Sam Houston Research Trip

"Lone Star Historian 2" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas during his second year. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published over 40 books, almost half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine. In 2013 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by his alma mater, Texas A&M University - Commerce.

Where Houston and Margaret courted and married

During my first year as State Historian I was invited by Joan Marshall, director of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, to deliver a lecture on Sam Houston as a leader. Leadership in history always has fascinated me, and I developed the lecture carefully. The leadership qualities of Houston were extraordinary, and the reaction to my program was so gratifying that I presented it on a few other occasions. Several months ago I was asked by the director of a university press to develop the topic into a book. Since then I’ve read widely in Houston’s writings, and within Texas I’ve traveled extensively to Houston sites. 

Marion's Eagle Hotel

With the end of the spring semester at Panola College, my wife was free to travel with me to out-of-state locations. We drove first to Marion, Alabama, and found the stately home where Houston courted and married Margaret Lea, his third wife and the mother of his eight children. Nearby was the Eagle “Hotel,” a boarding house where Houston stayed. We also visited Judson Female College, which Margaret attended, although there are no buildings from her time on campus. About 100 miles away is the Horseshoe Bend Battlefield Park, where Houston, a young officer, distinguished himself. Houston was wounded three times while leading charges, attracting the attention and admiration of General Andrew Jackson, who became his mentor. Jackson’s 1814 victory at Horseshoe Bend was a key event of the War of 1812, shattering an Indian confederacy that long had blocked the westward movement of settlers in the South. 

Gun Hill at Horseshoe Bend

The next day Karon and I were at the “Historic Sam Houston Schoolhouse,” a Tennessee State Park a few miles outside Maryville. There is a fine Houston museum at the visitor center, and the one-room school is a sturdy log structure built in 1794, the year after Sam was born. When he was 18 Sam taught a couple of terms in the school, earning money to pay off personal debts. Inside are student desks typical of two centuries ago. A unique feature extends along two walls. A narrow window with no glass is almost the length of each of the two walls, and each of the two long shutters is hinged at the bottom to let down inside. Each shutter thus forms a long writing platform, where older students could stand to perform arithmetic or composition exercises. 

Sam Houston Schoolhouse

While we were in the vicinity, Karon and I drove to the other side of Maryville to photograph the site of the Houston homestead. The site is distinguished by a trio of flagpoles and a marker. Sam was the fifth of nine children, but when he was 13 his father died. Before his death he already had purchased land near Maryville, so the family moved from Virginia to Tennessee. Mrs. Houston attended a Presbyterian church a couple of miles away, and her grave is just behind the current church building. 

Shutter/writing desk

We proceeded north to Lexington, Virginia. A few miles away was the Houston plantation, where Sam was born and raised. The site is marked by the “Sam Houston Wayside,” a local highway turnoff with explanatory markers, including one attached to a slab of Texas pink granite. While in the area there were other historical places to see, and in Lynchburg we visited our nephew, Dr. Chris Smith, a professor of history at Liberty University, and his wife Margaret. 

Sam Houston Wayside marker

Houston's mother's grave

Houston homestead near Maryville

We next drove to Nashville, passing near Andrew Jackson’s splendid home, The Hermitage. Sam Houston was a familiar visitor at The Hermitage, but I have toured this impressive presidential site numerous times in the past, and we were pressed for time. In Nashville we visited the Tennessee State Historical Museum, then across the street to the Tennessee State Military Museum, and across another street to the Tennessee State Capitol which displays a bust of Houston. Before we reached Texas we stopped at Historic Washington State Park in Arkansas, where Houston stayed before venturing into Texas in 1832. 

Fort Loudon

Of course, on such a sweeping trip – 2,400 miles – I could not resist stopping at nearby historical sites unrelated to Sam Houston. Less than half an hour before reaching Maryville we toured Fort Loudon, a picturesque stockaded British outpost during the French and Indian War. (I had seen Fort Loudon in 1972 with a group of Panola College students, but I decided I had better not wait another 42 years between visits.) Driving through Lexington after visiting the Sam Houston Wayside, we stopped off at two adjacent institutions of higher learning: Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University. At VMI I photographed the parade ground statue of Stonewall Jackson above four cannons. Jackson taught artillery tactics at VMI before the Civil War, and he named the four guns “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.” At Washington and Lee we toured the Lee Chapel and Museum, featuring Lee’s office and his family vault. 

