Event to discuss Unexplored Tales of Trans-Mississippi
Jefferson Historical Society Museum
Since Jefferson played a key role in the Trans-Mississippi Department’s military/industrial complex, Jefferson is a natural location for hosting Civil War Symposiums that focus on the Trans-Mississippi Department. This year’s symposium will feature four speakers who are noted authors, speakers, professors, and historians on various aspects of the Trans-Mississippi Civil War history.
Fred Adolphus, a noted historian, and retired museum director with the U.S. Army, will present “Unsung Heroes” which explores some overlooked themes such as sustainment: the ongoing supply of the Confederate army. This was the realm of the Confederate Quartermaster, wrought with scarcity and challenges. Other themes are ingenuity, tenacity and resourcefulness: the incredible story of a people who built a war industry from scratch, and a network of logistical systems. At the fore were the Confederate Quartermaster officers, who, despite meager resources, and a depreciating currency, accomplished all this within four years, in the crucible of war, with enemy armies ravaging their countryside. These were the unsung heroes of the Confederacy. Two such officers, who labored tirelessly in Houston, Texas, were Captain Edward Clifton Wharton, and Captain William J. Mills.
Gary Joiner, Ph.D., Professor of History and Chair of Department of History and Social Sciences at LSU in Shreveport, will present, “Who Knew?: the Secret Confederate Navy Yard in Shreveport”. From March 1863 to April 1865, Shreveport was the state capitol of Confederate Louisiana, the headquarters of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi River, and the home of the Confederate States Navy in the West. What did the navy do and where did they do it?
Richard McCaslin, Ph.D., the Texas State Historical Association Professor of Texas History at the University of North Texas will present “John S. “Rip” Ford: Confederate or Texan?” Texans interested in the Confederacy revere John S. “Rip” Ford for winning the last battle of the Civil War, at Palmito Ranch near Brownsville, Texas. But when he won that fight, Ford was not a Confederate. His repeated conflicts with Confederate authorities had led to the loss of his military commission as early as 1862, and he served as a state officer or civilian for most of the war. Having chosen Texas and Texans over the Confederacy several times, Ford was a state brigadier general at Palmito Ranch, raising the question of whether he fought for Texas or the Confederacy.
Matthew M. Stith, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Tyler. He will present “Nature as Ally and Enemy: The Environment and the Irregular War in the Trans-Mississippi.” His talk will explore how Confederate guerrillas, Union pursuers, and those civilians caught in the middle all waged or succumbed to a war fought in the medium of the natural and built environments. Wild and domestic animals, agriculture, terrain, weather, and disease shaped the irregular war in the Trans-Mississippi Theater as much or more than any other factor, especially in that region where Kansas and Indian Territory met Missouri and Arkansas.
Vendors and exhibitors will be present at the symposium and there will be ample time in the schedule for viewing. The program will include our traditional raffle of Civil War books and ephemera and a grand prize, plus a silent auction. The raffle grand prize is a framed, signed print of Don Troiani’s Eve of the Storm, the Chancellorsville Campaign, Evening May 1, 1863.
Advance registration for the symposium is $80 per adult and $40 per student, which includes a catered luncheon at the Jefferson Convention & Visitors Center. (Registration at the door on August 5 will be $90) Note: Cost of the luncheon is included in the registration fee.
On Friday evening, there will be a Speakers’ Reception which will cost $20 per person to attend. The reception will provide an opportunity to meet and visit with the speakers and to hear a brief synopsis of their programs. The event will include refreshments and light hors d’ oeuvres and will be held in the Art Gallery of the Jefferson Historical Museum which is now accessible with a new elevator.
For information on registration, contact the Museum at 903-665-2775 or at our website www.jeffersonmuseum.org. For information on Jefferson and lodging, go to www.VisitJeffersonTexas.com and www.jefferson-texas.com.
All proceeds of the symposium will go to the Jefferson Historical Society and Museum, a not-for- profit 501 (c) 3 entity, for operation and maintenance of the Museum.