Issue 4 Volume 2 April 2016

Photo of the Month

Confederate Memorial Plaza in Anderson

Grimes County Historical Commission

Grimes County Historical Commission

Executive Board Chairman Russell Cushman Vice Chairman Joe King Fultz Secretary Vanessa Burzynski Treasurer Joe King Fultz

COMMITTEES Historical Markers Denise Upchurch Heritage Preservation Sarah Nash Newsletter & Publicity Vanessa Burzynski

Meetings of the Grimes County Historical Commission are held on the Second Monday of the Month at 7:00 pm in the Courthouse Annex in Anderson, Texas

Contact Information: Russell Cushman 403 Holland Navasota, TX 77868 (936) 825 8223 rcush403@aol.com

PAGE 2 GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER APRIL 2016

The Bryan Daily Eagle, February 4, 1896 G. C. Scott Dead Parties were in from Iola yesterday to secure a coffin from Undertaker J. F. Parks and reported the death of Mr. George C. Scott, a well known and prominent citizen of Iola, which occurred Sunday afternoon at 6 o’clock, resulting from pneumonia. Mr. Scott was about 40 years old and leaves a wife and six children. Bryan Morning Eagle, May 9, 1902 Iola, May 5, 1901 - Cotton chopping progressing nicely in this section; fine prospect for corn and cotton. A peculiar disease has broken out among cattle in this community and has caused quite a large number to die. It is causing a good deal of uneasiness among farmers. The cow is attacked by a swelling under the throat, followed by a general stiffness throughout the body, loss of appetite and soon die. The White Man’s Union had a meeting at the school house last night and elected George Sollock president for the ensuing year, Lee Guerant vice president, T.H. Wren, secretary, Lee Guerant and Howell Neeley were elected members of county executive committee. Mrs. McK Sykes is seriously ill at present writing. Rain today prevented church services at the Baptist Church. Mrs. W. W. Smith of Anderson, is visiting her mother, Mrs. H. Neeley. Mr. Edgar Neeley, who has been attending school in Anderson, has returned home to stay for the summer. Mr. Henry Lambert who is attending school at Kurten, was visiting in Iola last Tuesday. Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Mints of this place lost their little baby boy last Monday.

The Bryan Daily Eagle and Pilot August 24, 1910. Mrs. Tom L. Wilcox Telegrams were received yesterday by relatives in this city and at Iola, Grimes County, of the death of Mrs. Tom L. Wilcox, which occurred during the day yesterday at Wilcox, Ariz. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox are well known residents of Iola and went west some weeks ago in the interest of Mrs. Wilcox’s health. The news of her death was received with deep regret by the many friends of the family in this city. She was a splendid Christian lady and leaves a husband and two children. She will be buried in Arizona.

Bryan Morning Eagle, October 27, 1908 Mr. J. M. Bullock of this city has resigned the pastorate of the Iola Grimes County Missionary Baptist Church, for the reason that his time is so fully occupied with the several churches under his charge on this side of the river as to make it necessary to give up the Grimes county fold. Mr. Bullock has preached for the Iola church during the past four years.

The Bryan Daily Eagle and Pilot, August 27, 1912. For Sale – One hundred acres of land; 4 room house; peach orchard; well water; 40 acres in cultivation; located two miles west of Iola, Grimes County, Texas. Price $1500 B. L. Wilcox, Bryan, Texas

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The Eagle – Monday August 11, 1924 Beckham of Grimes County Shot and Killed by Neighbor E. M. Beckham, age 62 years, of Singleton, Grimes County, is dead as a result of gun shot wounds, said to have been inflicted by Tom Young at an early hour this morning, according to a telephone message from Navasota to the Eagle. Both Beckham and Young are farmers of the same neighborhood. The cause of the difficulty could not be ascertained. Beckham leaves a wife and child.

The Eagle – Wednesday, January 12, 1927 It is reported in Bryan that Sidney Young was killed in the store of Bob Trant of Keith, Grimes County last night. The store had been robbed several times lately, and Monday afternoon Mr. Trant rigged up a gun to the back door. When the door opened the gun fired. Tuesday morning Sidney Young, a white youth, was found dead in the store.

