Gates Camp Gazette A quarterly newsletter of the Elijah Gates Camp No. 570 Sons of Confederate Veterans Summer 2013 I.C. Holland passes Photos by Don Ernst At the Missouri Division SCV reunion in March at which he was honored as a Real Grandson, Compatriot Isham C. Holland unfurled the flag used at the 1925 funeral of ancestor Capt. Thomas C. Holland. Compatriot Rev. Isham C. Holland, 95, pastor, retired educator and regional historian, passed away at his Fulton home Wednesday night, July 3. Admitted to the hospital the previous Saturday with acute symptoms, he was later released to home hospice care and died surrounded by family. A longtime friend of the Elijah Gates Camp, he had only recently become a member. He was the grandfather of Kurt Holland, first lieutenant commander of the Brig. Gen. John T. Hughes Camp. Compatriot Isham Holland (right) with Elijah Gates Camp Treasurer Wayne Sampson (galvanized!) at the Gray Ghosts Trail dedication at the Callaway County Courthouse, September 11, 2012. Remarkably, Isham Holland died only hours after the 150 th anniversary of the felling of his grandfather, Capt. T.C. Holland, at Gettysburg. Captain Holland led a company of the 28 th Virginia Infantry, Richard Garnett s Brigade, in the charge of Maj. Gen. George Pickett s division at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. Holland was grievously wounded after crossing the stone wall but survived to move to Missouri after the war. Isham Holland was born December 9, 1917, at the family home on Coats Prairie near Reform, Callaway County, to the late Walker Kerr Holland and the former Alta Coats. Isham Holland was married to the (Continued on page 6) Photo by Don Ernst Honors Richard Hite Robbins, descendant of Pvt. Byron S. Hite, pauses at his ancestor s monument during its dedication by the Elijah Gates Camp in Mexico, Mo., June 8. See story & photos, page 5. Editor s Note Circle the date! Our Fall Muster featuring author Tom Rafiner will be Saturday, October 12. Tickets will go on sale September 9. For details, see story on page 3.
We teach at New Bloomfield Right, Compatriot Don Ernst with array of weapons. Compatriot Kevin Wenzel also set up and participated. A ban on weapons even nonfunctioning historic ones at this year s July 4 Salute to America at the state capitol left room in Gates Camp s schedule to provide living-history re-enactors for the annual meeting of the New Bloomfield Historical Society July 7. Above, Commander Noel Crowson talks with guerrilla re-enactor Roger Baker and the event s keynote speaker Rudi Keller, author and Columbia Daily Tribune reporter. Presenting in background is Mary Ann Crowson, on behalf of the Reuben H. Bullard Chapter of the UDC. Most photos by Don Ernst Landmarks Compatriot Kevin Wenzel attended the Missouri State Genealogical Association s 32nd Annual Conference, August 3, Stoney Creek Inn and Conference Center in Columbia. He listened to sessions given by Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGI, FASG, FUGA, FNGS, on Documentation: The What, the Why, Where, and How as well as Inferential Genealogy: Deducing Ancestors Identities Indirectly. He also listened to talks by Stephen Buffat on Dissecting Civil War Records for All They re Worth and Beth Foulk on Imported to America Colonists for Sale. Compatriot Don Ernst and wife Jeanne celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary July 14. In the last issue, the editor of the Gates Camp Gazette incorrectly identified young Jake Fitzpatrick as his older brother, Cole, in our coverage of Gates Camp living-history re-enactors at Bush Accelerated Elementary School in Fulton. The editor apologizes for the error, sheepishly explaining, Those boys grow so fast I can t keep up! Sixteen years after its closing, the monthly Chicago arts journal Strong Coffee co-founded by Past Commander Martin Northway is amid an apparent renaissance as an online magazine. Described as a coffeehouse of the mind, it will feature original fiction, essays, art and photography. Page 2 Summer 2013 Gates Camp Gazette Gone but not forgotten Camp Historian Mark Douglas, 54, died five years ago on July 16, 2008. A charter member of the camp, he was president of the Historical Society, author of Soldiers, Secesh and Civilians and co-chair of Kingdom of Callaway Civil War Heritage. He is survived by his wife, Darlene, and children Kathryn and Jonathan.
