My great grandfather Joshua David Coffee was in the 14th Brigade of the Orangeville Independent Home Guard in Fannin County Texas. They were known as "heel-flies" by the local people. They had the authority of unlimited search and seizure and were mainly used to round up diserters and draft dodgers from the Confederate Army. They often hung them on the spot. They were similar to a Confederate "gestapo". After the War of Southern Indepandence was over, the Federal Authorities considered these men Confederate guerillas and were to de arrested and possibly hung. The Home Guard brigade escorted a number of the prisoners to Fort Towson in the Indian Territory. This abandoned Union Army garrison was being used by the Confederate Army as a prison camp. In 1865, the Union League was formed in "Five Corners Area" of Collin, Grayson, Hunt and Fannin Counties and hostilities continued between that organization and Confederate sympathsizers until 1875. This area of Texas did not vote to secede from the Union in 1860 but was compelled to by the Texas Confederate government. My great grandfather migrated to the Texas frontier in Brown County in 1877 to avoid repriations imposed by the Federals and the contining strife in the Five Corners area. My great grandfather's older brother, Sgt. John James Coffee, maigrated to McDonald County Missouri, then back to Texas near Lubbock later in the century. My father told me that Joshua hardly spoke of his activities in the Home Guard, that is probably because he told my father that he never took the oath to The Union after the war was over. In the spring of 1863, the 14th Brigade of the Home Guard escorted William Clarke Quantrill, Bloody Bill Anderson and their 500 man regiment of irregular light cavalry out of Texas from their camp on Little Mineral Creek in Grayson County. They were in Texas after they fled Missouri following the Lawrence Kansas Raid and wintered near Holland Coffee's Trading Post on the Red River. General Henry Eustace McCullough was the cammander of the Home Guard Units in the North Texas District with Headquarters in Bonham, Texas. According to evidence found after an investigation the Butts' killing, it was determined that some of Quantrill's men robbbed and murdered Sophia Suttonfield-Coffee-Porter-Butts' husband, Colonel Butts, when he was returning from a cotton sale in Sherman, Texas. General McCullough after hearing the evidence, sent the Orangeville Independent Home Guard to arrest the murderers and return them to Sherman for trial. During the trip to Sherman, the Home Guard received a dispatch from McCullough's Bonham Headquarters to escort the men to the Indian Territory and release them on the condition that they never come back to Texas. Jerry Coffee -----Original Message----- From: Charles A. Wyly <wyly1@juno.com> To: Southern-Trails-L@rootsweb.com <Southern-Trails-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Monday, May 07, 2001 9:09 PM Subject: Re: [SouthernTrails] Re: 'junk' and other things... >Hi, >there were supporters of the Union in several Confederate states, such >as the Texas German immigrants (Some of them) , those in Arkansas, and >Missouri. In Arkansas, some lived in caves to avoid the draft. Some were >forced to serve in the Partisan Rangers and some in the Union Army. Jesse > Woodson James and The Quantrills and Youngers were part of the Rebel >Army who fought abuses of the Partisan Rangers and then the Carpetbaggers >passed a new Missouri Constitution which said anyone who had served in >the Confederate Army could not vote, hold office or pastor a church or >serve as a Deacon. Jesse James's dad was a Baptist Minister. Jesse did >not smoke, chew, or drink and refused to work with drunks, as they would >"Get you killed" . Wonder how how the man buried face down in Jesse's >"Grave" in Missouri got badly stained teeth from years of chewing and >dipping tobacco??? Recent DNA tests only prove if one is descended from >that corpse without positive proof by DNA of living known survivors of >Jesse. > > Now I know why so many from Missouri such as my Great Grandad Moxley >and the Flemings, Ogans,Ponsealots, and many more, including the >families of Gov. Augustus King moved to Stephenville- Erath County. >Texas. many came by Coverred Wagon. Remember, these people had all been >pardoned by Abraham Lincoln, but that meant nothing to the Kansas >Jayhawkers and other Union supporters , who were invited to come to >Missouri and be part of the Carpetbag rule. . > >The Partisan- (Partizan) Rangers were the Confederate Home Front Guard- >in Texas they were Partizan Rangers. Some tried to protect the home front > from Roving Indians and Comancheros and did an excellent job-and tried >to stop the abuse of power - others used it in Texas as an excuse to >kill and plunder German and isolated homes and blame it on Indians or >"German Outlaw Sympathisers" and hang or shoot captives- see info on the >Old Comfort, Texas School Ground, for names of Texas German Immigrants >massacred - sometimes called the Battle of Neuces by Anglo papers- the >monument said "Trueter De Union- True to the Union".They were trying to >get to Mexico like so many Americans went to Canada in Korean & Vietnam >War- religious or Political pacificists. > >Pardon me, you asked about Florida- not sure of a direct answer. My >Double first Cousin is completing her Ph. D..in history to teach in >Florida Colleges. She has checked out Seminole tales of some being from >The Great Lakes Indian tribes, neighbors of the Algoniquins, who were >captured by deciet and sold in the Caribeans as slaves where the Africans >were dying of tropical diseases. Many escaped in or on anything which >would float and came to Florida and Joined the Seminoles. She has enough >documentation to satisfy some Grad school profs. > >Another cousin is a writer of guides for Florida Schools. > >Oh, yes the Confederate Army paid Black soldiers the same pay as Whites- >all Blacks were in integrated units. The Union Army paid "Buffalo >Soldiers: 2/3 the pay that a White got and were in segregated units until >1890's and we did not fully integrate the Army until 1950. I was in one >of the first Heavy Tank Integrated Units. Could it be that one of the 2 >Calvary you mentioned was a band of Seminole and Blacks who volunteered >as a unit? There was a unit from New Orleans , all Black, who marched in >rank to join the Confederate Army some officers did not trust them, so >they went north and joined the Union Army. Either way, it was a job and a >chance for instant freedom. - a win-win situation. > >Take care, >Charles .a, ?wyly > >On Mon, 7 May 2001 16:56:06 -0400 <breckenridge@alltel.net> writes: >> It is so sad to see someone consider the wonderful information we >> have been >> being blessed with on this site 'junk'. It takes a bit of time for >> everyone >> to get their interests mentioned. Addressing them will come >> eventually, for >> those of us who haven't found answers, as yet. In the meantime, I >> scan each >> post, save those which may have a tie-in, or which are just so >> entertaining, >> and enjoy the camaraderie. >> Enough 'junk' from me! >> My MORGAN line came from NE to Va>MD>NC>SC>GA(?)>FL. I'm reasonably >> sure >> they were of Quaker faith and am interested in the migration of >> Quaker >> families, from 1636- 1850. >> Mr. Wylie, with your vast knowledge, do you know anything about the >> guerrilla bands, or Union Men, who fought against the CSA, in >> Florida, and >> eventually became the 2nd Fl Cavalry, USA? To complicate things, >> there was >> also a 2nd Fl Cavalry, CSA! >> God bless, Carolyn >> >> >> >> ============================== >> Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! >> http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp >> > > >============================== >Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 >Source for Family History Online. Go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB >