Col. Allen Birdwell was named one of the top 20 wealthiest men in Henderson, TX when it was burned to the ground. Only 2 or 3 buildings were left. The Col. luckily did not put very much of his money in real estate. (Wasn't he lucky?) I visited the family home, the log cabin is really huge. It is just beautiful. People live there, still. You can't go inside. It sits in back of the old Jude Devereau plantation, and is on the road going into Rusk. Seems it had been wooded over, and when they took it off, there were the logs!!!. Let me gather together what I have on Allen. His sister is my g g grandmother, Lucinda Birdwell Vaught. Their father, John, lived there also. He was an overseer (over the slaves, I suppose, since Allen did have some. In fact one was named, Dinah.). Of course, I adore his son, John Calhoun Birdwell, because he was the one, who wrote 60 pages of personal letters from Camp Hope which was renamed Camp Nelson, when the Admiral Allison Nelson died the same month, Oct. 1862 as my g grandfather. His name was Oscar Bell and he was with John Calhoun Birdwell, enlisting with him in Douglas, out of Rusk, TX., as was John Calhoun's little brother, Billy (William). The 3 of them enlisted together, since Oscar was married to their cousin, Sarah Jane Vaught Bell Are you with me, so far? Lucinda Birdwell Vaught (Allen's sister) lived next door to Joel and Eliz Bell. Their children, Sarah Jane Vaught and Oscar F. Bell married. Those are my g grandparents. When the war came, Oscar and John Calhoun and Billy (William) joined together. They were sent to Camp Hope (Nelson) in Arkansas. It is near Cabot, AR. Oscar died there, after having his leg amputated. I have the letters that John Calhoun wrote, saying Oscar shot his finger off, that he was very ill, and should be sent home. That they were going to Helena (the forced march in the snow that was so terrible) and the letter when he came back from Helena saying that Oscar was dead. So you can see how I treasure Col. Allen's son, John Calhoun Birdwell, for writing those letters to his wife, Adaline. Now Billy was sick all along the way, going to AR when they enlisted. J. C. had to stay with him along the way, and finally go back and get him, etc. He was married to Victoria Polk. They had a little boy. In the letters, Lafayette Branch (son of Ash Branch) is mentioned several times. He was too young and they sent him back home again. When Billy died in the Chicago prison that he and John Calhoun were sent to (by trains) when they were captured at AR POST Billy died within a month in the prison. Anyway, Victoria married Lafayette Branch, later on. Isn't that a lovely thing to know? John Calhoun escaped (the story is he was befriended by a guard whom J.C. had helped at one time, fellow Masons) and joined his company again. He was one of the fortunate ones to get to come home after the war. He and his wife had a tannery in Etoile after the war. If you care to read the letters, you can obtain them, through the East Texas Research Center. They are in the Stephen F. Austin University, where, as I told you before, Alton Birdwell was the first president when it was a college. His portrain hangs in the University Center, there. There are 3 (I believe) letters from Adaline. I think she was embarrassed at her handwriting because she only wrote a few letters the whole time her husband was gone. They are full of news of back home, in Nacogdoches (Linn Flat). Hope you enjoy what I have written. My line is me, whose mother was Dooma Bell Rhodes, whose father was John B,. Bell, whose father was Oscar F. Bell, whose mother was Sarah Jane Vaught whose mother was Lucinda Birdwell Vaught, whose father was John Birdwell, the minister. (the family is well written in the Rusk Cnty History Center, that has pictures, including one of the Birdwell Log house.). Thank you, Lovey Rhodes Smitham.