Lee's Dispatch Captain Bob Lee SCV Camp 2198

Transcription

1 Lee's Dispatch Captain Bob Lee SCV Camp 2198 Volume 5, Issue 06 April 15, 2016 Commander s Report By Doug Garnett In the past few weeks the SCV has presented itself in more public forums; which allowed us to present a healthy and respective public image. Once again the SCV participated in the Medal of Honor parade in Gainesville, Texas. This year saw one of the largest turn outs from our beloved SCV and the longest parade in recent history. The same day of the parade, saw members of the SCV representing our ancestors in a Spirit Walk in Tyler, Texas. We are constantly seeing the public outcry against our history; against our ancestors. This public outcry is coming from a vocal, uneducated group who feel threatened by us. When a person is educated with the truth and not the propaganda of the past 150 years there is understanding and mutual respect for all. I urge anyone who wants to believe the SCV to be an organization of hate, of racism; to read the actual history not the words of those who make a living by creating dissention, promoting division between the different ethnicities which make up our country. It is the duty of every member of the SCV to promote our ancestor s memories, their honor and the cause of our rights. The rights of the sovereign states came before the national government. It is our duty to set the record straight, to combat those would tarnish our ancestors. We must always stand tall in the knowledge we are right. Forward the Flag! Lee s Dispatch is the official newsletter for the Sons of Confederate Veterans Captain Bob Lee Camp 2198 and is intended for the sole purpose of keeping the camp members and friends of the camp informed to the activities and news of Camp Statements in this newsletter are those of the author and may not reflect the opinions of the Captain Bob Lee Camp, editor or of the National Sons of Confederate Veterans. Within articles or quotes written by outside authors mistakes in spelling, grammar or sentence structure are strictly those of the author and may be left as is.. April 24 th Monument Dedication West Hill Cem. Sherman, TX program start 2 pm, Light Lunch 1:30 pm RSVP please Linda Turner lindaturner@beckgroup.com Apl 29-May 1 Jefferson Civil War Days, Jefferson, TX April 30 th Doc Holliday Sinners to Saints downtown Denison May 7 Bonham Heritage Days, Bonham, TX 10 AM- 4 PM END Punishment UCMJ, Uniform Code of Military Justice is the bases of the discipline within our modern military. The code is a list of what a soldier, or officer may or may not do; as well as a list of punishment that could be expected by those who break the UCMJ. During the War Between the States discipline was no different however the offense and the punishment meted out were as different between units as it is between now and then. Discipline was the responsibility of the Provost Marshal. Regimental commanders also had authority to order punishment for minor offenses. What were considered minor offenses? Shirking camp duty, not keeping the equipment in good order, are examples of minor offenses. Minor offenses would draw punishment of extra duties, such as digging latrines, standing extra guard duty, or chopping wood, these were activities necessary for camp life which most did not want to do. More severe offenses, such as insubordination, cowardice, and theft are examples which drew a more harsh form of punishment. These forms ranged from carrying a log, wearing a sign of infraction or even standing on a barrel. Continued on page 2A Lee's Dispatch 1

2 Continued from page 1B The UCMJ also covered offenses to civilians. A military punishment would be meted out and superseded the civilian justice system. The problems arising from the enforcement of the UCMJ during the War Between the States caused the code to be rewritten in the post war years. Note the man carrying the log also has a ball and chain attached. Also the man tied to the tree with his arms over his head. The man with knees pulled up and wrists tied to ankles and a rod under his knees known as bucking and gagging The illustration to the left shows another view of the bucking and gagging as well as tying to the spare wheel Being tied to the spare wheel left the offender open to being turned by those passing by. The soldier could end up in any position and then straining to keep the ties from cutting into him. There are instances where the offender would beg to be killed rather than be tied to the spare wheel For the very severe crimes such as desertion, spying, murder or even threats on an officer s life would draw a court martial. The courts would be formed of three or more officers. These officers would then decide on the punishment in accordance with their offense. The punishment of these crimes could range from prison, to execution. The forms of execution were either firing squad or hanging. More examples of punishment END Texas Forts Trail American Civil War Forums By James Neel Part I- The First Line of Forts U. S. Cavalry reenactors practicing mounted drill on the parade ground at Fort Richardson near Jacksboro. With the end of the U. S. - Mexican War and the signing of the Treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the still-young United States assumed new responsibilities begun in 1845 with the Annexation of Texas. Now not only must the frontier be protected from hostile Indian raiders, there was a built-in obligation to Mexico to contain those same raiders. Further complicating the issue was the discovery of gold in far-off California resulting in the great Gold Rush of 1849; the southern trail to the gold fields crossed the wastes of West Texas into the New Mexico Territory and likewise needed protection from Indians. Continued on page 3A Lee's Dispatch 2

3 Continued from page 2B The unfinished and roofless church had been part of the "fort" used by both Mexican troops in 1835 and Tejanos in 1836 and is now familiar worldwide as the Alamo. The U. S. Army essentially preserved it for posterity by remodeling it for use as a supply warehouse; soldier graffiti from that period of its history may still be seen in out-of-the-way places inside. Indeed the famous "hump" on the facade as well as the vaulted barrel roof both date from the improvements made by army engineers! Fort Martin Scott, ; Map adapted from one by E. M. Schiwetz in the 1958 Texas Sketchbook. The government's answer was the creation of a line of forts, camps, and cantonments along what was then the Texas frontier, indicated on the map above by the dotted line at the right. As will be shown, this remedy was to prove temporary at best, soon to be replaced in the 1850's by a second line of posts indicated by the line to the left. Almost nothing remains today of the forts along the first line; I propose to concentrate therefore in this series on those both antebellum and post-war along that second line and which are indicated in red. Post of San Antonio The first of the new posts to be established was Fort Martin Scott, named in honor of a major of the 5th Infantry who had been killed in the Battle of Molino del Rey outside Mexico City. It was located on Barton's Creek about two miles east of the new settlement of Fredericksburg which had only recently been settled by Germans. According to Robert Frazier in Forts of the West, "the post was frequently occupied by a very small garrison and served more as a forage depot than a defense post." It wasn't abandoned by the army until the beginning of the Civil War but was reoccupied only very briefly afterwards. During the war it saw intermittent use by Texas Confederate troops. Only the buildings and historical marker shown here remain today, but that is more than survives of most of the forts in the first tier. The United States Army early established a presence in the town of San Antonio but built no permanent fort there until well after the Civil War. However, that didn't stop it from becoming the center of the Department of Texas, serving as both headquarters and a major supply center for posts farther west. In 1849 the army acquired a tumble-down ruin that had been built originally by Spanish friars as the chapel of Mission San Antonio de Valero. Continued on page 4A Lee's Dispatch 3

