USA > Texas > Wise County > Pioneer history of Wise County; from red men to railroads-twenty years of intrepid history > Part 10
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Colonel Piekett had not accompanied the troops beyond Little Rock and was thus preserved from capture. While the troops yet remained at Little Rock the Confederate order exempting many of certain ages from further service was issued. These exemptions created a hiatus in the ranks and numerous high officers were detailed to return to their respective homes to ob- tain recruits. Colonel Piekett had returned to Wise County for this purpose, and it was while here that the unfortunate result occurred at Arkansas Post.
The fifth and last large company was recruited and sent to the front from Decatur by Colonel Piekett, but it has not been possible to secure either a complete or a partial list of the names of the members of this company.
For an amusing and instructive history in detail of the check- ered career of the next to last mentioned band of patriotic Wise County soldiers in the Civil War, any interested persons are recommended to Colonel R. M. Collins' genuinely entertaining book, the title of which has been given.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
Out of a voting population of about 700, upwards of 400 had sought service in the Confederate Army, with only a paltry few left to stand guard against the Indians. Judged according to these arithmetical calculations, it can be seen at a glance what the quality of the bravery and the patriotism of the men and women of the pioneer period really amounted to. And taken in connection with the statement that Wise County furnished a comparatively unequaled number of beef cattle to the Confeder- ate armies, it is seen that Wise County's full share of the burdens of the fateful war were gloriously sustained. All honor to the brave men and women who were responsible for so illustrious an achievement.
CHAPTER IV. CHANGES AND CONDITIONS INCIDENT TO WAR BRIEFLY NOTED.
Although this frontier was far removed from the actual track of fighting and, on that account, free from the devastations peeu- liar to that inhuman exhibition, the middle and later stages of the war had not been reached before a revolutionizing reaction set in, bringing all progress to a standstill. A monotonous vac- uity and stillness, superinduced by an almost complete abandon- ment of the border, chiefly characterized the effects of the huge civil struggle here.
However far the extremities of the body may lie from the vital organs that give them animation and life, the disaster that dis- turbs the latter produces a corresponding effect in all related parts. Such a figure may illustrate the situation on the frontier as affected by the distant strife. One of the first effects encount- ered was that incidental to the blockading of the Southern ports against commerce upon the sea. Dependent as the frontier was on such ports for a large portion of its essential supplies, the re- sult of the embargoes laid on the source from which they were obtained, superinduced a great scarcity throughout the settle- ments. Essential articles rose in value and in price and some of the more useful ones became unobtainable at any offering. A great hardship was thus visited upon the people from this cause.
The almost general abandonment resulted from a natural de- sire of a large part of the population to flee the imminence of Indian danger, and largely because all industries had been brought to a standstill with no means of a livelihood remaining.
Again, the male population was drawn into service, leaving the business and industries of the country unmanned. Thus the frontier from end to end was paralyzed, with no wheels of industry moving and with much of the social structure dismantled.
"The high tide of settlement and development" had been (127)
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
reached and the period of recession and retrogression had set in not to be resumed until after the war.
Referred specifically to Wise County, the middle stages of the war found the farms re-consigned to the care of nature, which force speedily induced a rankorous growth of vegetation and an occupation by howling wild animals. In the few cases where families did not emigrate beyond the boundaries of the county, removals to Decatur were made, for the protection to life, which was there afforded; but hardly enough of this temporary influx came to materially increase the population of the town. Farm life being regarded dangerous was broken up and many years elapsed before any general return to the industry was made. Most all social customs lapsed into abeyance, its strictly pleas- urable phase being wholly destroyed. No stalwart gallants remained in the county to hand the maidens around and the imagination pictures the latter fondly looking to the end of the hostilities that old relations and happy customs might be resumed.
Hardships, more rigorous than ever, were entailed on the pro- ducing powers of the community, by reason of the loss of the distant supply, and now more necessary than ever did it become to create all things consumed at home.
Thus restricted the people were in many ways denied the arti- cles which in this day are common but during those days were listed among the luxuries.