The Eagle – Saturday, February 27, 1915 Iola Bank Fire W. H. Cole was informed by long distance telephone today by R. E. L. Upchurch that the First State Bank building of Iola was burned this morning. Mr. Upchurch is president of the bank. A statement of losses and insurance was not given.

The Eagle – Saturday, March 7, 1925 Grady C. Cook Perhaps Fatally Wounded in Grimes County Shooting Brother Virgil Cook Slightly Wounded When Bullet Passes Through Calf of Leg – Templeman Burns is Being Sought by Grimes County Officers in Connection with Crime – Cook is Serious As a result of a tragic shooting about 9:00 o’clock last night at the Hurt farmhouse, six miles south of Iola, in Grimes County, Grady C. Cook, aged 27, is in the Bryan Hospital, seriously, perhaps fatally wounded; his brother Virgil Cook, aged 20, is slightly wounded; and Templeman Burns is being sought by Grimes County officers in connection with the affray. An ex-ray picture taken today at Bryan Hospital shows the bullet lodged in the abdomen and only slight hope is held out for the ultimate recovery of the wounded man. The shooting is said to have taken place during the course of a party at the Hurt homestead where 30 or 40 young people of the community had gathered. The wounded men were immediately taken to medical attention by Dr. Jeeter Quinn of Iola and he advised bringing Grady Cook to the hospital immediately, which was done. Grimes county relatives and friends who brought the wounded man to Bryan or who have come over today to be with him at the hospital and anxiously await word from the operating room are as follows: Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Cook, parents; Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Moon, M. E. Rogers, N. N. Pyle, J. L. Cook, a brother of the wounded man; L. E. Cook , a cousin; Ernest Colston, Plummer L. Sollock and Bill McWhorter. The last three named came over last night but returned to Iola this morning. The parents will remain until the crisis has passed in Grady’s condition.

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Taylor Island Cemetery Taylor Island is approximately 4 miles west of Iola, Grimes County, Texas and 7-8 miles south of US Highway 190. Travel south from Iola on Farm Road 244. Turn west onto County Road 108 and travel 2-2.5 miles. Then turn south on County Road 103 and travel 400-500 yards to County Road 106. Travel on County Road 106 for 2.5-3.0 miles to Texas Municipal Power Line. Then walk north to Taylor Island Cemetery. The cemetery is approximately 1 mile east of Taylor Island. Cemetery is on private property owned by W. B. Leonard and permission must be granted prior to going on to property. The cemetery is 80 foot square. A large stone occupies the center of the square of land and reads: "This stone occupies the center of 80 Ft. square of land & holds it sacred to the memory of the names hereon." On the north side of the stone is inscribed: Taylor, William Sr. Born Devonshire England 1808 Emigrated to Texas in year 1849 Died in Grimes County March 6, 1875 Age 67 On the east side of the stone is inscribed: Wives of Wm Taylor Sr. died Elizabeth August 22, 1858 Louisa M. Aug 14, 1864 Margaret A. Apr 4, 1876 On the south side of the stone is inscribed:

Lucinda Wife of R. Taylor Born Nov. 10, 1846 Died May 6, 1868 Infant of R. & L. Taylor Sept. 21, 1861 Rosina E. Daughter of R. & L. Taylor Born March 19, 1964 Died Feb. 3, 1865 On the west side of the stone is inscribed: Children of Wm & Eliz. Taylor Elizabeth A. Susan Mahala Infant daughter of W & M.A. Taylor Catharine F. Tillery Daughter of M.A. Taylor Small marker located at SE corner of square reads: Buried in this corner of square of land: 1 Mexican on Pearce Yeager's Place and 1 Black

