ANDERSON COUNTY - HISTORY - Anderson County In The Civil War

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Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

Submitted by Scott Fitzgerald – scottfitzgerald@tyler.net
East Texas Genealogical Society, President
18 January 2005

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Originally published in The Tracings, Volume 5, No. 1, Winter 1986 by the
Anderson County Genealogical Society, copyright assigned to the East Texas
Genealogical Society.


ANDERSON COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR


On April 29, 1861, Jefferson Davis spoke before a special meeting of the 
Confederate Congress in response to Linco1n’s call for troops two weeks 
earlier. This excerpt is from his speech: “The Declaration of War made 
against this Confederacy by Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, in his proclamation issued on the 15th day of the present month, 
renders it necessary, in my judgement, that you should convene at the 
earliest practicable moment to devise the measures necessary for the 
defense of the Country.”

Every southern state was hastily making preparations for war. Even 
distant Texas, which had seceded on March 2, 1861, had immediately 
acted and had secured the surrender of all Union troops in Texas and 
their supplies without a single shot being fired.

In Anderson County, the fever of war was high. The county had voted 
1,500 to 7 in favor of secession and had been represented in Austin 
at the state Secession Convention by the capable John H. Reagan, A. T. 
Rainey, and S. G. Stewert. T. J. Word represented us in the adjourned 
convention.

John H. Reagan was chosen by the Texas convention to attend the general 
convention in Montgomery, Alabama. Upon arriving, Reagan was called upon 
by Jefferson Davis and was persuaded to accept the cabinet post of 
Postmaster General. Reagan kept this office until the last few days of 
the war when Davis, clinging to a lost dream of saving the Confederacy, 
appointed him to the post of Secretary of the Treasury. Shortly after 
this, Union troops captured Davis and his escort, including Reagan. 
Years after the war, it would be John H. Reagan’s account of the capture 
that disproved the rumor that Davis had tried to disguise himself as a 
woman to avoid detection.

Between 700 and 1,000 men from Anderson County alone would march off to 
war, many, never to return.

The first group of men to leave Palestine was recruited by John T. Aycock. 
These men left from the Hunter Hotel, as would all of the companies that 
left Palestine. Arriving in Rusk, these men, about 20 in number, were 
enrolled by Captain Peter Hardeman, along with men from Nacogdoches, Rusk, 
and Crockett, into Company A, 2nd Texas Cavalry, commanded by Colonel John 
Ford. This company was to serve for a period of 12 months, starting on the 
23rd day of May 1861.

Dr. John Woodward of Palestine organized the first full company that was 
completely made up of men from Anderson County. This was Company G, First 
Texas Regiment. When this company left Palestine, “their uniforms at first 
did not consist of the Confederate grey, which was substituted later, but 
of a dark suit with bright red stripes. It was at Manassas that this 
company first saw action, and it was there that Dr. Woodward was killed. 
(See separate article for muster roll.)

In the summer of 1861, Colonel Lewis Wigfall began organizing companies in 
East Texas. A. T. Rainey began organizing a company here in Palestine. 
Company H was assigned to the First Texas Regiment along with Dr. Woodward’s 
Company. The First Texas Regiment was joined by the Second, Fourth, and 
Fifth Texas Regiments plus a Georgia Regiment. Together they were called 
the First Texas Brigade, under command of Wigfall; however, after Wigfall 
was voted to the Confederate Congress, he was replaced by John B. Hood. 
Thus began a legend that stands beside that of the Light Brigade; Hood’s 
Texas Brigade became world renown and people everywhere shared the same 
regard for these Texans that General Robert E. Lee felt when he stated to 
an observer while the brigade marched in review: “Never mind their 
raggedness, the enemy never sees the backs of my Texans!” Men from 
Anderson County helped write that legend. (See separate article for 
muster roll of Company H.)

At Eltham’s Landing, Rainey’s Company felt their first taste of gun fire. 
The First Texas Regiment of which Rainey was now in command was being held 
in reserve by General Hood, when they were suddenly fired upon by Union 
troops. Rainey ordered his men to move back into the trees and “...fall on 
your knees, unfurl the Lone Star flag, aim low, and give them hell.” The 
Union advance was stopped some 30 yards from Rainey, and after 20 or 30 
minutes of close fighting, Rainey ordered a charge and with a wild Rebel 
yell, the First Texas leaped to their feet and drove the enemy back. They 
did not cease until General Hood himself, who had been leading the rest of 
the Brigade elsewhere on the battle field, rode out and ordered the First 
to half and retire, leaving the federal troops in complete confusion.