A schedule of the prices which obtained for staple articles is appended to convey an appreciation of the status of affairs, the quotations being taken from those fixed by a state commission in session Sept. 23, 1863, as follows:
Wheat, $2.50 per bushel; flour, $15.00 per bbl. (196lb.); Corn, $1.37 per bushel; barley, $2.00 per bushel; rye, $2.00 per bushel; oats, $1.50 per bushel; rice 25c per lb .; hams, 35c per lb .; sugar, brown, 20c per lb .; white clarified sugar, 35e per lb .; salt, 5e per lb .; beef cattle, $35.00 per head.
Famines in certain necessities often occurred, at which times it would be necessary to resort to unsatisfactory substitutes; thus parched grain was substituted for coffee, and sorghum for sugar. Numbered among the privations was the loss of mail facilities.
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CHANGES AND CONDITIONS INCIDENT TO WAR.
The chief reliance for quick and regular conveyance of mail had been the Overland Southern Mail Route. This was purely a gov- . ernmental enterprise or else the government was sponsor for its existence, and with the breaking of relations between the North and South the mail route was discontinued. The effect was immediately felt and was one of the evidences of the ruthlessness of war.
Of Decatur it may be said that the town became one inhabited spot in a wilderness of silence and solitude; the great rich lands and primeval forests spread before her, but no hand turned the plough or raised hoe or ax. Many of the town's little store build- ings became deserted and the bats flew in and built nests. The town presented a sleepy aspect with its few buildings clustered on the hilltop.
The population at this time was principally made up of refugees from different sections of the county, who, forbearing to desert the frontier, had huddled themselves at Decatur and presented such defense to the threats of the hour as lay within their power. Outside the few stirring enactments that occurred as direet inci- dents of the war, the only excitements were the occasional Indian depredations which, while in progress, reduced the little post to a condition of panic. But the Indians having passed out, the town lapsed again into its somnolent state not to be aroused until a recurrence of savage activity.
On the whole the frontier presented a monotonous grind of existence, through which the people struggled under the heavy burdens while waiting the hour when the passions of war and red-man's hatred should subside and the tide of affairs had again returned to their normal levels.
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CHAPTER V.
CONSPIRACY OF THE PEACE PARTY.
Directly opposed to the peaceful trend of the times was the war like occurrence of the summer of 1862. This was an elabor- ate conspiracy having for its motive the overthrow of the Con- federate authority in this section of the state, and progressively, of the remainder of the state, should the designs have proved successful here, at the place of their inception.
The name of the organization through which the Confederacy was to be dealt this subtle blow was the Peace Party, and its constituent elements were made up of Union sympathizers and others who, having loyalty for neither side, were dissatisfied with the war.
Where and when the plan of the conspiracy had its birth is not known and in so far as can be learned there is no knowledge as to with whom the idea originated. The first wind got of it was in Cooke County, the revelations having come through a citizen who was loyal to the Confederate cause.
It appears that in a region some miles east of Gainesville there dwelt a large colony of northern sympathizers, from among whom success was met in obtaining secret supporters to a plan which in general comprehended the reduction of this part of the state preparatory to the coming of a large Federal force from Kansas, by whom the country would thenceforth be occupied. In detail the plan comprehended the secret organization of forces and the gradual accretion of members against the day when sufficient strength and power would be evolved to enable the order to arise suddenly everywhere, capture the Confederate stores and forces, and by burning property and deprivation of arms and supplies, reduce the people to such a state of subjection, as to render them powerless to resist the coming of the Federal army which was to complete the designs by marching in and taking general control.
It was in the above mentioned community that the step was taken that brought the movement to its calamitous termination.
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CONSPIRACY OF THE PEACE PARTY.
This came about as a result of efforts which were made to secure members to the traitorous order, and as a direct result of over- tures which were made to Newton Chance, the Confederate loyal- ist above mentioned, to secure his membership.
Chance gave no reply to the overtures, but as a loyal Confeder- ate took the first opportunity to tell General Hudson at Gaines- ville what he knew. By that official he was advised to feign an interest in the proceedings and after learning further details to return and report same. Chance did this and General Hudson, in possession of the exposures, immediately began a crusade against the order which resulted in the trial, conviction and sub- sequent hanging of fifty-five of the conspirators who had been proved guilty of leadership in a movement which was regarded as traitorous, in the highest degree, to the Confederate government.