4 Continued from page 3B Fort Worth, One of the first forts established was Fort Worth, named for General William Jenkins Worth, commanding the department. Originally it was built as Camp Worth on the floodplain of the Trinity River which proved to be a bad idea, remedied by relocating it to the high bluff overlooking the river. The spot was so desirable that once the army left, the remaining buildings became home to a growing community that gave birth to the city of today. The impressive Tarrant County Courthouse now occupies the area once home to the fort, nothing of which now remains other than the bronze plaque seen here. The artist seems to have portrayed the log fort as a pioneer settlement rather than the more typical military outpost it likely was. Col. William Jenkins Worth of the 8th Infantry (pictured here as a general during the Mexican War) who was commanding the department when he died on May 7, 1849, and for whom Fort Worth was named; Capt. William H. C. Whiting (seen here later as a Confederate general); and Capt. Joseph K. F. Mansfield. It is largely due to the latter gentlemen of the U. S. Corps of Engineers that so much is known about the early Texas posts, due to their reports based on inspection tours. Whiting foresaw as early as 1849 the need for more forts with heavier garrisons, recommending the use of a powerful and mobile cavalry force which could range far and fast, instead of slow infantry. Mansfield's tour of the western forts, including those in Texas, was made in and provides a great deal of information about them, including detailed descriptions, maps, and plats. Fort Graham, Among the officers of the Old Army who had perhaps the greatest influence over the Texas forts considered here were the men pictured in the next panel, left to right: Lt. Col. William W. Belknap of the 5th Infantry who selected the site for the fort later named in his honor and who died while on campaign Nov. 1, Another of the early Texas forts was Fort Graham, located in 1849 northwest of what became the town of Hillsboro. Graham was established by Capt. Ripley A. Arnold of the 2d Dragoons and named for Lt. Col. William Graham of the 11th Infantry who had also been killed in the battle of Molino del Rey. Graham was only in service until it was abandoned in 1853 when, like most of the others in the first tier it was seen to have been bypassed by frontier settlement and outlived its usefulness. As with Fort Worth, nothing remains but the stone marker seen above; the actual site of the fort now lies beneath Lake Whitney, like almost all lakes in Texas, an artificial reservoir. Continued on page 5A Lee's Dispatch 4

5 Continued from page 4B Part II - The Second Tier Forts Fort Phantom Hill, ; , Part I The soldiers who largely built and manned these early outposts on the Texas frontier were occasionally dressed somewhat like their counterparts in uniform plates like these by famous military artist and historian Henry C. Ogden. At left are the campaign and fatigue uniforms of infantry and dragoons of the era of the Mexican War in the 1840's into the early 1850's. These were slowly replaced in the 1850's by those shown at center and at right which depict dragoons, cavalry, infantry, and artillery. These are dress uniforms which were supplemented by more practical wear for campaign. Even so, all soldiery was at least theoretically to have this order of dress for the evening and Sunday parades that were a normal part of army life, even at remote posts on the frontier like these. All of the forts that will be featured here are accessible and open to the public, and though some are state, county, or community parks; others are owned by various organizations or even individuals. Most of those along the second tier of frontier forts are connected by the Texas Forts Trail, one of the markers for which is seen above near Fort Chadbourne south of Abilene, Texas. The official name for this post, begun Nov. 14, 1851, was Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos, after the river near which it was located a dozen miles north of what is now the city of Abilene, Texas. But it is more commonly known as Phantom Hill, supposedly after a topographic anomaly that makes the rise it is located upon "disappear" - like a phantom! - as one approaches it. I visited here on an appropriately gloomy, foggy spring morning that gave my photos the somewhat ghostly effect seen here. When I first visited here in the 1960's, this was all private land; only the powder magazine beside the road was anything like accessible; now a fairly recent trail has been cleared through the forbidding cactus and brush, and the ruins are all marked and keyed to a map at the information shelter pictured above. Like so many of its contemporaries, Phantom Hill was built as a temporary post using mainly log uprights in what was known as picket-post construction. What now remains are the very substantial foundations and chimneys interspersed with a few larger structures. Had the fort become a permanent one, occupied over many years like forts Concho, Sam Houston, etc. no doubt the wooden buildings would have been replaced with stone. Continued on page 6A Lee's Dispatch 5

6 Continued from page 5B It is worth noting that the Guardhouse was originally attached to a wooden building where the Sergeant-of-theGuard maintained an office and soldiers on the guard detail waited for the changing of the guard; the little square stone building that remains contain individual cells for incarceration of offenders. The historical marker above is placed beside the road that divides the fort from the powder magazine, a normal procedure to protect the former from the volatile contents of the latter! Unlike most forts on the Texas frontier, most of the officers' quarters like that of the post adjutant and librarian above include cellars, likely for storage of perishables in the harsh climate. The trail leading from the exhibits leads first to the stone remnants of the Guardhouse, above, and along officer's row. The chimney is all that now remains of the Commanding Officer's Quarters, next panel. Lee's Dispatch 6 End of part II (part II will continued next month)