Cody Zuroweste assisted by Compatriot Rich Williams. Volunteers Mike Wilson, Don Ernst, Tom Suttles with welder Zuroweste and Rich Williams. Finished enclosure & post detail. Photos by Chris Crowson Memorial campaign to begin With site preparation complete to install a monument at Calwood commemorating Confederate and Union dead from the July 28, 1862, Battle of Moore s Mill, the Elijah Gates Camp is prepared to mount a campaign to finance the engraved stone. Almost $2,000 has been raised, about two-thirds of which has been applied to the project already. At our September 4 meeting, compatriots will select between two options for the monument. Based on Commander Noel Crowson and Monument Chairman Don Ernst s August 5 visit to Capitol Monuments of Jefferson City, the granite monument s cost is estimated at $2,800 $3,100. Work on it can commence once Capitol receives a 50 percent deposit. An inscription with the colored SCV symbol will show that the camp dedicated the monument. There will be a list of all the Confederate and Union names, separated with crossed Confederate and Union flags in color. A legend will indicate Killed in Action, Died of Wounds, and Presumed to be Buried in the Mass Grave, along with the statement Dedicated to the memory of those who gave their ultimate sacrifice at the Battle of Moore s Mill, July 28, 1862. The vendor representative said the company would set the stone on the camp s provided base for free. The property owner who has donated use of the site has said he will remove obstructions to public access. Donations should be sent to Elijah Gates Camp SCV (memo line: Moore s Mill monument) c/o Wayne Sampson, Treasurer; 916 S. Olive St.; Mexico, MO 65265. Commander Crowson believes that a dedication on the 152 nd anniversary of the battle, July 28, 2014, is realistic, providing adequate time for preparation of a historical booklet and program. Of the project s rapid progress, Commander Crowson has said, None of this could have come together had it not been for the hard work of our entire camp as well as the support by our sister Reuben H. Bullard UDC chapter as well as the generosity of many others. These include Ground Penetrating Radar Systems Inc., welder Cody Zuroweste and the supplier of metal materials for the site enclosure, all of whom donated a portion of their fees or discounted charges, facilitated by Compatriots Crowson and Bill Conner. Expenditures on these items totaled $1,210. (Continued on page 4) Muster is Oct. 12 Tom Rafiner, an expert on Missouri s Burnt District during the war, will repeat as guest speaker at the Elijah Gates Camp Fall Muster, Saturday, October 12, at the Callaway Electric Cooperative, 1313 Cooperative Drive, Fulton. Rafiner will report results from his just-published book Cinders and Silence. He is also author of Caught Between Three Fires. Copies of the books will be available for sale. Muster will feature a sumptuous homestyle meal, our Little Dixie famous prize drawing and other items to be discussed at our September 4 meeting. Tickets will be sold beginning September 9 at the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society, Crane s General Store and by camp members ($20/$25 at the door; reduced for students). Doors will open at 5 p.m., program to begin at 6. Gates Camp Gazette Summer 2013 Page 3
Rebs turn out for Summer BBQ About two dozen compatriots and friends turned out for the August 7 barbecue at Bill and Genevieve Conner s, including, from left, Compatriots Paul Baum and Kevin Wenzel, Missouri SCV Division Historian Gene Dressel and Gates Past Commander Mark White. Don Ernst photos Ladies first! Treasurer Wayne Sampson and Brigade Cmdr. Don Bowman. Bill shared grilling with grandson Aaron Conner. Genevieve Conner & Jeanne Ernst relax. Memorial campaign (continued from page 3) As of August 7 the camp had already received the following donations totaling $1,870: $200 each: Old Auxvasse Cemetery Association, Richard D. Williams; $150: Noel Crowson; $100 each: Elijah Gates Camp, Jerry Morelock, Don Ernst, Martin Northway, Bush School (donation for Living History), Dave West (to honor the dream of Mark Douglas & Allen Conner), Tom Suttles (in memory of Isham Holland), Gene Dressel; $75 each: Bill McAtee, Tony & Terry Wright (Wright Bros. Store); $50 each: Chris Crowson, Reuben H. Bullard Chapter UDC; $40: Bill & Genevieve Conner; $35: Paul Baum; $25 each: J. Schulte, Jim & Kathy Hoelscher (in memory of Sgt. James R. & Pvt. John B. Blackburn, Co. B 1 st Mo. Cav. CSA), Charles & Sharon Pierson; $10: Mike Wilson, Don Bowman. On Friday, June 22, volunteers set eight posts in concrete, defining the area where the monument will be placed. Afterward, Commander Crowson offered special thanks to Deby [Fitzpatrick] for bringing iced tea, Mike [Wilson] for fat pills, better known as doughnuts... Even our littlest Rebels, Jake and Cole Fitzpatrick, helped carry water. On Wednesday, July 17, welder Cody Zuroweste of Auxvasse worked with volunteers to weld the 7/8 sucker rod linking the posts. Beforehand, the property owner kindly brush-hogged the area. Page 4 Summer 2013 Gates Camp Gazette Compatriot Chris Crowson with dad Camp Cmdr. Noel Crowson. Letters to the Editor To the Editor: Thanks for sending me the Gates Camp Gazette. I always enjoy the comments and seeing the faces of familiar friends, often Don Ernst, Noel Crowson, Wayne Sampson and yourself. This time I was surprised to see great guy Kurt Holland from the Hughes Camp and his father and grandfather. I especially appreciated your article on Private William Wilson Vaughn, Private Archibald F. Vaughn. You covered so much of their involvement in the Civil War, and I was surprised to find your family had so much involvement in the struggle, all over Missouri but also elsewhere in the South. Your article was richly detailed, carefully crafted, and highly enjoyable. Best regards, Don Gilmore Don is author of Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border and is a past Fall Muster speaker. ED.