The scene of action is now transferred to Wise County, where as revealed by Chance, a second phase of the conspiracy was being developed. His exposures revealed the name of one Dr. McCarty, a man who had formerly been a citizen of the Prairie Point com- munity, this county, but who had subsequently moved and settled in the region cast of Gainesville where the. Peace Party was first heard of. McCarty had been deputed to assume organ- izing charge of the Wise County phase of the affair, and judging by the large number of respectable and hitherto unsuspected citizens of the Prairie Point community which he inveigled into the order, he must have been a man possessed of subtle power and cunning.
General Hudson now undertook to stamp out the conspiracy in Wise County, which had been so successfully accomplished in Cooke. Captain John Hale, commandant at Decatur, was order- ed to arrest the conspirators, whose names had been obtained, and bring them to Decatur for trial. The police duty was con- signed to the local Confederate scouting forces and very soon an exciting time was in progress. The excitement was further heightened by the well-known men who were being arrested and brought in for trial. The trial commission was organized with fifty of the best known and qualified men of the county sitting in chambers, over whom Rev. Bellamy, a Methodist presiding elder, presided as chairman. Sheriff Robert G. Cates, who had
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
served the county as sheriff or deputy in most of the past county administrations, was in attendance to carry out the man- dates of the commission.
The trial commissioners occupied the upper story of the Con- federate Arsenal, the office of the latter being on the ground floor. Sentinels were placed about the town, one or two on each road leading therefrom. Mysterious midnight searches, investi- gations and arrests now followed and the county was thrown into a fit of excitement. The trials began with the arrival of the first prisoners and continued until the question of guilt of all the accused parties was settled. Some were found to have rendered only a perfunetory allegiance to the secret order, and these were ordered detained to be sent later to the Confederate Army. Out of the number tried five were adjudged totally guilty and sen- teneed to capital punishment. The names of these unfortunates were: John Conn, Ira Burdick, Jim McKinn, Parson Maples and - Ward. John Conn had been a member of the Confederate guard sent from Wise County to Gainesville to remain during the trials there.
At the ending of their respective trials each of these men were conveyed to a tree which stood in the Swan pasture at the west- ern edge of town, and hanged by the neck until dead.
They were hauled away from the arsenal, sitting on their coffins, in wagons, and it was from the wagons, pulled from under them that they fell to their death.
Thus ended a series of gruesome scenes and thus was extermi- nated the untimely propaganda of the Peace Party. Having encountered two dire and fateful consequences at its outset, the party vanished from the face of the earth and no further attempts were made to inculcate a hostile faith in this, a Confederate community.
There remains a word to be said in extenuation of the crimes which the above named men expiated with their lives. It is said that numerous good citizens were inveigled into the Peace Party upon belief in false representations. The propagandists of the order held out the plausible and inoffensive proposition that their chief aims and designs were to secure an organization in the interest of peace and the settlement of the issues that divided
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CONSPIRACY OF THE PEACE PARTY.
the North and South. Such a doctrine found unwary endorsers everywhere, especially did it thrive among those who felt no sincere leanings toward either side, and who were thus desirous that the war would speedily end, let the victory fall where it may.
The fiends on whom justice could have laid her bitterest repri- sals were the iniquitous disseminators of a specious proposal in order to gain adherents to a bad and traitorous design against the Confederacy.
The Wise County members of the Peace Party were mostly respectable citizens who had been duped into aligning themselves with a badly misunderstood organization and though it became the requisite duty of the local officials to take summary action, there remains in the retrospect a sense of tragedy and pathos.
CHAPTER VI.
A GLANCE AT DECATUR IN WAR TIME.
A few families who remained at the county seat during the trying period of the war may be named. There were the fam- ilies of A. Bishop, E. A. Blythe, Dr. Thomas Stuart, Captain A. H. Shoemaker, S. M. Gose, Noah Cravens, Dr. J. W. Knight, Chris Gose, W. H. Hunt, G. B. Pickett, J. W. Hale and Jack Moore. These are deserving of special mention, for without ques- tion they played a heroic part in remaining in a position, far on the frontier, with savage attacks pressing them on one side and war's privations and restrictions on the other.