Near Memphis I encountered Texan Tom Montgomery
headed to an antique car rally. Tom  was a WWII Seabee.

After leaving Lynchburg we stopped at nearby Bedford to see the National D-Day Memorial. In 1944 Bedford, Virginia, had a population of 3,200. When nine Bedford men were killed during D-Day operations, it was the highest per capita loss of any town or city in the United States, and the magnificent National D-Day Memorial was built there. We especially enjoyed touring the sprawling monument only a week before Memorial Day, and just three weeks before the 70^th anniversary of D-Day. In celebration of that anniversary, Panola College will provide a public lecture, which I will be privileged to deliver. 

For more information: 
www.panola.edu. (There were too many web sites to list, but they are easy to discover online.)

Stonewall Jackson overlooking Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John at VMI

Karon beside the Lee Chapel and Museum

National D-Day Memorial at Bedford

Bill will present a program at Panola College on the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

From Commerce to Carthage

"Lone Star Historian 2" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas during his second year. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published over 40 books, almost half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine. In 2013 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by his alma mater, Texas A&M University - Commerce.

With Dr. Berri O'Neal

Late in April I returned to my alma mater, Texas A&M University at Commerce. When I transferred to the campus in 1962, the school was named East Texas State College. After receiving a B.A. from ETSC in 1964, I taught and coached in public schools before coming back for a Master's degree in 1968. I became a Teaching Assistant in the history department at East Texas State University, and after I left with an M.A., the name evolution continued - to TAMUC. In August 2013 TAMUC awarded me an honorary Doctor of Letters degree, and I hoped that I could somehow be of service on campus. Happily, this spring I was invited to address the induction of new members of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor fraternity, by chapter president Bailie Avrit. Exactly 50 years ago I was chapter president, so this occasion was especially meaningful to me. The induction was held in a room in the new Sam Rayburn Memorial Student Center. There were nine inductees, along with family, friends, and faculty members. The crowd nearly filled the room, and a special guest was my daughter, Dr. Berri O'Neal, who earned all three degrees at TAMUC. Berri had business on campus and scheduled her meetings to coincide with this event. It was a delightful occasion for me. 

President Bailie Avrit

 

Phi Alpha Theta Inductees 

The following night in Carthage I provided a program at the monthly meeting of the Gen. Horace Randal Camp of the Eighth Brigade of the SCV Texas Division. The Camp Commander is Dan Ross, and meetings are held in a banquet room at a local restaurant. Three of my great-grandfathers were teenagers in Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama who, late in the war, were called on to protect their homes from invasion. I am always proud to address SCV camps, and usually I provide an annual program to the Randal Camp. This year's crowd was the largest I remember, and I presented the San Jacinto Day program that I had offered only three days earlier at the monument outside Houston. In the past I've been asked to speak on the Regulator-Moderator War, or some other non-Civil War topic, so I felt that a room full of Texans would enjoy hearing an account of this spectacular landmark battle. 

SCV meeting place

My next appointment was with the Retired Teachers organization in Carthage. The meeting was held at the Sammy Brown Library in its new and larger home in the handsomely renovated Texas National Guard building. I was invited to address the group by a former student, Brenda Watson Giles, who had an innovative and distinguished teaching career in the Carthage ISD. Brenda asked me to talk about "How to Put Together a Book." Because, like most authors, I believe that everyone - certainly people with the skills and educational background of professional educators - has a book inside them. In retirement people have the continuity of time to produce a book-length manuscript. And in the period allotted to me I pointed out simple techniques and methods which make writing projects practicable. Of course, there were many longtime friends at the meeting, and the afternoon was most enjoyable for me. 

Sammy Brown Library

Chapter president Brenda Giles and
library director Debbie Godwin

First Week in May

"Lone Star Historian 2" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas during his second year. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published over 40 books, almost half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine. In 2013 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by his alma mater, Texas A&M University - Commerce.

