Vol. 3, No. 2
April 11, 2013
Artist’s conception of the Mission at Los Adaes, over looking the fort.
Vol. 3 No. 2, April, 2013
INDEX
Editorial Don Marler 1
Klansmen Invade Church Town Talk 2
Bulletin Board Don Marler 3
Exercise Sagebrush Ricky Robertson 4
My Trip To England Carolyn Bales
What is a One Name Study Carolyn Bales
Historic Hineston website on Facebook Carolyn Bales
Los Adaes: The First Capitol of Texas Phil Carrico
EDITORIAL
Who would have thought that each quarter would come around so fast? Here we are in the second quarter and the year just started. Your editor is fond of discovering unusual historical events. If you know of any that have not been covered in the Hineston Chronicles or other easily available sources please send them along. If you need assistance in writing up the story just send the basic facts and I will assist.
Thanks to all who contributed to this issue; your stories makes the Chronicles more relevant and interesting.
In the meantime enjoy the Chronicles and share them with others. Anyone with email can receive the Hineston Chronicles free by just furnishing their email address.
Don C. Marler, Editor
Klansmen Invade a Church: Chorister Seizes One’s Hood
[Editor’s note: This article is furnished courtesy of Loretta Dyess Cooley who is always on the lookout for interesting local history. It is from the Alexandria Daily Town Talk in the mid 1960s. Constable J.T. Hilton, the father of Sheriff Wm. Earl Hilton, was known to most local residents as “Tom” Hilton. Anyone have more information about this incident is invited to share it.]
A Ku Klux Klan raid on the Lone Star Baptist church at Hineston was halted Sunday night by a nervy constable who wanted to arrest the klansmen.
“It was a clear case of disturbing the peace,” Ward 5 constable J. T. Hilton said today. ”The way the people were excited in church, anything could have happened.”
The constable displayed a hood which one of the members of the choir grabbed as the men left the church. The church member reached down from the choir loft and yanked it off the man’s head. The man quickly covered his face and was not identified, Hilton said.
Hilton repelled the invasion by the 20 to 25 hooded men by insisting they had no business there and by insisting they were under arrest. One of the hooded men pulled a gun on him but turned and ran when the constable told him he was doing his duty, Hilton said.
“You’ll have to shoot me,” Hilton recalled telling the gunman, “because I am a deputy sheriff and I am putting you under arrest.”
Rev. Billy Nolan was leading the congregation of the small church in the song service when the masked men walked in, Hilton said.
Two of them were carrying a pulpit which had recently been given to a Negro church, the constable added.
Hilton said that new furniture was recently bought for the church. The old furniture and pulpit were given to an area Negro church. Some of the klansmen, believed to be from the community, apparently objected to this and decided to bring the pulpit back, Hilton said.
BULLETIN BOARD
Mason Perry Marler, 91 passed away and was buried at Alexandria Memorial Gardens on February 1, 2013. She was the wife of James C. Marler, Sr.
John Beasley Marler, Sr. passed away on February 8th 2013. He was a leader in development of fertilizers nationwide. John lived in La., Texas and Tehran. He was buried at Mostyn Damuth Cemetery, Magnolia, Tx.
Mary Jean Swift Thomas – daughter of C.B. Swift and Clementine Howerton Swift, of Elmer, La., passed away at age 90 on 1/30/2013.
Siphronia Opal Robinson Jeane 90, passed away and services were held on 3/10/13. Burial was at Flactor Cemetery.
Bernice G. Dyess 90, passed away 2/18/13 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery at Gardner, La. He was very active in the Baptist ministry and politics in Rapides Parish all his adult life.
Reginald Leroy Pendergrass 79, passed away on 3/3/13 and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Mitte Elsie Melder Funderburk Kay 96, passed away January 25, 2013. She was born in Rapides Parish and lived in Austin, Texas.
Sibyl Stracener Miller, 87 passed away January 29, 2013.
EXERCISE SAGE BRUSH-1955
Rickey Robertson
In the history of the United States Army, the Great Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941 are still well remembered and many of the combat tactics learned in those maneuvers are still taught in the Command and General Staff School. The 1955 Louisiana maneuvers, known as EXERCISE SAGE BRUSH, however eclipsed this previous maneuver in one aspect; it was designed to test simulated combat conditions in an atomic war. The forces from various divisions and units camped throughout Louisiana just as their predecessors had done in 1941, in every town, village, community, and the countryside throughout Sabine Parish. Many of the battles and engagements were fought in Peason and Peason Ridge, so by capturing and holding Peason and Peason Ridge, the invading armies could fan out and attack Leesville, De Ridder, and Lake Charles.