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CROSS, TEXAS (Grimes County). Cross, on U.S. Highway 39 and the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad in northwestern Grimes County, was established about 1900, when farm families in the vicinity of Morgan Creek began moving to the proposed route of a new Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway line where it crossed D. D. Sheffield's ranch. Settlement began in the area during the 1830s, but no community appeared until the coming of the railroad in 1900. By 1900 a post office had been established with T. H. Ware, operator of a general merchandise store, as postmaster. In 1907 the Trinity and Brazos Valley was extended through the townsite. The Spring Hill Free Will Baptist Church was soon organized. In its early development the town served as a ranching-supply center and supported a blacksmith shop, a drugstore, a cotton gin, a fraternal hall, and several general stores. By 1920 a school was in operation near the townsite at the intersection of the Case and Democrat roads, the junction that seems to have inspired the community's name. In the early 1920s the post office was discontinued, and rural mail delivery from Iola began. In 1949 the local school was incorporated into the Iola school system. Cross reported a population of ten in 1900 and fifty in 1936, when the community supported two businesses. Thereafter, the number of residents remained virtually unchanged for decades; in 1990 it stood at an estimated forty-nine, and no rated businesses were reported. The population remained the same in 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grimes County Historical Commission, History of Grimes County, Land of Heritage and Progress (Dallas: Taylor, 1982). Fred I. Massengill, Texas Towns: Origin of Name and Location of Each of the 2,148 Post Offices in Texas (Terrell, Texas, 1936).

IOLA, TEXAS. Iola, on Farm Road 39 and the Burlington-Rock Island Railway, at the headwaters of Ragan Creek in northwest Grimes County, is believed have been named for Edward Ariola, one of Stephen F. Austin's colonists who settled in the vicinity in 1836. In 1852 the community's first church, Zion Methodist, was constructed; the building also served as a schoolhouse. The settlement's first gristmill, Monroe's Gin, began operating during the 1860s. The post office opened in 1871 and, though discontinued the next year, was permanently reestablished in 1877. A Masonic Lodge was formed in 1876. By the 1880s the town had several churches, cotton gins, and gristmills. The population stood at 109 by 1890. Between 1906 and 1907 both the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway and the Houston and Texas Central Railway extended lines through Iola, and a new townsite was laid out along the tracks near the T&BV depot. A tap line of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad connected Iola with Navasota. The coming of the railroad invigorated the community. A print shop was established, and a newspaper appeared, the Iola Enterprise, edited and published by Rev. A. J. Frick, pastor of Zion Methodist Church. In 1909 the Iola State Bank was organized. The population reached 300 in 1910, and by 1936 the town had an estimated 500 people and twelve businesses. After World War II the population declined somewhat to an estimated 300 in 1950. Since then it has remained virtually level. During the 1970s and 1980s several nearby oilfields opened. In 1990 Iola had a population estimated at 331 and twelve businesses. In 2000 the population remained the same, however, there were thirty-nine businesses.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grimes County Historical Commission, History of Grimes County, Land of Heritage and Progress (Dallas: Taylor, 1982). Fred Tarpley, 1001 Texas Place Names (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980).

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MESA, TEXAS. Mesa was on the headwaters of Hog Creek four miles south of Iola in northwestern Grimes County. Anglo-American settlement in the area was underway by the late 1830s, when Alabaman Tandy Walker was granted a league of land on the east bank of Hog Creek. During the 1840s a community was founded among the local settlers on a low plateau overlooking the creek. In 1860 the town became a flag stop on the first railroad in the county, a Navasota-Iola tap line of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. A post office operated at the community from 1898 until 1917. The township was bypassed to the east by the Iola-Shiro spur of the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway about 1907. Mesa had one business and a population estimated at 100 in 1933. In 1945 it had one business and thirty residents. This figure was unchanged in 1948, the last year for which population statistics were available. Farm Road 244 was constructed a mile to the west in 1949. By the late twentieth century only a handful of farm dwellings southeast of Frances Lake marked the former townsite.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grimes County Historical Commission, History of Grimes County, Land of Heritage and Progress (Dallas: Taylor, 1982).

