USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I > Part 63
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was one of the business pioneers of Western Texas. He was engaged in various mereantile enterprises and was a gentleman of culture, speak- ·ing several modern languages. He was a Mexiean War veteran. In 1852 he went to Central America and died on his return trip and was buried in New Orleans.
In December, 1849, his brother, Cæsar Eekhardt, settled in Yorktown with his family. They brought with them a number of people from Germany and in a few years many of the sturdy German families who have sinee settled in Yorktown and vieinity followed and soon changed a Western wilderness into one of the most prosperous settlements of this great State. Cæsar Eckhardt was born August 5th, 1806, in Laasphe, Germany. He received a liberal education, was a Lieutenant of artillery in the Prussian army for three years, and afterwards entered the civil service of the government and oeeupied a position as magistrate when he emigrated to Texas. He married Miss Louise Fisher, in 1833, in Laasphe, Germany, and the family eon- sisted of themselves and their children: Robert, William, Louise, Emilie, Johanna, Marie, and Herman, when they emigrated to Texas. Their youngest ehild, Mathilde, was born in Texas. Im- mediately upon their arrival in Texas they engaged in agricultural and mercantile pursuits and in 1850 laid the foundation for the prosperity of the widely known firm of C. Eckhardt & Sons. For many years, both before and during the late war between
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
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the States and up to the time of his death, he was most active in building up that section and faithfully performing his duties as a citizen. On coming to the conntry he at once naturalized and became a thor- ough-going American. He oeeupied at various times positions of trust in his county. During the war he alligned himself with the lost cause and, al- though too old to join the regular army, organized a company of minute men, of which he was Captain. His two oldest sons, however, of whom we shall speak later, both joined the Confederate army and served throughout the entire war. After the war he continued his business. Hle died on the 28th
death and was active in the discharge of her duties as such until a year or two ago she became feeble, when she removed to her oldest daughter, Mrs. Louise von Roeder, where she died Sunday, April 7th, 1895, surrounded and beloved by her children and grandchildren. She was interred in the York- town cemetery with impressive ceremonies; the two Yorktown bands playing dirges and saered airs during the funeral and the Rev. K. Pocn delivering a most eloquent and touching funeral oration while the whole town turned out' to pay her their last tribute of love and respect. Mrs. Eckhardt was a remarkable woman in many respects. The mother
ROBERT ECKHARDT.
of February, 1868, at his home in Yorktown, highly respected by his fellow-men. He was a man of sterling integrity and character ; intelligent, social (yet frugal and industrious ), devoted to his family and his adopted country. He loved Texas and its people and appreciated republican institutions and the great principles of American Democraey, inspir- ing his children and his neighbors by his upright living and good example.
After his death his widow, Mrs. Louise Eckhardt, continued the mercantile business in partnership with her sons. Robert and William, under the old firm name of C. Eckhardt & Sons. We here repro- duce a portion of her obituary, which appeared in the Cuero Bulletin, shortly after her death: "She remained a member of the firm up to the time of her
of eight children whom she reared to be among the most useful and respected of our citizens, she yet found time to become the founder and projector of one of the most extensive and reliable business concerns in the county. The many obstacles which she encountered would have baffled?many of the pioneers of Texas, yet with an indomitable energy, a restless industry, strong common sense and unswerving integrity she overcame them all and lived to see her efforts erowned with success. She was unselfish to a fault and most charitable and helpful to her neighbors. She loved the truth and abhorred and shunned everything which savored of sham and hypocrisy. A pure and noble woman has passed to her rest and reward. She died in her eighty-fourth year, but her son Robert bad
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preceded her in death and this leaves her son William, the only surviving member of the old firm, who continues the large business of C. Eckhardt & Sons at the old stand."
Robert C. Eckhardt was the oldest child of Cæsar and Louise Eckhardt and was born March 17th, 1836, in Laasphe, Germany, emigrating to Texas with his parents when he was thirteen years of age. He assisted them in building up their home and business and occupied his spare time in improving bis mind by private study and useful reading, thus growing up to the splendid manhood of the hardy frontiersman.
At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Caro- line Kleberg, daughter of Judge Robert Kleberg. He joined Wood's regiment of Texas cavalry and served with distinction in the campaign against Gen. Banks in Louisiana, coming out of the war at its break-up as Second Lieutenant of his company. After the war he engaged in mercantile pursuits, first in Columbus, Texas, and afterwards as a mem- ber of the firm of C. Eckhardt & Sons, after his father's death.