Dr. Powell addressing the crowd

On Wednesday morning, May 7, it was my deep pleasure to attend a groundbreaking ceremony on the campus of Panola College. Panola County Junior College opened in Carthage in January 1948 in temporary buildings. Later in the year a $400,000 bond issue was approved to construct an administration building and a gymnasium. Through the general fund and grants other buildings were erected in later years, but 65 years passed without another bond issue. At last, in 2013, Panola President Gregory Powell and members of the Board of Trustees campaigned effectively for a $35 million bond issue, which passed by a virtually unprecedented 84 percent vote. Two major buildings will be constructed simultaneously, after which existing buildings will be renovated. Wednesday morning Dr. Powell spoke to a large crowd, after which he and board members donned hard hats and, armed with spades, broke ground to enthusiastic applause. Refreshments were served and there was excited conversation. In my case, excitement was triggered because I have been affiliated with the college for 44 years, and this is our first bond issue during my tenure.

History Club of East Texas

The History Club of East Texas began as a Civil War Round Table in Kilgore. After a few years the group decided to move to Longview and to broaden the topics beyond the Civil War. I spoke occasionally in Kilgore, and with the move to Longview I joined this club of kindred spirits. For years I provided the November program, while pinch-hitting in other months if needed. A few years ago I began providing the September program to lead off the club year. Monthly meetings are held at Jason's Deli in Longview, and for the final meeting of 2013-2014 I titled my address: "American Exceptionalism and Today's Historical Amnesia." There was a nice crowd of history buffs, and as always they were gracious and receptive. Ed Rast volunteered to serve as president of the club in 2014-15, and we all look forward to another year.

Two days later Karon and I drove 12 miles south of Carthage to a rural community that was called, in its heyday,Woods Post Office. Even though the post office has been closed since 1906, locals still say "Woods Post Office," rather than Woods. Woods began to take shape in the early 1850s, and a post office was established in 1854. Two churches were organized in the 1850s, and today both Baptist and Methodist congregations still meet in venerable buildings. By the 1880s there were three general stores, two blacksmiths, a steam sawmill, a school, and an estimated population of 50, with many more people on nearby farms. Decline set in by the 20th century. The post office closed, the school consolidated with the Carthage ISD after World War II,  and the population dropped off to no more than 30. But the Woods Cemetery Association continues a faithful stewardship to their community heritage. The cemetery is located behind the First Methodist Church, built in the 1870s and handsomely maintained. Association members filled the historic church, singing hymns of an earlier time and conducting a business meeting in which the impressively sound finances of the organization were discussed.  Larry McNeill, former President of the Texas State Historical Association, has deep family roots in Woods. Larry was responsible for creation of the office of State Historian, and he asked me to speak at the annual meeting at Woods. After Larry introduced me I took the opportunity to acknowledge his role regarding the office of Texas State Historian by making appropriate remarks and by presenting him a certificate of appreciation. Following my program there was a prayer and we moved outside for a superb dinner on the grounds. I am long familiar with Woods Post Office and with most of the people in attendance. Indeed, I had taught many of them at Panola College through the years and I greatly enjoyed fellowshipping with them.

Woods Methodist Church

Baptist Church

Business meeting

John Ben Williams, accompanied by wife Mary,
provides special music.

Larry McNeill receiving Certificate of Appreciation

Dinner on the grounds

 

Home and Family

"Lone Star Historian 2" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas during his second year. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published over 40 books, almost half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine. In 2013 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by his alma mater, Texas A&M University - Commerce. 

Approaching the Kinsloe House

Early in April I had the pleasure of speaking at three events in four days, all related to home and family. On Thursday afternoon, April 9, I was the guest speaker for the  Daughters of American Revolution chapter in Corsicana, my home town. The event was held at the Kinsloe House, long a center for women's clubs and wedding receptions. I was asked to speak about Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner, which Key penned 200 years ago, during and after the 1814 siege of Fort McHenry. Although the subject had little to do with Texas (I did mention that attorney Key later defended future Texas icon Sam Houston in an 1832 congressional trial), many of the DAR ladies are old friends. I lectured on the War of 1812 for four decades at Panola College, and the DAR ladies - and several husbands who attended - seemed to enjoy the program. Afterward we had a good time reminiscing about the Corsicana of our youth. Refreshments featured a delicious cake which announced "Happy Birthday" - the ladies were aware that I was born in Corsicana on April 8, the day before our meeting. One of my daughters, Dr. Shellie O'Neal, is head of the drama department at Navarro College, which I attended at Corsicana. Shellie was present at the Kinsloe House, and we went to dinner afterward and visited during the evening. 

My daughter Shellie helped present my birthday cake.

Kerens Public Library

Kerens, in the eastern part of Navarro County, has a fine new library, and for the past three years they have held an Author's Luncheon. I was invited to be the subject of the Fourth Annual Author's Luncheon. I was contacted by Betty Partain, president of the Pioneer Literary Club of Kerens, and by Gayle Steed, President of the Kerens Library Board. I also told them about my scheduled appearance in Corsicana, and they graciously set the Fourth Annual Author's Luncheon for the day following the Corsicana event. A 15-minute drive from Corsicana brought me to the Main Street of Kerens. 

Alumni Center, across the street

The previous three Author Luncheons had been held at the fellowship hall of the historic Presbyterian Church of Kerens. But demand for tickets exceeded the capacity of the church, so the event was moved to the Kerens Alumni Center, a spacious modern building across Main Street from the library. Ticket sales were cut off at 100, and a capacity crowd meant a successful fundraiser for the library. I arrived at 10:30 and set up a book table with a unique table cover fashioned by my wife. We had time for Betty Partain to give me a quick tour of the Presbyterian Church. I also had an opportunity to look at the excellent collection of photos and school memorabilia in the KHS Alumni Center. I had time to greet almost eveyone who attended, and after lunch there was a lively response to my program. I enjoyed excellent book sales, and there were many favorable remarks about Karon's table cover. It was highly pleasing that the State Historian could make a significant contribution to a small-town library event. 

After leaving Kerens I drove hard for Carthage, arriving a couple of hours before I was scheduled to speak at the annual Murphy-Payne Lecture on the Panola College campus. (The Murphy-Payne event was the subject of last week's blog.) The next morning I packed for a trip to the Hill Country. As soon as Karon arrived from the Panola Campus, we drove  westward and stayed overnight at the Stagecoach Inn in Salado. 

Betty Partain

On Saturday morning we drove west into Williamson County. In less than an hour we proceeded through the little town of Andice and arrived at the Bittick Cemetery. Jonathan and Jinsy Bittick were my great-great-grandparents. They migrated to Texas in 1830 with their little growing family and settled on land in what would become Shelby County. Jonathan 

Bittick Cemetery

was a miller, and he opened a mill on what became known as "Mill Creek." The Bitticks weathered the Texas Revolution and the murderous Regulator-Moderator War of the 1840s. In the 1850s, now in middle age, pioneer restlessness sent them west to Williamson County, where Jonathan opened another mill a short distance west of the cemetery that would bear his name. We paid our respects to the graves, which are decorated with medallions that declare them citizens of the Republic of Texas.

Graves of Jonathan and Jinsy Bittick

With Pam Baker

Karon and I drove back to Andice to a church where "The Bittick Family Association" holds its annual meeting. I had been invited to be the keynote speaker for the 2014 Bittick Family Association Meeting by Pam Baker, who is in charge of arrangements.  We arrived at the meeting late on Saturday morning. My sister and brother-in-law, Judy and John Smith, already were there, and so was Pam Baker and association president Johnny Bittick. There were tables full of genealogical charts and photo scrapbooks, along with copy machines. Following a catered lunch, I spoke about the office of State Historian and the Bitticks in Shelby County. Later in the afternoon the group would visit the Bittick Cemetery, but Karon and I started our five-hour drive for our home in Carthage. During the drive we spoke of how impressed we were with the Bittick Family Association. 

With Association President Johnny Bittick

State Historian among the State Flowers