Abilene Texas Celebrates Confederate Heroes Day

Confederate Heroes In Texas

By: Col. Alan C. Huffines, Ret., Abilene

In 1931, Texas followed her sister Southern states and created Confederate Heroes Day, to be commemorated on the anniversary of General Robert E. Lee’s birth (Jan. 19).

Lee, a Christian gentleman, epitomized to the depression era Texans what duty and sacrifice meant while enduring unimaginable hardship and privation. Tuesday was the state holiday.

Here in Abilene there are several memorials to Confederates, usually with Texas historical markers or street names. See if you can recognize a few of the Abilene founders who served the Southern Cross:

n Private Missouri M. CLACK (Company A, 1st Tennessee Cavalry)

n Private James J. CLINTON (Company G, 2nd Arkansas Cavalry)

n Captain Claiborne W. MERCHANT (Company H, 14th Texas Cavalry)

n Musician William A. MINTER (Company G, 5th South Carolina Infantry)

n Lieutenant James H. PARRAMORE (Company C, 8th Texas Cavalry)

n Brigadier General John SAYLES (Texas State Troops)

n Lieutenant John W. WOOTEN (Company K, 10th Texas Cavalry)

n Private James J. WYLIE (Company E, Frontier Regiment)

And of course there are communities such as nearby Robert Lee (he never used the middle initial) and Stonewall (Jackson) County. At least 27 Texas counties are named for confederate veterans or events.

Please take a moment and remember those in gray and butternut who believed in state rights enough to fight and die for it and understood duty as “the most sublime word in the English language.”

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2010/jan/21/remember-confederate-heroes/