Special Collections Division the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Vol. XV I* No. 2 * Fall 2002

By Shirley R. Rodnitzky

The Texas Confederate Gravesite Project Records, compiled by Jimmy R. Bryan, were recently processed. UTA graduate history student, Nicholas B. Gilliam, created the finding aid. Information about the collection came from a variety of sources, and a summary of the content and organizational structure is in the collection’s guide. Completing our collections’ processing makes them easier to use and provides the staff with a valuable resource to assist users. Unprocessed collections, however, are almost always available for research. Exceptions include materials restricted by the donor, materials that require repair or preservation treatment, or extremely large collections for which there is no comprehensive inventory.

If the following collection would facilitate your research project, please request the finding aid by name and collection number when you visit the library. The collection finding aid described here and in all future articles will be available on the Internet, linked to the Web version of The Compass Rose from the Special Collections homepage at: http://libraries.uta.edu/SpecColl/comprose.html

For those researchers without internet access, a photocopy of any finding aid in Special Collections may be requested by mail or telephone for a small photocopy and mailing fee. Please contact: Brenda McClurkin, Manuscript Archivist at: 817-272-7512; or email: mcclurkin@uta.edu . [Rodnitzky retired August 31, 2002.--webmaster].

Grave marker for William John, Texas Confederate veteran of Civil War. Holding File, Texas Confederate Gravesite Project, AR 429.

Jimmy Bryan received his M.A. in history from the University of Texas at Arlington. His primary interests are the U. S. Civil War and Texas history. Bryan collected the material for this project with the intention of publishing a book listing all Texas Confederate soldiers’ gravesites with as much information as possible about each veteran. Records were obtained from county historical societies, historians, descendents of Confederate veterans, and the Texas State Archives, 1988-1990.

The collection includes correspondence from contacts who submitted information, lists by county of Confederate veteran gravesites, surname lists of Confederate veterans with sources cited, rosters of selected units, and lists of veterans buried in Texas originally from Georgia and Virginia units. A map of Williamson County, 1986, shows the location of all cemeteries within that county.

A number of published sources that Bryan purchased from historical societies for this project were also donated with the records. These publications were cataloged individually and are available for research in Special Collections. Included are works about Confederate veterans and cemeteries specifically in Bandera, Denton, Fannin, Henderson, Houston, Hunt, Johnson, Lampasas, Montague, and Rusk counties.

Special Collections preserves a number of manuscript collections and documents from early Texas families that contain letters, diaries, and journals by soldiers whose home was Texas or elsewhere in the Confederacy during the Civil War, 1861-1865. Most of the documents are contemporary; a few are recollections by participants written after the war. A brief descriptive list of collections and manuscripts follows. It does not include collections that contain civilian documents from this same period or letters and documents of Union veterans.

"Confederate Cavalry Returning from a Successful Raid," from Marcus Joseph Wright,  Battles of the Civil War (Washington, D.C., 1906).

Buster Family Papers: Reminiscences of Capt. Claudius Buster, Twentieth Regiment, Texas Infantry (Elmore’s).

James Allen Duncan Family Papers: Diaries, letters, and military documents of 2^nd Lt. James Allen Duncan, Eighth Kentucky Cavalry.

Gaffney Family Papers: Letters from Private Charles J. Gaffney, Twenty-third Regiment, Texas Cavalry (Gould’s Regiment, DeBray’s Brigade).

L. H. Graves Diary: Diary of 2^nd Lt. L. H. Graves in Capt. J. W. Throckmorton’s Company K, Sixth Texas Cavalry, Ross’s Brigade, and a muster roll of Company K.

Ben King Green Papers: Autobiography of Corp. J. H. King who served with Capt. Sam Bell Maxey’s Ninth Regiment, Texas Infantry, Company I.

Mary Autry Greer Papers: Recollections of Private George Monroe Autry with Company K, Thirty-fourth Regiment, Mississippi Infantry.

Mary Martha Hackney Transcriptions of Price Family Papers: Letters of 1^st Lt. Benjamin Franklin Price who fought with the Third Texas Cavalry Regiment, Company E.

Samuel H. Holbrooks Letters: Samuel H. Holbrooks was a private in Company B, Seventeenth Consolidated Texas Dismounted Cavalry.

William Edmonson Jones Papers: Military reports of Brig. Genl. Jones, commander of the Seventh Virginia Cavalry.

McKinney-Milam Family Papers: Civil War diary of Lt. George Scott Milam, Sixth Texas Cavalry, Company D, Ross’s Brigade and letters from George Scott Milam and his four brothers to their parents, Jefferson and Eliza Milam.

B. B. (Buckley B.) Paddock Family Papers: Letters from Capt. B. B. Paddock, Company K, Wirt Adams’s Regiment, First Mississippi Cavalry, to his wife, Emmie Harper Paddock.

Marshall S. Pierson Family Papers: Letters from 2^nd Lt. Marshall Pierson, Seventeenth Texas Cavalry, Polignac’s Brigade.

Mollie A. Roberts Letters from William F. Howe: Corp. William F. Howe was with Company H, Fifteenth Infantry Regiment.

Robertson Colony Collection: Letters and diaries of Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson. He was commissioned Brig. Genl. of the Twenty-seventh Brigade, Texas State Troops in 1860 and was appointed aide-de-camp to Gen. Henry McCulloch, First Regiment, Texas Cavalry (First Mounted Riflemen), in 1862.

Styles-Vincent-Day Family Papers: Carey Wentworth Styles was a colonel in Company E, Twenty-sixth Regiment, Georgia Infantry.

Taylor-Darby Family Papers: Military documents and correspondence of Private Duncan William Henry Taylor, Company B, Twenty-third Texas Cavalry.

Terrell Family Collection: Biographical information on Alexander W. Terrell, a major in the Thirty-seventh Regiment, Texas Cavalry, Arizona Brigade (later Terrell’s Cavalry).

James Madison Trussell Family Papers: Letters of John F. H. Trussell, a private in Company K, First Regiment, Mississippi Infantry (later Company I, Thirty-seventh Regiment, Mississippi Infantry) and Sgt. William H. Allen, with Adair’s Company, Mississippi Volunteers.

William H. Allen to Victoria Trussell Allen [wife], January 12, 1865.  From the Trussell Family Papers, GA 66/17.

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