occurring only once every 823 years. Another tidbit about 2011: Dates include 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11 and 11/11/11."

BCHC Newsletter Summer 2011

'Citizens need information' – says Tribune's Smith Journalist Evan Smith doesn't merely lament the decline in Americans' newspaper readership, but in helping to establish the online The Texas Tribune, he is doing something about this gap in the distribution of information. After 18 years at national awarding-winning Texas Monthly, Smith described his new responsibilities at the not-for-profit Tribune in a recent appearance at The Institute for the Humanities at Salado . His motivation, he said, was to "raise the level of engagement" between Texans and their leaders. 'People need to understand the issues with good information," he emphasized, describing the decline in newspaper influence with statistics like these: 1) Twenty years ago Texas cities like San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and El Paso all had two newspapers; today, none of them does. 2) The capital press corps in Austin is one-third the size today, compared with 1991. Smith stressed that citizens need to know about their governments, their leaders and what those leaders are doing. With the decline in newspaper readership, reliable information has also declined as other media compete to attract Americans with limited attention spans. "What has disappeared, along with the newspapers," he said, "is transparency in public policy decision-making, along with information that affects all Texans, including immigration, schools, the judicial system and so on. These issues are difficult to follow without good information." The Texas Tribune helps boost governmental accountability, for example, by making available, so far, information about more than 200 elected officials, including personal financial information, according to Smith, and the top 25 salaries earned by people who work for the state of Texas. (The highest paid? Mack Brown, head coach, The University of Texas at Austin, annual salary of $2,511,667, according to the Tribune's website. Included in the top 25 are five coaches and one athletic director, Clarence Byrne at Texas A&M University, at $690,000, number 25. Nineteen of the best-paid officials are associated with the state's medical institutions.) On the Tribune's website is also Smith's statement about why the online medium provides these salary figures: "Because they're already public. Because we're about transparency, open government and greater access to information. Because you have a right to know how your tax dollars are being spent." Citizens need to know what the Legislature is doing during their sessions, Smith said. This year's regular session, which adjourned in June, dealt with many critical issues, but was forced to address Governor Rick Perry's "emergency" issues, which included the

(continued…)

BCHC Newsletter Summer 2011 time-consuming and still-controversial "sonogram" item. The special session that followed had to deal with the question of sales taxes on purchases from out-of-state internet businesses, among other issues. Smith pointed out that other issues need attention, such as the state's enormous growth in population (20 percent during the last 10 years, with 69 percent of that growth attributed to Hispanic increase and 228 of Texas' 254 counties experiencing growth in their Hispanic populations). In commenting on a question concerning Perry's flirtation with national office, Smith noted that the governor and President Obama have one thing in common: "They can both campaign." He added that Perry would be a good vice-president in the role of "attack dog." "He can out-Cheney," he said, a reference to former Vice-President Dick Cheney. Moving to another topic at the Institute's presentation, Smith discussed the "pervasive polarity" that describes today's politics. "But being a good citizen means sometimes talking to people you disagree with . . . We all want Texas to be the best she can be." As a non-profit institution, the Tribune does not depend on advertising to cover its costs, giving it the freedom to discuss controversial issues but, of course, making it dependent on contributions from members, who may join for $35 a year. Like public radio, membership is not required to use the service. Smith noted that Austin's KUT is the nation's most successful public radio source; with 17,000 members, the station raises $3,000,000 a year in contributions. Smith's talk, sponsored by the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn Foundation was the first in a new Institute program of underwritten presentations. A.L.

* * * * *

This newsletter is published quarterly by the Bell County Historical Commission, Box 712 , Belton , Texas 76513-0712 . Editorial material may be sent to Annette Lucksinger, 811 Oakhill Drive, Killeen, Texas 76541. Telephone number is 254-699-5916; e-mail: annettelucksinger@yahoo.com The commission meets at 7 p.m. on the fourth Monday of most months at the Bell County Courthouse. BCHC volunteers are available at the commission's office on the first floor of the courthouse Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon to assist visitors and residents with historical and genealogy research. The telephone number is 254-933-5917; e-mail: hist.com@co.bell.tx.us Current commission officers include Dorothy Button, chairman; Haroldine Early, vice chairman; Kim Kroll, secretary, and Rae Schmuck, treasurer. Committee chairmen are Haroldine Early, advisory; Patty Benoit, bylaws; Tom Heard, cemetery; David Yeilding, finance and budget; Joe Button, grants and membership; Beverly Zendt, programs; Stephanie Turnham, historical preservation; Tom Hughes, historical appreciation; Annette Lucksinger, newsletter; and Patty Benoit, historical markers coordinator.

BCHC Newsletter Summer 2011

Waskow's sister recalls brother's death, another's injury "I was 21, the youngest child, and had been carried along my entire life on a pillow," says

Mary Lee Waskow Barr-Cox of Killeen, Bell County native and former Bell County Historical Commission member. "Then, suddenly, I was having to deal with so many things!"

Barr-Cox, who now lives in Killeen, is the sister of Captain Henry T. Waskow, honored again on July 4 for his sacrifice on a hill in southern Italy during World War II. A new exhibit on Central Avenue in Belton gives residents and visitors the opportunity to learn about this Belton High School graduate, whose story inspired the documentary The Battle of San Pietro and the movie, The Story of G.I. Joe.

Waskow was revered by his men; that reverence, observed and recorded by famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle, resulted in Waskow's becoming one of the war's most well-known casualties. Waskow died on December 10, 1943. "The Death of Captain Waskow" was first printed in the Washington Daily News on January 10, 1944.

Waskow's parents, Frank and Mary Goth Waskow, both of German descent, worked as cotton farmers in Fort Bend County, Goliad County and DeWitt County, where their fifth son, Henry Thomas, was born in 1918, then moved to Bell County in 1921. Mary Lee was born in Bell County in 1922. A sister, Selma (Mrs. Estle Barr), now lives in Killeen. Henry graduated from Belton High School in 1935, from Temple Junior College in 1937 and from Trinity University, then located in Waxahachie, in 1939. While in college he joined the Texas Army National Guard in the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division with his brother August.

Majoring in history, English and Spanish in college, Henry was offered a position at Belton High School, but turned it down because of the clear possibility that he would soon be called to military service. The two brothers' unit was mobilized November 25, 1940, and left for Camp Bowie in January, 1941. After learning that Henry had a college degree, Army superiors awarded him a lieutenant's commission on March 14; he then went to Fort Benning for officers training. The brothers were separated, Henry assigned to Company B, First Battalion, 143rd Regiment, and August, to Company I.

Training for the 36th continued, including stints at Camp Polk, Louisiana; Camp Blanding, Florida; and Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, before the division shipped out from New York in April, 1943, to Oran, Algeria, and to Rabat, Morocco. On September 9, it landed near Paestum, an ancient Greek city about 25 miles south of Salerno. On September 13, at Salerno, August suffered serious head wounds and was captured by the Germans. Still, he was lucky: Two American physicians were also captured, and the Germans allowed them to treat their comrade.

"They figured August, in his condition, couldn't fight Germans anymore," Mary Lee says. He was left in a convent with nuns who continued his care. They were able to get a letter

to Henry through enemy lines. Writing in a code of sorts, August told his brother that he would hear the Bell County Courthouse chime before Henry would. From this, Mary Lee says, Henry would understand that August had been wounded and would be evacuated.

The 36th continued the fight up the Italian coast and inland, often on mountain trails, as the Americans tried to dislodge stubbornly resistant German strongholds. In December Henry Waskow's B Company, "now reduced to the size of a platoon in one of the most difficult campaigns of the war," according to one account, was attacked on a ridge called Hill 730. Shrapnel hit the men of Company B, including Captain Waskow, who died almost instantly. As Waskow's assistant Riley Tidwell went down to inform higher-ups of the captain's death, he encountered correspondent Pyle. Bringing Waskow's body down from the mountain took three days; Pyle waited and listened to the emotional farewells Waskow's men muttered beside his body, observing their grief at the loss of their commander, aged 25 at the time of his death.

(continued …)

BCHC Newsletter Summer 2011 Mary Lee Waskow Barr-Cox, right, and her sister, Selma Waskow Barr, admire proofs for a story board about their brother, Henry Thomas Waskow, and the Ernie Pyle column about his death during World War II. The story board will be placed in front of the Belton Area Chamber of Commerce, 412 East Central Avenue. To the right is a photo of Waskow in uniform.

After a few days Pyle wrote the legendary column, but said of his work: "I've lost the touch. This stuff stinks." An Associated Press colleague disagreed, urging Pyle to submit the story. It appeared a month later on page one of the Washington Daily News.

Meanwhile, back in Belton, Mary Lee, whose mother Mary was not in good health, had earlier taken the precaution of asking women employed at Belton's Western Union office to call her if any telegram arrived for the Waskow family. Her brother Henry died on December 14, 1943. The telegram arrived December 29. Mary Lee immediately called a family conference with brothers Paul and John, along with two nieces who lived nearby, in order to devise some gentle way to inform Mary of her son's death. Then, just a few weeks after his death, Mary died. A memorial service for Captain Waskow was held during his mother's funeral. Captain Waskow is buried in the Sicily-Rome American cemetery in Nettuno, Italy. He was awarded the Legion of Merit and Purple Heart posthumously. His parents are buried at North Belton Cemetery.

The movie, The Story of G.I. Joe, starred Robert Mitchum as Waskow. The film premiered in Indiana near Pyle’s birthplace. Later a double memorial premiere came to Temple’s Arcadia theater and the Beltonian in Belton.

Bell County sites named for Henry Waskow include Captain Henry T. Waskow High School and Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall 4008, both in Belton, and a street in Fort Hood's Walker Village. The high school has held Henry T. Waskow Remembrance Day ceremonies for several years.

According to Barr-Cox, August Waskow suffered effects of his injury for the rest of his life, but managed to remain on active duty, retiring as a sergeant major. Married to the former Irene Whiteley, August, the father of two daughters, died in San Antonio in 1977 and is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. A.L.

BCHC Newsletter Remembering the Civil War in Bell County One hundred fifty years ago – the summer of 1861 – Bell County was preparing to send off more than 1,000 young men to the Confederate army. Ten companies would eventually be formed (some say 13), commanded by men elected by the soldiers themselves. In Judge George W. Tyler's 1936 History of Bell County, the author lists the 10 companies for which he was able ("after the most diligent search") to find rosters – or portions of rosters as remembered by Civil War veterans he interviewed. These companies include names familiar to Bell County residents today, names that made history in their wartime efforts, as well as in postwar pursuits. Not surprisingly, given Texan preferences, seven of these 10 companies served as cavalry units, although White's company was "dismounted" in spring, 1862. 1) Captain James Swan Bigham's Company was a sort of "second generation" company made up of veterans of a ranging company organized by Captain Robert B. Halley, according to Tyler. Halley realized, as delegates to the Texas secession convention were being chosen, that some kind of military force would be needed in case of war and offered his "Salado Mounted Troops" to the convention on February 4, 1861, by way of Major E. Sterling C. Robertson, one of two Bell County delegates. (The other was John Henry Brown of Belton; both men voted for the Ordinance of Secession, later approved by Bell County's male voters 468 to 198. The state's voters then ratified the ordinance 46,129 to 14,697.) The company served under Colonel Henry C. McCulloch along Texas' northwest frontier to facilitate the surrender of United States forces – and, most importantly, the arms, ammunition and other supplies -- Camp Colorado in today's Coleman County, Fort Chadbourne in Coke County and Camp Cooper on the Clear Fork of the Brazos, already under control since February 21 by Colonel William C. Dalrymple of the state troops serving under authority of Governor Sam Houston, still in office though he would later be forced to resign for his failure to sign the loyalty oath to the Confederacy. (continued …)

Summer 2011 Remembering the Civil War in Bell County The three-month enlistment of Halley's company having expired by the time their work along the frontier was finished, the Salado Mounted Troops disbanded, but many joined another company at Fort Chadbourne under Captain Samuel Green Davidson and were accepted in May, 1861, as Company K, 1st Texas Volunteer Cavalry, Confederate States Army. In late June, 1861, Davidson was killed in an encounter with Comanche Indians on the upper Colorado and was buried with military honors in Howard County where Big Spring is now located, according to Tyler. The company was then commanded by First Lieutenant Robert C. Myers, who was promoted to major and then to lieutenant colonel. Finally, command passed to Second Lieutenant James Swan Bigham, who became captain commanded the company until the end of the war. Tyler notes that, as of June 4, 1926, "Captain Bigham, though much enfeebled by age, still survives and is the only one of the Bell County captains now living." 2) Captain Robert M. White's Company, commanded by a well-known Bell County militia leader, was, according to Tyler, the first Bell County company to go directly to the war's "fighting area." White, a Belton merchant, had served as first lieutenant in the "Bell County Rovers" and was captain and commander in 1859 of "Bob White's Ranging Company," both groups organized to defend the county's settlers from local Comanches. This unit was eventually incorporated as Company H into the Sixth Texas Cavalry Regiment, which formed at Dallas in September,1861. With this unit, White saw action in Arkansas, the Choctaw Indian Nation, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. Promoted to major in 1862, White was killed in action on April 26, 1863, in an engagement along the Tennessee River. He was buried in Bell County at the South Belton Cemetery. White's unit suffered 22 casualties including one at Corinth, Mississippi, on October 4, 1862, in the aftermath of the Battle of Shiloh. (continued …)

BCHC Newsletter Remembering the Civil War in Bell County 3) Captain Henry Eugene Bradford's Company, an infantry unit, organized one afternoon in September, 1861, "in a vacant lot on Pearl Street," according to Tyler, north of the old Bell County jail. Like other departing Bell County companies,, Captain Bradford's unit received a silk flag. stitched by local women, before "marching away to Camp Henry McCulloch near Victoria for training" (MapQuest: 182 miles by car). The company became Company F, 6th Texas Volunteer Infantry. On January 11, 1863, during an engagement at Arkansas Post (part of the Union army's Vicksburg Campaign, a large number of the company were captured by Federals, according to Tyler, and imprisoned at Camp Butler near Springfield, Illinois. Of the company's 29 casualties, 12 died in prison. The rest of the unit saw "active service in Tennessee and Georgia," Tyler writes. 4) Captain Milton Wesley Damron's Company, designated as Company D, 18th Regiment, Texas Volunteer Cavalry, enlisted in fall, 1861, and "mustered in" on January 20, 1862, according to Tyler's record. The unit recorded 17 casualties, including 12 prisoners who died at Camp Douglas, Illinois, and one death on the steamboat Nebraska. Except for two men, prisoners taken by the Federals at the fall of Arkansas Post were exchanged and served through the last year of the war east of the Mississippi River under command of Lieutenant William B. Blair. On the muster roll of June 30, 1863, was this notation: "Captain M. W. Damron of this company was absent on furlough at the fall of Arkansas Post. Lieutenant John Brown and five men made their escape after the surrender. Of this company there were 41 men and two officers captured. The remainder are still west of the Mississippi River." According to Tyler, the "remnant of the company…were subsequently consolidated with a similar remnant …from Ellis County and served under Captain Damron west of the Mississippi." 5) Captain X. Boone Saunders' Company, an infantry unit, left in late fall, 1861, and trained at Brenham and Hempstead. According to Tyler, the company saw active service (continued…)

Summer 2011 Remembering the Civil War in Bell County on the Louisiana-Arkansas front; in addition, it was assigned to the Texas coast toward the end of the war. Two of its five casualties died in Louisiana. Saunders, a direct descendant of Daniel Boone's sister, according to the Hand-book of Texas, began the Belton Independent, Bell County's first newspaper, which opposed secession. Elected as Belton's first mayor in 1860 and "an ardent opponent of secession," Saunders nevertheless joined the Confederate cause and was elected commander of his company, designated as Company A, 16th Texas Infantry. After Reconstruction ended in 1876, Saunders was elected to the post of district judge in Bell County. 6) Captain John F. Smith's Company, another infantry unit, was organized by Captain Hilary M. Bouldin in early spring, 1862. The unit trained at Camp Terry near Austin, then trans-ferred as Company I, 17th Texas Volunteer Infantry, to the Arkansas-Louisiana front where it served throughout the war. Captain Bouldin became disabled, according to Tyler's record, and was honorably discharged in December, 1862, after which Lieutenant Smith was elected commander. The company suffered 13 casual-ties; Tyler's information states that, except for two, all these deaths were due to "typhoid (fever) and pneumonia." 7) Captain Robert Bonner Halley's Company, which had enlisted late in the fall of 1862, "bivouacked during the Christmas holidays at the gushing Salado Springs where the citizens gave them a big dance." The muster roll, dated January 1, 1863, is, Tyler writes, the only Bell County muster roll that reached both the Confederate War Department at Richmond, Virginia, and the U.S. War Department. The company served on the Arkansas-Louisiana front. The company was designated Company G, Unorganized Battalion, Arizona Brigade. Having served before the Civil War as a county commissioner, Halley was elected sheriff of Bell County in 1874 and served until he died in 1875. 8) Captain George W. Graves' Company left Bell County in the early part of 1864, Tyler records, and was assigned to the Rio Grande frontier for the remainder of the war. Tyler (continued…)