KEITH, TEXAS (Grimes County). Keith, on the west bank of Hog Creek off Farm Road 244 twelve miles northwest of Anderson in western Grimes County, derived its name from a pioneer family who settled in the area during the 1840s. Children of farm families in the vicinity attended a school on Rock Branch until the establishment of another on Martin's Prairie, two miles southwest of the eventual settlement site. In 1869 the community's first congregation, the Martin's Prairie Missionary Baptist Church, was organized, and a church was built in 1877; the upper floor of this two-story structure doubled as a Grange hall during the late 1870s. In 1884 a post office was established in the town, and during the 1890s a general store, a cotton gin, and a gristmill were operated by W. Phillip Trant. The Evergreen Free Will Baptist Church was organized in 1896, and by 1910 a church building had been constructed a mile west of the townsite. The Keith School was established near the church; in 1910 about 200 pupils attended. Keith had a population of twenty-five in 1890, and a population of five was reported in 1900, at which time the town's post office was discontinued in favor of rural mail delivery from Iola. In the early 1930s the local school was consolidated with the Iola school system. In 1936 Keith had one business and an estimated population of thirty-five; the population was reported at that level in 1940, after which population estimates were unavailable.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grimes County Historical Commission, History of Grimes County, Land of Heritage and Progress (Dallas: Taylor, 1982).

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ZUBER, WILLIAM PHYSICK (1820–1913). William Physick Zuber, farmer, soldier, educator, and amateur historian, son of Mary Ann (Mann) and Abraham Zuber, was born on July 6, 1820, near Marion, Twiggs County, Georgia. He moved with his parents to Montgomery County, Alabama, in 1822; to East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, in 1824; to St. Helena Parish in 1827; to the site of present-day San Augustine, Texas, in 1830; to Harrisburg in 1831; and to what is now Brazoria County in 1832. Finally, in 1833, the family established permanent residence when the Austin colony granted Abraham Zuber a headright of a league of land on Roan's Prairie, near the headwaters of Lake Creek, in what is now eastern Grimes County. Although only fifteen at the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Zuber served in the Texas army, Fourth Company, Second Regiment, Texas Volunteers, from March 1 to June 1, 1836.

During the battle of San Jacinto he was a member of the rear guard, which was stationed on the north bank of Buffalo Bayou opposite Harrisburg to secure the army's baggage and attend the sick and wounded. For his services he obtained a bounty grant of 640 acres, land that is now part of Grimes County. From 1837 to 1840 he participated in campaigns against the Indians on the south central Texas frontier, and he served in the Somervell expedition after the invasion of Mexican general Adrián Woll in 1842.

Although largely self-educated, Zuber taught at rural schools in the area of present-day Walker and Grimes counties from 1844 to 1848 and intermittently for many years thereafter. On July 17, 1851, Zuber married Louisa Liles, and they had six children.

He enlisted on March 20, 1862, in the Confederate Army, Company H, Twenty-first Texas Cavalry, and campaigned in Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana until the spring of 1864, when he was disabled by an attack of pneumonia and furloughed until the end of the

war. He returned to his home in Grimes County to resume farming and teaching and served as county commissioner from 1876 to 1878.

Late in his life Zuber began composing articles on the early Texas military conflicts and biographical sketches of Texas veterans; many of these were eventually published in various newspapers around the state. His account of the escape of Louis Rose from the Alamo was published in the Texas Almanac for 1873. As a charter member of the Texas State Historical Association, Zuber was made an honorary life member because of his participation in the Texas Revolution. Eight of his articles and notes appeared in the Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association (later the Southwestern Historical Quarterly) between 1897 and 1902. In 1905 his Ancestry and Kindred of W. P. Zuber was published at Iola. A volume of memoirs composed between 1910 and 1913, after many years in the Texas State Archives, was published by the University of Texas Press in 1971 under the title My Eighty Years in Texas. In 1906 Zuber moved to Austin and found employment as a guide in the Senate chamber of the Capitol, where the decorations included an oil portrait of himself. In 1909 he was honored by the Texas legislature as the last surviving veteran of the Army of San Jacinto. Zuber was a Methodist and a Mason. He died in Austin on September 22, 1913, and was buried with Masonic honors in the State Cemetery. His name is listed with other Grimes County veterans of the Texas Revolution on a marker erected by the Texas Centennial Commission on the courthouse grounds at Anderson.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Austin Statesman, September 23, 1913. E. L. Blair, Early History of Grimes County (Austin, 1930). Grimes County Historical Commission, History of Grimes County, Land of Heritage and Progress (Dallas: Taylor, 1982). Harold Schoen, comp., Monuments Erected by the State of Texas to Commemorate the Centenary of Texas Independence (Austin: Commission of Control for Texas Centennial Celebrations, 1938). William Physick Zuber Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

