Gates Camp Gazette A quarterly newsletter of the Elijah Gates Camp No. 570 Sons of Confederate Veterans Summer 2013

Photo by Don Ernst

Honors Richard Hite Robbins, descendant of Pvt. Byron S. Hite, pauses at his ancestor’s monument during its dedication by the Elijah Gates Camp in Mexico, Mo., June 8. See story & photos, page 5.

����Editor’s Note

Circle the date! Our Fall Muster featuring author Tom Rafiner will be Saturday,

October 12. Tickets will go on sale September 9. For details, see story on page 3.

I.C. Holland passes

Photos by Don Ernst

At the Missouri Division SCV reunion in March at which he was hon-ored as a “Real Grandson,” Compatriot Isham C. Holland unfurled the flag used at the 1925 funeral of ancestor Capt. Thomas C. Holland.

Compatriot Rev. Isham C. Holland, 95, pastor, retired

educator and regional historian, passed away at his Fulton home

Wednesday night, July 3. Admitted to the hospital the previous

Saturday with acute symptoms, he was later released to home

hospice care and died surrounded by family.

A longtime friend of the Elijah Gates Camp, he had only

recently become a member. He was the grandfather of Kurt

Holland, first lieutenant commander of the Brig. Gen. John T.

Hughes Camp.

Compatriot Isham Holland (right) with Elijah Gates Camp Treasurer Wayne Sampson (galvanized!) at the Gray Ghosts Trail dedication at the Callaway County Court-house, September 11, 2012.

Remarkably, Isham Holland died only

hours after the 150th anniversary of the fell-

ing of his grandfather, Capt. T.C. Holland, at

Gettysburg. Captain Holland led a company

of the 28th Virginia Infantry, Richard Gar-

nett’s Brigade, in the charge of Maj. Gen.

George Pickett’s division at Gettysburg, July

3, 1863. Holland was grievously wounded

after crossing the “stone wall” but survived

to move to Missouri after the war.

Isham Holland was born December 9,

1917, at the family home on Coats’ Prairie

near Reform, Callaway County, to the late

Walker Kerr Holland and the former Alta

Coats. Isham Holland was married to the (Continued on page 6)

We teach at New Bloomfield

A ban on weapons – even nonfunctioning historic ones — at this year’s July 4 Salute to America at the state capitol left room in Gates Camp’s schedule to provide living-history re-enactors for the annual meeting of the New Bloomfield Historical Society July 7. Above, Com-mander Noel Crowson talks with guerrilla re-enactor Roger Baker and the event’s keynote speaker Rudi Kel-ler, author and Columbia Daily Tribune reporter. Pre-senting in background is Mary Ann Crowson, on behalf of the Reuben H. Bullard Chapter of the UDC.

Right, Compatriot Don Ernst with array of weapons. Compatriot Kevin Wenzel also set up and partici-pated.

Most photos by Don Ernst

Landmarks

Compatriot Kevin Wenzel attended the Missouri State

Genealogical Association’s 32nd Annual Conference,

August 3, Stoney Creek Inn and Conference Center in

Columbia. He listened to sessions given by Thomas W.

Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGI, FASG, FUGA, FNGS, on

“Documentation: The What, the Why, Where, and How”

as well as “Inferential Genealogy: Deducing Ancestors’

Identities Indirectly.” He also listened to talks by

Stephen Buffat on “Dissecting Civil War Records for

All They’re Worth” and Beth Foulk on “Imported to

America – Colonists for Sale.” … Compatriot Don

Ernst and wife Jeanne celebrated their 62nd

wedding

anniversary July 14. … In the last issue, the editor of the

Gates Camp Gazette incorrectly identified young Jake

Fitzpatrick as his older brother, Cole, in our coverage

of Gates Camp living-history re-enactors at Bush

Accelerated Elementary School in Fulton. The editor

apologizes for the error, sheepishly explaining, “Those

boys grow so fast I can’t keep up!” … Sixteen years af-

ter its closing, the monthly Chicago arts journal Strong

Coffee co-founded by Past Commander Martin North-

way is amid an apparent renaissance as an online maga-

zine. Described as a “coffeehouse of the mind,” it will

feature original fiction, essays, art and photography.