We honor Private Hite in Mexico Above left, Gates Camp Quartermaster Kevin Wenzel recounted the service of Pvt. Byron S. Hite; right, Missouri SCV Brigade Commander Don Bowman with color guard. Photos by Don Ernst The Elijah Gates Camp hosted the dedication of a soldier s stone for Pvt. Byron S. Hite on Saturday, June 8, at his burial site at Elmwood Cemetery in Mexico, Mo. Hite was a veteran of both the Missouri State Guard and Col. Joseph C. Porter s 1st Northeast Missouri Cavalry Regiment. Members of the Joseph C. Porter Camp also participated, as an honor guard and in the fired salute. Also dressed out was Central Brigade Commander Sergeant Don Bowman. Richard Hite Robbins, of Galva, Kansas, a descendant of Private Hite, was an invited honored guest. Gates Camp Compatriot Noel Crowson served in his dual functions as camp commander and chaplain. Quartermaster Kevin Wenzel, who has extensively researched Private Hite s life, presented an oral biography. The Reuben H. Bullard Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Fulton, was represented, and media were present. Cmdr. Noel Crowson officiated. Left, Gates Camp s Wayne Sampson presents honor flag to Richard Hite Robbins. The fired salute. Porter Camp compatriots. Cmpt. Charlie Boydstun, Mary Ann Crowson(UDC), Vicki Mason Gates Camp Gazette Summer 2013 Page 5
Photo courtesy Gregory Wolk Civilians (including Confederate descendants) peacefully re-enacted Pickett s Charge at the 150 th anniversary of the battle, July 3, 2013, 100 years after Isham Holland s grandfather took part in the bogus charge depicting his and his compatriots original charge. He was in Garnett s Brigade, as were the above participants. Isham Holland passes (Continued from page 1) former Adelia Carol Yocum on June 2, 1940; she died November 7, 2004. After attending Ashland Grade School and being graduated from Fulton High School in 1935, he entered the University of Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1941 with Phi Beta Kappa honors and a bachelor of arts degree in history and humanities including extensive studies in Latin and Greek. He also earned a Bachelor of Theology and a Doctor of Ministries degree from the Kansas City College and Bible School. Obtaining a teaching certificate after high school, he briefly taught a one-room school and after MU taught at Ashland School. Beginning in 1943, he began a long career at Kansas City College and Bible School at Overland Park, Kansas, serving as instructor, dean of administration, vice president and president, and at his death was president emeritus. His pastoral service spanned most of his adult lifetime. He was an evangelist at churches and camp The Gates Camp Gazette is published by Elijah Gates Camp No. 570, Sons of Confederate Veterans, 807 Cote Sans Dessein Rd., Fulton, MO 65251: Noel A. Crowson, Commander & Chaplain; Banning Fitzpatrick, Lieutenant Commander; Richard D. Williams, Adjutant; Wayne Sampson, Treasurer; Kevin Wenzel, Quartermaster; Martin Northway, Newsletter Editor & Historian; C.D. (Don) Ernst, Archivist & Photographer; Past Commanders, Martin Northway, Richard Williams, Mark White. Meetings are at 6 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month, Callaway County Public Library, 710 Court St., or Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society, 513 Court St., Fulton. Page 6 Summer 2013 Gates Camp Gazette meetings in the U.S. and abroad, and was a member at one time or another of most boards of the Church of God (Holiness). He did five decades of mission work in Latin America and Africa. Reverend Holland is survived by sons James Nathan Holland (wife, Peggy), Fulton, and Philip Dale Holland, Eureka Springs, Ark.; brother Hallie Tite Holland (wife, Lena), Fulton; four grandchildren, Kurt, Kent, Scott and Terri Holland; ten great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren; and a sister-in-law, Jewell (Garrett) Holland. Preceding him in death were brothers W.K., Clyde, Charley and Fay Holland and sisters Vara Althiser, May Krebs and Martha Laubscher. Services were July 9 at Church of God (Holiness), Fulton, with entombment at Callaway Memorial Gardens Mausoleum. Memorials are suggested to Church of God (Holiness) World Missions c/o Maupin Funeral Home, 301 Douglas Blvd., Fulton. Williamsburg B&B has Trails theme Steve and Jan Gray, a retired couple, have opened a bed and breakfast in Williamsburg with a WBTS theme. Their Gray Ghosts Trail Inn, an ample restored 1905 home, is directly on the old Boone s Lick Trail, at 10703 County Road 184. The house is north of Crane s Museum, home to one of eight Callaway County outdoor Gray Ghosts Trail interpretive panels sponsored by Kingdom of Callaway Civil War Heritage, local affiliate of Missouri s Civil War Heritage Foundation. It s cute and charming, and needed to be restored, Jan Gray told the Fulton Sun about the couple s decision to turn the house into an inn. It s important to history because it sits right on the Civil War Gray Ghosts Trail. Bloody Bill Anderson came through here and picked up one or two guerrillas on his way to [raiding] Danville.