Colonel Hunt had been forced to abandon Cactus Hill at the approach of Indian hostilities and was now with his family occupying the old Halsell tavern at Decatur. Mr. Halsell had been forced to abandon his hostelry, because, it is presumed, of the lack of patronage, very little travel obtaining in war times.
Along with Colonel Hunt came Miss Lutitia Wilson, who had been a governess to the Hunt children at Cactus Hill. Miss Wilson started a school in a vacant log dwelling in the northeast part of the town; she also taught a class in music, the town's first of the kind, in the Halsell Tavern, using the old melodeon which had been brought along from the Hunt ranch. Miss Wil- son was graced with culture and refinement, being one of the typical Northern women who are so highly equipped for the teaching profession. She is described as being an extraordinary person of her type and has left her influence indelibly stamped on a few of her former pupils. A few of the latter are recalled as follows: Libby, Laneing, Kate, Belle and Willie Hunt, So- phronia Crutchfield, Rowena Hale (now Mrs. C. D. Cates), Mary Stuart (Mrs. Carpenter-Shown), Byda Howell, Marsh, Jim, Fan- nie and Will Cook, Rufus and Sarah Lindley, Laura, Nannie and Tom Isbell, (the first of the last group is now Mrs. J. M. Tannahill), Mattie and Willie Blythe, James, Oreta and Alice Taylor, Mattie and Chock Perrin, and Lucinda Cravens. Miss Wilson was a
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A GLANCE AT DECATUR IN WAR TIME.
devout Episcopalian and inveterately began the morning school exercises with prayer. There are numerous persons of this era who came in contact with Miss Wilson who feel themselves pro- foundly indebted to her beneficial influences; and without doubt such an elevating character was of high value to the community.
Miss Wilson's school children were direfully affected at the progress of the trials of the Peace Party conspirators and when the doomed men began to be hauled away on their coffins to the scaffold almost a panic ensued. The children also evinced much fear at the sight of the heavily armed sentinels marching soli- tarily about the roads and both facts combined created much disturbance in the little institution.
Prior to the summer of 1862 the people of Decatur, in the absence of churches or church organizations, had worshipped, when opportunity offered, in empty store buildings and family residences. Such services occurred at no regular intervals and only at such times as itinerant ministers came into the village. In 1862 the first church organization occurred. This was effected through the Methodist denomination, of which church only a few members resided in town. Rev. Bellamy, a presiding elder, at that time living on Black Creek, officiated at the organizing ceremony, attended by the following citizens: Mr. and Mrs. Stephen M. Gose, Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Foster and Sallie and Margaret Foster, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Gose and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wallace. Stephen Gose was elected class leader. The organization occurred in a vacant store on the south side of the square. No other church organization occurred until after the war.
During this time patriotic feeling found expression in certain typical war songs. Colonel Hunt's large wool caravans, brought along from Cactus Hill, stood in prominent positions about the public square and on these, in the summer evenings, the school children climbed and vented their souls in song. The following was sung to the tune of "The Bonnie Bue Flag":
My homespun dress is plain, I know, My hat's palmetto too, But this will show what Southern girls For Southern rights will do.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
Another, which is perhaps a home-made version of the famous " Secession Wagon," ran as follows:
" Tennessee and Texas, who can't make up their mind, But we reckon after all we'll have to take them up behind. Our wagon's plenty big enough, The running gears are good,
It's stuffed with cotton round the sides, And made of Southern wood."
The program usually ended with the acclaim:
" Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah,
For the home spun dress that Southern women wear."
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But the crisis which inspired these songs ultimately came to an end, and with it a second period of new life for the Southland.
The remainder of these remarks reflect the changes that occurred following the cessation of hostilities.
As soon as the blockades were withdrawn from Southern ports, commerce began to move and industries to thrive. The pall of silence and death arose from the little county seat, and con- siderable business activity became manifest.
