From the Past Studio

15/08/2024

03/01/2020

03/01/2020

08/04/2019

22/09/2018

just for fun

01/03/2018

Hubby in Woodcut

27/09/2017

Skid played by Conrad Shrek as a colonist fighting for his right to observe the Constitution Amendments

13/04/2017

04/04/2017

Some of the photos I edited from the event April 2 & 3 2017

26/02/2017

Time for learning

16/01/2017

04/10/2016

08/09/2016

08/09/2016

Great Event or reenactors and spectators

16/05/2016

I have been taking Civil War photos for years so now I have decided to try 18th Century and edits these are some of my favorites

26/01/2016

Old Fort: the name says it. It is indeed one of the oldest towns in western North Carolina, and it was originally a fort, built by the colonial militia before the Declaration of Independence. Once called “Gateway to the West,” the settlement served as the westernmost outpost of the early Thirteen Co…

23/06/2015

my hubby's speech on Confederate Memorial Day in NC about his ancestors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqxsIQFsTYk

23/06/2015

Subject: Free man of colour
Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 16:55:28 EDT

Service honors 'free man of color' for fought for the South

About 100 descendants of Butler Owens came from states throughout the
Southeast to observe a memorial service for the "free man of color" who joined the
Confederate Army. One descendant is based in Kiserdautern, Germany, with the
military.

"We don't even know each other," said descendant Betty Payne.

The 25th N.C. Infantry Regiment, a Civil War re-enactment group, dedicated a
memorial monument to Owens on Saturday at the graveyard at St. Paul's
Episcopal Church in Edneyville, recognizing his service with the Confederate Army.

Owens served with Company A of the 25th Infantry, said Lisa DeBruhl, a
member of the re-enactment group, who spent two years researching the military
history of Owens.

He applied for a pension from the state of North Carolina for his service.

"I have the sworn statement he gave when applying for the pension," she
said. "He said he was a landowner here in Edneyville and he spent the last year
of the war at Fort Caswell."

He joined in September 1861, before the Confederacy began conscription, said
DeLaine DeBruhl, a re-enactor.

From letters written by fellow soldiers with Company A, DeBruhl learned how
Owens joined the company in Edneyville, then traveled to Asheville, Raleigh,
Wilmington and the coast.

In his pension statement, Owens said he served as the camp cook and also
helped to build forts, trenches and breastworks. He stated he joined up with
Edney's Greys in Edneyville.

"We had heard he and another great-grandfather had been conscripted," said
Luellen Owens Wagner of Upper Marlboro, Md.

Several descendants expressed mixed feelings about their ancestor fighting
with the Confederate Army.

"But we have to respect what these men did," Payne said.

"I have a little mixed feelings," said Rita Owens Bradley of Johnson City,
Tenn. "But we feel he did what was necessary for him to do for his family to
survive."

"I've never experienced these kind of emotions," said Arthur Rosenthal of
Memphis, Tenn., who serves in the military. "This is a wonderful thing they
(re-enactors) did here. Some people have a negative attitude about it, but it's
historical."

Rosenthal's wife, Ruby Johnson Rosenthal, is Owens' descendant.

She questioned why the word "cook" was inscribed on the monument when none
of the other Confederate stones have the occupation of the soldier inscribed
on them.

"It's great to honor any soldier," said descendant Curtis Payne of Henderson
County. "Anyone who is willing to join the military deserves recognition. A
soldier is a soldier and he was fighting for what he believed in."

J.C. Russell of Edneyville and Lisa DeBruhl laid the wreath beside the new
monument erected in memory of Owens.

"My aunt married Butler," Russell, who was born and raised in Edneyville,
said.

Russell identified the grave of Owens at the graveyard for DeBruhl as she
researched his ancestor. Russell takes care of the cemetery, making sure the
grass is mown and the cemetery maintained.

Descendant Thelma Owens Fleming of Crozet, Va., has spent many years
researching the family history.

Owens' parents, James and Ester Jackson Owens, were listed on early census
reports as free mulattos or "free people of color," she said.

One genealogist has traced the family back to Mary Owens, a white woman in
Prince George County, Va., who was convicted in 1720 at a church in Hopewell,
Va., of having a bastard mulatto child, Fleming said.

"Our James Owens, Butler's father, was descended from that child," Fleming
said.

Most descendants at the service said family tradition through the years
described the family as a mix of white, black and Indian.

"Butler's mother was full-blooded Cherokee Indian," Fleming said. "We have a
picture of her in full Indian dress."