His standing in the business community and as a citizen was among the best. He was the first mayor of Yorktown and took a leading part in every prom- inent enterprise in the town and county. He was a member of Cameron Lodge No. 76 A. F. and A. M. and other fraternal societies, as well as trustee of schools, etc. In his intercourse with his fellow- men he was affable, generous, courteous and most agreeable and enjoyed a large circle of friends ; devoted to his family and country, he stood forth an exemplar as husband, father and citizen. He died at his home on Monday, February 28th, 1887, and was buried with Masonic honors by his local lodge, leaving his widow, eleven children and a legion of friends and acquaintances to mourn his loss.
William Eckhardt, son of Cæsar and Louise Eck- hardt, was born January 24th, 1838, in Laaspbe, Germany, and emigrated to Texas, in 1849, with his parents. He is a self-made man in the full sense of the term. His early training in the schools of Germany was followed in his new home in York- town, Texas, by a course of private study which consisted chiefly in the reading of nseful books, periodicals and papers. He developed at an early age a talent for mechanics and applied it in many useful ways on his father's farm and at the store, by stocking plows, making all kinds of furniture, building houses and constructing many other use- ful contrivances. He was a constant student of all practical problems which occur and often battle the frontiersman in providing the necessary machinery
for his ranch and farm and by a course of self-train- ing he managed to solve most, if not all, of them. For many years, he has been a subscriber and close reader of the Scientific American and to-day his judgment on all kinds of machinery is not only excellent, but is frequently consulted by his neigit- bors. This practical knowledge of mechanics and . physics led him some years ago to bore for artesian water, which he obtained without much trouble along the banks of the creeks in his section and which, in many places, now furnish an abundance of fresh water to the people. His practical judg. ment about all classes of machinery has served to revolutionize the class of agricultural implements in use in liis neighborhood and beyond it, and he always carries a large stock of these goods in his mercantile business, keeping up with the latest inventions and improvements in all kinds of machinery. At the breaking out of the late war he joined the first company of volunteers raised in DeWitt County for the Confederate service, a company commanded by Capt. W. R. Friend, of Clinton. This company was called the DeWitt Rifles, and contained the flower of the young men of the county. In January, 1862, however, young Eckhardt joined the Twenty-fourth Texas Cavalry and left Texas for Arkansas, where his company was dismounted at El Dorado, and placed in com- mand of Capt. Cupples, brother of the late Dr. Cupples, of San Antonio, Texas.
Mr. Eckhardt was in the fight at Arkansas Post. During the battle he narrowly escaped death, seven of his companions having been killed imme- diately around him. He was captured on the sur- render of the Post and held a prisoner at Camp Butler, near Springfield, Ill., where he remained three months. Here a great many men were lost from sickness and exposure, more dying from disease than in battle. Finally he was exchanged at City Point, Va., in May, 1863, and about two weeks later his troop was armed to support bat- teries around Richmond, during the battle of Chancellorsville. He there witnessed the bringing in of Gen. Stonewall Jackson's body from the battlefield.
From there Mr. Eckhardt was placed in Gen. Cleburne's Division, and the first skirmish he was engaged in was at Bellbuckle, Tenn. The next skirmish he was in was at Elk River, and the next on Cumberland Mountain. Then followed the battle of Chickamauga, in which he participated. Here he again narrowly escaped being killed, a grape shot striking him and wounding him severely and taking off the sole and the heel of his shoe. His right-hand man, Tom Moore, was killed
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instantly, and his front rank man severely wounded. Out of forty-five men of his company reporting for duty, twenty-seven were killed or wounded. It was here the company lost its cap- tain, Dashler, who perished on the field. After the battle of Chickamauga, the Texas troops, including the company to which Mr. Eckhardt belonged, were consolidated in Granbury's brigade, with which it participated in the battle on Missionary Ridge. Then followed the battle of Ringold. The next engagement was at Duck Gap, Ga. The next at Resaca. During the battle last named, the Federal troops were charging a brigade of Confed-
Eckhardt was taken sick with fever and was placed in the hospital, in Alabama, for three months, when he obtained a special pass from Dr. Bryan to travel with the army, thinking it would improve his health, which it did in a measure, but, on account of poor health, he was finally retired from the service at Cedar Town, Ga., as an invalid and it was three or four years after the war before he regained his health. Mr. Eckhardt retains a souvenir of the war in the shape of a pocketbook made from the drum head which was used on the drum in Granbury's brigade. This drum had been heard by every man in the brigade and had gone through many battles. He
MRS. CAROLINE ECKHARDT.