Gone but not forgotten

Camp Historian Mark Douglas, 54, died five years ago on July 16, 2008. A charter member of the camp, he was president of the Historical Society, author of Soldiers, Secesh and Civil-ians and co-chair of Kingdom of Callaway Civil War Heritage. He is survived by his wife, Darlene, and children Kathryn and Jonathan.

Page 2 Summer 2013 Gates Camp Gazette

Volunteers Mike Wilson, Don Ernst, Tom Suttles with welder Zuroweste and Rich Williams.

With site preparation complete to install a monument at Calwood commemorating Confederate and Union dead from the July 28, 1862, Battle of Moore’s Mill, the Elijah Gates Camp is prepared to mount a campaign to finance the engraved stone. Almost $2,000 has been raised, about two-thirds of which has been applied to the project already.

At our September 4 meeting, compatriots will select between two options for the monument. Based on Commander Noel Crowson and Monument Chairman Don Ernst’s August 5 visit to Capitol Monuments of Jefferson City, the granite monument’s cost is esti-mated at $2,800 – $3,100. Work on it can commence once Capitol receives a 50 percent deposit.

An inscription with the colored SCV symbol will show that the camp dedicated the monument. There will be a list of all the Confederate and Union names, separated with crossed Confederate and Union flags in color. A legend will indicate Killed in Action, Died of Wounds, and Presumed to be Buried in the Mass Grave, along with the statement “Dedicated to the memory of those who gave their ultimate sacrifice at the Battle of Moore’s Mill, July 28, 1862.”

The vendor representative said the company would set the stone on the camp’s provided base for free. The property owner who has donated use of the site has said he will remove obstructions to public access.

Donations should be sent to Elijah Gates Camp SCV (memo line: Moore’s Mill monument) c/o Wayne Sampson, Treasurer; 916 S. Olive St.; Mexico, MO 65265.

Commander Crowson believes that a dedication on the 152nd anniversary of the battle, July 28, 2014, is realistic, providing adequate time for preparation of a historical booklet and program.

Of the project’s rapid progress, Commander Crow-son has said, “None of this could have come together had it not been for the hard work of our entire camp as

well as the support by our sister Reuben H. Bullard UDC chapter as well as the generosity of many others.”

These include Ground Penetrating Radar Systems Inc., welder Cody Zuroweste and the supplier of metal materials for the site enclosure, all of whom donated a portion of their fees or discounted charges, facilitated by Compatriots Crowson and Bill Conner. Expendi-tures on these items totaled $1,210.

(Continued on page 4)

Memorial campaign to begin

Gates Camp Gazette Summer 2013 Page 3

Cody Zuroweste assisted by Compatriot Rich Williams.

Finished enclosure & post detail. Photos by Chris Crowson

Muster is Oct. 12

Tom Rafiner, an expert on Missouri’s “Burnt District” during the war, will repeat as guest speaker at the Elijah Gates Camp Fall Muster, Sat-urday, October 12, at the Callaway Electric Co-operative, 1313 Cooperative Drive, Fulton. Rafiner will report results from his just-pub-lished book Cinders and Silence. He is also author of Caught Between Three Fires. Copies of the books will be available for sale. Muster will feature a sumptuous homestyle meal, our Little Dixie–famous prize drawing and other items to be discussed at our September 4 meeting. Tickets will be sold beginning September 9 at the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society, Crane’s General Store and by camp members ($20/$25 at the door; reduced for students). Doors will open at 5 p.m., program to begin at 6.

Rebs turn out for Summer BBQ

About two dozen compatriots and friends turned out for the August 7 barbecue at Bill and Genevieve Conner’s, including, from left, Compatriots Paul Baum and Kevin Wenzel, Missouri SCV Division Historian Gene Dres-sel and Gates Past Commander Mark White.

Treasurer Wayne Sampson and Brigade Cmdr. Don Bowman.

Bill shared grilling with grandson Aaron Conner.

