Hood’s Texas Brigade Seminar, October 26-27 in Austin

Posted in Memory by Andy Hall on October 3, 2012

The Hood’s Texas Brigade Association, Reactivated, will hold its sesquicentennial seminar at Camp Mabry, Austin, Texas on Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27. The program, “Plowshares Into Swords: Hood’s Texas Brigade in 1862,” includes:

Friday Evening

5:00 Tour Texas Military Forces Museum led by Director Jeff Hunt
6:00 Socializing, followed by 7:00 dinner
8:00 Speaker: Dr. Susannah Ural, “The Best Material on the Continent: The Rise of Hood’s Texans in 1862”

Saturday

8:00-9:00 Registration, Vendors/Exhibitors
9:00-9:05 Welcome by Martha A. Hartzog, President, Hood’s Texas Brigade Assn., Re-activated (HTBAR)
9:05-9:15 Report on the Two New Texas Civil War Battlefield Monuments by William McWhorter, Texas Historical Commission
9:15-10:15 Jack Waugh, Historian, “Granny Lee and the General with ‘the Slows’: The War on the Peninsula”
10:15-10:45 Break: Time to Visit Vendors/Exhibitors

10:45-11:45 Danny W. Davis, Ph.D., “The Bloody 5th at Second Manassas”
11:45-1:00 Lunch, with Speakers’ Q&A & Fund Raising for Restoration of 1st National Banner
1:00-1:30 Time to Visit Vendors/Exhibitors
1:30-2:30 Rick Eiserman, Historian: “The Ragged 1st: The Savage Assaults of Sharpsburg/Antietam”
2:30-3:00 Time to Visit Vendors/Exhibitors
3:00-4:00 Richard McCaslin, PhD: “So Many Leaders Dead or Gone: Rapid & Dramatic Changes in Hood’s Brigade Leadership”

Visitors are reminded that Camp Mabry is an active military installation, and a valid driver’s license or other photo ID is required to enter. There will be signage directing visitors to the Museum and to Building 8, where the Seminar will be held. A flyer and registration form is available here (PDF). Registration deadline is October 19.

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11 comments

11 Responses

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Cotton Boll Conspiracy said, on October 5, 2012 at 12:39 pm

Looks like a great agenda. I wish I was close enough to attend.

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- Andy Hall said, on October 5, 2012 at 12:42 pm
  
  I’d like to go, too, but I have a prior commitment that can’t be put off.
  
  Reply
Drew said, on October 11, 2012 at 1:29 pm

Andy, what is the deal with this organization? I’m interested in the Texas Brigade and am descended from a member, but am very leary of getting involved with neo confederate groups. Are these folks on the up and up, or is the South about to Rise Again, etc,, etc. Would love any insight. Thanks.

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- Andy Hall said, on October 11, 2012 at 2:36 pm
  
  Drew, I would not be promoting this event if I had doubts about it. I would be there myself, except I have a prior commitment that weekend.
  
  The HTBAR seems to be what it presents itself as. I don’t doubt that there are some fire-eater, unreconstructed, League of the South-types as members, but I don’t get that vibe from the encounters I’ve had with some of the senior members. I will likely join soon myself.
  
  Who was your Texas Brigade ancestor, if I may be totally nosy about it?
  
  Reply
Drew said, on October 11, 2012 at 4:24 pm

Thanks, Andy. John Pinkney O’Rear, Company D, 1st Texas Infantry was gg grandfather. I may join the Association myself – I’ll bet there’ll be sesquintennial-related events around where I live – mid-Atlantic region. Would be fun to participate….

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- Andy Hall said, on October 11, 2012 at 4:27 pm
  
  They had an event earlier this year at Gaines Mill. Gettysburg would be the obvious event for 2013, but that’s going to be wildly crowded.
  
  Reply
- Andy Hall said, on October 11, 2012 at 4:55 pm
  
  Lost a leg at Battle of Darbytown and New Market Roads. Long service.
  
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  - Drew said, on October 12, 2012 at 9:24 am
    
    That’s right – taken prisoner – Union surgeons took his left leg below the knee. He said they treated him with kindness – his story is in “Reminisences of the Boys in Gray.” Family legend holds that he walked most of the way home after the war on his new wooden leg.
    
    Reply
    - Andy Hall said, on October 12, 2012 at 9:44 am
      
      Good stuff. Visitors can read it here.
      
      Reply
      - Drew said, on October 16, 2012 at 9:25 am
        
        Andy, I was poking around Civil War Talk and found your post about the “Reiminiscences” book. U Texas has the complete book online at http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29786/ If you click on the cover page it reloads and you can search it by page number. As you surmised, all of the contributors were Texas residents at the time of writing (1909, according to my gg grandfather), though many served in CSA units raised in other states.
        
        M.T. Bruce of Dallas is on page 91 – he tells one of my very favorite ACW stories about a raid on the Union Garrison at Cumberland, MD, in which two Union Generals were snatched from their beds in the middle of the night. No one hurt, not a shot fired! At least there was fun on some level during the war. Cheers.
        
        Reply
        
        Andy Hall said, on October 16, 2012 at 9:34 am
        
        Oh! Fan-damn-tastic! Reason No. 13,936 to love the Portal to Texas History.
        
        Thanks.
        
        Reply