erates next to Granbury's. Mr. Eckhardt and Lieut. Marsh, of Austin, Texas, were anxious to witness this charge and placed themselves on an elevation to see it. No sooner had they done so, than a shot strnek Lieut. Marsh and Mr. Eckhardt eanghit him as he fell and carried him about fifty yards to a spot where he was protected from the fire of the enemy. He, however, died from the effects of the wound. Mr. Eckhardt's brigade was next engaged in a skirmish at Calhoun, then at Cashville, and then in the battle at New Hope Church. In looking over the Intter battle-field the next morning the offi- cers declared that they had never seen so many men killed In so sinall a space, Granbury's brigade, already much reduced in numbers, lost one hundred and fifty killed in this fight. After this battle Mr.
made the pocket-book while in camp at Dalton and greatly prizes it. Well be may, for it now reminds the veteran Confederate soldier of the many fierce reveilles, the drum once pealed forth when it ealled and rallied the brave Texians to battle and led them in the charge. Mr. Eckhardt has another memento, a picture of Gen. Pat. Cleburne, around which clusters many sacred memories of the long ago. The following extract is from a Texas paper : --
" Mr. Albert W. MeKinney received to-day a gift that he sets much store by. It is a picture of Maj .- Gen. Pat. Cleburne, killed charging the Fed- eral works in the fearful fight at Franklin, Tenn. Mr. Mckinney belonged to Company B., Twenty- fourth Texas, Granbury's brigade, and was near Gen. Granbury when he and Gen. Cleburne were
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killed, almost within a moment of each other. The pieture is a gift of Mr. Win. Eckhardt, who was of Company K., in the same regiment with Mr. Mc- Kinney and who now resides at Yorktown in this State. It is a life-like likeness and Mr. Mckinney esteems it beyond money or priee. Mr. Wm. Eekhardt possesses Gen. Cleburne's photograph from which he had made several large photos and portraits, one lie sent to Camp Magruder and received following graceful acknowledg- ment : -
" GALVESTON, TEXAS, May 18, 1895.
" MR. WM. ECKHARDT,
" Yorktown, Texas.
" DEAR SIR AND COMRADE : Camp Magruder, United Confederate Veterans, has directed me to aeknowledge the receipt of the handsome portrait of Gen. Pat Cleburne, which you sent us and to convey our hearty thanks to you for same. You can understand better than I can express the feel- ings with which we look on the likeness of this hero of many battles, who with A. P. Hill, W. J. Hardee and others of the same class, did sturdy military work in all its forms, with comparatively no reward but a sense of duty well done. Such men were subordinates throughout the war, yet they earned for their superiors the fame which the latter enjoy. They were typical representatives of the real South- ern soldier who fought not for money or for other wealth, nor for fame, but for principles, and whose self-denial and self-sacrifiee knew no limits in sup- port of those principles. In the case of Gen. Cleburne, patriotism received at Franklin the high-
est offering that man can give and the wail of grief that then arose from lovers of brave manhood all over the South has not yet died out. You could not have done us a greater favor or honor than you have conferred in providing us with this lasting and vivid reminder of Southern courage and every good soldierly quality as personified in Gen. Pat. Cle- burne; God bless him.
" Sincerely yours, "P. HI. POTT, " Lieut. Com. " Camp Magruder.' "
Mr. Wm. Eckhardt has also his honorable dis- charge from the Confederate military service, dated October 20th, 1864, thus making up a war record of which any man may feel proud and which his posterity will no doubt appreciate as a priee- less heritage, and as a monument to valor and patriotism more enduring than marble and which neither death nor time ean efface. After returning from the war Mr. Wm. Eckhardt did the buying for his father's business which soon became one of the largest in that section of the country. After his father's death in 1868, his mother formed a partnership with her two oldest sons, Robert and William, as before stated, under the firm name of C. Eckhardt & Sons. Mr. William Eckhardt is now the only surviving partner and carries on a larger business than ever under the old firm name at the old stand. He has been very successful in all his business undertakings.
In 1865 he married Miss Mary Gohmert who has borne him eight children, five of whom are now living.
X. B. SAUNDERS,
BELTON.
Hon. X. B. Saunders, for many years past a leading attorney of Central Texas, was born in Columbia, Maury County, Tenn., in 1831. He is the second son and the fourth born in a family of five children, consisting of three sons and two daugh- ters. His parents were Joel B. Saunders and Mariam Lewis ( Kennedy) Saunders, natives of Kentucky and Virginia, respectively. John Saun- ders, his grandfather, married Miss Sarah Grant, daughter of Gen. William and Mrs. Ebzabeth (Boone) Grant, the latter being the youngest sister
of the famous pioneer, Daniel Boone. His grand- parents went to Kentucky with Boone. Many of their descendants are now scattered over Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, and many of them have attained prominence and occupied important official positions. The Saunders family are of English and Seoteh descent. His maternal grandfather, Robert Campbell Kennedy, was born in Augusta County, Va., and was a son of William and Martha (Campbell) Kennedy, natives of Scotland.
William Kennedy took part in the Revolutionary
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War, participating in the battle of King's Mountain, where several members of the family were killed. He was there under command of Gen. William Campbell.
Martha Campbell was a Scoth lassie from the house of Argyle and was born at Ellerslie, the country seat of Sir William Wallace. Her mother's maiden name was McGregor. Judge Saunders' maternal grandmother was, before her marriage, Miss Esther Edmiston, her parents being Col. William Edmiston, a revolutionary officer, and Henrietta (Montgomery ) Edmiston. The Ken- nedys were Virginia planters. His grandfather, John Saunders, was a planter and stock raiser in Kentucky and died there at his homestead on the Licking river.
Joel Boone Saunders, father of the subject of this memoir, received his education at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore, after which he practiced medicine at Millersburg, Bourbon County, Ky., and at Fayetteville, Columbia, and Memphis, Tenn., and still later at Natchez, Miss. After a short residence at the last named place, his death occurred there in October, 1833, at the age of thirty-seven years. He was greatly devoted to his profession and in fact sacrificed his life to it. His widow survived him several years, her death occur- ing March 29, 1846. He was a member of the Methodist church and she of the Presbyterian.
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Their oldest son, Napoleon B., a promising young lawyer, died in 1858, at Memphis. Joel Boone, the youngest child, studied law and medicine and life apparently presented a bright prospect for him, when war broke out between the States. He en- tered the Confederate army in Texas in 1861, in response to his country's call, and served until he fell severely wounded on the battle-field of Gettys- burg, from whence he was taken to Alabama, where he died and was buried before the close of the year 1863. Sarah Grant, the oldest, child became the wife of Robert Weir and is now a resident of Ger- mantown, Tenn. The other daughter, Eliza Mar- garet, married Calvin L. Story, of Lockhart, Texas. Xenophon Boone Saunders was educated in Jackson College, Columbia, Tenn., and at Hanover College, Ind., graduating at the latter institution with the class of 1849. He read law at Indianapolis, Ind., under Smith and Yandes; finished at Nashville, Tenn., under the Hon. John Trimble ; was ad- mitted to the bar at Memphis, Tenn., in 1854, and in 1855 came to Belton, Texas, and began the
practice of his profession. He very soon estab- lished a large and lucrative practice and became a prominent figure in public affairs. In 1860 he was elected Mayor of the town. He was opposed to secession and made a canvass of the district of the State in which he lived in opposition to the measure. When, however, it was adopted and Texas withdrew from the Union, he determined to follow her for- tunes and entered the Confederate army as Captain of Company A., Sixteenth Regiment of Texas Infantry, and was afterwards promoted to Major of the regiment. He participated in the battles of Perkin's Landing, Millican's Bend, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Jenkins' Ferry, during a large portion of the time commanding the regiment. He was paroled at Millican's in June, 1865.
