Civil War in Fannin County - printed from North Texas e-News

What role did your your great-grandfather play in the Civil War? A new book by Patricia Rochette may help you find answers. One reason that there are holes in our local history is that some of the North Texas leaders burned their papers because they thought they would be hanged. Col. James Bourland was not afraid of anyone or anything.

Jim Mundie, co-author of Texas Burial Sites of Civil War Notables stated: "It's my opinion that Col. Bourland was a very important figure in Texas history and that Rochette's study should help bring to him some long overdue attention."

Her book about the Civil War era between Dallas and Oklahoma City and Texarkana and Childress, Texas includes 19 militia listings of Fannin County men - some militias stayed at home to protect the home front and while others were mustered into the Confederate Army. Each militia captain's objective was to enroll 100 men, but the average was 75 men.

Some of the Fannin County militia captains were Daniel Brown of Orangeville, J. M. Bumpass of Garnett's Bluff, W. B. Crocker, William Dulaney of Caney Creek, S. M. Hail, L. F. Lee, T. H. Ligon of Honey Grove, G. W. Merrick of Ladonia, B. C. Moore, William Nail, A. J. Nicholson, John Noah, J. W. Piner of Honey Grove, J. R. Russell of Bonham, Gideon Smith of Bonham, James M. Smith of Oak Hill, John C. Smith of Sandy Creek, Thomas Shaw of Honey Grove, Wright A. Stanley, and Hugh B. Wallace.

In order to interpret the 200 documents in the Bourland Papers, Rochette found it necessary to transcribe the 225 militia listings and accompanying militia correspondence of 34 North Texas counties. Unfortunately Confederate General Henry E. McCulloch, who was headquartered in Bonham, burned his papers.

There are 43 letters to and from General McCulloch in the Bourland Papers that should be, but are not, in the 128-volume The War of the Rebellion, a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union & Confederate Armies transcribed from 1880 to 1902 by the U.S. War Department. These 43 letters alone are an important addition to Fannin County history.

James Bourland came to Lamar County in 1837 after a reversal of his fortune in Weakley County, Tennessee where he traded horses and slaves. By early 1838, he lived on the Sulphur River, four miles from the Rehobeth Community, then in 1851 he moved to the Delaware Bend of Red River, north of Gainesville. James Bourland was one of nineteen children, fourteen of which raised families in North Texas.

Bourland in North Texas and Indian Territory During the Civil War: Fort Cobb, Fort Arbuckle & the Wichita Mountains, 998 pages includes (1) a 342-page timeline of Bourland's life focused on the Civil War, (2) 454 pages of Texas militia correspondence and listings, a Fort Cobb timeline, a Fort Arbuckle timeline, and Confederate treaties with the friendly Indian Tribes, (3) 142 pages of indexes comprised of a 122-page Name Index is a full-name index showing the home county of every private or rank of officers, a 16-page Gazetteer, an East Texas Recruits sent to West Texas, and the Physicians of North Texas Militias. Patricia Adkins Rochette, 7312 South Garnett Road, #318, Broken Arrow OK 74012, telephone 918-250-5040, prochette@Juno.com.