Capt. Thomas C. Holland By ISHAM C. HOLLAND My grandfather, T.C. Holland, was the eighth child of the family. He grew up on a farm a few miles from Bedford, formerly Liberty, Virginia. In 1848, his father, Charles, built a house on the farm. When I visited that part of Virginia in 1959, I went to the Courthouse in Bedford to check for family records. I learned from an elderly gentleman who worked there that there were several Cragheads, first cousins of my family, living right near the Courthouse. These kinfolks guided us to the place where Grandpa Holland grew up. I did not expect that the old 1848 place was still there, but upon arrival was pleasantly surprised to find the house not only standing, but in good condition with relatives, the Holdren family, living in the two-story white frame house with a full-width veranda. Howard Holdren and his son were working in a tobacco patch, and Howard was surprised beyond measure to learn of a relative he didn t even know existed, exclaiming, So you are Uncle Tom s grandson! As I was walking back to my car, I heard him say, Good Lawd, he even walks like Uncle Tom! Later, we went over the hillside of the farm to the family burying ground where my greatgrandfather Charles Holland and other family members are interred. It was a remarkable experience for me. Charles Holland died June 24, 1883, and his wife, Docia, passed away June 26, 1862. As T.C. was growing to young manhood, dark clouds over the Potomac were casting ominous shadows over Virginia, the Old Dominion. On April 17, 1861, two days after President Lincoln s call for volunteers to suppress the Southern states, the Virginia Assembly voted to secede as an alternative to making war on sister states. T.C., who wrote in later years for Confederate Veteran magazine, states: In the year 1861, while still a schoolboy at the Creasy schoolhouse near the Quaker Church in Bedford County, Virginia, taught by one Capt. T.C. Holland ranked high in Missouri s United Confederate Veterans after the War Between the States. LITTLE DIXIE HEROES 14 2013 A.L. Minter, I became interested in military drill by the teacher, who was the adjutant of the Southside Regiment of the county belonging to the Virginia militia. The country had recently had a shake-up by the John Brown riot at Harper s Ferry. Believing that our State should be prepared to drive away the foe from her borders, I enlisted as a drill boy [he was a few days shy of twenty] while at school. On the second day of February, 1861, drilling on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the noon hour. On or about the twelfth of March we organized a company. [O]n April 27, 1861, I was mustered in as second lieutenant, and the company was named the Patty Lane Rifle Grays. Our first call was to Manassas. We skirmished in and around Mt. Vernon, then returned to the army at Manassas and were placed in the 28 th Virginia Regiment as Company G; was on picket duty on the night of the 20 th of July, and on the morning of the 21 st we met the advance picket of McDowell s army. The first real battle along Bull Run turned into a rout of Union forces as they met the Confederates at Manassas, about 25 miles from Washington. On February 28, 1862, the 28 th Virginia received word that Brig. Gen. George Pickett had taken command of the brigade. (He would later command the division.) On March 9, the regiment began the long march to Yorktown, where the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston met McClellan s Federals in the Peninsular Campaign, in which at Williamsburg according to the April 1925 Confederate Veteran T.C. s command was engaged from the beginning to the end and sustained heavy losses. Following this bloody conflict, young Holland was elected [first] lieutenant. (T.C. s brother Stephen Robert, older by more than nine years, was discharged Oct. 31 because of a gunshot wound.) Gates Camp Gazette Page A-1 Summer 2013