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John Calhoun Isbell

The seventh child of Pendleton and Susana Isbell was born March 8, 1836 in South Carolina during the years which made John C. Calhoun great as a "Champion of State's Rights". A Senator, a Vice-President, a Secretary of State, the famous Calhoun was in Congress the year the Isbell's had their fourth son and needed a name. According to the accounts I have available, J.C. Isbell did his best to live "up" to the name given him. In 1856, the Isbell brothers came to Texas, a new state which had been admitted to the Union in 1845. (The Senator Calhoun from SC had spoken for the admission.) After service for the Confederacy, John returned to Texas, staying a year in Nacogdoches, then making his home in Grimes County. He was married to a Bedias native, Miss Unity Lavenia Moffett, on December 8, 1867. Unity was the daughter of T.C.P. Moffett and Unity "Unci" Davis. Her sister, Julia, married John's nephew, George Franklin Isbell. John was a member of the Baptist Church, the Odd Fellows, and after the move to the Temple-McGregor area in 1885, he became Superintendent of the Fair Association. John Isbell died on August 18, 1906 in McLennon County, Texas and is buried in the McGregor Cemetery. The Children of John and Unity: 1. Thomas Pendleton, b.1868 d.1912 Uvalde, Tx. Married Maud Mills. 2. Willie Franklin, b.1870 d. 1871 Bedias 3. Georgia Elizabeth, b. 1872 d. 1946 Ca. Married Martin Clay Kersh.

4. Unity Virginia, b.1875 d. 1897 Married Dan Lebo. 5. Julie Estelle, b.1878 d. 1930 Ca. Married Joseph J Hardy. 6. Josephine Emily Lavenia, b. 1880 d. 1963 Married Knox Anderson. 7. Jonas Bolivar, b. 1883 d. 1932 Ca. Married Gertrude Burkett. 8. John Cleveland, b.1887 d. 1956 Ca. Married Goldie Burkett. 9. Lester Levingston, b. 1893 d. 1977 Ca. Married Grace Coppage then Helen Morse. Source: History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties published in 1893. U.S. Civil War database roll: He joined the Confederate States Army and served with the 3rd Regiment Texas Cavalry Volunteers know as "Ross's Brigade".

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Those who died fighting for the Confederate States during the American Civil War are remembered on other dates in some states. In Arkansas and Texas, there are joint celebrations of the birthdays of Robert E. Lee (a general in the Confederate army) and Martin Luther King on the third Monday in January. In Texas, this is sometimes known as Confederate Heroes Day. In Kentucky, Louisiana and Tennessee, the birthday of Jefferson Davis (the only President of the Confederate States of America) on June 3, 1808, is observed.

Confederate Memorial Day

Between 1861 and 1865, there was a war between the Union and the Confederate States of America. As slavery disappeared from the northern states, but remained viable in the south, two very different ways of life arose in these sections, according to the US Department of the Interior’s National Park Service. Compromises regarding slavery, especially its extension to the new western territories, became more difficult to achieve. Social, political and economic power was at stake for both the north and the south.

In North and South Carolina, May 10 marks the anniversaries of the death of Thomas Jonathan 'Stonewall' Jackson (a general in the Confederate army) in 1863 and the capture of Jefferson Davis in 1865. In Pennsylvania, the organization known as the Sons of Confederate Veterans commemorates those who died while fighting for the Confederates. In Virginia, the lives of Confederate soldiers are honored on Memorial Day on the last Monday in May. Confederate Memorial Day was first observed in a number of areas in or just after 1866.