In comparison to the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941 where over 470,000 troops participated, EXERCISE SAGE BRUSH involved 140,000 troops; 110,000 were US Army and 30,000 US Air Force personnel. It became the largest post-World War II maneuvers conducted in the United States. Major units included the 9th Field Army (Provisional) comprised of the 1st Armored Division, 3rd Infantry Division, and a new unit to be tested–the 77th Special Forces Group. This army had as air support the 366th and 405th Fighter Bomber Wing, 345th Light Bomber Group, 363rd TAC Recon Wing, 507th TAC Air Command Group and the 11th Tactical Missile Flight. The Aggressor Forces were comprised of the XVIII Airborne Corps, 4th Armored Division, 82nd Airborne Division, and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Air support for the Aggressor Forces included the 312th Fighter Bomber Wing, 479th Fighter Day Wing, 461st Light Bomber Wing, 363rd TAC Recon Wing, and the 507th TAC Air Command Control Wings. The residents of the maneuver area in Louisiana saw new equipment and tactics that had evolved from the previous maneuvers fourteen years earlier. Look out Louisiana, here we come!!!
EXERCISE SAGE BRUSH ran from 31 October 1955 until 15 December 1955, longer than most army training maneuvers. Its mission was to train the various units in “atomic attacks” for both the US Army and the Aggressor Forces. The maneuvers began with a simulated atomic bomb set off at Fort Polk. Residents of especially Sabine and Vernon Parishes encountered giant 280mm atomic cannons capable of firing atomic artillery shells. The new US Army H-19 helicopters used to transport troops into combat areas also fascinated them. People drove up to the camps just to look at these flying contraptions! Aggressor Forces were constantly attacking the United States forces in an attempt to defeat them. The 82nd Airborne (Aggressor Forces) hit the ground fighting and almost overran the US forces with two combat jumps landing in an area between Eagle Hill and Lyles Creek at Peason and on Peason Ridge Artillery Range.
Armored units faced heavy traffic congestion with miles long traffic jams as mechanized units attempted to attack northward. In late November 1955 to early December 1955 torrential downpours held up military and civilian traffic. People could not travel to town, to church, and school buses could not pick up or deliver students to the various schools in Sabine Parish; kids who lived at Peason and attending Plainview High School had a difficult journey each day just trying to get through the Peason-Plainview Road. If buses got stuck or could not climb the Ivy and Ed Dowden Hill people got out and pushed or army vehicles pulled them up. The severe rainfall meant US Air Force units could not provide the close air support needed by the ground units, but occasionally the jets screamed over the tree tops. There were not enough air-to-ground radio communications, and more engineer units were needed to keep roads, bridges, and culverts operational during the heavy rainfall and during the “atomic attacks”, and more transport aircraft were needed to supply airborne troops. This was the first maneuvers held since the United States had nuclear weapons and many new problems had to be worked out with locations of the new atomic artillery units and their ammunition supply and storage dumps. But all these problems were addressed during EXERCISE SAGE BRUSH and would be corrected; new equipment and the tactics learned during EXERCISE SAGE BRUSH would soon be used in a new war in a country called Vietnam.
The older folks remembered the 1941 maneuvers and the huge number of troops continuously on the move – but that was minor compared to the number of motor vehicles used during Exercise Sage Brush. The folks saw everything differently during Sage Brush. Heavy tanks replaced the early light tanks, jeeps had replaced the cavalry horses for recon duties, weapons carriers were in and out of the woodlands, bogs, and swamps, and in the air, troop carrier aircraft, jets, and helicopters filled the sky. But the scariest of all were the heavy atomic cannons. Veterans of World War II remembered the unknown certainties of the atomic bomb and here were weapons in the field that could deliver atomic projectiles onto the battlefield.
At Peason helicopters landed in many places and troops would fan out and attack their objectives. We did not know it at the time, but this was the first of the “Sky Cavalry Concept” to be tried. The lessons learned with the helicopters were used by the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam in the Ia Drang Valley very successfully.