After the war he returned to Belton and resumed practice. In 1866 he was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention and represented Bell and Lampasas counties in that body. In 1875 he was elected Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District, composed of the counties of Bell, McLennan and Falls, which position he resigned in 1877. After retiring from the bench he formed a copartnership with A. J. Harris. The firm has since been coun- sel, on one side or the other, in nearly every case of importance tried in that section of the State. Mr. Saunders is also engaged in farming operations and owns considerable city property. He assisted in organizing the Belton Compress Company, of which he was vice-president, and has been an active promoter of all meritorious enterprises, hav- ing as their object the development and upbuilding of the portion of the State in which he lives.
He was married December 17, 1857, to Miss Annie E. Surghnor, daughter of John Surghnor, of Leesburg, Loudoun County, Va. To them have been born six children, all of whom are living, viz. : William Kennedy, now City Attorney at Belton ; Walter Cupples, engaged in newspaper work ; Kathleen Shelly, wife of John T. Smither, a promi- nent business man of Temple, Texas; X. B. Saunders, Jr. ; Wilson M. Saunders ; and Imogene Mariam. Some of the family are members of the Methodist and others of the Presbyterian church, Judge Saunders has for many years been a 32' member of the Masonic fraternity and is Past Emni- nent Commander of Belton Commandery, No. 23, K. T., of which he was one of the organizers. He has also been Deputy Grand Chancellor of Belton Lodge No. 51, K. of P.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
ELBERT L. GREGG,
RUSK.
Elbert L. Gregg, one of the best known lawyers and finaneiers in Texas, was born in Greene County, Tenn., February 20, 1840.
Ilis parents were Marshall W. and Alpha Gregg, of that county, where they lived and died. Eight children were born to them, seven of whom are now living. The subject of this notice attended local schools and completed his education at excellent colleges in his native State.
During the war between the States he entered the Confederate army as a private soldier in Capt. T. S. Rumbough's company and was afterwards ap- pointed Adjutant of the Sixty-fifth North Carolina Regiment of Cavalry with which he served in West Virginia, East Tennessee, and Kentucky, part of the time discharging the duties of Provost Mar- shal.
At the close of hostilities he returned home, like many others, to find himself completely impover- ished, and determined to go to a new field and take up the tangled threads of life anew. He aecord- ingly came to Texas and in 1867, formed a co- partnership with Mr. R. H. Guinn, at Rusk, Texas, under the firm name of Guinn & Gregg, and entered actively upon the practice of his profession. Possessed of talents, eminently fitting him for sue- cess at the bar, he rose rapidly and soon enjoyed a luerative praetiee and an enviable reputation as a learned lawyer, and skillful practitioner. The con- nection with Mr. Guinn continued for about nine-
teen years. After Mr. Guinn's death, Mr. Gregg formed a eopartnership with Ex-State Senator Robert H. Morris, which continued until Mr. Morris became an invalid and retired from practice.
In July, 1890, Mr. Gregg organized the First National Bank at Rusk, and has sinee been its president and principally devoted his attention to financial matters, although continuing to aet as counsel in important law cases.
He was one of the commissioners whom Governor Coke appointed to locate the branch of the State penitentiary now established at Risk and has per- formed many other services that have resulted in advantage to the town and section in which he lives.
He has been twice married. Ilis first marriage was in 1876 to Mrs. Kate Bonner, who died in 1880, and bore him two children, one of whom, Elbert M., is now living ; and his second, in 1882, to his present wife, nee Miss Bettie Diekenson, of Chero- kee County, a great-granddaughter of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gregg, viz. : Nellie, Florence, Josephine, Luray Will, and Eldridge R., all of whom are living except Luray Will, who died in 1892, of bronchitis.
Mr. Gregg owns a large amount of real estate and is one of the influential and representative men of the seetion of the State in which he resides.
WILLIAM PINKNEY McLEAN,
FORT WORTH.
Hon. W. P. McLean, ex-member of Congress, ex-District Judge, ex-member of the State Railroad Commission and for many years past a distinguished lawyer in this State, was born in Hinds County, Miss., August 9, 1836. His parents were Allen F. and Ann Rose McLean. His father died in 1838 and ' admitted to the bar.
his mother came to Texas in 1839 and settled in that part of Bowie County now embraced within the limits of the count: of Marion.
The subject of this notice attended schools in Cass County and Marshall, Texas, and completed his education at the University of North Carolina. at Chappel Hill, where he was graduated in the elass of 1857. After graduating he studied law and was
Judge McLean served as a member of the Texas Legislature, in 1861 and 1869; was a member of the Forty-third Congress, a member of the Con-
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