The Confederate Veteran reported, His command was one of the first engaged in the opening of the Seven Days battles around Richmond. At Gaines Mill, he seized the flag of his regiment and led his company in the famous charge that broke Mc- Clellan s line. Here he fell desperately wounded and was picked up and sent from the field. Recovering from his wounds, he joined his company and was promoted to Captain. The June 27, 1862, battle brought heavy losses to the 28 th Virginia Infantry. Shot through both thighs, this was the most serious of T.C. s four wounds in the war, requiring him to arrange a makeshift tourniquet. After a home furlough, he resumed command of his company October 31. The last battle of Grandpa s career was at Gettysburg. His unit was assigned to guard supplies at Chambersburg on the first two days of the battle, before being marched through the night about 25 miles. The men fell out for a time before the assault on Cemetery Ridge, where General Longstreet felt it would be suicide to send his men across nearly a mile of open country, up the slope into the face of entrenched men and heavy artillery. But General Lee declared, That is where the enemy is, and that is where I ll strike him. At three o'clock on that hot afternoon of July 3, Lee sent his only fresh division Pickett s to lead the attack, General Kemper s brigade on the right, Garnett s (the 28 th s brigadier) on the left and Armistead s in the rear with his line overlapping the other brigades. Federal guns opened up from the ridge and riflemen behind a stone wall poured a deadly fire into the steadily advancing Confederates. Kemper fell wounded and Garnett was killed. General Armistead urged forward what was left of the columns, crossing the stone wall with the men engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Some estimate that about 100 men crossed the stone wall. Armistead fell there, and Captain Holland later wrote, I advanced about ten paces farther, until being felled by a Minie ball breaking his jaw and exiting his neck; the bullet barely missed his spine. When he regained consciousness, he and some other officers including the mortally wounded Armistead were lying in the shade of some trees. Then Page A-2 Gates Camp Gazette Summer 2013 Photo by Don Ernst T.C. Holland s grandson Isham C. Holland shown receiving the Real Grandson medal from his own grandson Kurt Holland at the 2013 Missouri Division SCV Reunion died at age 95 on July 3, 2013, only hours after the 150 th anniversary of his ancestor s fall at Gettysburg. Missouri Division Cmdr. Darrell Maples is at left behind the podium. they were removed to a temporary hospital beyond Cemetery Ridge. This writer has read in some of T.C. s writings of the intense suffering and death of Armistead on July 4 or 5, shortly after giving instructions concerning his gold watch, a packet of papers and other articles on his person. T.C. was transported to federal prison camps in the North, his jaw operated on at David s Island, Long Island Sound. He was paroled from Johnson s Island, Ohio, Feb. 24, 1865, but his exchange was delayed too long for him to see further service. After the war he moved to Missouri, followed by many family members. He enrolled at Westminster College in Fulton, and from 1865 1870 he was a teacher at several schools. He and a partner bought out a store in Reform, Mo., and he married 16-year-old Vara Sparrel Strucker. They had three children, Willie Lee Dean, Walker Kerr and Russie Mattie. They moved to Sedalia in August 1884, but sadly his frail Vara died Feb. 14, 1885. T.C. lived his last years in Kansas City and then Callaway County, and was long active in the United Confederate Veterans. For the highly publicized 50 th anniversary of Gettysburg in 1913, he served as adjutant general of the bogus charge by Pickett s veterans. There, at the stone wall, he met some of the men who had fought on the other side. At the place where he placed a stick where he had fallen, he overheard one say to his wife, Here is where I killed the only Rebel I know of during the war. I may have killed others, but this is the only one I know I killed... It is too bad you killed him, said the wife. The husband said the man was an officer who must have been crazy, exhorting his men, Come on, boys. T.C. stepped forward, saying, I am the man you killed, but I m a pretty lively corpse. Here is where the ball entered my left cheek, and here is where it came out the back of my head. The result of this meeting was a friendship and correspondence. In 1915 T.C. went to live with his daughter Russie and her husband John Blankenship in Callaway County, tending a small section called Grandpa s Patch. He died, quietly, on Feb. 11, 1925, at the age of 83.