Compatriot Chris Crowson with dad Camp Cmdr. Noel Crowson.

Don Ernst photos

Ladies first!

Genevieve Conner & Jeanne Ernst relax.

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor: Thanks for sending me the Gates Camp

Gazette. I always enjoy the comments and seeing the faces of familiar friends, often Don Ernst, Noel Crowson, Wayne Samp-son and yourself. This time I was surprised to see great guy Kurt Holland from the Hughes Camp and his father and grand-father.

I especially appreciated your article on “Private William Wilson Vaughn, Private Archibald F. Vaughn.” You covered so much of their involvement in the Civil War, and I was surprised to find your fam-ily had so much involvement in the strug-gle, all over Missouri but also elsewhere in the South. Your article was richly detailed, carefully crafted, and highly enjoyable. Best regards,

Don Gilmore

Don is author of Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border and is a past Fall

Muster speaker. – ED.

Memorial campaign (continued from page 3)

As of August 7 the camp had already received the following donations totaling $1,870: $200 each: Old Aux-vasse Cemetery Association, Richard D. Williams; $150: Noel Crowson; $100 each: Elijah Gates Camp, Jerry Morelock, Don Ernst, Martin Northway, Bush School (dona-tion for Living History), Dave West (to honor the dream of Mark Douglas & Allen Conner), Tom Suttles (in memory of Isham Holland), Gene Dressel; $75 each: Bill McAtee, Tony & Terry Wright (Wright Bros. Store); $50 each: Chris Crow-son, Reuben H. Bullard Chapter UDC; $40: Bill & Gene-vieve Conner; $35: Paul Baum; $25 each: J. Schulte, Jim & Kathy Hoelscher (in memory of Sgt. James R. & Pvt. John B. Blackburn, Co. B 1st Mo. Cav. CSA), Charles & Sharon Pier-son; $10: Mike Wilson, Don Bowman.

On Friday, June 22, volunteers set eight posts in concrete, defining the area where the monument will be placed. After-ward, Commander Crowson offered “special thanks” to “Deby [Fitzpatrick] for bringing iced tea, Mike [Wilson] … for fat pills, better known as doughnuts.... Even our littlest Rebels, Jake and Cole Fitzpatrick, helped carry water.”

On Wednesday, July 17, welder Cody Zuroweste of Aux-vasse worked with volunteers to weld the 7/8” sucker rod linking the posts. Beforehand, the property owner kindly brush-hogged the area. Page 4 Summer 2013 Gates Camp Gazette

We honor Private Hite in Mexico

Above left, Gates Camp Quartermaster Kevin Wenzel recounted the service of Pvt. Byron S. Hite; right, Missouri SCV Brigade Commander Don Bowman with color guard. Photos by Don Ernst

The Elijah Gates Camp hosted the dedication of a soldier’s stone for Pvt. Byron S. Hite on Saturday,

June 8, at his burial site at Elmwood Cemetery in Mexico, Mo. Hite was a veteran of both the Missouri

State Guard and Col. Joseph C. Porter’s 1st Northeast Missouri Cavalry Regiment. Members of the

Joseph C. Porter Camp also participated, as an honor guard and in the fired salute. Also dressed out was

Central Brigade Commander “Sergeant” Don Bowman. Richard Hite Robbins, of Galva, Kansas, a

descendant of Private Hite, was an invited honored guest. Gates Camp Compatriot Noel Crowson served

in his dual functions as camp commander and chaplain. Quartermaster Kevin Wenzel, who has exten-

sively researched Private Hite’s life, presented an oral biography. The Reuben H. Bullard Chapter of the

United Daughters of the Confederacy, Fulton, was represented, and media were present.

Porter Camp compatriots.

The fired salute.

Cmdr. Noel Crowson officiated.

Cmpt. Charlie Boydstun, Mary Ann Crowson(UDC), Vicki Mason

Gates Camp Gazette Summer 2013 Page 5

Left, Gates Camp’s Wayne Sampson presents honor flag to Richard Hite Robbins.

Isham Holland passes (Continued from page 1) former Adelia Carol Yocum on June 2, 1940; she

died November 7, 2004.