At the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), Hood’s Brigade was almost completely 
destroyed on the battle field. Ordered to hold a position with little 
ammunition against one entire wing of the Union army, Hood’s Texans did 
just that. Heavily outnumbered and battle weary, these men held their 
ground and repulsed attack after attack, until the battle died down. When 
asked by General Lee on the condition of the Texas Brigade, Hood replied 
“The Texas Brigade is dead on the field.” When the casualty reports were 
compiled at the end of the war, it was discovered that at Sharpsburg Hood‘s 
Texas Brigade had lost 82% of her fighting force in the battle, and that the 
First Texas Regiment of which Rainey and Woodward’s companies had been 
assigned had lost close to 85%, the highest casualty rate inflicted on any 
fighting outfit during the four years of war.

There were several other companies raised in the county during the war. 
Among these was James W. Gardner’s Company I, Anderson County Volunteer 
Company of Cavalry or known locally as the Anderson County Buckhunters 
(Company I, 7th Texas Cavalry See related article in this issue of The 
Tracings.) This company was enrolled on October 1, 1861. There was also 
Captain William Tucker’s Company G, of Texas Lancers commanded by Horace 
Randal in May 1862 for a term of 3 years.

Other companies organized in Anderson County included units Organized by 
Jackson J. Davis in 1862, C. W. Graves in 1861, Higginbottom in 1864, 
William H. Lawrence in 1861, Rufus M Mynett in 1862, Benjamin Parker in 
1861, B. F. Parks in 1861, P. J. Simons in 1861, James E. Teague in 1861, 
Jesse Vannoy in 1861, and J. N. Wood in 1861.

On the home front, Anderson County was little affected by the war. There 
was the ever increasing number of men marching off to war, but business 
went on as usual. The news of the war took two to three months to reach 
Palestine because of the slow communication that was evident throughout 
the South. The news would come by stage from Galveston to Crockett and 
then on into Palestine. The stage horn would be blown about a mile from 
town, and by the time the stage had reached the post office on the 
courthouse square, all had gathered to hear news of the latest battle.

Travel was almost at a standstill during the war, and there was very 
little immigration into the county. Toward the end of the war travel by 
stage became almost impossible because of the risk of bandits on the road. 
All of the stages that left Palestine departed from the Hunter Hotel. 
There were stage roads to Crockett, Rusk, A1to, Fairfield, Tennessee 
Colony, and Tyler.

There were no bridges which crossed the Trinity or Neches Rivers, and 
the use of ferries were the only effective means to cross these rivers. 
On the Neches were located Blackburn’s Crossing, Cannon’s Ferry and 
Stemson’s Perry. On the Trinity ferries were located at Magnolia 
Crossing, Parker’s Bluff, Wildcat Ferry, and Bonner’s Ferry.

When Confederate troops came through Palestine, they camped around Gum 
Springs just east of town or they may have camped at Long Lake 
Plantation. A third possibility was at Fred Jackson’s plantation just 
west of town. Jackson was one of the richest men in Texas, owning at the 
time of his death in 1863 four homes and over 100 slaves.

As the war dragged on, the people of Anderson County began to feel the 
effects. Coffee was scarce, and it became necessary to make it out of 
parched wheat bran. The people also raised their own sugar, flour, molasses 
and wheat. The wheat was carried to the flour mill at Mound Prairie, and 
the flour, seconds, shorts, and bran was brought back to the home. Then 
the ladies would take bran and make starch as good as any could be bought 
at the store. Nothing was wasted; they could not afford to waste anything.

Entertainment during the war was simple and inexpensive. The young people 
would go to Long Lake or Gum Springs to watch the troops drill and parade. 
The homes of the city were open to the troops and officers, and they were 
frequently entertained at dinner. On one such occasion, the famous General 
John B. Hood met in the home of the Gathright family, and here he mapped 
out his course of war.

There were frequent church fairs and bazaars for the benefit of the troops, 
and worship services were held by various church groups for them. Religious 
activities went on as usual in the city, although some of the churches would 
not always have a minister due to the shortage of men at home. Even ministers 
had to serve the war effort.


At night the ballrooms of the Hunter Hotel in Palestine and Haygood’s Tavern 
at Magnolia were the scenes of numerous dances and parties.

During the year of 1864, a wing of the Hunter Hotel was converted into a 
hospital for the use of troops who may have taken ill on their way to war 
or were recuperating from wounds received in battle. Aunt Bee Small, 
well—known in early Anderson County history and a niece of Jefferson 
Davis, was a nurse here and endeared herself to many ill soldiers. Late 
during the war as Granbury’s Brigade was passing through Palestine, the 
unit left 25 men here to recover from an illness. Of these men, 9 died 
and are buried in the Old Cemetery just west of Gum Springs.