The divisions began in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the expansion of slavery, was elected as president of the United States. Seven states in the south declared their secession from the United States before he took office. Southern states maintained various concerns regarding political ideals, property and homes, protection for their families, and economic loss.

The actual war started on April 12, 1861, at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The last cease-fire was signed at Fort Towson, Oklahoma, on June 23, 1865, although the naval forces on the CSS Shenandoah did not surrender until November 4, 1865 in Liverpool, Great Britain. It is estimated that more than 600,000 soldiers died during the American Civil War and that about 260,000 of these were Confederates. In addition, an unknown number of civilians died in the hostilities.

In the spring of 1866 the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia passed a resolution to set aside one day annually to memorialize the Confederate dead. Additionally, the secretary of the association, Mrs. Charles J. (Mary Ann) Williams was directed to author a letter inviting the ladies in every Southern state to join them in the observance. The letter was written in March 1866 and sent to all of the principal cities in the South, including

Atlanta, Macon, Montgomery, Memphis, Richmond, St. Louis, Alexandria, Columbia, and New Orleans.

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FOURTH TEXAS INFANTRY The date for the holiday was selected by Mrs. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Rutherford Ellis.[2] She chose April 26, the first anniversary of Confederate General The Fourth Texas Infantry was one of the

three Texas Johnston's final

surrender to Union General Civil War regiments in the Texas Brigade of Gen.

Sherman at Robert E. Lee's

Army of Northern Virginia. In 1861 Governor

Bennett Place, NC. For many in the South, that marked the official end of the Civil War Edward Clark established a

camp of instruction on the San Marcos River in Hays County. The first units that later formed the Fourth Texas Infantry enlisted there in April 1861. Originally the Texans planned to enlist for a period of one year, but after the outbreak of war at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the Confederate government announced that it would accept only regiments enlisted for the duration of the war. In July 1861 twenty companies of Texas infantry were transferred to a camp near Harrisburg and promptly shipped to Virginia. Soon after their arrival in Richmond the Texas units were officially organized into regiments, on September 30, 1861. The ten companies that made up the Fourth Texas were Company A, the Hardeman Rifles, recruited in Gonzales County; Company B, the Tom Green Rifles, Travis County; Company C, the Robertson Five Shooters, Robertson County; Company D, the Guadalupe Rangers, Guadalupe County; Company E, the Lone Star Guards, McLennan County; Company F, the Mustang Greys, Bexar County; Company G, the Grimes County Greys; Company H, the Porter Guards, Walker County; Company I, the Navarro Rifles, Navarro County; and Company K, the Sandy Point Mounted Rifles, Henderson County.

.

In 1868, General John A. Logan, who was the commander in chief of the Union Civil War Veterans Fraternity called the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), launched the Memorial Day holiday that is currently observed in the entire United States. According to General Logan's wife, he emulated the practices of Confederate Memorial Day. She wrote that Logan "said it was not too late for the Union men of the nation to follow the example of the people of the South in perpetuating the memory of their friends who had died for the cause they thought just and right."

Contrary to the prevailing custom, the Texans were not allowed to elect their own field officers but had them appointed by the Confederate War Department. The first commander of the regiment was Robert T. P. Allen, former superintendent of the Bastrop Military Academy, who because of his harsh discipline was extremely unpopular and was forced to resign his

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position in October. Allen was replaced by Texan John Bell Hood, who was assigned to command the Fourth with the rank of colonel. John F. Marshall, editor of the Austin based Texas State Gazette and one of the principle organizers of the regiment, was appointed to the post of lieutenant colonel, and Virginian Bradfute Warwick was given the rank of major.

The Fourth was formally assigned to Brig. Gen. Louis T. Wigfall's Texas Brigade shortly after Hood assumed command and was subsequently stationed at Dumfries, Virginia, in November 1861. As the regiment drilled and prepared for active duty it was plagued with a great deal of sickness, a rather typical ordeal for Civil War units. In October 1861 the chaplain of the Fourth, Nicholas A. Davis, reported that more than 400 of the regiment's original 1,187 men were sick. In March 1862 Hood was promoted to command of the Texas Brigade, Marshall became a colonel, and Capt. J. C. G. Key of Company A advanced to the post of major.

