CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY: WM. FLETCHER LOGAN - Smith County, TX

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

Submitted by Mary Love Berryman - marylove@tyler.net
4 October 2001
*****************************************************************
TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson, p.135-6.

WM. FLETCHER LOGAN.

Wm. Fletcher Logan settled in Tyler, Texas, in 1853. He was a native 
Alabamian, fresh from the schools of that state.  A young man then of 
18 years houyant, hopeful, and of fine address and personal appearance.  
For his age, he was well educated, and possessed a marked genius for 
poetry and literary acquirements.  He wrote fine verse and was gifted 
with fluent language, that made him very popular with his associates.  
Have often thought be pos­sessed largely the genius of Poe with some of 
his weakness.  He could quote the Raven from the beginning to the end 
of this great and singular poem.  At times he was gay as a lark and 
partook of the social features of the day with supreme happiness, 
adding much to the gayety and pleas­ure of all present, often in the 
dance he would lead the social functions, at other times he was 
melancholy and sad, speaking to no one, as if thinking of some 
mys­terious thought to the imagination of the human mind.  Logan was 
indeed a strange fellow, at times bright when with the sparkle of wit 
and beautiful thoughts he engaged the attention of the crowd, at other
times he chilled his most intimate friend.  The writer had learned to 
love him, and often tried to talk with him when in his saddest moods, 
but he only answered indifferently and in monosylable, yes or no.
When the war between the states was sounded through the land, he 
enlisted as a private in Co. K., 3rd Texas cavalry and went to the 
front with patriotic zeal, hecause he loved the South, her history 
and traditions.  He was soon made first lieutenant of his company 
and displayed those rare qualities of military tactics and genius 
that marked him as a rising young officer.  Brave, gallant, proud of 
his company and adopted state be was slated for promotion. He was in 
many battles, and at the battle of Middleburg, Tennessee, in Dec. 1862,
he was killed in front of the Con­federate lines, leading a charge on 
the Federal forces. He died game and spilt his heart's blood upon 
that fated battlefield, for a cause he so much loved.  Among the dead 
he sleeps in an unmarked grave under the beech trees of grand old 
Tennessee.  Had he lived he would have made his mark, and added much 
to the literature of the South.  Some of his poems were sweetly written, 
as soft and gentle to the mind as the gentle zephers of the balmy eve, 
that pass through the branches of trees that shade his lonely grave.  
His wid­owed mother wept with scalding tears in the sad home in Alabama, 
over the death of her gallant and high minded boy.  She has long ago 
found him on the other shore, where the toils of life, with its unhappy 
environments are never known.  Peace to his dust, for his comrades 
loved him. Many now living knew this remarkable young man. The final 
roll call has been answered and the gifted young spirit is with his 
father.