Before the war, Anderson County had been considered a leading educational 
center for all of Texas. Located at Mound Prairie, a thriving town north 
of Palestine, was the Mound Prairie Institute. The school reached its 
zenith about 1860, but with the outbreak of the war, the male students 
decreased in number due to the military needs for manpower. The last 
commencement exercises were held in 1861, and Palestine missed out on 
the opportunity to become a state educational center.

An institution of higher learning which was not drastically affected by 
the war was the Palestine Female Academy, located where the old high school 
has just recently been torn down between Spring Street and Avenue A. The 
school remained open during the war and was closed only for the period of 
time that the Federal occupation troops used the building to house the 
troops that were stationed in Palestine after the war during Reconstruction.

Primarily an agriculturally dominated society, the war brought limited 
industry to the area. At Concord, north of Palestine, Jim Hathcock 
established, a foundry for producing guns for the Confederate army. 
There were also factories near present Cayuga and a large one at 
Plenitude, a short distance from Mound Prairie. The Palestine Salt 
Works was important because salt was the only known meat preservative 
at the time. The salt was sold to the Confederate army for $8 per sack 
and $20 to private customers.

John Murchison, a prominent merchant in Palestine, slipped through the 
federal blockade and made his way to Liverpool, England. There he 
acquired the services of an English family and returned with them to 
Palestine, where he helped them start a cotton mill at Washington Mills.

O. C. Calloway was sent home to Harmony on furlough from the Confederate 
army with instructions to make shoes for the soldiers.

At Palestine there was located a supply depot. There were no railroads 
in the county at the time, so supplies were usually transported to the 
Trinity River, primarily to Magnolia. From there the supplies were taken 
to the coast aboard steamboats, or they were loaded aboard flatboats 
which had been built by the Alabama-Coushatta Indians.

After General Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, soldiers from Anderson 
County began to return home. The feeling that filled their hearts and 
that of all Anderson County can best be reflected in the worlds of 
W. O. Small in his eulogy to Lt. Benjamin A. Campbell (of Palestine) 
of Company G, First Texas Regiment: “How well do we remember this 
handsome, gallant soldier, what a graceful figure he was in his 
brilliant uniform and long curls that gracefully hung over his 
shoulders. There were but a few of his old company that returned, 
but many lie in the unknown graves from Manassas through the valley 
of the Shenandoah and along the meanderings of the historic Potomac 
to Gettysburg, and their fame on many a battle field will live in 
history until time has run it’s course.”

From Palestine Herald Press, August 21, 1968, article by Forrest E. 
Bradberry, Jr. of Palestine.

Submitted by Bonnie Woolverton

Additional Information on Anderson County in the Civil War

Munitions Factory — The firm of Billups and Hassell secured a handsome 
Confederate contract to produce 700 Mississippi Rifle guns at a unit 
price of $30 each. After 7 months of production, the firm had delivered 
600 of the weapons contracted for. During the interim of this contract, 
they entered into an additional contract with the Texas Military board 
to provide 1200 rifles for Texas troops. The scarcity of materials in 
Texas needed for production of the rifles prevented the completion of 
the contract. This munitions factory was located at Plenitude.

Quartermaster Depot — This facility was located on 640 acres at Mound 
Prairie, 8 miles north of Palestine and was described as the finest 
Confederate depot in the South. Major J. S. Bussey supervised the 
construction of the works at Mound Prairie which consisted of a 
sawmill, four and grist mill, a cotton spinning building, a blacksmith 
shop, a foundry, a harness shop, a tin shop, a shoe shop, 2 large 
storage warehouses and 14 dwellings. In addition, a large tanyard and 
a small arms manufacturing business was operated by J. Llewellyn. A 
Texas Historical Marker marks this spot on Highway 155 just past the 
intersection of Farm Road 321 and Hwy. 155.

Supply Depot — Designated in September 1861 for gathering stations 
for cloth and clothing donated by residents of the State for the 
troops in the field. The Depot was located in Palestine and A. P. 
McClure was the agent.

Under an act of the Confederate Congress, approved Mar 6 1861, 
volunteers for mounted (cavalry) service (such as those units 
given elsewhere in this issue) were to furnish their own horse 
and accoutrements. This included 2 bridles, a halter, saddle, 
saddle blanket, 1 or more pair of spurs, surcingle, curry comb, 
horse brush, picket pin, and a lariat. Their horse was branded 
C.S.A. (Confederate States Army). In return the soldiers received 
40 cents per day and compensation if their horse was killed in 
action.

Information on this page was taken from Texas in the Confederacy, 
Bill Winsor, 1968.

Submitted by Bonnie Woolverton