The first merchants to enter business were J. C. Carpenter and Charles D. Cates, who, in 1866, rented the Bishop store building and filled it with merchandise. The following year the stock was
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CATES & WORDS
:
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A
EARLY PICTURE SOUTH SIDE PUBLIC SQUARE, DECATUR.
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A GLANCE AT DECATUR IN WAR TIME.
moved into the Howell and Allen building, after which Carpenter and Cates dissolved partnership. Mr. Cates then bought a place on the south side of the square and formed a partnership with Cephus W. Woods, and continued in business. The second merchant was Eph. Daggett, who opened up in the old Howell and Allen building. He was followed in the fall by Jack Moore, who occupied the Halsell tavern with a stock of goods. The Daggett store then changed hands, Jacob-Marion and Eli Lindley taking charge. Awhile after the war, when conditions had found their normal level, the following firms constituted the town's
WCWEIR
EMIR CAS
EARLY PICTURE EAST SIDE OF PUBLIC SQUARE, DECATUR.
permanent business concerns, to-wit: Terrell and Kellam (Samuel L. Terrell and Jacob Kellam), Collins and Brown (R. M. Collins and Jack Brown), Cates and Woods; and Sewell Brown,
The town's hostelry now existed in the old Howell residence being conducted by Dr. Thomas Stewart. His successors in line were Capt. Shoemaker, Major Whorton and Col. Bishop. Amos Grider afterwards opened a hotel on the south side.
Sam Perrin had received the appointment as postmaster, to whom Mrs. Mary Gose was assistant. The post office was kept in a residence that stood under the hill off the northeast corner of the square. Mrs. Gose only recalls one incident in connection with the office which is that of Heck Miller's habit of calling for
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
his mail. He customarily rode up on his horse and desired to know " if there was any mail in the Heck box?"
Other incidents of the early life was the erection of the town's first stone building by Samuel Terrell on the southeast corner of the square. On June 20, 1869, the first fire in the history of Decatur occurred, which was the burning of Capt. Tom Stand- field's residence.
The medium of exchange for the buying and selling of goods continued to be cattle, with which property the county was well supplied. From this date up until the later eighties the county continued almost singly in the stock industry, and through all of these years Decatur remained a frontier out-post and a base of supplies for many far distant ranches. The general condition improved considerably after the close of hostilities, but the town and county were yet to undergo many years of suffering from Indian depredations, and not until the carly seventies did absolute freedom and safety return.
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CHAPTER VII.
PURSUIT AND ARREST OF DESERTERS.
A few days before Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, the force in command of the post at Decatur were thrown into a fever of excitement by the reception of orders to join in the pursuit of a fleeing band of 100 deserters from the Confederate ranks who were en route to the territory of New Mexico. The order came from Gen. Throckmorton, commander of the district, and accompanying it was the infor- mation that a large band of soldiers had deserted the Confederate Army somewhere in East Texas, and with saddle horses and equipments were trying to escape to regions beyond the juris- diction of the Confederate states.
The end of the war was signalized by many such desertions as is here recorded. It is said that much discouragement pre- vailed in the rebel ranks at the close of the war, due to prolonged fighting, poor equipment and general despair of victory. The odds were seen to be all against the brave fighting bands who hove aloft the rebel flag, and when an opportunity came to throw down their arms many succumbed to the temptation and deserted before the peace articles were signed. Many of these were good, loyal soldiers, who had borne bravely their part in the war. Another reason assigned for the many desertions was the general fear of the rebel soldiers that the cavalry forces would be dis- mounted and their horses retained. To prevent this, desertions were made and regions sought where such would be impossible.
Col. Diamond and forces of the Red River station were already in pursuit of the deserters in question when the order reached Decatur post to join in.
Col. G. B. Pickett was in command of the Decatur post, and on Saturday, April 2, 1865, he left in a northwesterly direction with a strong company which numbered among others the following members: J. D. White, 1st Lieut .; Bob Cates, John (139)
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
Wasson, Bob Wallace, Dr. J. W. Cartwright (now of Amarillo), W. A. King, M. W. Shoemaker, Tom Robinson, Wm. Hobson, Jim Burton, Sam Brandenburg, Jim Beck and Lee Crutchfield. Other names of the full command of perhaps 100 men cannot be recalled.
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