After attending Ashland Grade School and being

graduated from Fulton High School in 1935, he

entered the University of Missouri, from which he

was graduated in 1941 with Phi Beta Kappa honors

and a bachelor of arts degree in history and

humanities including extensive studies in Latin and

Greek. He also earned a Bachelor of Theology and a

Doctor of Ministries degree from the Kansas City

College and Bible School.

Obtaining a teaching certificate after high school,

he briefly taught a one-room school and after MU

taught at Ashland School. Beginning in 1943, he

began a long career at Kansas City College and Bible

School at Overland Park, Kansas, serving as

instructor, dean of administration, vice president and

president, and at his death was president emeritus.

His pastoral service spanned most of his adult

lifetime. He was an evangelist at churches and camp

meetings in the U.S. and abroad, and was a member

at one time or another of most boards of the Church

of God (Holiness). He did five decades of mission

work in Latin America and Africa.

Reverend Holland is survived by sons James

Nathan Holland (wife, Peggy), Fulton, and Philip

Dale Holland, Eureka Springs, Ark.; brother Hallie

“Tite” Holland (wife, Lena), Fulton; four grand-

children, Kurt, Kent, Scott and Terri Holland; ten

great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren;

and a sister-in-law, Jewell (Garrett) Holland. Preced-

ing him in death were brothers W.K., Clyde, Charley

and Fay Holland and sisters Vara Althiser, May

Krebs and Martha Laubscher.

Services were July 9 at Church of God (Holiness),

Fulton, with entombment at Callaway Memorial

Gardens Mausoleum. Memorials are suggested to

Church of God (Holiness) World Missions c/o

Maupin Funeral Home, 301 Douglas Blvd., Fulton.

Williamsburg B&B

has Trails theme Steve and Jan Gray, a retired couple, have opened a

bed and breakfast in Williamsburg with a WBTS

theme. Their Gray Ghosts Trail Inn, an ample re-

stored 1905 home, is directly on the old Boone’s Lick

Trail, at 10703 County Road 184.

The house is north of Crane’s Museum, home to

one of eight Callaway County outdoor Gray Ghosts

Trail interpretive panels sponsored by Kingdom of

Callaway Civil War Heritage, local affiliate of Mis-

souri’s Civil War Heritage Foundation.

It’s cute and charming, and needed to be restored,”

Jan Gray told the Fulton Sun about the couple’s deci-

sion to turn the house into an inn. “It’s important to

history because it sits right on the Civil War Gray

Ghosts Trail. Bloody Bill Anderson came through

here and picked up one or two guerrillas on his way

to [raiding] Danville.”

Photo courtesy Gregory WolkCivilians (including Confederate descendants) peacefully re-enacted Pickett’s Charge at the 150

th anniversary of

the battle, July 3, 2013, 100 years after Isham Holland’s grandfather took part in the “bogus charge” depicting his and his compatriots’ original charge. He was in Garnett’s Brigade, as were the above participants.

The Gates Camp Gazette is published by

Elijah Gates Camp No. 570, Sons of Confederate Veterans, 807

Cote Sans Dessein Rd., Fulton, MO 65251: Noel A. Crowson,

Commander & Chaplain; Banning Fitzpatrick, Lieutenant

Commander; Richard D. Williams, Adjutant; Wayne Sampson,

Treasurer; Kevin Wenzel, Quartermaster; Martin Northway,

Newsletter Editor & Historian; C.D. (Don) Ernst, Archivist &

Photographer; Past Commanders, Martin Northway, Richard

Williams, Mark White. Meetings are at 6 p.m. the first Wednesday

of each month, Callaway County Public Library, 710 Court St., or

Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society, 513 Court St., Fulton.

Page 6 Summer 2013 Gates Camp Gazette

By ISHAM C. HOLLAND

My grandfather, T.C. Holland, was the eighth child

of the family. He grew up on a farm a few miles from

Bedford, formerly Liberty, Virginia. In 1848, his

father, Charles, built a house on the farm. When I

visited that part of Virginia in 1959, I went to the

Courthouse in Bedford to check for family records. I

learned from an elderly gentleman who worked there

that there were several Cragheads, first cousins of my

family, living right near the Courthouse.