BCHC Newsletter Remembering the Civil War in Bell County notes that no official roster exists for this cavalry company; Tyler's "Unofficial Roll of 1918" was compiled by Lieutenant Samuel W. Bishop and Privates J. Frank Carter, John W. Aiken, Eli B. Baggett and others. Graves was "familiarly" known as "Wat" Graves. The company was designated as Company A, 4th Texas Cavalry and also as Company D, 2nd Arizona Cavalry. 9) Captain James H. Weathersbee's Company, a cavalry company originally raised by Captain William Howeth in 1864 to serve in a "Home Guards Battalion," was composed of men over and under the draft age (45 and 18, respectively). As the company prepared to leave Bell County, Howeth was promoted to major, and Captain Weathersbee then commanded the unit until the end of the war. The company served in the central parts of the state, preserved order and arrested deserters, draft-dodgers, bushwhackers, thieves and "lawless and suspicious characters," according to Tyler. Except for a few men who served on "detached coast guard service" under a Captain (Daniel?) McMillan, none of Company B, Battalion Home Guards was sent to the war's front lines, Tyler records. 10) Captain William Samuel Rather's Company, a cavalry unit recruited and beginning service for the Confederacy in 1864, "camped the first night at Salado," Tyler writes, "and on the next morning Mr. George H. Gassaway received an order detailing him and others to buy beeves for the Confederate government, to be sent to the soldiers on the fighting front." The company, according to Tyler, consisted of Privates J. Bishop, Julius Brown, Dr. A. J. Embree, George H Gassaway, Uriah Gould, W. Graves, Obe Harris, Jack Huffman, Pope Peevey, A. J. Willingham and Sam Young. Tyler continues: "Most of the above named worked with Mr. Gassaway in this beef gathering work and were not with the main company anymore. The company itself, while nominally a military organization, seems to have been really a beef supply (Tyler's italics) company, though some of the company may have engaged in some military duties and some fighting The field of their operations was mostly in central, south and southwest Texas." Beef supply company or not, the unit was designated Company B, 4th Texas Cavalry.

Summer 2011 Texans miss CW’s first land battle After the attack by Confederates on the United States Army garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861, men throughout the South began volunteering for service to the Confederacy. Texans were no different. Some have written that many Texans (still called "Texians" in some parts of the country) were afraid the war would be over "before we even got to shoot at a Yankee." Charles D. Grear in Why Texans Fought in the Civil War (2010) writes: If one were to ask a Texan today what motivated men from the Lone Star State to fight in the Civil War, the typical response would be a question: Do Texans ever need an excuse to fight? Texans had a reputation as fighters long before…Sumter." One group was so determined to get quickly to Virginia, where it was believed, in the early months of 1861, the one decisive battle . . . would be fought, that they "may be said to have straggled to Virginia," according to J. B. Polley. "They went singly, in couples and in triplets," wrote Polley in Hood's Texas Brigade: Its Marches, Its Battles, Its Achievements (1908). "Although (they) all arrived in Richmond by June 1, 1861, they were not ordered to the front until July 21, the day the first battle …of Manassas was fought, and so did not reach the Southern army in time to take part in that engagement," according to Polley.

The "stragglers" to Richmond were the first companies of the first Texas Infantry Regiment, raised in 12 East Texas counties and mustered into service at New Orleans on May 16, 1861. The unit, followed by the Fourth and Fifth Texas Infantry Regiments, would become Hood's Texas Brigade. First commanded by Texas politician L. T. Wigfall, the brigade was next commanded by Brigadier General John Bell Hood, who led the brigade for only about six months, but whose name followed the brigade for the duration of the war and beyond.

The First Texas Infantry was on its way to Manassas Junction on July 21 during a heavy rainstorm. Some 1,300 troops rode in a "double-header," a train with an engine in both front and back. At about 9 p.m. the train ran into a washed-out culvert, killing or injuring about 40 soldiers. The First Texas then helped chase remaining Federals back across the Potomac River. A.L.