The regiment first saw combat on the Virginia peninsula on May 7, 1862, at Eltham's Landing, but its introduction to real battle came on June 27, 1862, at the battle of Gaines' Mill. Here both the Texas Brigade and the Fourth Texas established their reputation for hard fighting by successfully breaking the Union line on Turkey Hill, which had resisted all previous Confederate attempts to do so. Taking only 500 men into the battle, the Fourth lost 85 men: 21 killed, 63 wounded, and one captured. Marshal and Warwick were both killed, and Key was wounded.

The Fourth Texas was not engaged again until the battle of Second Manassas on August 30, 1862. Under the command of Lt. Col. B. F. Carter it participated in the Confederate attack on the second day of the fighting, taking a federal battery of artillery in the process. Losses in this

engagement totaled thirty-one (eleven killed, twenty wounded). On September 14, 1862, the regiment was engaged in combat at the battle of South Mountain, where it had six men killed and two wounded in the delaying action before the battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), fought on September 17, 1862. At Antietam the Fourth Texas was involved in some of the stiffest fighting on the Confederate left flank and suffered its greatest number of losses for any single battle of the war, losing 210 men (57 killed, 130 wounded, and 23 captured).

The regiment was only marginally engaged at the battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862 and was not present with Lee's army during the battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. After that, however, it took part in every major action of the Army of Northern Virginia during the rest of the war as well as in the battle of Chickamauga, during the temporary transfer of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's First Corps to the Confederate Army of Tennessee in September 1863. At Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, the Fourth Texas participated in the attack against the Union left flank and in the fighting for Little Round Top, losing 140 men (25 killed, 57 wounded, and 58 captured), including Lieutenant Colonel Carter, who was mortally wounded.

At Chickamauga, Georgia, on September 19 and 20, 1863, the regiment, now under the command of Lt. Col. John P. Bane, was part of the rebel force that broke the federal line on the second day of fighting and helped to rout the Union Army of the Cumberland. The Fourth's losses at Chickamauga totaled 77 (34 killed, 40 wounded, and 3 captured). At the battle of Wauhatchie, during the siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee, on October 28, 1863, the Fourth was routed by the enemy for the only time during the war. Upon the unit's return to Virginia in April 1864 with

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the rest of Longstreet's corps, the Texans once again acquitted themselves admirably, by plugging a gap torn in the Confederate line at the battle of the Wilderness, May 7, 1864. Here the regiment took part in the famous "Lee to the rear" episode and suffered 124 casualties (26 killed, 95 wounded, and 3 captured) out of only 207 men engaged. Subsequently, the Fourth was marginally involved in the fighting at Spotsylvania and helped to repel the Union attack at Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864. During the fall and winter of 1864–65 the regiment fought around Petersburg and Richmond before taking part in the Southern retreat that ended in the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

Throughout its existence 1,343 men were assigned to the Fourth Texas Infantry. Of that number 256 (19 percent) were killed or mortally wounded in battle. Another 486 men (35.9 percent) were wounded, many more than once, for the total number of wounds suffered by the regiment in four years of fighting amounted to 606. The total number of battle casualties suffered by the Fourth Texas Infantry was 909 (67.7 percent). The number of prisoners lost by the regiment was 162 (12 percent). Of the regiment, 161 died of diseases (11.9 percent), 251 (18 percent) were discharged due to sickness, wounds, etc., and 51 deserted (3 percent). At the time of its surrender the Fourth Texas mustered only 15 officers and 143 men. Despite such heavy losses, or perhaps because of them, the Fourth Texas Infantry and its parent Texas Brigade won a reputation as one of the hardest fighting and most reliable units in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

GRIMES COUNTY IN THE C.S.A. There was virtually no voice in Grimes County raised in opposition to the secessionist movement during the crisis of 1860 and 1861. The referendum of February 1861 returned a majority of 907 to 9 in favor of secession. Hundreds of county residents volunteered for service in Confederate and state military units. State formations to which local companies were attached included the Second, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Texas Infantry and the Twenty-first Texas Cavalry. In 1861 a munitions factory specializing in small armaments was constructed two miles west of Anderson, employing dozens of adults and a number of children. The first telegraph lines in the county were strung through Navasota in 1862 for the benefit of the railroad and the Confederate government. In the summer of 1863 Gen. John B. Magruder, commander of the Department of Texas, established his headquarters at Piedmont Springs and stationed a division of Confederate soldiers there; by 1865 the once-opulent ballroom of the Piedmont Hotel had been converted into a military hospital. To circumvent the Union blockade of the Texas coast, planters transported cotton to Mexico in trains of ox wagons. The staple was exchanged for food and clothing, which helped to mitigate the wartime privation suffered by Grimes County residents. Far from halting immigration, the war in fact generated an influx of planter refugees from the lower South, seeking protection for their slave property. Some purchased bottomland on which to raise their own cotton, while others rented their slaves to local landowners. By 1864, according to county tax rolls, war refugees had swollen the local slave population to 7,005.

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GRIMES COUNTY C.S.A.

Civil War military concentration point for troops and ordnance. Rich farm land. By 1861 densely populated. Favored secession by 907 to 9 vote. Sent 5 cavalry, 4 infantry companies to Confederate Army. Arms and ordnance works at Anderson produced cannon, cannon balls, guns, pistols, swords, sabres, bayonets, and gunpowder. Military telegraph line from Houston to Marshall crossed the county. Five men charged with treason against the Confederacy were held in 1864 in Anderson Jail, under the wartime suspension of habeas corpus, in constant peril of mob violence. People were relieved when these men were deported to Mexico by the military. Cotton, "Gold of the South", and food were produced in abundance. Cotton hauled to Mexico by local men was traded for goods vital to the Confederacy. Yet shortages occurred. For lack of paper, The Rev. George W. Baines of Anderson (great-grandfather of President Lyndon B. Johnson) suspended "The Texas Baptist", first state organ for that church.

Historical Marker in front of the Annex Building in Anderson

In 1865 the Piedmont Springs Resort Hotel, 7 miles to the west, became headquarters and hospital for Walker's division on its return from Louisiana where it helped prevent a Federal invasion of Texas. Historical Marker 8586 Anderson, Texas Erected 1964 NW corner of Courthouse grounds;

Anderson (corner of Buffington and Main, Anderson). Centennial Marker on FM 244

outside Anderson

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CONFEDERATE HISTORY AND HERITAGE MONTH

Martin’s Prairie Cemetery Keith, Texas

WHEREAS, April is the month in which the Confederate States of America began and ended its four year struggle for States Rights, individual freedom and local control, as did America’s founders in the first American Revolutionary War, and WHEREAS, Confederate History and Heritage Month is a time for Grimes County to honor the men and women who endured the hardships and death of this monument struggle, and WHEREAS, Grimes County sent ten companies of her sons to defend their homes and fledgling nation, spilling the blood of over 700 of these youth, and WHEREAS, Grimes County played a vital support role with the Dance Brothers Munitions and Arms factory, the Piedmont Hotel for rest and relaxation, quartermaster facilities in Navasota and Anderson, hide tanning operations in the east and south areas of the county, and

Robert A. Breland Company C. 5th Texas Cavalry

Died March 27, 1888 WHEREAS, it is fitting that Grimes County reflect on the heritage of the past and respect the devotion of the Southern Leaders, Soldiers and Civilians to the cause of Southern Independence,

THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Commissioner’s Court of Grimes County hereby designates the month of April as “Confederate History and Heritage Month”, and as a token of recognition hereby authorizes the display of the First National Flag of the Confederacy beneath the Texas Flag at the Courthouse for the month of April and encourages the citizens of Grimes County to become more knowledgeable of the role of the Confederate States of America in the history of our great nation. Passed and approved this 28

William R. Sollock

th day of March 2005.

3rd Sgt. Co. I 26th Texas Cavalry 1843-1868