collection of Louise J.
Johnson - Bates Descendant
WILLAM A. BATES ON HIS FARM AT CORYELL COUNTY
(Image was taken approximately in in the 1920's when he was in his 80's)
REMINISCENCE OF
MARY ETTIE BATES FRANKLIN
GRANDDAUGHTER OF
PVT. WILLIAM OGLESBY
CO. H, 10TH TEXAS INFANTRY
"My grandfather, William Alexander Bates, was born November 14, 1836 in Indiana. His father, David, moved he family to Limestone County, Texas in 1852.
In 1859 Grandpa married Julia Ann Clendennen. He was 22; she was twenty. They had twin daughters, Mary Ann and Martha Ann. Julia died exactly two years from the day she was married.
Grandpa joined the 10th Texas Infantry in 1862 to fight the Civil War. He left Mary Ann with his brother, Charley, and Martha Ann with his sister, Mrs. Billy Webb. He fought in many battles and was with General Robert E. Lee in the Battle of Richmond [Ed: The last piece of information is only partially correct; Pvt. Bates was only in Virginia for a short time after his release from prison, after his capture at Arkansas Post. After a month's recuperation at Petersburg, the Arkansas Post Prisoners were ordered to the defenses of Richmond, just in case Lee's Army might have lost their ongoing battle at nearby Chancellorsville. As it turned out, Lee won the engagement, then a day later, the command was assigned to the Army of Tennessee at Tullahoma, Tennessee].
He returned home after the war and in 1866 married Sarah Hannah Clendennen, a cousin of his first wife. They took his daughters and rented a farm.
In the early 1870's Grandpa moved his family to Coryell County and settled 180 acres on Turnover Creek. He built a log cabin down by the creek to have water nearby. He cleared the land and planted crops. Later he built a larger house ("home" until he died in 1926), and dug a well to which he attached a windlass. He also dug a ground tank for watering animals. Of course, all the work was done by hand and farmers were self-sufficient though neighbors helped each other when needed. They owned teams of horses for working fields and for transporting cows for milk and butter, kept gardens for vegetables, chickens for eggs and meat; but their staple was pork which could be preserved for year round use. Grandpa said that when he butchered a hog he "used everything except the squeal." Even the refuse was used for making lye soap.
How well I remember the house, the land, the people and the good times there. My grandparents were fondly called "Aunt Sally" and "Uncle Billy" by everyone. It was said that no one ever heard Grandpa use a "cuss word." I remember him as a wonderfully jolly white-haired gentleman with a long silky beard who loved to tell of his exciting adventures in the Civil War and that he was never officially discharged from the army. And I remember that Grandma always called him "Mr. Bates."
My grandmother was not only a wife and mother but also a "woman doctor." Legally licensed or not, it was recorded that she delivered 1,074 babies between 18__ and 1904 when she died. "It never got too cold or too damp for her to go when called."
My grandparents had 7 children John, Jim Miller, Matilda, Jennie, Sam, and Alma, in addition to the twins... They had 50 grandchildren (all of us within miles of the Coryell County Courthouse) and I can still recall each of them by name remembering the good times we spent together.
All the children and most of the grandchildren were farmers in the area until the coming of World War II when Fort Hood took their homes and scattered the families. My grandparents are buried in Bethel Cemetery and their children lie in Coryell County except Sam, who rests in California"
[ Coryell County Families, 1854-1985 - Coryell County
Genealogical Society - Gatesville, Texas - 1985 ]
Notes
Pvt. William A. Bates - Age 24 upon enlistment with Co. B, 10th Texas Infantry, at Virginia Point, Galveston, Texas, in November 1861. According to the 1860 Texas Census and his postwar pension records, William Bates. He was born in Clark County, Illinois, on November 14, 1836, and lived at Gatesville, Coryell County, Texas.
Pvt. Bates was captured, along with the rest of the regiment, at Arkansas Post, Arkansas, on January 11, 1863; arriving at Camp Douglas Prison near Chicago, Illinois, on January 29th. Pvt. Bates was paroled from prison for exchange on April 1, 1863; then was exchanged at City Point, Virginia, six days later. Pvt. Bates was detailed for extra duty as "Nurse" on July 31, 1863; then sent to the hospital on December 6, 1863, while his command was quartered for the winter at Tunnel Hill, Georgia.
Pvt. Bates was slightly wounded in the stomach at Jonesboro, Georgia, on September 1, 1864, according to the September 17, 1864 issue of the Daily Intelligencer (published in Macon, Georgia). Years later, Bates reminisced that he "was wounded at Jonesboro, Ga, in the breast by a shell... I remained in these ranks until the close of the war."
At age 73, Bates applied for a Soldier's Pension at Gatesville, Coryell County, Texas, on August 3, 1909, making his "X" mark on the document. His pension was approved on August 31, 1909.
William A Bates died on May 15, 1926, in the home of his
son-in-law, Joe Welch, at Route #2, near the town of Gatesville, Coryell,
County, Texas. "His ailments were general debility due to old age being in
his 90th year."
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