With the roads virtually destroyed by the heavy military traffic, engineer units were in great demand. I recently interviewed retired Sgt. Major Edward Stanberry of Huntington Tx. about his days during Exercise Sagebrush. He was a young platoon sergeant in the 21st Engineer Battalion and his unit moved continuously trying to keep the road network open. At a collapsed bridge Sgt. Stanbery and his men captured an Aggressor tank. He and his unit stayed nearly two extra months after the maneuvers attempting to help rebuild the destroyed road network in the maneuver areas.
Let’s look back and thank the service members who served during Exercise Sage Brush, for they stood up for freedom during the days of the Cold War and a possible attack by Soviet Russia. These service men upheld the fighting traditions of its predecessors and let’s tell them “thank you for your service to our nation during Exercise Sage Brush”!
Below are a few pictures from the author’s collection.
Copy of an Aggressor Handbook issued to soldiers for Exercise Sage Brush in 1955. (Rickey Robertson Collection)
An Aggressor soldier camped near Peason, Louisiana during Exercise Sage Brush. Aggressor troops wore pale green vest over their uniforms and had an attachment on top of their helmets to denote them from other troops. (Rickey Robertson Collection)
Recon platoon checking out their equipment and jeeps in preparation of Exercise Sage Brush. (Rickey Robertson Collection)
Recon platoon checking out their equipment and jeeps in preparation of Exercise Sage Brush. (Rickey Robertson Collection)
Exercise Sage Brush began with a simulated atomic bomb blast at Camp Polk. The first photo shows the start of the blast and the other two show the resemblance of a real atomic explosion and mushroom cloud. (Rickey Robertson Collection)
Army campsite near Peason, Louisiana during Exercise Sage Brush with a new 1955 jeep parked in front of tent. (Rickey Robertson Collection)
Atomic Cannon set up in the field during Exercise Age Brush near Camp Polk. (Rickey Robertson Collection)
Supply dumps were scattered through the maneuver area for troops in the field during Exercise Sage Brush. (Rickey Robertson Collection)
Map showing the maneuver area in Louisiana for Exercise Sage Brush in 1995. (Rickey Robertson Collection)
A reminder of Exercise Sage Brush near Peason, Louisiana found by the author is a carved beech tree with “JWN US 5473635 1955 DETROIT MICH”. This tree and several more have been located by the author on Peason Ridge.
(Rickey Robertson Collection)
GENEALOGY
*****
MY TRIP TO ENGLAND
Carolyn Dyess Bales
About a month ago, I had the opportunity to travel to England with one of my cousins, Cammmie Dyess Mercer, from Alabama. She has been many times to Europe; I had never been so she took care of me and taught me how to get around.
We arrived in London and, immediately made our way to the London Metropolitan Archives. The staff was very helpful and the archives had a lot of material. We learned that their WILL Collection has been placed online. There are more and more records being microfilmed and will be placed on the internet by the end of the summer.
Helpful URL.
Over the next several days we went to the National Archives. Again, they were very helpful!
The last days of our trip, we attended the live “Who do you Think You Are” conference — the eighth year they have had it. There were approximately 15,000 people attending the three-day conference; it was a great experience.
There were some things I learned that will forever help me in my research. We talked to experts wherever we went and they kept reminding us NOT to get hung up on the spelling of a surname! There are many dialects in England and in one city, you would hear many different ones. When people went to register at the churches, ports, registers, etc. the spelling would in a lot of cases get “mixed up” because of the different dialects – how the person spoke it and then again how the recorder heard it. In addition to that there were many who were not educated couldn’t read or write. So spellings were very subjective and mixed up!
In my DYESS name – The “Y” could most likely get spelled as an “I” and visa versa. The Dyess name could come out so many ways: Dyess, Dyes, Dyas, Dyce, Dias, Dice, Dies, Diss, Diass, Tice, Tise, etc. One has to be careful and search during a certain time periods and locations where you thought your ancestor came from.
We gained quite a bit of information and connected a few dots; but we came back with more questions than answers. One thing for sure, we will have to return after we get our material organized.
It is all very exciting!!!
Carolyn Dyess Bales
Guild Of One Name Studies #5916
– Regional Guild Representative for Delta Region
– DYESS One Name Study — BONNETTE One Name Study
– DNA Administrator – Surnames: DYESS — BONNETTE — McILWAIN — ROUGEOU
– PHONES: 318.792.8426(AT&T)~ 989.820.1212(Verizon)~ 318.787.6205(Home)
– Alexandria, Louisiana USA
WHAT IS A ONE-NAME STUDY?
Carolyn Dyess Bales
After hearing about the One-Name Study for several years, about three years ago, I joined the Guild of the One-Name Study.
I have been doing genealogy research for many years – beginning in 1996. At that time, I had no clue what to do, where to go; how to collect, record, organize and retrieve my material. The list of questions was long.
Anyone doing this research knows there are some common names that just “fall into our lines”. In my Dyess (all spellings) research, I have a ton of:
John Dyess (all spellings)
William Dyess (all spellings)
George Dyess (all spellings)
And, the list goes on!
For example, take all the John Dyess (Dyes, Dyas, Dyos, Dice, Dias, Dyce, Diss, Diass) etc. – how was I going to put the right one in the right tree / branch / etc.? Out of sheer frustration, I knew I had to do something! Otherwise, I was just plowing the same field over and over – trying to match the right relatives! That is one of many reasons I joined the One Name Study!
So what is this One-Name Study?
A One-Name Study involves research into the genealogy and family history of all persons with the same surname and its variants.
The Guild is the world’s leading genealogical organization for one-name studies with over 2,500 members worldwide, studying over 8,000 surnames.
I joined and registered two of my surnames:
Dyess (all spellings)
Bonnette (all spellings)
What does the Membership offer you?
* I have been appointed as the Regional Guild Representative for Delta Region – that is for our area. I would help you get started in whatever research you wanted to pursue. So what does the membership offer you?
* A Handbook to help you get started.
* Our website – http://www.one-name.org whose member-only features include our:
— Guild Marriage, probate and Scottish indexes
— Guild Archive for storing digital data
— Wiki-style knowledge base
— And – much more
* Member’s own web page (a Profile)
* The award winning Journal of One Name Studies every quarter.
* A Guild Forum – A global email discussion group where members can get questions answered by others. Plus early news of new data sources.
* A DNA advice and support service available to members doing DNA testing within the wider context of a one-name study.
* Our unique Marriage Challenges – some members volunteer to find marriages in specific parish registers (UK).
* Mentors to help and advise new and inexperienced members.
* Discounts on “FindMyPast; Vouchers; TheGenealogist; Lost Cousins; and, MyHeritage.
* If you register a name, your one-name study will be included in our public Register; http://www.one-name.org/register.html
But above all, as a member you have the opportunity to receive support and learn from others engaged in this field of genealogy.
HOW DO YOU JOIN THE GUILD?
The Guild welcomes as members all who have an interest in one-name studies. It is not necessary to register a study name in order to join. The joining subscription is on a sliding scale, depending on the month of application, and will cover up to 23 months until the renewal date of 1st November. Membership renewal is $23 each year or $25 if a printed register is required.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ONE-NAME STUDY GO TO THE FOLLOWING URLs:
If you have any questions, please feel free to call me (318-792-8426)
Email me: CarolynDyessBales@yahoo.com
FaceBook ID: CarolynDyessBales / Carolyn Dyess Bales
I am also on Google+Circles, Twitter, Printest, Instrgram, etc.
Carolyn Dyess Bales
Guild Of One Name Studies #5916
– Regional Guild Representative for Delta Region
– DYESS One Name Study — BONNETTE One Name Study
– DNA Administrator – Surnames: DYESS — BONNETTE — McILWAIN — ROUGEOU
-PHONES: 318.792.8426(AT&T) ~ 989.820.1212(Verizon)~ 318.787.6205(Home)
– Alexandria, Louisiana USA
HISTORIC HINESTON WEBSITE ON FACEBOOK
Carolyn Dyess Bales
For anyone who is on FaceBook – there is a GREAT site on it called Historic Hineston.
The site was established at the beginning of the 200 year birthday Celebration for Hineston. It proved to be such a great site, it was renamed to Historic Hineston and it has grown in membership. Currently the membership is about 625 members.
There has been great discussion. Wonderful pictures have been posted. Cousin connections have been made.
We also use the site to announce reunions, deaths, etc. etc.
To join the site, please go to the following URL and just request to join.
PHONE: 318.792.8426
Los Adaes: The First Capitol of Texas
Phil Carrico
Artist’s conception of the Mission at Los Adaes, over looking the fort.
