The History Of Lamar County Texas

An illustrated history of Paris and Lamar County, Texas, paired with histories of the local companies.

A volunteer officer with the 9th Texas Cavalry Regiment from 1861 to 1865, James Campbell Bates saw some of the most important and dramatic clashes in the Civil War's western and trans-Mississippi theaters. Bates rode thousands of miles, fighting in the Indian Territory; at Elkhorn Tavern in Arkansas; at Corinth, Holly Springs, and Jackson, Mississippi; at Thompson's Station, Tennessee; and at the crossing of the Etowah River during Sherman's Atlanta campaign. In a detailed diary and dozens of long letters to his family, he recorded his impressions, confirming the image of the Texas cavalrymen as a hard-riding bunch -- long on aggression and short on discipline. Bates's writings, which remain in the possession of his descendants, treat scholars to a documentary treasure trove and all readers to an enthralling, first-person dose of American history.

Memorial and biographical history of Ellis county, Texas: containing a history of this important section of the great state of Texas, from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its future prospects, with full-page portraits of the presidents of the United States, and also full-page portraits of some of the most eminent men of the county, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers, and also of prominent citizens of to-day.

When the Ninth Legislature convened in November, 1861, representatives gave little thought to the somber days that lay ahead, instead making exultant predictions of a quick victory over the enemy to the north. Houston's warning was forgotten. The Texas Senate, Volume II, picks up where the first volume left off, covering the story of this sometimes venerable, sometimes raucous, and sometimes unsavory body from the onset of the war until another eve, that of the period sometimes called the Era of Reform. Written by members of the Senate Engrossing and Enrolling Department and edited by Engrossing and Enrolling Clerk Patsy McDonald Spaw, this volume comprises the years of the war itself, Reconstruction and Republican dominance, Redeemer politics and the return of the Democrats, and the rise of agrarian reform. Sources for the history include the Senate journals, the letters and private papers of senators, newspapers of the era, committee reports, and other primary sources, as well as general and specialized histories of the topics. As in the previous volume, carefully selected illustrations and appendices listing members of the Senate for each of its sessions add significant details. The Texas Senate, Volume II, presents a narrative account of the issues fought; the legislation proposed, rejected, and accepted; and the actors who filled the stage of this period in Texas history. It offers both an account of the times and a guide to the sources for other historians to mine.