Many family members who attended the service said, according to family
tradition, Owens' father was white and his mother was Indian.

Family members once owned land on what is now the Biltmore Estate, Bradley
said.

"When the Vanderbilts bought the land in Biltmore, they exchanged land in
Shiloh with them," she said. "My daddy talked about his family being born in a
cabin on the Biltmore Estate."

The 25th N.C. Infantry is a nonprofit, educational, historical organization
dedicated to the American heritage of the North and the South during the
Civil War.

Re-enactor Capt. Jule Morrow unveiled Owens' marker. The re-enactors gave a
volley salute. The Carolina Legion Field Musicians performed a tribute.

The closing prayer was led by Father Ron Greiser of St. Paul's Episcopal
Church.

23/06/2015

Walter M. Bryson and George Mills

Walter "Watt" M. Bryson, the son of prominent citizen William Bryson of Hendersonville, went to war with Henderson County troops when North Carolina seceded in May of 1861. Watt Bryson was a graduate of the SC Medical College in Charleston, and came home to Hendersonville in time to enlist on May 15, 1861 as a private in the "Henderson Rifles." With him went George Mills, an 17-year-old slave belonging to his father, to serve as his body servant.

Early in the war Walter Bryson was elected (following the custom of the time) by his fellow soldiers to serve as captain of their company, which by then had been designated Company G of the 35th NC Troops. The 35th NC Troops served as part of Ransom's Brigade in eastern North Carolina and Virginia, fighting in the battles of New Bern, Seven Pines and Malvern Hill.

During the Army of Northern Virginia's invasion of Maryland, Captain Bryson was killed by a Yankee sharpshooter at the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), Maryland on September 17, 1862, at the age of 21. Following the battle George Mills recovered Watt's body and, using money in the possession of the captain at the time of his death, moved the remains from the battlefield to Fredericksburg, VA. There he purchased a cast iron casket and traveled with it by rail to Greeneville, TN, where he again acquired a wagon and returned the remains to the Bryson family in Hendersonville after an arduous journey, fulfilling his promise to the Bryson family.

Following his return to Henderson County, George Mills served in the Home Guard throughout the war, and eventually received a Confederate pension until his death in 1926. Mills was active in the local Confederate veterans' association and also attended at least three national reunions of the United Confederate Veterans, according to his daughter Mabel Mills.

Walter M. Bryson's body was originally interred at the Methodist Church on the corner of Sixth Avenue West and Church Street, but was relocated to Oakdale Cemetery in 1923, still in the original cast iron coffin purchased in Fredericksburg so many years before. George Mills is buried across the highway in that same cemetery, his grave marked with a Confederate Cross of Honor and memorial plaque placed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1960. The two heroes of SCV Camp 70 have come to rest in the same cemetery, together in death as they were in life.

— researched by Michael Arrowood

Sources:

"Bushwhackers: The Civil War in North Carolina; The Mountains" by William R. Trotter, 1988

"From the Banks of the Oklawaha, Vol. 1" by Frank L. Fitzsimmons, 1976

"A Partial History of Henderson County" by James T. Fain, Jr., 1980

23/06/2015

C.S.A.

Do we weep for the heroes who died for us,
Who living were true and tried for us,
and dying sleep side by side for us;
the Martyr-band
That hallowed our land
With the blood they shed in a tide for us?

Ah! fearless on many a day for us
They stood in front of the fray for us,
And held the foeman at bay for us;
And tears should fall
Fore'er o'er all
Who fell while wearing the Gray for us.

How many a glorious name for us,
How many a story of fame for us
They left: Would it not be a blame for us
If their memories part
From our land and heart,
And a wrong to them, and shame for us?

No, no, no, they were brave for us,
And bright were the lives they gave for us;
The land they struggled to save for us
Will not forget
Its warriors yet
Who sleep in so many a grave for us.

On many and many a plain for us
Their blood poured down all in vain for us,
Red, rich, and pure, like a rain for us;
They bleed--we weep,
We live--they sleep,
"All lost," the only refrain for us.

But their memories e'er shall remain for us,
And their names, bright names, without stain for us;
The glory they won shall not wane for us,
In legend and lay
Our heroes in Gray
Shall forever live over again for us.

~Father Ryan

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07/06/2015

Russell and Bob persona's of Gold mining in NC

15/05/2015

Come on out and join the gang a Davidson's Fort in Old Fort NC

This weekend, folks can travel back in time to the days of the American Revolution.

27/04/2015

Bob and I attended a really nice event today in Clinton SC called Musgrove Mills many nice demonstrators, militia totally interesting and fun