Shrouded in the mystery of bygone times and half-forgotten legends the ancient Spanish fort of Los Adaes has returned to dust. Sitting placidly under the pine trees in western Louisiana she is forgotten and forlorn. (Recent information confirms the fact that the State of Louisiana is currently spending money on the old fort and bringing it back to prominence).
However, for half a century, from 1721 until 1773 the Spanish providence of Texas was governed from Los Adaes. The old site sits one mile outside today’s town of Robeline, Louisiana, and sparks the interest of only a few brave souls.
Spain’s first attempt at solidifying the eastern borders of Texas was in 1690 with the Alonzo de Leon expedition, who left missionaries among the East Texas Indians. However, it was 1716 before they stationed troops and built a fort there. The Spanish established missions and a fort among the Caddo Tribes, between the Trinity and Red Rivers. However, after struggling for several years without proper funding, manpower or supplies, the troops were withdrawn in 1719. The eastern border of Spanish Texas went unpatrolled for the years between 1719 and 1721. During these years, the French from Louisiana had a free hand in encroachment into Spanish Texas.
Determined to check the French encroachment, a wealthy Spanish nobleman, the Marquis de Aquayo, paid for and led an expedition back to the land of the Caddo. In 1721 Aquayo re-established the abandoned missions and built the fort that he grandly christened, Presidio Nustra Senora del Pilar de Los Adaes.
Los Adaes was located and built from a military perspective. It had good fields of fire, cannon and a moat. The stockade had been made of three thousand sharpened cedar and oak logs two feet thick and eight feet high. Inside the fort were a chapel, governor’s house, barracks, mess hall and storerooms. Outside, were 30 or more houses where the married soldiers and their families lived and a mission stood on a hill near by. The construction technique of Los Adaes was borrowed from the French and called “bousillage”. It consisted of plastering the frame of the buildings with a plastering substance made from clay and moss.
Of the hundred or so soldiers originally stationed at Los Adaes, most were Mestizos of Spanish and Indian blood. However, half a century of intermarriage on this frontier produced other mixed-blood castes such as “Coyotes”, whose parentage was Mestizo and French. (A French fort lay some 20 miles away). “Lobos” was another caste arising at Los Adaes, the product of unions between Indian and black slaves. These half-savage Spaniards holding this edge of Spanish Texas were so far from any source of supply that uniforms could not be replaced, and as a result, one of the legends of Los Adaes was born. The soldiers of this fort began making their own uniforms, and according to the reports of visitors, the fantastic manner of dress was widely discussed and mentioned in all the existing journals.
The Mestizos, Lobos and Coyotes of Los Adaes were far removed from the pureblood hidalgos of the interior provinces. However, it was their job to hold the line against French encroachment. In reality the Spanish could not have survived without the trade that flourished with the near-by French. Although all interactions with the French were illegal, in fact, even intermarriage took place. Once when the near by French fort, St. Jean Baptiste, was under attack by Natchez Indians, the Spanish soldiers of Los Adaes rushed to its defense.
When the French ceded Louisiana to Spain at the treaty of Paris in 1773, the strategic importance of Los Adaes evaporated. Soon after, the soldier/citizens of Los Adaes were notified that they had five days to pack up and leave. Without time to round up their livestock or bring in their crops, they were sent west on a three-month trek to the new capital of San Antonio de Bexar.
Most of the people living at Los Adaes at this time had been born and raised in the settlement, and the eviction order expelled them from the only home they had ever known. Some of the Adaesenos disappeared into the forest, others refused to leave their houses and had to be driven out by mounted officers. Those who made the long march west suffered terribly from hunger and disease. The homesick survivors never adjusted to their new location and after a year of petitions to the government, they were finally allowed to move back to their homeland.
These Adaesenos founded a town on the Trinity River, (believed by some researchers to be in what is now Liberty County), called Bucareli. The town failed after a few years and most of the refugees finally ended up around Nacogdoches.
During this time Los Adaes was crumbling and soon forgotten. As the maps were drawn and redrawn, Texas receded from its former capital like a tide and finally, Los Adaes found itself high and dry in Louisiana.
Today, up along the Sabine, if you pull into St. Anne’s cemetery at Spanish Lake and read the names on the tombstones, you will find: Flores, Solice, Canales, Bustamente, Rosales and Gomez. These names represent former Adaesenos who had filtered back to their land of birth and re-established a pocket of Hispanic influence. I’m informed that along that part of the border, in both Texas and Louisiana, you can still, even today, find the best tamales in the world.
Finis
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