These kinfolks guided us to

the place where Grandpa Hol-

land grew up. I did not expect

that the old 1848 place was still

there, but upon arrival was

pleasantly surprised to find the

house not only standing, but in

good condition with relatives, the

Holdren family, living in the

two-story white frame house

with a full-width veranda.

Howard Holdren and his son

were working in a tobacco patch,

and Howard was surprised be-

yond measure to learn of a rela-

tive he didn’t even know existed,

exclaiming, “So you are Uncle

Tom’s grandson!” As I was

walking back to my car, I heard

him say, “Good Lawd, he even

walks like Uncle Tom!”

Later, we went over the

hillside of the farm to the family

burying ground where my great-

grandfather Charles Holland and

other family members are in-

terred. It was a remarkable ex-

perience for me. Charles Holland

died June 24, 1883, and his wife,

Docia, passed away June 26,

1862.

As T.C. was growing to young manhood, dark

clouds over the Potomac were casting ominous

shadows over Virginia, the Old Dominion. On April

17, 1861, two days after President Lincoln’s call for

volunteers “to suppress” the Southern states, the

Virginia Assembly voted to secede “as an alternative

to making war on sister states.”

T.C., who wrote in later years for Confederate Vet-

eran magazine, states: “In the year 1861, while still a

schoolboy at the Creasy schoolhouse near the Quaker

Church in Bedford County, Virginia, taught by one

A.L. Minter, I became interested in military drill by

the teacher, who was the adjutant of the Southside

Regiment of the county belonging to the Virginia

militia. The country had recently had a shake-up by

the John Brown riot at Harper’s Ferry.

“Believing that our State should be prepared to

drive away the foe from her borders, I enlisted as a

drill boy [he was a few days shy of twenty] while at

school. On the second day of February, 1861, drilling

on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the noon hour. On

or about the twelfth of March we organized a com-

pany. … [O]n April 27,

1861, I was mustered in as

second lieutenant, and the

company was named the

Patty Lane Rifle Grays. …

Our first call was to Ma-

nassas. … We skirmished

in and around Mt. Vernon,

then returned to the army

at Manassas and were

placed in the 28th

Virginia

Regiment as Company G;

was on picket duty on the

night of the 20th

of July,

and on the morning of the

21st we met the advance

picket of McDowell’s

army.”

The first real battle

along Bull Run turned into

a rout of Union forces as

they met the Confederates

at Manassas, about 25

miles from Washington.

On February 28, 1862,

the 28th

Virginia received

word that Brig. Gen.

George Pickett had taken

command of the brigade.

(He would later command

the division.) On March 9, the regiment began the

long march to Yorktown, where the army of Gen.

Joseph E. Johnston met McClellan’s Federals in the

Peninsular Campaign, in which at Williamsburg ac-

cording to the April 1925 Confederate Veteran T.C.’s

command was “engaged from the beginning to the

end … and sustained heavy losses. Following this

bloody conflict, young Holland was elected [first]

lieutenant.” (T.C.’s brother Stephen Robert, older by

more than nine years, was discharged Oct. 31

because of a gunshot wound.)

Capt. Thomas C. Holland

Capt. T.C. Holland ranked high in Missouri’s United Confederate Veterans after the War Between the States.

Gates Camp Gazette Page A-1Summer 2013LITTLE DIXIE HEROELITTLE DIXIE HEROELITTLE DIXIE HEROELITTLE DIXIE HEROESSSS

14141414 © 2013

The Confederate Veteran reported, “His command

was one of the first engaged in the opening of the

Seven Days battles around Richmond. At Gaines

Mill, he seized the flag of his regiment and led his

company in the famous charge that broke Mc-

Clellan’s line. Here he fell desperately wounded and

was picked up and sent from the field. Recovering

from his wounds, he joined his company and was

promoted to Captain.”

The June 27, 1862, battle brought heavy losses to

the 28th

Virginia Infantry. Shot through both thighs,

this was the most serious of T.C.’s four wounds in

the war, requiring him to arrange a makeshift tour-

niquet. After a home fur-

lough, he resumed command

of his company October 31.

The last battle of Grand-

pa’s career was at Gettys-

burg. His unit was assigned

to guard supplies at Cham-

bersburg on the first two

days of the battle, before

being marched through the

night about 25 miles. The

men fell out for a time be-

fore the assault on Cemetery

Ridge, where General Long-

street felt it would be suicide

to send his men across

nearly a mile of open

country, up the slope into

the face of entrenched men

and heavy artillery. But

General Lee declared, “That

is where the enemy is, and

that is where I’ll strike him.”

At three o'clock on that hot afternoon of July 3,

Lee sent his only fresh division – Pickett’s – to lead

the attack, General Kemper’s brigade on the right,

Garnett’s (the 28th

’s brigadier) on the left and Ar-

mistead’s in the rear with his line overlapping the

other brigades. Federal guns opened up from the

ridge and riflemen behind a stone wall poured a

deadly fire into the steadily advancing Confederates.

Kemper fell wounded and Garnett was killed.

General Armistead urged forward what was left of

the columns, crossing the stone wall with the men

engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Some estimate that about 100 men crossed the

stone wall. Armistead fell there, and Captain Holland

later wrote, “I advanced about ten paces farther,”

until being felled by a Minie ball breaking his jaw

and exiting his neck; the bullet barely missed his

spine. When he regained consciousness, he and some

other officers including the mortally wounded Armi-

stead were lying in the shade of some trees. Then

they were removed to a temporary hospital beyond

Cemetery Ridge. This writer has read in some of

T.C.’s writings of the intense suffering and death of

Armistead on July 4 or 5, shortly after giving in-

structions concerning his gold watch, a packet of

papers and other articles on his person.

T.C. was transported to federal prison camps in the

North, his jaw operated on at David’s Island, Long

Island Sound. He was paroled from Johnson’s Island,

Ohio, Feb. 24, 1865, but his exchange was delayed

too long for him to see further service.

After the war he moved to Missouri, followed by

many family members. He enrolled at Westminster

College in Fulton, and

from 1865–1870 he was

a teacher at several

schools. He and a part-

ner bought out a store in

Reform, Mo., and he

married 16-year-old

Vara Sparrel Strucker.

They had three children,

Willie Lee Dean,

Walker Kerr and Russie

Mattie. They moved to

Sedalia in August 1884,

but sadly his frail Vara

died Feb. 14, 1885.

T.C. lived his last

years in Kansas City and

then Callaway County,

and was long active in

the United Confederate

Veterans. For the highly

publicized 50th

anniver-

sary of Gettysburg in 1913, he served as adjutant

general of the “bogus charge” by Pickett’s veterans.

There, at the stone wall, he met some of the men who

had fought on the other side. At the place where he

placed a stick where he had fallen, he overheard one

say to his wife, “Here is where I killed the only Rebel

I know of during the war. I may have killed others,

but this is the only one I know I killed...” “It is too

bad you killed him,” said the wife. The husband said

the man was an officer who must have been crazy,

exhorting his men, “Come on, boys.”

T.C. stepped forward, saying, “I am the man you

killed, but I’m a pretty lively corpse. Here is where

the ball entered my left cheek, and here is where it

came out the back of my head.” The result of this

meeting was a friendship and correspondence.

In 1915 T.C. went to live with his daughter Russie

and her husband John Blankenship in Callaway

County, tending a small section called Grandpa’s

Patch. He died, quietly, on Feb. 11, 1925, at the age

of 83.

Photo by Don ErnstT.C. Holland’s grandson Isham C. Holland – shown receiving the Real Grandson medal from his own grandson Kurt Holland at the 2013 Missouri Division SCV Reunion – died at age 95 on July 3, 2013, only hours after the 150

th anniversary of his ancestor’s fall

at Gettysburg. Missouri Division Cmdr. Darrell Maples is at left behind the podium.

Page A-2 Gates Camp Gazette Summer 2013